[OThe key regulators in the embryonic life, and later in the differentiation of tissues and organs are the evolutionary reserved signalling pathways, as Notch, Hedgehog and Wnt. Mutations of these pathways have been identifi ed in many tumor types, increasing the risk to the appearance of cancer stem cells (CSC), with very similar geno- and phenotype as normal stem cells have. Such CSCs with stemness functions can be developed not only from normal stem cells, but also from progenitor and differentiated cells. The main characteristics of CSC are the self maintenance, slow growth rate, very effective DNA-repair system, etc. All of these can contribute to the resistance. Further problems are the low number of CSC in the whole tumor mass, which makes rather diffi cult to achieve the effective drug concentration in CSC. The mentioned ancient pathways interact with many other pathways to form a network, which can infl uence the strategy of therapy. No doubt, that these pathways are promising targets, however, till now the clinical effectiveness is very low due to some reasons mentioned above. Nevertheless, some drugs are already in clinical use, either as monotherapy or part of the combinations. Little is known about the relationship between the pathways and the microenvironment, which has an outstanding role in the cellular activities, sometimes resulting opposite output. It is a great challenge to design effective drugs against CSC, similarly to fi nd reliable predictive biomarkers, which unfortunately still missing, since a reasonable drug-marker interactions would speed up the personalized treatment.]

[The appearance of the Covid-19 epidemic in different continents shows specific clinical features. Confirmed infected patients are detectable from approximately 30 years, with a maximum between 40 and 70 years of age. At the same time, however, a significant proportion of those who die from the infection come from patients over 65 years. The prevalence and mortality rates of the hypertensive population show a very similar formation. Based on the data collected, it is not surprising that hypertension as the underlying disease in the Covid- 19 epidemic is the first in all analysis. A more precise analysis clarified that it is not hypertension per se, but co-morbidities and complications of hypertension that play a primary role behind large-scale mortality in old age, such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease. Data from China, North America, and Italy suggest that hypertension and diabetes – and in North America, pathological obesity – in infected patients actually only reflect the prevalence of these diseases in a given population. The presence of comorbidities (coronary artery disease, stroke, heart failure, arrhythmia, chronic kidney disease) – based on multivariate logistic regression analysis – presents a more risk for severe clinical course and mortality. Some recent analyses have provided strong evidence that ACEI/ARB treatment does not pose a higher risk for the course or outcome of infection. Their administration is constantly needed in hypertension and comorbidities due to their organ protective and slowing the progression of diseases.]

[INTRODUCTION - Here we present the descriptive epidemiology of stroke in Hungary including mortality, morbidity, functional limitation and inpatient care based on the most recent health statistical data. METHODS - Mortality data were analysed by direct and indirect standardisation, and geographical mapping based on empirical Bayesian smoothing. Morbidity data were obtained from the General Practitioners’ Morbidity Sentinel Station Program and the National Health Surveys. The latter also provided data on functional limitation. Data on inpatient service were taken from the European Hospital Morbidity Database of WHO. RESULTS - Hungarian stroke mortality continued to decrease in recent years, and the slope of the decrease was larger than in Western Europe. Stroke mortality was highest in the Northern- Hungarian Region, and in Somogy and Zala counties. The incidence of stroke was 1.5-2 times higher than in the developed countries in most age groups. Over 64 years of age, a decline of stroke incidence was observed, especially in men. In this age group approximately 10% of men and 7% of women had already had a stroke. Of these patients more than 10% needed assistance to get out of the bed, dress up, or eat. Hospitals reported more than 60 000 stroke cases in 2005. CONCLUSION - Despite the promising trends in stroke mortality and now also in morbidity, both indices are still rather high in Hungary compared to those in Western-Europe. The relatively favourable epidemiological changes, however, may be overridden by the increased stroke burden resulting from the aging of the population.]

[Side-effects are critical challenges in cancer therapy. These complications can threaten the quality of life, sometimes the life itself. One of the most frequent side effects is mucositis, the damage of mucosa, either in the oral cavity (oral mucositis, OM), or in the gastrointestinal tract (gastrointestinal mucositis, GIM). Prevention is a key action for the effi cient supportation. Recognition of OM is relative easy, but of GIM is rather diffi cult. The risk factors could come from the patients and/or can be caused by the therapy. The successful management of mucositis mostly depends on the cooperation of the patient, which is highly infl uenced by the success of care (e.g. decreasing the level of pain). In general, mucositis (especially oral mucositis) a well managable disease, burt more informations are required to increase the quality of prevention and therapy. Such expectation could be realized by specifi c and sensitive biomarkers, however, they are still missing]