by Didier Leys
The “Société Française de Neurologie” (SFN) held its winter meeting in La Salpêtrière, Paris, on January 15th and 16th, 2015. For the first time the board of the SFN decided to invite another National Society of… Continue Reading
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We are offering an open forum for neurological agenda arising from daily practice of neurology, educating (or receiving education) in neurology, research in neurology, working or clashing with other specialities, confrontations with bureaucracies…
We invite you to either contribute your own observation, commentary or story, or else suggest a particular hot topic, which you think should be elaborated further.
We shall invite members of the EAN Committees, Scientist panels, Sub-committees, particularly chairpersons, but also other leading neurologist across Europe to give their opinion.
Please send your contribution to newsletter@eaneurology.org.
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It took decades until neurology in Germany recovered from the brain drain caused by the Nazi regime during the 1930ies and 1940ies (see previous chapters III and IV of this series). Initially the German Neurological Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurologie, DGN) recovered only slowly until late in the last century when this development speeded up, coinciding with the re-unification of Germany.
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The first paper that I would like to point out to Neuropenews readers concerns a neurological syndrome that often I have personally disregarded, or linked to similar “foggy” presentations such as the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Serra J, Collado A, Solà R et al, have published in ANNALS OF NEUROLOGY, 12 february 2014, Vol 75, Issue 2, pages 196-208, a paper “Hyperexcitable C nociceptors in fibromyalgia” that initially escaped my attention (it was published one year ago) and that indicates how in fibromyalgia there is more than many neurologists (at least myself) previously thought.
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by Delia Lenzi A very interesting study by Boekel and colleagues tries to replicate previous studies linking brain structure to behavior. No surprise that they didn’t get much out of it. The reasons are well known: from optional stopping (i.e.,… Continue Reading
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Neurological News from Germany V – the land of the 1st EAN congress 2015: The German Stroke Society
February 1, 2015Following a short history of neurology in Germany given in previous chapters of this series, chapters 5-8 will highlight some of today’s major issues. Here we start with a sketch of the German Stroke Society (Deutsche Schlaganfall-Gesellschaft – DSG). -
The first paper that we like to indicate to the Neuropenews readers is “The paraventricular thalamus controls a central amygdala fear circuit”, published online in Nature on January 19, 2015. The authors are: Mario Penzo, Vincent Robert, Jason Tucciarone, Dimitri De Bundel, Minghui Wang, Linda Van Aelst, Martin Darvas, Luis Parada, Richard Palmiter, Miao He, Z. Josh Huang, and Bo Li. The paper can be obtained online here.
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by Delia Lenzi Retinal basic structures generate a complex neural code at the level of the ganglion cells, which send to the brain information about contrast, luminosity, color, direction of movement and orientation. Two studies published in Nature Neuroscience show… Continue Reading
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After World War II, German neurology had to restart from almost point zero. Even though three “old” neurology chairs at the universities in Hamburg (Heinrich Pette), Heidelberg (Paul Vogel) and Würzburg (Georges Schaltenbrand) still existed or were reinstituted immediately, the process of emancipation of neurology as an independent field had been reversed between 1933 and 1945 (see previous chapters of this series).
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by Srinivasa Raja and Rolf-Detlef Treede The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) declared at the last World Congress on Pain in Buenos Aires that the period, October 2014 to December 2015, would be the Global Year Against… Continue Reading
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The first paper that I would like to point out to Neuropenews readers has attracted my attention because it concerns the impact of a “black-box” warning on the behaviour of a general and/or selected population. The paper has been published on the 30 October issue of the New England J of Medicine, by Richard A. Friedmanm (NEJM, 2014; 371;1666-1668): “Antidepressant’s Black-Box Warning – 10 years later”. The rate or suicidal thinking or suicidal behaviour was 4% in the treated cohort, in comparison to 2% in the placebo arm. Something to think about.
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Science from a Tweet: the lateral amygdala and fear generalization: new insight on the neural mechanisms underlying this process
January 1, 2015by Delia Lenzi Anxiety disorders are characterized by the inability to distinguish dangerous from safe stimuli. Ghosh and Chattarji explain here with a series of elegant experiments how this process is clearly located in the lateral amygdala and how two… Continue Reading -
It is customary for the Editorial Board of Neuropenews to wish all our readers a very Joyful Christmas Holiday and a Healthy and Happy New Year.
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The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) has launched the Global Year Against Neuropathic Pain on 20 October 2014. The Neuropathic Pain Year is intended to last till the end of 2015 (it seems to be a really special year that lasts 15 months!).
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Following a “golden century” that had started with Moritz Heinrich Romberg in 1832 (see the previous chapters of this series) German neurology entered its dark age in 1933. Legislation implemented by the “Nazi“ party banned many Jewish fellow citizens including physicians from their professions and from using their possessions.
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by Deliy Lenzi Almost 150 years ago Carl Wernicke first described a vertical large flat bundle of nerve fibres connecting sub-regions of the visual system. It appeared again in the 1918 edition of Gray’s Anatomy, but eventually fell into obscurity… Continue Reading