EBC confirms it will go ahead with the Year of the Brain in 2014 but withdraws from the institutionally led process. EBC communicated at length with European Commission President Barroso, his team and the different Directorate Generals over the last… Continue Reading

Abstract: Objective: Mutations in the FUS gene on chromosome 16 have been recently discovered as a cause of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS). This study determined the frequency and identities of FUS gene mutations in a cohort of Italian patients… Continue Reading

Luca Pani is Director General of the Italian Medicines Agency. Paolo Siviero is Head of the Department of Economic Strategy and Pharmaceutical policy – Italian Medicines Agency.

by Markus Gschwind The patient was a 51-year-old car mechanic, without any previous illness apart from untreated arterial hypertension. One morning, on waking very early to go to work, he felt a strange dizziness. During breakfast he fell asleep twice… Continue Reading

The Challenge Neuropathy in Parkinson disease: prevelance and determinants
Abstract:
Objective: To ascertain the prevalence and determinants of neuropathy in patients with Parkinson disease (PD), in particular, the roles of vitamin B12 and levodopa exposure.
Methods: We performed a cross-sectional… Continue Reading

Dear Colleagues, In these hard times of budget restrictions, competition for funding is increasing. The committees designated for funding allocation are asked to evaluate ideas, proposals, projects and their feasibility. Questions such as “Personal experience of the Applicant” or “Scientific… Continue Reading

This is the first page of a monthly series. A President needs a strong team. We have an excellent Management Committee and dedicated office staff. In addition to ad hoc email communication and occasional teleconferences we meet twice a year - once at our annual congress and once at our Head Office in Vienna. We held our spring meeting on Saturday March 3rd in Vienna when a long agenda kept us out of the spring sunshine. The agenda covered the activities of each of our liaison, training and education and scientific committees, finance and future plans. The following are of special interest:

The EFNS Guideline Production Group has been working for almost 2 years. It consists of Magdalena Keindl a biostatistician, Julia Scheidl from the EFNS Head Office and myself as the chair of the EFNS Scientific Committee.

The tradition of the EFNS grants within the “Department to Department” programme will continue also in 2012. We are aware of the tremendous help the hosting departments give their guests. This often implies convenient accommodations, help with visa issuing, help… Continue Reading

It is a great pleasure to introduce the recipients of the EFNS Fellowship 2012 (in alphabetical order): Scientific Fellowship: Olena Fartushna from Ukraine was selected for her project: cerebral ischaemia measured using MRI spectroscopy (cerebral ischaemia study) which she will… Continue Reading

The EFNS Administration has again been audited on March 21, 2012

Norwegian Neuroscience Prize 2011 The Norwegian Pfizer Neuroscience prize for 2011 was awarded to Kjell Arne Arntzen for his oral presentation: “Carotid plaque progression predicts lower cognitive test results in a stroke-free population. The Tromsø Study”. The presentation was given… Continue Reading

Abstract: Background: Diabetic neuropathy is a common complication in diabetes, with patients typically experiencing diverse sensory symptoms including dysesthesias in the feet and usually accompanied by sleep disturbance. There is still no comprehensive understanding of the underlying biologic processes responsible… Continue Reading

Pietro Cortelli is Professor of Neurology in Bologna, Italy and President of the European Federation of Autonomic Societies

by Jan Dörr and Ilka Kleffner We here present a 26-year-old woman who referred herself to our neuroimmunological outpatient department after recurrent episodes of encephalopathy, visual dysfunction, and hearing loss. The presentation of this case was first published in Nature… Continue Reading