"paper"

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.

he number of patients with neurological diseases will rapidly increase in Europe during the next 50 years. For some of the neurological diseases even a doubling of the numbers of patients is expected. Therefore more neurologists are needed. One of the most important tasks of the EAN is to support all attempts to increase the attractiveness of neurology as a profession and to improve teaching for students, trainees and residents in our field.

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.

The first paper that I would like to point out to Neuropenews readers has attracted my attention because it concerns a very general therapeutical and social problem, that is the costs of drugs, and the choice between a “brand” drug and its “generic” counterpart. It is a “perspective” paper, published on the 13 November issue of the New England J of Medicine, by Jonathan D. Alpers, William M. Stauffer & Aaron S. Kesselheim ( NEJM, 2014; 371;1859-1862) : “High-Cost Generic Drugs – Implications for Patients and Policymakers”. This paper refers mainly to USA and FDA problems and initiatives. However, I feel deeply in my gut that these problems will pretty soon affect European countries too.

The Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine for 2014 has been awarded to three neuroscientists; John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser.  They have received the prize for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain. May-Britt and Edvard Moser is a young, married couple from Trondheim, Norway, that during the last decade has published a series of Science and Nature papers on the grid cells in the entorhinal cortex of the brain. They show how the brain creates a map of the space surrounding us and how we can navigate through a complex environment by using these cells.

Gian Luigi Lenzi (GLL): As Chair of the Liaison Committee, can you illustrate the role you give to EAN within the community of European neurologists? David Vodušek (DV): We Europeans have become accustomed to “European institutions”. Although – related to… Continue Reading

The first paper that I would like to point out to Neuropenews readers has been published in a very “peripheral” Journal, such as Missouri Medicine, at least in respect to European Neurology. However, the paper “Beta blocker eye drops for treatment of acute migraine”, by Migliazzo CV, and JC Hagan, Missouri Medicine, 111, 2014, 283-288 has been highly “tagged” by neurologists. Seven cases of acute migraine patients, successfully treated with beta blocker eye drops are reported.

The Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award is one of the most important medical awards and goes this year to Mahlong R. Delong, Atlanta, USA and Alim Benabid, Grenoble, France for the ‘development of deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS), a surgical technique that reduces tremors and restores motor function in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease’.

Website: http://www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/news_and_events/events/2014/04/event_detail_000932.jsp&mid=WC0b01ac058004d5c3 The Agency is organising this workshop following the public-consultation exercise on its concept paper on the need for revision of the guideline on medicinal products for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. The aim of the… Continue Reading

The first paper that I would like to point out to Neuropenews readers was published as a “Perspective” in the September issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) by Michael S. Okun, with the title “Deep-brain stimulation – Entering the era of human network modulation”, on the occasion of the Lasker-Debakey Clinical Medical Research Award that in 2014 was given to “…two pioneers in deep-brain stimulation (DBS): Alim-Louis Benabid, a neurosurgeon, and Mahlon DeLong, a neurologist”.

by Delia Lenzi The emotional value of memories is known to be malleable and this property has been successfully used in clinical settings to treat maladaptive behaviors. By applying optogenetic manipulations, Susumu Tonegawa and colleagues, in a very interesting paper,… Continue Reading

Gian Luigi Lenzi (GLL): As Secretary General to EAN, can you illustrate the role you give to EAN within the community of European Neurologists? Didier Leys (DL): The EAN is a society of both individual members and national societies. This… Continue Reading

The first paper that I would like to point out to the Neuropenews readers has been published on the prestigious PNAS (Tang-Schomer et al; Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 10.1073/pnas.1324214111.(2014), and it is reporting about a model of the six-layer human cortical brain tissue. Biological models as well as computer models (see Lancet Neurology, August 2014) look like very “hot spots” in the neuroscience panorama.

The EAN is a young Society and our purpose is to promote ‘Excellence in Neurology in Europe’.  This task has many facets and one of them is to engage more people in the Society. This process is presently underway.

The couple of papers that I would like to point out to our readers are strictly related, and their relevance stream out of the fact that at least 1 person is diagnosed every minute with neurodegenerative dementia ( mainly Alzheimer’s disease, but FTD and Lewy Body Disease as well), but scientists have not yet found a cure for both the disease itself and/or its symptoms progression.