JNNP Podcast

The human response to threat requires comprehensive change in the network properties of the brain, with the whole organ affected. Alan Carson, JNNP associate editor, asks Guillén Fernández, director of the Donders Center for Neuroscience, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, about his work investigating the effects of stressors on brain structure and function. This podcast was recorded at t...

In the last JNNP podcast of 2012, we look at what jelly beans and the Andalucian mountains have done for neurology and psychiatry. Alan Emery, emeritus professor, Green Temple College, University of Oxford, describes studying the family that led him to delineate Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy. And Jason Warren and Rohani Omar, UCL Institute of Neurology, talk about what their study into flavour...

This month, Mark Richardson, professor of epilepsy, Kings College London, relates his vision for the future of epilepsy research (1.07). Alexander Leff, consultant neurologist, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, discusses his online tool for diagnosing and providing treatment for hemianopia, the visual impairment which can follow stroke or brain injury (14.07). And mea...

This month, we explore the latest research on treating multiple sclerosis with cannabis extract. Editor Matthew Kiernan speaks to John Zajicek, professor of Clinical Neuroscience, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, UK. (0.54) Received wisdom is that if you are disabled shortly after a head injury, you are not going to see this improve. However Tom McMillan, professor of Clinical Neuropsy...

The Queen Square brain bank was set up by Andrew Lees, and whilst there he co-authored two of JNNP’s most highly cited papers – one on the importance of Lewy bodies in Parkinson’s, and the other on the accuracy of clinical diagnosis of the disease. Now director of the Reta Lila Weston Institute of Neurological studies, University College London, he discusses the changing relationship between patho...

In 1974 Oliver Sacks was hiking through a remote part of Norway when he suffered a nasty injury to one leg. Although he managed to get to help and was successfully operated on, he struggled to relearn to walk and felt alienated from the limb. Jon Stone (consultant neurologist in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Edinburgh) explains why from Sacks’s writing he thinks this was...

Derick Wade (professor and consultant in neurological rehabilitation at the Oxford Centre for Enablement) and Nick Ward (JNNP associate editor and reader in clinical neurology at UCL) discuss the past, present and future of measuring and predicting recovery after stroke. And poor effort, exaggeration and malingering can be used to explain why individuals post-concussion report persistent symptoms...

Despite current standard care for glioblastoma being aggressive, mean survival is around 14 months. Clark Chen (director of Clinical Neuro-oncology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston) argues we need a better understanding of the therapeutic concepts that have evolved over the past three decades to develop treatment, and in a JNNP article this month he lays out seven of these key ideas....

This month, editor Matthew Kiernan discusses new guidelines for recognising central nervous system neuronal surface antibody associated symptoms with Angela Vincent (emeritus professor of neuroimmunology at Oxford University). Danielle Cath (psychiatrist at Altrecht Academic Anxiety Outpatients Clinics, Utrecht University) explains what her review of the relationship between obsessive compulsive d...

This month Beau Bruce (assistant professor of ophthalmology and neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta) discusses what we do and don’t know about idiopathic intracranial hypertension, and offers some clinical advice on the syndrome for neurologists. And Charles Bolton (professor in the Department of Medicine, Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada) talks us through his investigations...

In April’s podcast, we put a spotlight on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. Maxime Bertoux, a neuropsychologist at Paris-Sorbonne University, discusses the problem of misdiagnosis of the behavioural variant of FTD, and how he’s shown the Social Cognition and Emotional Assessment is a more powerful tool than others in use (20.50). And Martin Turner, consultant neurologist a...

This issue we look at short-term outcomes used to assess multiple sclerosis treatments, and their power to predict long-term disability, with Douglas Goodin (professor of clinical neurology, University of California, San Francisco). We return to the association between cerebral amyloid angiopathy and intracerebral haemorrhage, as Neshika Samarasekera (Division of Clinical Neurosciences, University...

This month, cerebral amyloid angiopathy. David Werring (Stroke Research Group, UCL Institute of Neurology and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery) discusses the importance of detecting it, especially as he feels it is under-recognised by physicians. What impact does a healthy lifestyle have on mortality following stroke? Amytis Towfighi (Division of Stroke and Critical Care, Depar...

In this first podcast of 2012 editor Matthew Kiernan talks about JNNP’s new impact commentaries - a series which will explore influential papers from the journal. A paper by Simon Wessely (King’s College London) comparing postviral fatigue with that of neuromuscular and affective disorders is the first covered, and he and Matthew discuss this seminal research. Also, Jon Stone (University of Edinbu...

This month we discuss the issue of diagnosing delirium in older hospital patients. Despite being linked to a range of poor outcomes, the syndrome is often missed and evidence on its measurement is sparse. Professor Alasdair MacLullich tells us how a device he’s designed with colleagues at the University of Edinburgh, which tests for delirium’s attentional deficits, can benefit clinicians and resea...

In this edition Richard Kanaan (Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London) talks about his work on conversion disorder, and gives his advice for neurologists and psychiatrists on making this tricky diagnosis. And Vicki Goodwin (Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Exeter) discusses her trial on whether an exercise intervention could prevent falls in those with Parkinson’...

Current treatments for Parkinson’s ameliorate the core, motor symptoms. However as we look for therapies to modify the underlying course of the disease there’s a need to better understand its development. Jonathan Evans, from the Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, UK, explains what his work has revealed, and how it can progress treatment. And the latest evidence in the deb...

Movement disorders following head trauma are well recognised, but we know much less about those occuring after a peripheral injury. Diana van Rooijen, Leiden Medical Center, the Netherlands, tells us what her review on this group of conditions reveals (0.58). Clinicians are used to seeing ALS patients who are or have been athletic. So is there a link, and if so, could exercise have a direct effect...

Intravenous thrombolysis is the only curative treatment for acute ischaemic stroke, but is only licensed for patients up to 80 years old. Dr Paul Guyler, Southend Hospital NHS Trust, UK, discusses the evidence for outcomes in those over this limit, and whether or not doctors should treat off-licence. Also in this July edition, Dr Alan Carson, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK, on his researc...

Dizziness can significantly complicate peoples’ lives, especially if it does not have a satisfactory medical explanation. We talk to Dr Gabriele Schmid of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Technical University of Munich, Germany, about how psychotherapy might be beneficial for these patients. Also in this month’s podcast, Professor Ammar Al-Chalabi of King’s College Londo...

Recent clinical, neuropsychological, imaging, genetic and pathological developments have changed our understanding of frontotemporal dementia, its classification and criteria. Dr Jonathan Rohrer, Dementia Research Centre, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, talks about these advances and future research directions. Also in this edition, Dr Shaun O’Keeffe, Merlin Park University Hospital, Dublin, e...

This month Robert Wilson, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, USA, on how dementia affects our knowledge of words, and the neuropathology which underlies this. Also, the use of deep brain stimulation to treat Parkinson’s disease. Tom Foltynie describes the image guided, rather than microelectrode guided, technique used at the National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK, and th...

It’s been known for years that the prevalence of MS increases the further you go from the equator, but not why. Roisin Lonergan, from St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland, describes her investigations into a genetic factor and vitamin D levels, and if they can help explain this. Also Quinton Deeley, from the Institute of Psychiatry at London’s King’s College, UK, talks about hysteria...

This month Harriet Vickers (BMJ’s multimedia intern), talks to Solveig Glad about how long patients with benign multiple sclerosis stay in work, and what could help them hold down jobs. Also Colette Donaghy explains how examining eye movements in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis could help with diagnosis, and tell us more about the pathophysiology of the disease. See also: How long can you keep worki...

In this month’s podcast Dr Amal Al Sayegh tells us about psychological therapies for treatment of post-concussion syndrome, and Dr Serena Hung describes patient’s perceptions of dyskinesia in Parkinson’s disease. See also: Psychological approaches to treatment of postconcussion syndrome: a systematic review http://tinyurl.com/bgcfkcl Patient perception of dyskinesia in Parkinson’s disease http://t...