tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54236442011-12-19T01:00:55.127-05:00Discussion of new research and clinical ideas from the world of neurology, the neurosciences, and related areas of medical sciencesstephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233827495782127962noreply@blogger.comBlogger121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423644.post-66775642742221933862011-07-17T15:55:00.002-04:002011-07-17T15:59:22.966-04:00

TREATMENT FOR DEPRESSION MORE ON MEDICATIONS THAT AFFECT THE NERVOUS SYSTEM Following up on the previous posting, I would like to mention a fine article on antidepressants, “In Defense of Antidepressants”, that appeared in the New York Times last Sunday. Here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/opinion/sunday/10antidepressants.html This is a good and thoughtful article and a needed

stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233827495782127962noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423644.post-36358700566738099982011-07-13T13:03:00.000-04:002011-07-13T13:03:37.312-04:00

ONE PATIENT'S VIEW OF ALS Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also called Lou Gerhig’s disease) is an extremely serious condition in which the motor neurons in the spinal cord, brain, and brainstem (which lies between the brain and spinal cord) die. Certain other neurons die as well but the main problem is caused by the gradual death of the motor neurons. This causes the patient to gradually get

stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233827495782127962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423644.post-61007463091684103222011-07-11T13:58:00.002-04:002011-07-11T13:58:56.758-04:00

PROTECTING YOURSELF AGAINST FALSE MEDICAL INFORMATION I am a practicing physician, a medical research scientist, and a medical school teacher and many of my close relatives are physicians and medical scientists as well. But anyone who thinks it is easy for me and my family to make decisions about how various medical conditions should be approached and treated for ourselves and our loved ones

stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233827495782127962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423644.post-11586720608184802162010-02-15T08:48:00.000-05:002010-02-15T08:52:31.867-05:00

NYAM Author Night Series: Superheroes and Superegos Analyzing the Minds Behind the MasksLocation: The New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street, New York, NY 10029Speakers: Sharon Packer, MDThis comprehensive collection of essays written by a practicing psychiatrist shows that superheroes are more about superegos than about bodies and brawn, even though they contain

stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233827495782127962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423644.post-77906502795245043582010-02-13T23:28:00.001-05:002010-02-13T23:40:15.658-05:00

The tragedy in Alabama.As a "Harvard trained" (partially, at least) neuroscientist, I feel a peculiar connectedness to the recent tragic triple murder in Huntsville Alabama which allegedly has been perpetrated by a "Harvard trained neuroscientist" as she is now commonly called in the media. There is even another connection. A friend of mine with whom I have co-authored one paper is also a

stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233827495782127962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423644.post-75559430437249171572010-02-10T08:26:00.002-05:002010-02-10T08:33:46.711-05:00

Finally---Good News About Aging!This whole dreary business of aging has been getting me down lately. Up to this point the only positive aspect seemed to be the comparison with the alternative. But now I have been cheered up a bit by a study described in Medicne World at http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/older-brains-make-good-use-of-useless-information.html This research shows

stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233827495782127962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423644.post-42065140895525043172009-05-10T22:25:00.000-04:002009-05-10T22:26:14.772-04:00

News from the AAN meeting:For a large number of migraine sufferers (myself included) and neurologists (again, myself included) the development of the triptans for acute migraine was something of a miracle. But there are some migraines (and some migraineurs) that are not helped by these wonder drugs. That's why it is so encouraging that there are some fundamentally different medications coming

stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233827495782127962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423644.post-65445055722916922882009-05-04T22:31:00.001-04:002009-05-04T22:33:06.008-04:00

News from the AAN meeting: Headaches in Veterans returning from Iraq and AfghanistanI treat a lot of Veterans at the VA, and I have been struck by the remarkable number of them who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with headaches. In most cases these are headaches that they never had before deployment. In the patients I commonly see, the cause seems to be exposure to a blast. The blast

stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233827495782127962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423644.post-25544504264787840922009-04-25T09:18:00.002-04:002009-04-25T09:21:51.194-04:00

Just a quick post, almost a Tweet (but I'm not into "Twittering" at the moment) to mention that I am off to the American Academy of Neurology Meetings. They are in Seattle this year. Though I have been doing some research on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) I did not write up an abstract this year. There is a good chance that I will have something instead

stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233827495782127962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423644.post-53567210774109796632009-04-23T22:05:00.004-04:002009-04-30T14:18:01.752-04:00

I am reactivating this blog to coincide with the rejuvenation of my "flagship" webpage, http://www.neurospotlight.com/. Though initially I had hoped to produce a constant flow of in depth analysis of neuroscience research, I did not have the time to make frequent detailed posts. In reactivating this blog, I am going to emphasize medical and scientific information gathering as well as whatever new

stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233827495782127962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423644.post-1152812335507501602006-07-13T13:38:00.001-04:002009-04-23T22:05:17.497-04:00

New Sleep Gene Discovery Wakes Up Scientists: "Proteins that regulate sleep and biological timing in the body work much differently than previously thought, meaning drug makers must change their approach to making drugs for sleep disorders and depression and other timing-related illnesses"

stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233827495782127962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423644.post-1058204433731927492003-07-14T13:40:00.000-04:002010-02-10T23:10:55.579-05:00

What causes the damage in Huntington's Disease? It's humbling that we now have so many disease genes cloned but still so little knowledge of how to use that genetic information to cure or understand many of these diseases. The gene for Huntington's Disease was cloned many years ago. But the gene sequence information has not lead to a cure. At last there is some inkling of how the gene may

stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233827495782127962noreply@blogger.com0