[Two kinds of apoplexy in the Colonial press].

In 1787, three Colonial physicians quoted from Le Clerc (1726-1798) in the Gazeta de México. The French author lists six specific cases where bloodletting is often fatal, including two kinds of apoplexy: the serous and the lacteal. Both conditions are nowadays unknown to the majority of specialists in clinical neurology, and we therefore conducted an historical review of these conditions.

[On Alexander's pneumothorax: A critical appraisal].

According to the testimony of Ptolemy, which we know through Arrian, it has been assumed that Alexander the Great suffered a pneumothorax during his campaign against the Malli. In general, this assumption has been interpreted as a historical fact in medical literature. We consulted the same sources and concluded that it is unlikely that Alexander's arrow wound had given him a pneumothorax.

[Neurological contribution of Manuel Acuña].

José María Barceló de Villagrán (1819-1872) was the first Professor of Topographic Anatomy in Mexico. The Mexican poet Manuel Acuña (1849-1873) was among his students. After the death of his mentor, Acuña wrote a monograph entitled“Topographic Anatomy.

[Myasthenia gravis in adults of institutions pertaining to the Mexican public health system: an analysis of hospital discharges during 2010].

Introduction: Epidemiological studies on myasthenia gravis (MG) in Mexico is mainly derived from experiences in referral centers.

Objective: To describe the epidemiological characteristics of hospital discharges during 2010 with the diagnosis of MG in adults hospitalized in the Mexican public health system.

Methods: We consulted the database of hospital discharges during 2010 of the National Health Information System (Ministry of Health, IMSS, IMSS oportunidades, ISSSTE, PEMEX, and the Ministry of Defense).

[The cardiovagal, cardiosympathetic and vasosympathetic arterial baroreflexes and the neural control of short-term blood pressure].

Introduction: The factors that control the blood pressure are punctually regulated to keep it in reference values. These are maintained through autoregulatory mechanisms, humoral, nervous and endothelial-related. The humoral mechanisms are complex and modify the long-term blood pressure, in the other hand, the neurogenic mechanisms, are reflexive and can be observed in beat-to-beat changes of blood pressure.

[Mortality associated with a diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults of Mexican health institutions].

Introduction: Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a neurological emergency representing the main cause of flaccid paralysis around the world, affecting all age groups. Little is known about the essential epidemiology of GBS in most Latin American countries.

Aim: To determine the mortality associated with the diagnosis of GBS in hospital discharges during 2010 in hospitals of the Ministry of Health, Mexico.

[Validation of the ice pack test in ophthalmoparesis due to myasthenia gravis].

Introduction: Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease of the neuromuscular junction that presents clinically as fluctuating weakness of skeletal muscles, as of the ocular region (myasthenia ocular).

Aim: To demonstrate that the sensitivity and specificity of the ice pack test are high, in the differential diagnosis of palpebral ptosis and ophthalmoparesis for myasthenia gravis and myasthenia ocular.

Subjects And Methods: Observational, analytical, and non-randomized study of 43 subjects, 21 with myasthenia gravis and 22 controls.

[Baroreflex behavior in patients with vasovagal syncope during active standing].

INTRODUCTION. Neurally-mediated syncope, also known as vasovagal syncope, is defined as sudden and transient loss of consciousness due to a sudden and deep fall in arterial pressure. AIM.

[Peredo's Inferno: a Mexican physician-translator in the XIX century].

Manuel Peredo (1830-1890) participated fully in Mexico's national literary circles during the second half of the 19th century. Besides being recognized for his translation of Basch's Memories of Mexico, Peredo also translated the first tercets of Inferno's Canto XXXIII. Although forgotten today, his contribution is significant since it is the second Mexican translation of Dante, and particularly, the first Mexican translation of Canto XXXIII.

[Vagotonía. The medical thesis of Salvador Zubirán].

Salvador Zubirán submitted his thesis for his MD degree in 1923. This thesis falls within the context of the new Mexican physiological medicine and denotes the visionary character of its author. Zubirán appears here as the introducer in Mexico of the physiopharmacological approach in autonomic nervous system disorders.

[The Emperor's physician before and after the Empire].

S. Basch (1837-1905) succeeded F. Semeleder as personal physician to the Mexican emperor.