"3 . . 2 . . 1 . . Impact [factor]: target [academic career] destroyed!": just another statistical casualty.

"Publish or perish" is the time-honored "principle" for academicians who race to accumulate lines under the "publications" section of a curriculum vitae. The original intent of publication-to inform others of findings and further scientific knowledge-has been corrupted by factors including (1) exponential growth of journals and the journal industry, fueled in part by intrusion of the Internet into all aspects of academic life; and (2) adoption of journal metrics (rather than written content) as the measure of scientific quality. The proprietary Thomson Reuters Impact Factor is the most pernicious metric, having caused editors and publishers to change editorial practices to boost the number.

Long survival following bacterial meningitis-associated brain destruction.

This report describes the brain autopsy of a boy who at age 4(1/2) years experienced an episode of fulminant Haemophilus influenzae type b bacterial meningitis, resulting in massive brain destruction and the clinical signs of brain death. However, medical intervention maintained him for an additional two decades. Subsequent autopsy revealed a calcified intracranial spherical structure weighing 750 g and consisting of a calcified shell containing grumous material and cystic spaces with no recognizable neural elements grossly or microscopically.