The brain in Spain: The legacy of Santiago Ramón y Cajal.

The legacy of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spain's first Nobel laureate neuroscientist recognized as the founding father of modern neuroscience, is to be preserved in a new museum in Madrid: the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN), one of the most important scientific research institutes in the country sciences in the scope of natural sciences of the Spanish National Research Council. For a boy who dreamed of being an artist but started his career apprenticed to first a barber and then a cobbler, Santiago Ramón y Cajal made a distinguished mark in science. One of Cajal's most important contributions to our understanding of the brain was his discovery of the direction of the information flow within neurons and in neural circuits, which he called the "dynamic polarization law," without a doubt the founding principle of neurosciences.

Charting the history of premature birth in France from the 17th century to modern state-of-the art care.

Aim: To describe the concept of preterm birth in the history of medicine in France, from the 17th century up until the end of the 20th century, on the basis of old medical textbooks.

Methods: Historical manuscripts and books held in medical libraries and from our personal collection were examined. Digital copies of medical textbooks online were also studied.

Marian apparitions: A multidisciplinary approach. The case of Île Bouchard.

Discussing Marian apparitions in the light of current knowledge in neuroscience is a challenge: the testimonies are often old and indirect, and the "visionaries" could not be questioned or even examined according to current neurological or psychiatric standards. In doing so, we are not unaware of the heterogeneity of seers and the facts they reported: there is not necessarily a single hypothesis. It is the appearances of Île Bouchard that will be discussed here.

What you feel is not always what you've got. Jean Lhermitte (1877-1959) and the phantom limb phenomenon.

Jean Lhermitte (1877-1959), the French neurologist and psychiatrist, is most often associated with the sign he described in three patients with multiple sclerosis, back in 1927. In 1937, Lhermitte analytically studied a series of 28 amputees experiencing phantom limb sensations further to amputations dating between 1891 and 1934. After having described the main clinical characteristics of this unpublished series, we will detail the ideas advanced by Jean Lhermitte regarding the phenomenon of the phantom limb.

Improving cognition in people with multiple sclerosis: study protocol for a multiarm, randomised, blinded trial of multidomain cognitive rehabilitation using a video-serious game (E-SEP cognition).

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a prevalent neurological disease characterised by disseminated areas of demyelination and atrophy within the central nervous system, inducing cognitive disorders in 45%-65% of persons with MS (PwMS). Neuropsychology and neuroimaging studies provide evidence of the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation interventions, including memory and attention. Recently, serious game therapy (SGT) has been used in rehabilitation to improve cognitive processing speed.

Empathy in medicine: A ritualistic healing function?

Marcel Réja (1873-1957) French alienist evokes in his book « Au pays des miracles » this innumerable people of healers, mystics, empirics, magnetizers, mediums and fantasists. All operating "cures more wonderful than each other". This book questions in a very relevant way the role of the power of the spirit, of healing by the spirit and therefore of suggestion.

125 years of the Wertheim operation. What next?

The Austrian gynecologist Ernst Wertheim (1864-1920) was a pioneer in the surgical treatment of cancer. The principle of Wertheim's hysterectomy was to remove the uterus and the cervix with appropriate parametrium and tissues surrounding the upper vagina and pelvic lymph nodes. However, in the early 2000s, a meta-analysis of randomized trials revealed that radiotherapy and concomitant chemotherapy without surgical removal of the uterus were more effective in the historical treatment of advanced cervical cancer.

Laennecs' mediate auscultation: Child's play.

Before Laennec, respiratory diseases that we recognize today were often confused, because the heart and lung are locked inside the rib cage. Impressed by the autopsies performed by Xavier Bichat (1771-1802), Laennec maintained the importance of the anatomoclinical method. But he indicated in his early 1820s lectures at the Collège de France that the discovery of auscultation was fortuitous and empirical.

First Follow-Up of Cardiac Amyloidosis Treated by Tafamidis, Evaluated by Absolute Quantification in Bone Scintigraphy.

Assessment of absolute myocardial hydroxydimethylene diphosphonate-technetium-99m uptake using standardized uptake value with a single-photon emission computed tomography-computed tomography cadmium zinc telluride camera (Discovery NM/CT 670CZT, GE Healthcare, Chicago, Illinois) in a patient with cardiac transthyretin-related amyloidosis treated with tafamidis showed a decrease in hydroxydimethylene diphosphonate cardiac uptake. This imaging technique should be helpful in monitoring therapy and evaluating prognosis. ().

Treatment discontinuation in multiple sclerosis: The French Web-based survey ALLIANCE.

Background: In multiple sclerosis (MS), treatment discontinuation leads to a higher risk of relapse, poorer quality of life and greater economic impact.

Objective: The objective of this work is to evaluate treatment discontinuation in MS, the reasons for this and the reasons for treatment resumption.

Methods: A French national Web-based survey was carried out between May and August 2011.

Cranberry versus placebo in the prevention of urinary infections in multiple sclerosis: a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial.

Objective: Our aim was to assess the usefulness of cranberry extract in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients suffering from urinary disorders.

Methods: In total, 171 adult MS outpatients with urinary disorders presenting at eight centers were randomized (stratification according to center and use of clean intermittent self-catheterization) to cranberry versus placebo in a 1-year, prospective, double-blind study that was analyzed using a sequential method on an intent-to-treat basis. An independent monitoring board analyzed the results of the analyses each time 40 patients were assessed on the main endpoint.

Low-dose aspirin prevents age-related endothelial dysfunction in a mouse model of physiological aging.

The age-related impairment of endothelium-dependent vasodilatation contributes to increased cardiovascular risk in the elderly. For primary and secondary prevention, aspirin can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events in this patient population. The present work evaluated the effect of low-dose aspirin on age-related endothelial dysfunction in C57B/J6 aging mice and investigated its protective antioxidative effect.