Anosognosia

Anosognosia -  Real or feigned ignorance of the presence of disease, especially of paralysis.

Dr. Sandra Camelo-Piragua's upcoming atlas will fill a needed niche in the neuropathology literature

I recently received an email from the illustrious neuropathologis at the University of Michigan, Sandra Camelo-Piragua, MD: "I just wanted to let you know about a book I have been working on, in conjunction with two neuropathy colleagues from England, Drs. Kathreena Kurian and Tim Moss. The book is coming out in September of this year.  Atlas of Gross Neuropathology: A Practical Approach has a large collection of gross images covering a wide range of adult and pediatric CNS-related diseases. The aim of this book is to give a visual reference and guide for a variety of gross neuropathologic entities during post-mortem examination. It is geared towards pathologist, neurologists, radiologist, neurosurgeons and related specialties that need to study and examine gross details of neuropathologic entities. We hope this text book becomes a reference book for many."

I'm very much looking forward to purchasing this book when it comes out this fall!

Dr. Sandra Camelo-Piragua

Dr. Kathreena Kurian

Dr. Tim Moss

Dr. Mike Lawlor is recognized for making critical strides in treatment of myotubular myopathy

X-linked myotubular myopathy (XLMTM) is a severe and fatal congenital myopathy for which there is currently no treatment.  As part of an international group of scientists studying treatments for this disease, Dr. Mike Lawlor (the neuropathologist serving Children's Hospital of Wisconsin) was recently featured on Milwaukee's WTMJ 10 o'clock news for his part in the work.  The piece is quite touching. Mike conveys a sense of urgency in finding a cure for this disease because he has gotten to
know several children stricken with XLMTM, and even has pictures of many of the little tikes up on his office wall.  Mike has presented his work on XLMTM at the past several AANP meetings, including trials using myostatin inhibition, targeted enzyme replacement therapy, and gene therapy on animal models of this disease.  The work in this story relates to the gene therapy trial that was recently published in Science Translational Medicine (depicted on the left), for which Mike was the study pathologist. A photomicrograph from the article was even featured on the front page of that prestigious journal.  He is continuing to work on these treatment options in preparation for translation to human clinical trials that will occur over the next few years. Congratulations to Dr. Mike Lawlor for splendidly representing neuropathologists in both the lay media and academic press.

Nobel Laureate Prusiner Tells His Story

Just published by Yale University Press: Stanley Prusiner's new book, Madness and Memory: The Discovery of Prions - A New Biological Principle of Disease, is now available for purchase. Although I am not personally a big fan of Dr. Oliver Sacks's work, his blurb on Prusiner's book is worth reading: “Stanley Prusiner is a brilliant scientist whose boldness and tenacity enabled him, against all odds and despite near-universal skepticism, to discover and prove the importance of a new class of disease-producing agents—prions—a discovery as fundamental as that of bacteria and viruses. Prions, by subverting the brain’s own proteins, may play a crucial role in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurodegenerative diseases—and perhaps afford a clue to their prevention. Madness and Memory is the story of one of the most important discoveries in recent medical history, and it is also a vivid and compelling portrait of a life in science." Special thanks to Dr. Mark Cohen for alerting me to the publication of this new account of a seminal discovery in biological science.

The bookish Dr. Mark Cohen

Patches of Disorganization in the Neocortex of Children with Autism

Abstracts now being accepted for the XVIII International Congress of Neuropathology

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The program for the next International Congress of Neuropathology is now ready and abstract submission is open. The meeting this year will be held in beautiful Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As this meeting only takes place once every four years, it's a valuable opportunity for the world's neuropathology experts to convene. 
The preliminary program looks strong. One example: the illustrious Dr. Beatriz Lopes will discuss pitfalls in diagnosing histoplasmacytic-rich CNS lesions.See you in Rio!