Brain Pathology's “Under your Microscope” Now Underway

This just in from today's guest blogger Dr. Rachael Vaubel:

Brain Pathology “Under your Microscope” is finally up and running! For anyone unfamiliar, this series is a new Case Image series, which took the place of the Case of the Month.

This new series presents unusual and interesting “unknown” cases that we come across in daily practice with differential diagnoses and teaching points. The case history is presented along with digital microscopy files allowing the readers to take a first look at the whole scanned slides as they would appear under their microscope. It is a fantastic educational resource for trainees and practicing pathologists. The first cases are published and are available on the Brain Pathology website. The cases are searchable by their diagnosis / author / or other keyword and over time the digital files will provide an archive of clinical teaching cases.

As before, Under your Microscope encourages the submission of cases from the entire spectrum of neurological disease, including diagnostic challenges, rare clinical entities, cases with classic pathognomonic findings. Please, note: for anyone interested in submitting a case, the submission process for “Under your Microscope” has changed. Cases are now submitted using the same system as other articles for Brain Pathology.

There is no charge for the publications of Under your Microscope cases. If you had an accepted case prior to 2020, which remains unpublished, please contact Caterina Giannini (Giannini.Caterina@mayo.edu).

Brain Pathology and the International Society of Neuropathology have established Twitter accounts

For readers wanting updates on the latest developments in neuropathology via social media, I recommend two Twitter accounts:

Brian Pathology

International Society of Neuropathology (ISN)

Among recent tweets were a link to a minisymposium on the molecular pathogenesis of prion diseases (Brain Pathology) and the latest news about the upcoming AANP meeting (ISN).

Werner Paulus launches freeneuropathology.org

Prof. Dr. Werner Paulus

Dr. Werner Paulus of the University of Munster, Germany, recently wrote in to share news of an exciting venture he and his colleagues have just launched:

"After editing Acta Neuropathologica for 14 years and after founding and editing Acta Neuropathologica Communications for 5 years, I have stepped down by the end of 2018 as editor of these two journals. A few weeks ago, together with colleagues from around the world, I have launched freeneuropathology.org . This is not just another neuropath journal, it´s a new type of publishing model without publisher. The “trick” is that scientists undertake the classical job of the publisher such as copyediting, layout, promotion, maintenance of the website etc. This makes the journal more efficient and more flexible, and it makes more fun because we can design the journal as we like and do not have to follow the business-driven interests of commercial publishers. It´s entirely free for readers and for authors (diamond open access). It´s from neuropathologists for neuropathologists, based on enthusiasm and voluntariness. We are very excited about this new approach and think that this might be the future of publishing in general, not only in the field of neuropathology. If you are interested, you can find more background information on the journal website and in the inaugural editorial: https://www.uni-muenster.de/Ejournals/index.php/fnp/article/view/2610/2480"

Best Post of September, 2019: A new neuroscience educational channel debuts on YouTube

The next in our "Best of the Month" series is from Tuesday, September 24, 2019:

Phedias Diamandis

Dr. Phedias Diamandis of the University of Toronto shared with me a new YouTube channel -- called NeuroscIQ --  which he and his colleagues have developed. This neuroscience educational initiative, according to Dr. Diamandis, is designed "to discuss relevant everyday neuroscience theory and pathways for early trainees". Right now, there is some neuropathology on the channel, but there's more to come. This channel adds to the excellent neuroscience and neuropathology content that is now on YouTube. We are approaching a day when live lectures to our residents and medical students will become an anachronism. Why not let trainees watch these excellent online presentations before meeting, and then spend your time together interactively discussing the material presented on YouTube? Thank you, Dr, Diamandis!

Best Post of August 2019: Dr. Fausto Rodriguez lectures on pineal tumors live on Pathcast

The next in our "Best of the Month" series is from Monday, August 26, 2019:

Topic: Tumors of the Pineal Region Presented by Fausto Rodriguez, M.D., Associate Professor of Pathology, JHUSOM This seminar can be accessed live through the following links at 8 AM on Tuesdsay: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/394929204645050/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVxosS9hPP3ikMQXAE9Pamw/videos Website: http://pathologycast.com/ For any questions please contact the creators of PathCast, Dr. Rifat Mannan or Dr. Emelio Mardrigal at pathologycast@gmail.com To learn more about this and other educational activities from the Department of Pathology visit: http://pathology.jhu.edu/department/training/clinicians.cfm   This hour-long PathCast seminar presented by Dr. Fausto Rodriguez will be broadcast live on both Facebook and YouTube. Live chat will be available for you to discuss the presentation with Dr. Rodriguez during the seminar. The PathCast will be archived after the live session at: http://pathology.jhu.edu/department/training/clinicians.cfm

A new neuroscience educational channel debuts on YouTube

Phedias Diamandis

Dr. Phedias Diamandis of the University of Toronto shared with me a new YouTube channel -- called NeuroscIQ --  which he and his colleagues have developed. This neuroscience educational initiative, according to Dr. Diamandis, is designed "to discuss relevant everyday neuroscience theory and pathways for early trainees". Right now, there is some neuropathology on the channel, but there's more to come. This channel adds to the excellent neuroscience and neuropathology content that is now on YouTube. We are approaching a day when live lectures to our residents and medical students will become an anachronism. Why not let trainees watch these excellent online presentations before meeting, and then spend your time together interactively discussing the material presented on YouTube? Thank you, Dr, Diamandis!

Dr. Craig Horbinski to deliver webinar entitled "Understanding Molecular Characteristics of Tumors and Implications for Treatment" on September 16

The Society for Neuro-Oncology is initiating a series of webinars as part of it online education effort. To kick off our new webinar series, Dr. Craig Horbinski from Northwestern Medicine/Feinberg School of Medicine will present "Understanding Molecular Characteristics of Tumors and Implications for Treatment" on Monday, September 16, 2019 at 10:00am Central.

Craig Horbinski, MD, PhD

Register for the webinar by clicking here.

Learning objectives

• Explain the importance of advanced molecular testing in the workup of brain tumors • Interpret the results of next-generation sequencing when applied to brain tumors • List the assays, and specific molecular targets, currently recommended for the workup of brain tumors • Discuss the future of methylation profiling on the workup of brain tumors • Allied Health professionals can use the information in educating patients

Target Audience

Allied health professionals, nurses, social workers and therapists in the field of brain tumor research.

Registration

Registration is free but limited to the first 500 participants. All SNO webinars will be recorded. If you are unable to participate live, it will be available to view in SNO’s Online Education Center.

Dr. Fausto Rodriguez lectures on pineal tumors live tomorrow on Pathcast

Tuesday, August 27 - 8 AM EST Topic: Tumors of the Pineal Region Presented by Fausto Rodriguez, M.D., Associate Professor of Pathology, JHUSOM This seminar can be accessed live through the following links at 8 AM on Tuesdsay: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/394929204645050/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVxosS9hPP3ikMQXAE9Pamw/videos Website: http://pathologycast.com/ For any questions please contact the creators of PathCast, Dr. Rifat Mannan or Dr. Emelio Mardrigal at pathologycast@gmail.com To learn more about this and other educational activities from the Department of Pathology visit: http://pathology.jhu.edu/department/training/clinicians.cfm   This hour-long PathCast seminar presented by Dr. Fausto Rodriguez will be broadcast live on both Facebook and YouTube. Live chat will be available for you to discuss the presentation with Dr. Rodriguez during the seminar. The PathCast will be archived after the live session at: http://pathology.jhu.edu/department/training/clinicians.cfm

Best Post of February 2019: Dr. Fausto Rodriguez presents on the topic of tumefactive pseudoneoplasms on PathCast

The next in our "Best of the Month" series comes from Thursday, February 28, 2019:

Here's a link to the whole PathCast series on YouTube. Great lectures from prominent pathologists -- completely free! Dr. Rodriguez has another lecture uploaded on the site, and Dr. Arie Perry has two.

Live PathCast Tomorrow: Rodriguez on Meningomas

Tuesday, April 30th - 8 AM EST Topic: Meningiomas Presented by Fausto Rodriguez, M.D., Associate Professor of Pathology, JHUSOM

This seminar can be accessed live through the following links at 8 AM on Tuesdsay: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/355454475302665/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVxosS9hPP3ikMQXAE9Pamw/videos Website: http://pathologycast.com/

Dr. Fausto Rodriguez presents on the topic of tumefactive pseudoneoplasms on PathCast

Here's a link to the whole PathCast series on YouTube. Great lectures from prominent pathologists -- completely free! Dr. Rodriguez has another lecture uploaded on the site, and Dr. Arie Perry has two.

Dr. Fausto Rodriguez to deliver live online presentation this Wednesday

Wednesday, November 14th  - 8 AM EST Topic: Surgical Neuropathology Pearls: Sellar Lesions Presented by Fausto Rodriguez, MD, Associate Professor of Pathology, JHUSOM This seminar can be accessed live through the following links at 8 AM on Wednesday: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pathCast/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVxosS9hPP3ikMQXAE9Pamw Website: http://pathologycast.com/ This hour-long PathCast seminar presented by Dr. Fausto Rodriguez will be broadcast live on both Facebook and YouTube. Live chat will be available for you to discuss the presentation with Dr. Rodriguez during the seminar. The PathCast will be archived after the live session at: http://pathology.jhu.edu/department/training/clinicians.cfm

New Channel on YouTube: Adventures in Neuropathology

There's a new channel on YouTube called Adventures in Neuropathology. The intended audience appears to be medical students or beginning residents. The channel offers brief reviews of individual topics in bite-size chunks. It looks as though the channel just got underway, with fifteen short videos having been posted with the past two months.

Hyperbrain: a great resource for learning neuroanatomy

HyperBrain is an online tutorial for human neuroanatomy from the University of Utah.  HyperBrain includes thousand of images and hundreds of linked illustrated glossary terms, as well as movies, quizzes and interactive animations.

Understanding Neurophobia Among Medical and Other Health Care Students

Andre Toulouse, PhD, (University College,
Cork, Ireland) lead author on
article about neurophobia

Neurophobia, a trepidation among students in health-related fields when it comes to neuroanatomy, is a real thing and has been studied by several researchers in medical education. A recent paper by an Irish group appearing in Anatomical Sciences Education, entitled "Understanding neurophobia: reasons behind impaired understanding and learning of neuroanatomy in cross-disciplinary healthcare students", examines this phenomenon further. The authors write: "Neuroanatomy is perceived as a more difficult subject compared to other anatomy topics (e.g., reproductive/pelvic anatomy)...[U]nderstanding of neuroanatomy could be enhanced and neurophobia decreased by purposefully designed computer aided learning resources. This data could help curricular designers to refocus attention and guide educators to develop improved neuroanatomy web resources in future." Interestingly, when students were surveyed about what they would find most helpful in online neuroanatomy learning, blog posts were perceived as likely to be least helpful, while photographs of brain prosections and computer animations were perceived to be the most helpful.

Reference: Javaid MA, Chakraborty S, Cryan JF, Schellekens H, Toulouse A. Understanding neurophobia: reasons behind impaired understanding and learning of neuroanatomy in cross-disciplinary healthcare students. Anat Sci Educ 11:81-93 (2018).

Johns Hopkins Atlas of Surgical Neuropathology now available on iTunes

Dr. Eberhart

Dr. Rodriquez

Surgical neuropathology is the focus of volume 3 in the Johns Hopkins Atlases of Pathology. This app was released on March 3, 2017 for iPad download for only $4.99 .  Authors Charles Eberhart and Fausto Rodriquez introduce us to the next generation in surgical neuropathology reference with a variety of educational features, updates to the 2016 WHO grading system system for CNS tumors, algorithms for the evaluation of diffuse gliomas, and practice quizzes. Congratulations to Drs. Eberhart and Rodriguez on the creation of a magnificent product!

Neuroscience Online, the Open-Access Neuroscience Electronic Textbook

This online, interactive courseware for the study of neuroscience is worth bookmarking. It's provided by McGovern Medical School at UTHealth in Houston. The project is under the direction of Neurobiology and Anatomy Chair John H. Byrne, PhD.

John H. Byrne, PhD.