JNNP Podcast

Do your kids play rugby? Risks for rugby union players from repeated concussions

Associate Editor of JNNP Alan Carson interviews Tom McMillan, Professor at the Institute for Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, UK, about the paper "Long Term Health Outcomes after Exposure to Repeated Concussion in Elite Level Rugby Union Players".
Despite a high number of concussions in retired male Scottish international rugby players, the researchers didn’t find differences in mental health, social or work functioning late after injury.
However, subtle group differences were detected on two cognitive tests. Listen to this podcast for full details.
You can access this article here: http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/early/2016/10/05/jnnp-2016-314279.full.

Genetics and the clinical course of multiple sclerosis

Professor Bruce Taylor and Elizabeth Highton discuss how certain genetic risk variants may predict the clinical course and progression of Multiple Sclerosis.
This podcast relates to the Patient Choice paper published in the JNNP November 2016 issue and is accessible here: http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/87/11/1204.full.

Is it time to focus on the common pathways linking neurodegenerative diseases?

Dr. Rebekah Ahmed talks about her recent JNNP review: Neuronal network disintegration and the common pathways linking neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr. Ahmed and colleagues critically evaluate a new approach to neurodegenerative disease, a focus on phenotypic presentation opposed to syndromic diagnosis. Via collaborative efforts, should we be looking at the commonalities between the neurodegenerative diseases?
Read the full article here: http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/early/2016/05/12/jnnp-2014-308350.full.

October 2016 Edition: long-term outcomes after stroke; hereditary and inflammatory neuropathies

In this JNNP podcast, Elizabeth Highton speaks with Dr. Siobhan Crichton and Dr. Benjamin Bray about their study looking at patient outcomes up to 15 years after stroke.
Read their full paper here: http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/early/2016/07/22/jnnp-2016-313361.full.
She is also joined over Skype by Professor Yusuf Rajabally who discusses his review examining the distinction between hereditary and inflammatory neuropathies and the instances whereby the distinction between the two is less clear.
His report is out in the JNNP and can be read here: http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/early/2016/03/23/jnnp-2015-310835.full.

Selective vulnerability in clinical variants of Alzheimer’s Disease

Elizabeth Highton spoke with Professor Henrik Zetterberg from Sahlgrenska University in Sweden. They discuss his recent JNNP review looking at clinical variants of Alzheimer's Disease and whether selective vulnerability in the nervous system may help explain some of the different phenotypic expressions of the same disease.

Smoking: a negative prognostic for survival in motor neurone disease patients

Elizabeth Highton is joined by Prof. Adriano Chio to talk about his study:
Influence of cigarette smoking on ALS outcome: a population-based study.
His large population-based cohort study of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as motor neurone disease, demonstrated that smoking is linked to their shorter survival and smokers also tended to be younger when the symptoms first appeared.
Read the full article here: http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/early/2016/08/19/jnnp-2016-313793.full.
The press release is available here: http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/suppl/2016/09/20/jnnp-2016-313793.DC1/jnnp-2016-313793supp_Pressrelease.pdf.

Review: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Motor Neuron Syndromes in Asia

In this podcast, Dr Nortina Shahrizaila, a neurologist from the University of Malaya, talks about her review regarding Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and motor neuron syndromes in Asia. She discusses with Elizabeth Highton what is known of ALS in Asia from an epidemiological perspective through to disease characterisation and particular phenotypes which can be seen in Asian patients.
They also discuss the Pan-Asian Consortium for Treatment and Research in ALS (PACTALS), whereby clinicians and researchers across the region have joined in collaborative effort to understand and treat this illness.
Read the full paper here:
http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/87/8/821.full.

Automated brain volumetrics in multiple sclerosis, plus migraine and psychiatric co-morbidities

In this July podcasts, Associate Professor Michael Barnett explains the details of his short report comparing Structural Image Evaluation using Normalisation of Atrophy-Cross Sectional (SIENAX) to Neuroquant and MSmetrix for assessment of cross-sectional Whole Brain Volume (WBV) in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Michael Barnett, from the Sydney Neuroimaging Analysis Centre at the Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, discusses with Elizabeth Highton the potential clinical utility of automated brain volumetrics as a disease monitoring tool in routine clinical practice. The paper, which was selected as Editor's choice for the July issue of JNNP, is available here: http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/87/7/754.full.
The second half of this podcast is about migraine and its psychiatric co-morbidities. Dr Mia. Minen, Director of the Headache Centre at the New York Langone Medical Centre, discusses migraine, a common concern for patients, and the high prevalence of psychiatric co-morbidities associated with migraine. Other topics of this conversation include which psychiatric disorders are associated with migraine, whether a bi-directional relationship exists between migraine and psychiatric co-morbidities and does this ultimately have implication for patient treatment.
Read the full Patient choice paper here: http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/87/7/741.full.

Coffee consumption and multiple sclerosis

Can coffee impact on the health of neurons? And what are the effects of its consumption on the risk of developing multiple sclerosis?
These are some of the questions Dr Ellen Mowry answers in this podcast. She is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and one of the authors of the study, “High consumption of coffee is associated with decreased multiple sclerosis risk; results from two independent studies”, which was selected as Patient choice article for the May issue of JNNP. Full article available here: http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/early/2016/02/03/jnnp-2015-312176.full.
Read also the Editorial: http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/87/5/453.extract.
This podcast is conducted by Elizabeth Highton, who highlights another research paper of this issue: ‘Risk factors for predicting progression from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies’. Read the full Editor’s choice paper here:jnnp.bmj.com/content/87/5/476.full.

June Edition: Parkinson’s disease and the rate of ALS progression

In this podcast, Elizabeth Highton investigates the details of two studies selected for the June 2016 edition of JNNP.
Professor Steve Vucic, from the Department of Neurology at Westmead Hospital, Sydney, talks about the details of his study, which concludes that the rate of ALS progression appears to be a simple and sensitive clinical prognostic biomarker in the disease that could be potentially utilised in clinical practice and future therapeutic trials.
The paper “Rate of Disease Progression: A Prognostic Biomarker in ALS”, which was selected as Patient choice this month, can be read here: http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/87/6/628.full .
Dr Helen Ling, Senior Research Associate at UCL Institute of Neurology in London, explains the correlations of the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease with the phenomenon of SWEDD.
Read the full study selected for Editor’s Choice, “Parkinson’s disease without nigral degeneration: a pathological correlate of scans without evidence of dopaminergic deficit (SWEDD)?” here: http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/87/6/633.full.