February 14 2012 Issue

1) Absent brainstem reflexes and 2) Topic of the month: Paraneoplastic syndromes in neurology. This podcast for the Neurology Journal begins and closes with Dr. Robert Gross, Editor-in-Chief, briefly discussing highlighted articles from the print issue of Neurology. In the second segment Dr. Ted Burns interviews Dr. Shin Chien Beh about his paper on a 41-year-old comatose man. Dr. Jennifer Fugate is reading our e-Pearl of the week about gait freezing. In the next part of the podcast Dr. Chafic Karam interviews Dr. Josep Dalmau about common central nervous system paraneoplastic disorders. Over the next two weeks, Dr. Karam will interview Dr. Dalmau about other paraneoplastic syndromes in neurology. The participants had nothing to disclose except Drs. Burns, Fugate, Karam and Dalmau.Dr. Burns serves as Podcast Editor for Neurology®; performs EMG studies in his neuromuscular practice (30% effort); and has received research support from the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America and Knopp Neurosciences Inc..Dr. Fugate serves on the editorial team for the Neurology® Resident and Fellow Section. Dr. Karam serves on the editorial team for the Neurology® Resident and Fellow Section.Dr. Dalmau serves on the editorial board of Neurology®; receives royalties from the editorial board of Up-To-Date; has filed a patent application for the use of LGI1 as a diagnostic test; has received royalties from Athena Diagnostics, Inc. for a patent re: Ma2 autoantibody test and has patents pending re: NMDA and GABAB receptor autoantibody tests (license fee payments received from EUROIMMUN AG); and receives research support from funding from EUROIMMUN AG, the NIH/NCI, and a McKnight Neuroscience of Brain Disorders award.