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Introduction In 1817, six accounts of cases of a previously unclassified disease reported muscle paralysis, decreased strength, abnormal gaits and resting tremors in patients. Although these symptoms had been noticed centuries prior by accounts in Egypt and India, the observations described in “An Essay On Shaking Palsy” by the Engli...
Abstract Since the beginning of the 1980s, soldiers working in malaria-ridden areas have received drugs for the prevention and treatment of malaria, resulting in serious neurological side effects. Specifically, the anti-malarial drug Mefloquine, and other widely-used treatments in malaria prophylaxis known as quinolines, leads to the poisoning o...
A Moving Discovery In 1908, eminent German neuropsychiatrist Kurt Goldstein saw a patient who complained of involuntary movements of her left hand shortly after suffering from a stroke (Sarva, H., Deik, A., & Severt, W. L., 2014). Goldstein observed the unusual nature of the uncontrollable and repetitive grasping movements made...
Introduction In 1861, eminent French physician Paul Broca discovered the part of the brain that is responsible for speech production. Aptly named Broca’s area, the part of the brain Broca studied came from a patient known as “Tan,” who suffered from aphasia. Tan was unable to produce any meaningful speech by the end of his life...
Introduction In 1861, French physician Prosper Meniere spoke of the main symptoms of a disease that would later be named after him. Characterized by episodes of vertigo, tinnitus, and hearing loss, Meniere’s Disease is a disorder of the inner ear which affects primarily one ear but may later spread to the other. Symptoms of Meniere’s...
Introduction In 1787, English physician John Coakley Lettsom observed a patient with leg paralysis and hyperesthesia. The patient that was described by Lettsom was the first description of symptoms of a disease that would later be known as alcoholic neuropathy. Later on, in 1822, neuropathy was described in alcoholics as well. By the late 1800s,...
Introduction In 1926, an American man was born in Connecticut who would eventually captivate the international medical community for more than half a century and have a legacy that has left a significant mark on today’s understanding of modern neuroscience and human memory. Referred to inconspicuously as simply “H.M.,” Henry Mo...
History of the Disease In the late 19th century, French physician Jean-Baptiste-Edouard Gelineau described the curious case of a wine merchant suffering from short yet pronounced sleep attacks. Observing the merchant’s lifelong drowsiness, Gelineau proposed that the man had neurosis and described his findings in two sci...
Introduction In 2014 an explosive internet trend was started that raised approximately $115 million for scientific research focused on curing a disease. Millions of people viewed celebrities such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg dumping numbingly cold buckets of water on their head and the reactions that followed. Through this simple act, publi...