Transatlantic Crossings: Early neurological exchanges between USA and France.

Transnational exchanges have existed for centuries, with both economic and cultural effects. At the end of the 18th century, in the aftermath of the French Revolution, medical education in France underwent radical innovations, prefiguring the training system now almost universally accepted. This paper presents 19th and early 20th century neurology-related exchanges between the United States (US) and Europe, particularly, Paris, which had become a major medical center and where many US neurologists were trained. We discuss some of the intense neurology-related exchanges between the USA and Europe, notably the role of US neurology founders William Alexander Hammond, Silas Weir Mitchell, Edward Seguin as well as Mauritius-born Charles Edouard Brown-Séquard and a few others. We emphasize the mutual benefits that resulted from such exchanges. In later years, the trend reversed with many foreigners, particularly Europeans coming to improve their knowledge in the US. More recently, a shared pattern of travel and enrichment is occurring despite current threats caused by isolationism and undue stress on local identity.

Object decision and multiple sclerosis: a preliminary study.

The aim of this research was to study cognitive dysfunctions in multiple sclerosis (MS) by exploring subtle cognitive tasks, usually not included in the standard neuropsychological assessment. We wished to investigate whether it is possible to identify object decision deficits in MS patients without evident cognitive impairment; secondary objectives were to understand whether these deficits can be detected in the early stages of the disease and whether there are differences related to different phenotypes. Participants were divided into four groups: (a) 12 patients with early relapsing-remitting MS [ERR]; (b) 14 with late relapsing-remitting MS [LRR]; (c) 10 with secondary progressive MS [SP]; (d) 36 healthy controls [HCs]. All participants performed a series of experimental tasks: an object decision task (recognition of chimeric and real figures) and naming and visual discrimination tasks. Our results suggest that object decision disorders are detectable in patients without overt cognitive impairments and that performances on these tasks are related to phenotypes. On the other hand, the Chimeric Figures task is not appropriate for identifying cognitive dysfunctions in early MS.