"The books and the night", neurological perspective on Jorge Luis Borges' blindness

The works of Argentinian scholar Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) have captivated physicians. An assiduous reader, he was given, with magnificent irony, "books and the night". Borges suffered from chronic and irreversible blindness, which influenced much of his work and has been the subject of different literary and diagnostic analyses from the ophthalmological point of view. However, the characteristics of his visual impairment have escaped the neurological approach, which is why we reviewed his work looking for data suggesting a concomitant brain injury. On his autobiography, he recounts how, during an episode of septicemia, he suffered hallucinations and loss of speech; in addition, in some poems and essays he describes data that suggest "phantom chromatopsia", a lesion of cortical origin. After that accident, Borges survived with a radical change in literary style. Although a precise diagnosis is impossible, his literary work allows recognizing some elements in favor of concomitant brain involvement.

Síndrome de apnea obstructiva del sueño y su relación con el ictus isquémico / Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and its relationship with ischaemic stroke

Objetivo. Describir los principales mecanismos fisiopatológicos del síndrome de apnea obstructiva del sueño (SAOS) asociados con el desarrollo de ictus. Desarrollo. Los trastornos de la respiración del sueño tienen alta prevalencia en la población sana, entre los que el SAOS es el más reconocido. Este síndrome se ha asociado con enfermedades vasculares como el ictus, la hipertensión arterial y la fibrilación auricular, entre otras. El ictus posee una alta prevalencia mundial y se considera una enfermedad catastrófica. Los mecanismos fisiopatológicos son de gran importancia para comprender la relación que existe entre SAOS e ictus. Ambos trastornos se asocian con cambios moleculares, celulares y del sistema nervioso autónomo, con repercusiones cardiovasculares sistémicas y, en particular, con la salud vascular del cerebro. Conclusiones. La relación del SAOS y el ictus isquémico es evidente. El avance en la identificación de marcadores moleculares y en estudios de bajo coste para la identificación de SAOS permitirá implementar estrategias para reducir sus consecuencias en las enfermedades cardiovasculares, principalmente en el ictus isquémico

Aim. To describe the main physiopathological mechanisms of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) associated with the development of stroke. DEVELOPMENT. Sleep breathing disorders have a high prevalence in the healthy population, among them, the OSAS is the most recognized. This syndrome has been associated with vascular diseases such as stroke, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, among others. Stroke has a high global prevalence and is considered a catastrophic disease. The physiopathological mechanisms are of great importance to understand the relationship that exists between OSAS and stroke. Both diseases are associated with molecular, cellular, and autonomic nervous system changes, with systemic cardiovascular repercussions and in particular with the vascular health of the brain. Conclusions. The relationship between OSAS and ischaemic stroke is evident. The advance in the identification of molecular markers and low-cost studies for the identification of OSAS will allow implementing strategies to reduce their consequences in cardiovascular diseases, mainly in ischaemic stroke