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There is news from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc. Effective January 1, 1999, Harold P. Adams, Jr., MD, replaced Burton A. Sandok, MD, as a Neurology Director. Dr. Adams is Professor and Chairman of the Division of Cerebrovascular Diseases at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA. He will hold this office for a 4-year term. FIGURE
Dr. Harold P. Adams, Jr.
The Association of University Professors of Neurology recently announced its 1998–2000 officers. Jerry R. Mendell, MD, Chair of Neurology at the Ohio State University, is President. Dr. Mendell succeeds B. Troost, MD, Chair of Neurology at Wake Forest University. William Mobley, MD, Chair of Neurology at Stanford, is first Vice-President, and Hans Otto Lüders, MD, Chair of Neurology at the Cleveland Clinic, is second Vice-President. These officers began their appointments in October 1998 and will serve until October 2000. James Ferendelli, MD, Secretary–Treasurer, continues his 4-year term until October 2000.
Dr. Allan Ropper was named Chair of Neurology at Tufts University School of Medicine as of August 15, 1998. This neurology program encompasses the New England Medical Center, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, and the Lahey Clinic. He also retains his chairmanship at St. Elizabeth’s. Dr. Ropper’s areas of interest include neurologic intensive care, coma, and Guillain-Barré syndrome. He is currently coauthoring Principles of Neurology with Drs. Ray Adams and Maurice Victor. FIGURE
Dr. Allan Ropper
Douglas J. Lanska, MD, MS, MSPH, was appointed Chief of Staff at the Tomah VA Medical Center, Great Lakes Health System in Tomah, WI. This appointment was official July 1, 1998. Prior to this, he was Professor of Neurology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Lanska’s areas of interest include geriatric neurology and dementia. FIGURE
Dr. Douglas Lanska
People
Professor Noshir H. Wadia FIGURE is one of the pioneers and leading figures of neurology in India. He received his medical training at the University of Bombay and then trained as a registrar in neurology with Lord Brain in England. When he returned to India, Dr. Wadia was given full responsibility for all patients with neurologic diseases. He then became Professor and Head of Neurology at Bombay. Dr. Wadia worked to form a neurologic organization in India, and, in more recent years, to help establish certification in the specialty. This is particularly noteworthy because with a population of over 900 million, there are fewer than 1,000 certified neurologists in India.
Dr. Noshir Wadia
Dr. Wadia notes that clinical neurology is still not a particularly popular specialty in the country. India does not have the number of researchers trained to do the basic science work in the specialty, although the government is now providing more equipment and training so this may change. In an overall look at research in the country, neurology and the neurologic sciences have been designated as a high priority area in the medical field. He also noted that academic salaries are quite low, forcing most specialty trainees to go into clinical practice, usually in the large cities. Also, the brain drain has been responsible for some of the slow progress; over 50 of Dr. Wadia’s trainees are now in the United States and Canada.
Until recently, most of the neurologic textbooks and research papers covered neurology in whites—mostly European and American patients—and ignored diseases occurring in other races and other parts of the world. For example, in India, when a brain tumor is detected, tuberculoma is listed as a probable cause. When an older patient presents with seizures, parasitic infestation is a common etiology.
Dr. Wadia describes his own research as pencil and paper, since advanced technology was not available early in his career. This has not detracted from many excellent observations on several disease states, especially his classic contributions in the area of spinocerebellar disease.
It is particularly gratifying that the molecular defect of the disease he reported years ago has now been discovered. Dr. Wadia’s leadership has advanced and will continue to advance the field of neurology in his country.
Comments
Hughlings Jackson used the term “recurring utterances” for those frequently voiced words or phrases noted in patients with aphasia. He believed they were overlearned fragments of language without much information content, such as swearing. We have all seen instances of this. However, these are not confined to the disease state. I first noted this in my teenagers, although that may be a disease state, who constantly interlarded “you know” into their stream of conversation. It was not endemic to my household, but epidemic in the population, and particularly prevalent in highly paid professional athletes during postgame interviews. My corrective measure—constantly pointing out that if I knew, why continue the conversation?—has not been successful.
Another recurring utterance is what I call le mot du jour. A common and particularly annoying example is “in terms of.” In a recent presentation, I heard an expert in education start out with, “Education in terms of learning . . . ” In this short talk, he used this execrable concatenation 18 times by my count. Incidentally, I also time sermons.
This all leads up to the following letter from Dr. Richard Senelick of San Antonio, TX. It was submitted as a letter to the editor in Neurology, but was not published as it did not refer to a previous article. The Editor turned it over to me. I present it without comment, but with silent applause for the author.
All that’s robust isn’t seminal
To the Editor: Over the years, I have enjoyed purchasing selected audio tapes from the annual Academy courses. Although I may tune out at times when traffic gets particularly hectic or the lecture unusually boring, I was struck this year by what could have been mistaken for a subliminal message or an old vinyl recording stuck in a bad scratch.
But, just as hypoglycemia was the disease of the 1960s and chronic fatigue syndrome that of the 1990s, we now have a generation of lecturers and authors addicted to the words “robust” and “seminal.” If for a moment you interpret this as the musings of a curmudgeon, go ahead and listen to the tapes yourself.
A number of years ago Dr. Daroff did Neurology a great service by listing in the front of the journal the craft of using the English language succinctly. I would suggest restricting the use of “robust” to a fine wine or a middle-aged man in the first 6 months of his second marriage. Likewise, “seminal” should be solely tied to vesicles and may be used in the same sentence with robust when referring to the soon to be exhausted gentleman in the prior sentence. Enough already!
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