Inherited neuropathies are a genetically and phenotypically heterogenous group of disorders leading to sensory and motor dysfunction. For years, these neuropathies have been considered as ...non-treatable diseases, as no drug is able to induce nerve regrowth. Progress in molecular tools has changed this view and several neuropathies can now be efficiently treated. Some more will be treatable in the upcoming years. Basically, these new treatments can be divided into four categories, depending on the target: gene therapy; gene expression therapy; protein modification or replacement (enzyme replacement therapy, ERT); downstream therapies. In this short review, we will provide a few examples for each of them in the field of peripheral neuropathies.
Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) was one of the most important storytellers of all times. We analysed some unpublished handwritten letters of Maupassant and provide, from a neuro-psychiatrical point of ...view, a new medical hypothesis.
Peduncular hallucinosis (PH) is a rare clinical syndrome with dream-like visual hallucinations intruding normal consciousness. It was initially reported in a 72-year-old woman by Jean Lhermitte in ...1992. We uncovered the medical file of this patient with handwritten notes by Lhermitte and commented on it in the light of neurological knowledge that was common at that time. All along his career, Lhermitte has always been fascinated by consciousness disturbances, dreams and hallucinations. He had here the brilliant intuition of linking PH to awareness mechanisms located in the mesencephalic area. This PH case represented a good opportunity to him to emphasize the close relationships between neurology and psychiatry.
The name of the French neurologist and psychiatrist Jean Lhermitte (1877-1959) is most often associated with the sign he described back in 1927 in three patients with multiple sclerosis. We are ...reporting unpublished handwritten notes by Jean Lhermitte about 'demonic possession', which date from the 1950s. Drawing from his experiences in neuropsychiatry, Lhermitte gathered notable case reviews as well as individual case histories. For him, cases of demonic possession are of a psychiatric nature with social background exerting a strong influence. Like Freud did earlier, Lhermitte believes that the majority of those possessed people have been subjected to sexual trauma with scruples, often linked to religion. Demonic possession cases were not so rare in the 1950s but their number has nowadays declined substantially with the development of modern psychiatry.
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