In Huntington’s disease the striatum takes a big hit early. This has prompted trials of foetal stratal transplantation, in the hope that this may provide some relief to patients.

Stevan Wing, specialist neurology registrar at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, and researcher, University of Cambridge, speaks to Professor Roger Barker, John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, about his experience of leading a transplant trial with the NEST-UK consortium.

See also:
The long-term safety and efficacy of bilateral transplantation of human fetal striatal tissue in patients with mild to moderate Huntington’s disease

This month Connie Marras, assistant professor of neurology, University of Toronto, talks us through her review of Parkinson’s disease subtypes.

What definitions do we have so far, what could they tell us about the condition, and how can we get them incorporated into research more?

See also:
Parkinson’s disease subtypes: lost in translation?

In this special edition of the podcast, JNNP associate editor Nick Ward looks into some of the latest research into stroke.

Tracking cognitive function in those recovering from stroke in routine. Owen White, associate professor, Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, describes how assessing ocular motor deficits is a sensitive way of doing this. Furthermore, he describes the computerised programme he’s come up with to treat these, and why he believes doing so will lead to improvement in both sensory and motor areas.

Tatu Kauranen has also been looking into assessing cognitive function, and discusses the value of this in predicting return to work after stroke.

And Peter Rothwell explains why it’s safe and effective to treat those who’ve had an acute minor stroke as outpatients.

See also:
Stroke: mechanisms, stratification and implementation
Ischaemic stroke: the ocular motor system as a sensitive marker for motor and cognitive recovery
Could saccadic function be a useful marker of stroke recovery?
The severity of cognitive deficits predicts return to work after a first-ever ischaemic stroke
Return to work after stroke: the role of cognitive deficits
Feasibility, safety and cost of outpatient management of acute minor ischaemic stroke: a population-based study
Is the outpatient management of acute minor stroke feasible and safe?
The JNNP stroke special edition
Follow Nick Ward’s lab at UCL on Twitter

The problem of those with Parkinson’s disease becoming addicted to dopamine replacement therapy is well know, but it’s also now emerging that some patients have trouble coming of dopamine agonists.

Margarita Pondal, from the Movement Disorders Centre, University of Toronto, talks us through her study looking at the prevalence of the syndrome, and the patients who are most likely to be affected.

See also:
Clinical features of dopamine agonist withdrawal syndrome in a movement disorders clinic
Dopamine agonist withdrawal syndrome (DAWS): perils of flicking the dopamine ‘switch’

Neil Greenberg, academic psychiatrist, Kings College London, who’s served in the armed forces for more than 20 years, argued in his JNNP-sponsored keynote at BNPA that we understand many of the issues in military mental health, and that the neuropsychiatric element is relatively small. Alan Carson, JNNP associate editor, talks to him about the impact of being in the military on mental health beyond PTSD.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

Cognitive impairment in those with epilepsy is common. Adam Zeman, professor of cognitive and behavioural neurology, University of Exeter, ask Christoph Helmstaedter, associate professor for clinical neuropsychology, the University Clinic of Epileptology in Bonn, about the association, including the effects antiepileptic drugs can have on cognition.

Further resources:
Helmstaedter C, Witt JA. Clinical neuropsychology in epilepsy: theoretical and practical issues. Handb Clin Neurol. 2012;107:437-59.
Neuropsychology in the Care of People with Epilepsy, in the Progress in Epileptic Disorders Series. John Libbey, 2011.

Christoph Helmstaedter spoke on this topic at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

Robin Carhart-Harris, post-doctoral researcher, Division of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, explains his hypothesis on the shared neurobiology of psychosis, psychedelic states and spontaneous spiritual experiences to Peter Halligan, professor in the School of Psychology, Cardiff University.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

What relevance does consciousness have for our understanding of mental conditions? Geraint Rees, deputy head of the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences, tells Peter Halligan, professor in the School of Psychology, Cardiff University, about his work in the area.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

There is a complex relationship between epilepsy, depression, and anxiety disorders. Adam Zeman, professor of cognitive and behavioural neurology, University of Exeter, discusses the associations and what they mean for practice with Andres Kanner, director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, University of Miami.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

How epileptic seizures start is unclear. Mark Richardson, professor of epilepsy, Institute of Psychiatry, is working on elucidating this question using computational models. He talks Markus Reuber, professor of clinical neurology, University of Sheffield, through his research.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

For more on Professor Richardson’s work on brain models in epilepsy, listen to his previous, recently recorded JNNP podcast.

Markus Reuber, professor of clinical neurology, University of Sheffield, discusses the different cellular mechanisms which allow seizures in epilepsy to happen, and how this understanding could lead to disease modification with John Jefferys, professor of neuroscience, University of Birmingham.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

Tim Nicholson, academic clinical lecturer, Institute of Psychiatry, gives Hugh Rickards, consultant in neuropsychiatry, University of Birmingham, an update on autoimmune mechanisms and encephalitis. Dr Nicholson covers where we are with understanding and treating paediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS), and also NMDA-receptor encephalitis.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

Eileen Joyce, professor in neuropsychiatry at the Institute of Neurology, gives Hugh Rickards, consultant in neuropsychiatry, University of Birmingham, an update on the use of deep brain stimulation to treat mental disorders, particularly OCD.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

Selma Aybek, clinician researcher, Service of Neurology, University of Lausanne, has been examining the process which allows psychological stressors to become physical symptoms in conversion disorder. Chris Butler, academic clinical lecturer in neurology, University of Oxford, asks her what she’s found.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

Cliodhna Carroll, along with colleagues at the University of Cambridge, has shown that children who’ve had a posterior fossa tumour have a lower IQ than matched controls. She talks Chris Butler, academic clinical lecturer in neurology, University of Oxford, through the research and its implications.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

Chris Butler, academic clinical lecturer in neurology, University of Oxford, talks to Rebecca Cleary, research assistant, Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuro-imaging, UCL, about her research investigating whether the neural substrate in those with depression or anxiety is the same as in those with one of these disorders and also temporal lobe epilepsy.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

David Skuse, professor in the Behavioural Sciences Unit, Institute of Child Health, talks to Jeremy Hall, professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of Cardiff, about his work investigating the link between childhood stress and borderline personality disorder.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

Alan Carson, JNNP associate editor, talks to Neil Harrison, consultant neuropsychiatrist and head of psychoneuroimmunology, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, about what we currently know about inflammation in mental disorders. Dr Harrison also discusses the potential of anti-inflammatories to treat depression.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

David Skuse, professor in the Behavioural Sciences Unit, Institute of Child Health, asks Chris Brewin, professor of clinical psychology, UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences, about the different forms of PTSD experience, the cognitive processes involved, and how understanding these could inform psychological therapies for the condition.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.

The human response to threat requires comprehensive change in the network properties of the brain, with the whole organ affected. Alan Carson, JNNP associate editor, asks Guillén Fernández, director of the Donders Center for Neuroscience, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, about his work investigating the effects of stressors on brain structure and function.

This podcast was recorded at the British NeuroPsychiatry Association’s 2013 AGM. For more information on the association and next year’s meeting, see their website.