Defining neurological disease is less objective than often assumed. Simon Shorvon considers how confusion between symptoms and disease, shifting criteria, unstable classifications, and complex aetiology can undermine the medical model. tinyurl.com/5n8anfsc

Although new Alzheimer's disease therapies reduce amyloid plaques, they have not led to major clinical improvements. Pini et al. suggest that changes in brain connectivity may offer a more sensitive and biologically meaningful marker of disease modification. tinyurl.com/32975se3

Thalamic highways as a bridge to neuromodulation New scientific commentary by David Burdette, Bahram Sarvi Zargar & Paul Ferrari tinyurl.com/bdhh28dn

White matter changes in Alzheimer's disease: contributor, consequence or co-pathology? New scientific commentary by Julia Neitzel tinyurl.com/3x5ezsrc

December's issue of Brain is now online! academic.oup.com/brain/issue/...

One third of stroke survivors experience vision loss. Raffin et al. present a non-invasive brain stimulation technique targeting visual pathways and show that it improves perception and expands visual fields. tinyurl.com/yhppvzkv

De Marchi et al. used FDG-PET and machine learning to examine neuropsychological and metabolic differences across the ALS-FTD spectrum, revealing distinct cognitive profiles and patterns of brain hypometabolism.

Koch et al. review motor skill learning and sensorimotor adaptation after stroke, highlighting ways in which lesion location, recovery stage, and individual differences affect learning, and offering recommendations for future research.

Weisman et al. critically examine the claim that pain can exist purely in the mind, without any physical trigger in the body, arguing instead that nociception is necessary – but not sufficient – for pain. tinyurl.com/yw88waba

To commemorate the bicentenary of Jean-Martin Charcot's life. Without him Neurology would be a different speciality. @uclqsion.bsky.social @brain1878.bsky.social @masudhusain.bsky.social academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

Cortical cerebral microinfarcts spark cognitive decline New scientific commentary by Gemma Solé-Guardia, Anil Tuladhar & Frank-Erik de Leeuw: tinyurl.com/nhrr7fek

Are you familiar with immunoglobulin G’s pathophysiological role in fibromyalgia? Check out Israel et al.’s article in @brain1878.bsky.social, and Allan Basbaum’s comment on his view of this paper to find out! bit.ly/47B1fii #PRF

Choo et al. show that damage to the medial temporal lobe – particularly the hippocampus – reduces the precision of memory for fine visual details, underscoring the role of this region in maintaining the fidelity of visual working memory representations. tinyurl.com/t2jxztz7

November's issue of Brain is now online! academic.oup.com/brain/issue/...

Mukherjee et al. review how ageing affects remyelination in MS. While most studies suggest remyelination capacity decreases with age, findings are sometimes inconsistent, and remyelination remains possible at any age. tinyurl.com/c2ynpfrj

Togo et al. show strong electrophysiological links between the hippocampus and both the anterior and posterior thalamus, along with robust connections between thalamic subregions. tinyurl.com/5c6n23xj

Kollenburg et al. review the molecular mechanisms and regional activity patterns underlying headache disorders including migraine, cluster headache, and paroxysmal hemicrania. tinyurl.com/46aafjxu

The current environment is making it near impossible to run clinical trials in the UK. One key issue discussed in @brain1878.bsky.social is the duplication - or worse - of regulatory oversight at NHS hospitals & universities. My views on how to change the system academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

Pruckner et al. show that the structural effects of neurosurgery extend beyond the resected tissue into connected networks through transneuronal degeneration. They were able to reliably predict these changes from preoperative MRI. tinyurl.com/a6rxvbey

New issue of Brain now online! tinyurl.com/mwxp6x24

Avalos-Alais et al. present a high-resolution probabilistic map of bidirectional effective connectivity between the human lateral PFC and widespread cortical and subcortical regions, based on analysis of intracranial evoked potentials. tinyurl.com/br7htec9

Mongay-Ochoa et al. review advanced methods for mapping brain connections and identify common topographical patterns of pathology spread across different neurological disorders, including MS, AD and PD. tinyurl.com/3sz8ayup

Research into mental imagery often relies on Hume’s view of visual imagination as weak perception. Arcangeli & Bartolomeo argue that Sartre’s alternative framework – supported by recent findings on aphantasia – offers a more conceptually robust approach. tinyurl.com/n2k3md9e

Pansieri et al. argue that bureaucracy is suffocating research, as an ever increasing admin burden consumes researchers’ time and diverts focus from discovery to compliance. tinyurl.com/ybv5e9ft

Using tau PET and post-mortem data from individuals with five clinical variants of AD, de Bruin et al. show that tau progression follows the brain’s intrinsic functional connectivity architecture, originating from local epicentres. tinyurl.com/bdfprjcn

Excited to see our paper on the CD5 signalling pathway in Th17 cells and its role in #MultipleSclerosis out in @brain1878.bsky.social today. Thanks to everyone involved in this great team work! @neurologymainz.bsky.social @toszkabohn.bsky.social #ImmunoSky academic.oup.com/brain/advanc...

September's issue of Brain is now online! academic.oup.com/brain/issue/...

Abreaction was once a common treatment for functional neurological disorder (FND) but has since fallen out of use. Norman Poole argues that abreaction is compatible with many findings from modern neuroscience, and should be tested as a treatment for FND. tinyurl.com/fcjpywx2

Super stoked to share our paper just out in Brain @brain1878.bsky.social LoF variants in DENND2B give rise to an autosomal dominant neurodevelopmental condition characterized by developmental delay, intellectual disability, and episodes of psychosis and/or catatonia. tinyurl.com/4k8hr3bj

From signal to senescence: IFNγ drives muscle atrophy in myositis New scientific commentary by Werner Stenzel et al. tinyurl.com/33hwhd8f

Arena et al. show that a history of TBI or repetitive head impacts from contact sports is associated with widespread tau pathology within glial cells, beyond that of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. tinyurl.com/h658b3f2

August's issue of Brain is now online! academic.oup.com/brain/issue/...

Yogeshwar et al. present clinical and MRI data from 127 patients with anti-IgLON5 disease. They show brain atrophy patterns that closely mirror sites of autoantibody binding and tau accumulation, with the location of atrophy linked to specific symptoms. tinyurl.com/3u4ufv2z

Peruzzotti-Jametti et al. examine the remyelination potential of mouse- and human-derived directly induced neural stem cell (iNSC) grafts, and show that iNSCs can differentiate into mature oligodendrocytes and remyelinate axons in demyelinated lesions. tinyurl.com/3a2auah5

Disentangling epilepsy and dementia: more to do, together New scientific commentary by Arjune Sen tinyurl.com/mr44jt9b

I’m delighted to share my editorial for the July issue @brain1878.bsky.social academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

Benninger & Goldberg argue that early surgery for lesional focal epilepsy should be considered even before the emergence of drug resistance. tinyurl.com/3b7msy45

Medial temporal lobe structural changes when Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease collide New scientific commentary by Laura Wisse and Renaud La Joie tinyurl.com/345u5r3w

The converging paths to hippocampal sclerosis of ageing: insights from LATE-NC and vascular disease New scientific commentary by Ryan Coburn and Hugo Botha tinyurl.com/3ffhrkm7

Kazazian et al. review the use of neuroimaging in disorders of consciousness, detailing key methods (fMRI, EEG, PET) and imaging paradigms that can be used to improve diagnosis and prognosis. tinyurl.com/bddyanm4

In a NEW STUDY, researchers Chaitali Anand, Justin Torok,, Ashish Raj, et al. at UCSF reveal how genes influence where & how #Alzheimers - related tau protein spreads in the brain. Learn More @brain1878.bsky.social academic.oup.com/brain/advanc...

Benninger & Goldberg argue that early surgery for lesional focal epilepsy should be considered even before the emergence of drug resistance. tinyurl.com/3b7msy45

Proelss et al. describe the mapping of human genital representations by electrical stimulation of somatosensory cortex. Males but not females report genital sensations in response to stimulation of the postcentral gyrus. tinyurl.com/2xptrtfs

Moschovaki-Filippidou et al. show that an exon skipping morpholino targeting Dnm2 splicing reduces intact Dmn2 mRNA and protein levels in muscle, and restores muscle force, in a centronuclear myopathy mouse model. tinyurl.com/3hth9csf

Graham et al. used biomarkers to investigate the effects of TBI in mid-life former elite rugby players. Compared to unexposed controls, these individuals showed elevated plasma p-tau217 levels and reduced volumes in frontal and anterior cingulate cortex. tinyurl.com/j8emw6d3

Pathogenic variants in CLCN3 and CLCN4—which encode the 2Cl-/H+ exchangers ClC-3 and ClC-4—cause rare neurodevelopmental disorders. Qi et al. show that ClC-3/ClC-4 regulate neuronal excitability and firing patterns by fine-tuning Kv7/KCNQ channel density. tinyurl.com/2tbpdevh

July's issue of Brain is now online! academic.oup.com/brain/issue/...

TDP-43 aggregates play a key role in nerve cell loss in ALS and FTD. Ervilha Pereira et al. highlight new genetic data showing that TDP-43 also plays a role in muscle function and disease. tinyurl.com/2uy95axn

Sun et al. generate a transcriptomic map of the developing human leptomeninges by analysing more than 27 000 single-cell transcriptomes from tissues spanning different fetal stages. tinyurl.com/3z7cj7pc

Bellanti et al. have developed an ultrasensitive assay for periaxin, a biomarker of peripheral nerve demyelination. When used alongside existing tests, the assay has the potential to improve the clinical management of peripheral neuropathy. tinyurl.com/4rbwjh67