We’d like to welcome all readers to the December issue of World Neurology, the last issue of 2023.
The issue begins with the President’s Column, where WFN President Dr. Grisold provides an overview and recap of the many activities of the World Congress of Neurology (WCN), which recently occurred in Montreal, including the Council of Delegates meeting. Dr. Grisold also updates us on other ongoing initiatives and global activities of the WFN. In an accompanying article, the many WFN activities that were highlighted at the WCN press conference are summarized. Later in the issue, a photo montage from the WCN shows a sampling of the activities from this remarkable and highly attended event.
Three articles in this issue discuss essential medicines for neurological disorders (issues that the WFN is highly involved in), including a global overview of this important issue by Drs P. Brhlikova, R. Walker, N. Fothergill–Misbah, and AM Pollock, a report by Dr. Grisold and Dr. Pochigaeva on the World Health Organization (WHO) meeting on improving access to neurological medicines, and an update on the recently approved disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for multiple sclerosis (MS) on the WHO essential medicines list, by Drs. B. Yamout, T. Kalincik, J. Laurson-Doube, B. Hemmer, and S. Viswanatha.
In another article, Dr. Prince Kazadi, Director of Aslek Epilepsy in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) along with his collaborators, Drs. M. Lubendo, D. Tshiyuk, and N. Kimponto, discuss the activities of their organization with regard to research, staff training, community education, and patient care for patients with epilepsy.
In this month’s history column, Dr. Peter J. Koehler describes the history and theories of speculations about the relation between the function of the brain and its movements. In a second historically based article in the issue, Drs. Domenico Inzitari and Vladimir Hachinski provide their analysis of the possible role of Tourette’s syndrome in a famous figure in Spanish history.
Several regional meetings are also reported in this issue, including the report by Dr. Alex Razumovsky from the WFN’s Neurosonology Specialty Group and his colleagues Dr. K. Potapova, L. Sokolova, D. Andreichenko, and S. Dudukina, who report on workshops in Ukraine that discussed clinical use of transcranial Doppler ultrasonography for patients with various disorders, including its application for wartime traumatic brain injury. Drs. Amir Molaie and David Liebeskind report on the 2023 International Symposium on Thrombolysis/Thrombectomy and Acute Stroke Therapy and the Symposium on Collaterals on the Brain that occurred at the University of California, Los Angeles, and was attended by global experts.
Drs. Satish Khadilkar and Gagandeep Singh announce the recent publication of the second edition of the Indian Academy of Neurology (IAN) Textbook of Neurology, a highly comprehensive and up-to-date two-volume textbook relevant to neurologists worldwide.
Finally, this issue features a heartfelt obituary for Prof. Hany Aref, a remarkable neurologic leader and a wonderful man. Although he is so greatly missed by those many of us who were fortunate enough to know him and to learn from him, his legacy as a leader in neurology and in stroke care in Egypt and worldwide will be long-lasting.
In closing, in this last issue of 2023, we want to wish everyone a wonderful new year and look forward to sharing additional information with you about the WFN and neurology and neurologists around the world in our future issues of World Neurology. •
