June 11 2013

1) Guideline update: Evaluation and management of concussion in sports and 2) Topic of the month: AAN Plenary Sessions. This podcast for the Neurology Journal begins and closes with Dr. Robert Gross, Editor-in-Chief, briefly discussing highlighted articles from the print issue of Neurology. In the second segment Dr. Howard Goodkin interviews Christopher Giza about this guideline update on evaluation and management of concussion in sports. Dr. Adam Numis is reading our e-Pearl of the week about anti -MuSK antibody myasthenia gravis. In the next part of the podcast Dr. Alberto Espay interviews Dr. Merit Cudkowicz about her plenary session on ALS pathways to treatments. The participants had nothing to disclose except Drs. Goodkin, Giza, Numis, Espay and Cudkowicz.Dr. Goodkin serves as an editorial board member of Neurology and Surgical Neurology International; receives royalties from Up-to-Date for co-authorship of The Choking Game and other strangulation activities in children and adolescents; receives research support from the NIH.Dr. Giza serves on the data safety monitoring board for LAbiomed Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center; is a consult for NHL Player's Association; serves on the speakers' bureau for the Medical Education Speakers Network; receives royalties from the publication of the book Neurological Differential Diagnosis: A prioritized approach; received funding for travel to Major League Soccer Concussion Committee meeting, California State Athletic Commission Meetings and NCAA meeting; receives research funding from NIH, UCLA faculty grants, Thrasher Research Foundation, NFL Charities, Today's and Tomorrow's Children Fund, Richie's Fund and NCAA, and gave expert testimony on several mediocolegal cases.Dr. Numis serves on the editorial team for the Neurology® Resident and Fellow Section. Dr. Espay is supported by the K23 career development award (NIMH, 1K23MH092735); has received grant support from CleveMed/Great Lakes Neurotechnologies, Davis Phinney Foundation, and Michael J Fox Foundation; is a consultant for Chelsea Therapeutics; serves on the scientific advisory boards for Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Abbott (now Abbie), Chelsea Therapeutics, TEVA Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, Impax Pharmaceuticals, Merz Pharmaceuticals, LLC, Solstice Neurosciences, and Eli Lilly and Company, USWorldMeds; serves as Assistant Editor of Movement Disorders and on the editorial boards of The European Neurological Journal and Frontiers in Movement Disorders; serves on the speakers' bureaus of Novartis, UCB, TEVA Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, American Academy of Neurology, Movement Disorder Society and receives royalties from Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins and Cambridge University Press.Dr. Cudkowicz is a consultant for TEVA Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Cytokinetics, Biogen Idec; receives research support from Muscular Dystrophy Association, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association, American Telemedicine Association and the NIH.