The Neurology Minute® podcast delivers a brief daily summary of what you need to know in the field of neurology, the latest science focused on the brain, and timely topics explored by leading neurologists and neuroscientists. From the American Academy of Neurology and hosted by Stacey Clardy, MD, PhD, FAAN, with contributions by experts from the Neurology® journals, Neurology Today®, Continuum®, and more.
A normal neurological examination does not exclude meaningful morbidity after paediatric Ebola virus disease. Ask directly about limb weakness, faecal incontinence, mobility, vision and understanding speech, and use disability or executive function assessment because important long-term deficits may sit outside a standard examination.
A normal basic micronutrient screen does not exclude deficiency when the neurological phenotype is strong. In suspected functional malabsorption, start with iron indices, ferritin, vitamin D and B12, then add copper for myelopathy or sensory ataxia, thiamine for encephalopathy, and vitamin E when fat malabsorption dominates.
Chronic wasting disease counselling should be precautionary, not falsely reassuring. No confirmed human cases are demonstrated, but patients who hunt or process venison should be advised to test harvested animals where available and avoid meat or high-risk tissues from ill or positive cervids.
Hearing aid counselling in older adults should stay precise: the reported association is a possible reduction in dementia risk over seven years, not prevention. The revision point is to link hearing impairment management with cognition while avoiding claims that overstate the evidence.
Emerging migraine therapy is moving beyond CGRP, but trial signals still need disciplined interpretation. A useful bedside lesson is to document cranial autonomic symptoms and prior CGRP response carefully, because new peptide targets may help selected patients without yet replacing established treatments.
Refractory migraine is not simply frequent headache. Confirm migraine rather than another diagnosis, document burden and monthly migraine days, and remember treatment only counts as failed if benefit stays below 50%, adverse effects are intolerable, or the drug is contraindicated.
Temporary telehealth extensions are not a safe continuity plan. In neurology, delayed follow-up and prior-authorisation barriers should be treated as patient safety problems, so clinicians need to identify when reimbursement or legislation, not disease complexity, is driving missed reviews and fragmented care.
Multiple sclerosis care becomes inequitable early if women are offered lower-intensity disease-modifying therapy or slower escalation. Apply the same disease-activity thresholds regardless of sex, and when treatment pauses for pregnancy, document a restart date and early follow-up so high-efficacy therapy is not delayed without reason.
The pitfall is waiting for very frequent attacks before offering prevention. Open this for a concise update on anti-CGRP evidence, mood comorbidity, children with disabling migraine, and why preventive therapy may be reasonable even when the attack count still looks modest.
Migraine prevention should be discussed when headache disrupts work, school or family life, even if attacks are not frequent. A practical takeaway is to stop escalating acute medication alone and to use current guidance when considering earlier anti-CGRP or other preventive therapy.
.svg)