Personality traits of users can affect the success in controlling brain–computer interfaces (BCIs), and the activity of right and left brain structures may differ depending on personality traits. Earlier, it was not known, how the success of BCI control with different personality traits is associated with interhemispheric asymmetry. In this work, the dependence of the success of imagination of movements, estimated by the success of recognition of EEG signals during imagination of hand movements compared to rest state, on the user’s personal characteristics was studied. It is shown that in single control of BCI by naive subjects, recognition success in imagining right-hand (RH) movements was higher in expressive sensitive extroverts, and in imagining left-hand movements (LH) it was higher in practical, reserved, skeptical, and not very sociable persons. It is suggested that this phenomenon may be based on interhemispheric differences in dopamine level and in the way of encoding movement information.

Promethazine, a common antiemetic, can cause severe tissue injury with intravenous (IV) injection. Dihydroergotamine (DHE), commonly used for the acute treatment of migraine, can cause arterial vasoconstriction. We report a rare complication of brachial artery vasospasm in a patient receiving IV promethazine and DHE sequentially through the same midline IV catheter. A 40-year-old woman with history of migraine headaches and Raynaud phenomenon was admitted for treatment of status migrainosus with scheduled IV DHE infusions. While receiving the DHE infusions, IV promethazine was added to the patient’s regimen to treat nausea. During an infusion of DHE, the patient developed acute pain near the catheter insertion site due to active extravasation of IV DHE. An arterial Doppler ultrasound demonstrated stenosis in the right brachial artery near the region of infusion. The patient ultimately required balloon angioplasty and intra-arterial injection of nitroglycerin to restore adequate blood flow. We hypothesize that caustic injury to the right brachial vein from IV promethazine predisposed the patient to the extravasation of DHE, which, in turn, caused adjacent brachial artery vasospasm. This case suggests the need for careful consideration, if not strict avoidance, of the use of concurrent IV promethazine and DHE.

Dietary supplements are readily available over the counter in the United States and are used by the majority of older adults to address a variety of concerns and conditions. Many older adults report using dietary supplements for cognitive health—either to address memory loss or dementia or in efforts to prevent cognitive decline. Our objective for this narrative review is to summarize the available efficacy and safety data for several supplements commonly reported in our clinic as being used for symptoms of dementia. Using a validated survey instrument, we conducted a survey of patients in our tertiary referral center memory clinic population to assess for the most commonly reported supplements for cognition. In our review, we compare the strength of published medical and scientific evidence to advertising or other lay press claims made about the nine most reported supplements with the aim of providing a representation of general trends in this industry. We found little or no scientific evidence available to support the use of any of these substances to ameliorate memory loss or other cognitive symptoms. Although most appear safe in the studies conducted to date, several authors have highlighted the lack of Food and Drug Administration oversight in the supplement industry, raising concerns over unknown or undeclared contaminants in these over-the-counter products. This review will better prepare clinicians to discuss these considerations with their patients who are considering the use of dietary supplements.

Perhaps stemming from the central role of detailed examinations and a focus on the subjective sphere that grounds their clinical practice, neurologists have frequently opined on experiences traditionally a province of humanities. The increasingly technological focus on medical education and care can be seen to devalue the subjective aspects of medicine. As a counter to this, we report on the existence of neurohumanities curricula within neurology residency training. We conducted an exploratory descriptive analysis of a convenience sample of 6 neurology residency programs in the United States with neurohumanities curricula. We reported the objectives of each program and feedback from participants. Finally, we described and identified patterns within the curricula and participant feedback. A shared feature of all programs was recency because all were started within the past decade. Seven sources of variability were timing, target audience, setting, scope of didactics, funding, regional differences, and objectives. The events ranged from mandatory to optional, from fully integrated in residency didactics to extracurricular. While residents were the primary audience across all programs, medical students and faculty were included as optional in some of the curricula. Objectives varied from clinical skill enhancement (e.g., improving observation through art), wellness (e.g., narrative medicine, self-reflection), to the scholarly exploration of the intersection between humanities and neuroscience. Our findings illustrated different ways of integrating humanities into neurology residency training. We highlighted the diverse approaches and objectives adopted by each program, which ranged from pedagogy to wellness. We hope this preliminary study will serve as a first step in the broader assessment of the needs, which neurohumanities curricula can address within neurology training. We also hope that this will lead to more formal assessment of the possible benefits of such implementation, which may include reflecting on clinical practice, debriefing from stressful events, and engaging with humanities.