Overcoming neurological diseases - Breakthrough for new era

Abstract

Neurological diseases have long been thought to be difficult or intractable to be cured. Recent progress in researches on etiologies and pathogeneses of many neurological diseases, however, has made it become possible to treat some diseases such as bulbo-spinal muscular atrophy and Alzheimer's disease not only symptomatically but also in the sense of disease modification. We may be at the entrance of a new era where many neurological diseases would become treatable and overcome. My individual experiences studying 3 diseases, namely, distal myopathy with rimmed vacuoles, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinocerebellar ataxia were presented and through them the following massages were conveyed to young neurologists of the Japanese Society of Neurology (JSN); To tackle the case even there is no similar case in the literature because you are the only one who could help the patient and some clues must be found, To cooperate with other colleagues and patients because you are not alone, To be reasonable, logical or scientific, To always be innovative or seek better situations, and To be global or international sharing real time information with other peoples in the world. JSN will make great leaps to the goals under the mission to contribute happiness of peoples in Japan and other countries through neurology including neurological practice, education and research.