January 17 2012 Issue

1) MuSK myasthenia and 2) Topic of the month: Ethics Issues. 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. Ted Burns interviews Dr. Isabel Illa about her paper on the effect of rituximab in MuSK myasthenia. In the next segment, Dr. Stacey Clardy is reading our e-Pearl of the week about Möbius syndrome. In the next part of the podcast Dr. Nandini Muralidharan interviews Dr. Michael Schneck about conflicting values in withdrawal of support. Over the next two weeks, we will have additional interviews regarding ethic issues. The participants had nothing to disclose except Drs. Burns, Illa, Clardy and Schneck.Dr. Illa has received funding for travel from Genzyme Corporation; serves on the editorial board of Neurologia; is listed as author on patent(s) re: Dysferlin detection in monocytes licensed to Athena Diagnostics, Inc.; and receives research support from Grifols, FIS (Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias), ISCIII, Ministry of Health (Spain), and Fundacion Gemio. Dr. Burns serves as Podcast Editor for Neurology®; performs EMG studies in his neuromuscular practice (30% effort); and has received research support from the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America and Knopp Neurosciences Inc..Dr. Clardy serves on the editorial team for the Neurology® Resident and Fellow Section. Dr. Schneck serves on data safety monitoring boards for Talecris Biotherapeutics, Chelsea Therapeutics, and Baxter International Inc.; serves on the editorial advisory boards for the Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease and Frontiers in Neurocritical Care and Neurohospitalist Care; receives publishing royalties from Continuum; serves on the speakers' bureaus for Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Pfizer Inc; and receives research support from NMT Medical, Schering-Plough Corp., and the NIH.