I hope you have looked at the website of Spinal Cord Series & Cases, our online-only journal that publishes case reports, small series studies, and other interesting articles. It provides authors with an opportunity to reach a great readership and offers an optimal forum for such contributions.

We live in an era of ever-increasing communication, at an increasing speed, which has advantages and disadvantages. But it is without doubt an interesting period and we must appreciate that our knowledge may become more global, offering better understanding and creating possibilities to learn from each other as never before. The September issue of Spinal Cord is a good example of this, with very interesting content and contributions from across the globe. We are also pleased to share that the list of dedicated reviewers is becoming increasingly international.

Review: Garg et al. studied the incidence and spectrum of spinal cord related complications in patients of tuberculous meningitis in multiple countries. Tuberculous meningitis is frequently associated with disabling spinal cord and radicular complications. Available treatment options are far from satisfactory.

Epidemiology: Joseph et al. found a higher incidence rate of traumatic SCI in a region of South Africa then previously postulated. There is a need for primary preventative strategies to target younger men that are exposed to violent activities.

Data collection: Liu et al. investigated the practice of SCI core data collection by Chinese physicians during a workshop in China. Some extra consistency is needed for several data while for a number the outcome was very positive. Squair et al. found the clinical adherence to the International Autonomic Standards (2009) to be low.

Spasticity: van Cooten et al., in a prospective cohort study, found functional hindrance due to spasticity in the majority of individuals with SCI and saw no significant change between inpatient rehabilitation and 1 year post discharge. Factors that influence hindrance were determined. Rainer in an editorial note states that more research is needed to tackle this subject in particular by using internationally accepted and validated assessments, starting with a common definition of ‘spasticity’ and ‘hindrance’ to allow for its quantification.

Fractures: Frotzler et al. describe how SCI was associated with simple or extra-articular fractures of the distal femur and the lower leg. The mainly operative treatment had a low complication rate.

Drug intake: Hwang et al. describe how individuals who had sustained a SCI in childhood or adolescence are in danger to get polypharmacy intake with secondary health conditions as risk factors.

Outcome: Zhang et al. found that the Barthel Index had no correlation with operation intervention time, rehabilitation intervention time, or average length of hospital stay for all spinal segments. Some correlation between factors are described. Guest et al. state that self-efficacy and low levels of negative mood states strongly contribute to resilience. But given the high variance in resilience, future longitudinal research is needed to determine not only resilience correlates but whether these associations change over time. Rasmussen et al. found that when an anastomosis is created between the ventral part of the fifth lumbar or first sacral nerve root and the ventral part of the second sacral nerve root, the resulting artificial somato-autonomic reflex arch has no effect on bowel function in subjects with supraconal SCI.

Sexuality: Choi et al. assessed the sexual activity and perceived sexual satisfaction of Korean males with SCI and identified influencing factors.

Ambulation: Qi et al. showed potential for the use of differentiated ratings of perceived exertion to assess and monitor daily wheelchair propulsion intensity in persons with paraplegia.

Letter: Mosiello et al. give extra information related to catheterization as reaction on the manuscript ‘The good, the bad and the ugly of catheterization practice’ Spinal Cord 2015; 53: 78–82, by Krassioukov et al.