Review Articles in 2016

In auditory neuropathy, sensory transduction and amplification is preserved, but abnormal neural encoding of sound stimuli impairs speech comprehension severely, beyond what would be expected on the basis of increased threshold of audibility. Here, Moser and Starr provide an overview of the mechanisms of auditory neuropathy, including auditory synaptopathy. Moreover, the authors provide a brief guide to physiological and psychophysical tests for the clinical diagnosis of the disorders, discuss the strategies for hearing rehabilitation, and provide an outlook on future therapies.

Frontotemporal dementia often presents with a variety of movement disorders, and several genetic mutations have been associated with the various presentations. In this Review, Baizabal-Carvallo and Jankovic characterize the clinical and pathological phenotypes of frontotemporal dementia, and discuss the genetic correlates of these phenotypes.

Tinnitus, prevalent in up to 15% of the world population, is typically linked to noise-associated hearing loss, but the relationship between noise exposure and tinnitus is not straightforward: not all humans or model animals develop tinnitus after noise-associated cochlear damage, and the mechanisms involved in tinnitus involve central auditory system and nonauditory brain areas. This Review provides an overview of current understanding of neural mechanisms of tinnitus, which is essential for developing effective treatments for this disorder.

Psychiatric and neurological comorbidities are relatively common in epilepsy, affecting 30–50% of patients. Neurologists should be able to treat psychiatric comorbidities in patients with epilepsy and identify patients at risk of adverse events from psychotropic medications, because psychiatric care is not available to all patients. In this Review, Andres Kanner discusses the complex relationship between epilepsy and psychiatric and neurological comorbidities, and provides considerations for selection of antiepileptic and psychotropic drugs in patients with epilepsy.

2015 saw the publication of five randomized controlled trials of endovascular treatment for acute stroke caused by vascular occlusion, with huge implications for the future of patient management. Mokin and colleagues consider the findings of these trials in the context of their designs, in particular the criteria for patient selection, and their likely impact on future management of acute stroke.

The chemokine receptor CCR5 is thought to have a role in several CNS inflammatory diseases and infections. The role of CCR5 in HIV has already led to the development of effective and well-tolerated CCR5 antagonists, which could offer a readily available option for the treatment of CNS diseases. In this Review, Martin-Blondel et al. consider the evidence for a role of CCR5 in several CNS diseases and the rationale for use of CCR5 anatagonists in these conditions.