Volume 11 Issue 11, November 2015

In my personal view, the past decade in dementia research has been marked by remarkable discoveries in the field of frontotemporal dementia, accompanied by steady scientific consolidation tinged with therapeutic disappointments related to Alzheimer disease.

The past decade of multiple sclerosis research has been marked by important advances in understanding the disease, a dramatic increase in the range of treatment options and a new spirit of data sharing in research for patient benefit. This progress has made personalized medicine in multiple sclerosis a realistic possibility.

The past decade has yielded a host of important conceptual advances in epilepsy, along with some promising findings related to diagnostics and therapeutics. We are on an upswing where precise identification of the cause of a patient's seizure disorder can be matched to therapy that has a high likelihood of success.

Since 2005, we have made substantial progress in understanding the pathophysiology and natural history of movement disorders such as Parkinson disease and Huntington disease. However, disease-modifying therapies for these conditions have proved elusive and, as a consequence, treatments remain largely symptomatic.

Recent decades have seen a dramatic reduction in age-adjusted stroke-related mortality, presumably owing to better control of vascular risk factors, use of antithrombotic agents and improvements in acute stroke care. Here, we highlight a few developments in stroke prevention and acute care that have particularly influenced the care of patients.

In the past 10 years, the realization that migraine is a brain disorder rather than a vascular disorder has facilitated development of various treatments, ranging from innovative immunopharmaceuticals through to neurostimulation. Many clinical trials have been successful, and such considerable progress holds promise for the coming decade of migraine treatment.

CNS infections have severe manifestations, often leading to high mortality, but the CNS is usually not the primary target of pathogens, leaving a window of opportunity to prevent neuroinvasion. We must prioritize development of therapies to prevent neurological sequelae that cause long-lasting morbidity and disease burden on society.

Parkinson disease is defined by its motor symptoms, but onset of nonmotor symptoms, including constipation, can start much earlier. In this Review, Klingelhoefer and Reichmann present the evidence that the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease starts in the gut and is transferred to the CNS via trans-synaptic cell-to-cell transport that initiates a cascade of α-synuclein aggregation. They also consider how this process might be triggered by environmental factors, and how these earliest stages of pathogenesis might be targeted to delay or prevent disease progression.

Cognitive dysfunction is frequently observed in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), and can have a substantial impact on daily activities and quality of life. In this Review, Fielding and colleagues discuss how ocular motor measures in patients with MS might be used to characterize disruption to wide-ranging networks that support cognitive function, and to track disease progression and responses to novel therapies in these individuals.

John W. 'Jack' Griffin (1942–2011) was the launch Editor-in-Chief ofNature Clinical Practice Neurology, and continued to serve on the Advisory Board after the journal was rebranded as Nature Reviews Neurologyin 2009. In this Essay, the authors pay tribute to Jack, highlighting his seminal contributions to the field of inflammatory neuropathies, and reviewing recent progress in this area, including the emergence of the node of Ranvier as a site of intensive investigation.

The risk factors for cardiovascular disease are largely the same as those that harm brain health, and—importantly—these shared risk factors are modifiable. This Perspectives article discusses how the conceptual shift from avoiding vascular risk factors to promoting brain health creates opportunities for reducing morbidity and mortality associated with poor brain health.

Since the launch ofNature Clinical Practice Neurologyin 2005, we have seen remarkable progress in many areas of neurology research, but what does the future hold? For this special Viewpoint article, we invited a panel of Advisory Board members and other journal contributors to outline their research priorities and predictions for the next 10 years.

In November 2015, Nature Reviews Neurology(originally published asNature Clinical Practice Neurology) celebrates 10 years since the launch of the journal. To mark this occasion, we present an anniversary issue containing specially commissioned articles that highlight progress in neurology over the past decade and outline the research priorities for the next 10 years. A special infographic provides a snapshot of 10 years of the journal in numbers.