In Context
Lifeline Focal point
Keith Vossel is an Associate Professor in the N Bud
Grossman Center for Memory Research and Care, Institute
for Translational Neuroscience, and the Department of
Neurology at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis,
MN, USA. In addition to caring for patients, he investigates
antiepileptic and tau-based therapies to treat network
dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease.
What do you think is the most neglected field of science
or medicine at the moment?
I strongly believe that neurodegenerative research is vastly
See Review page 311 underfunded. The growing number of cases of Alzheimer’s
disease and related disorders is astounding.
What would be your advice to a newly qualified doctor?
Always put the patient’s interests first.
What are you currently reading?
I am reading Eileen, by Ottessa Moshfegh, and Pachinko, by
Min Jin Lee.
What items do you always carry with you?
I always carry Alka-Seltzer and an air of apprehension and
dread.
What is your worst habit?
My better half informs me that I take on too many projects.
I know she is right.
How would you improve the public’s understanding of
research?
We need to drastically improve our ability to communicate
with the public in a more effective way. There needs to be
more formalised training in public communication of
science.
What one discovery or invention would most improve
your life?
A device that produces food that I desire at a moment’s
notice, aka the Jetsons food serving machine.
What is your idea of a perfect day?
It would be a really good day if I could break a score of 80
on the golf course. diabetes and hypertension later in life, which finally
What has been the greatest achievement of your career?
The moment my partner decided that I will do, for her.
What is your greatest fear?
One day my partner will wake up and realize that she made
a mistake.
And the greatest embarrassment?
My partner tells me I should no longer dance at work
functions.
268 www.thelancet.com/neurology Vol 16 April 2017
Neuropathies and diabetes
in Jules Verne
The French writer Jules Gabriel Verne (1828–1905) was
affected by various illnesses. As a young man, he had five
episodes of Bell’s palsy.1 He developed type 2 diabetes in
his fifties,2 which, when his nephew Gaston shot him
in the left ankle on March 9, 1886, complicated the
healing of the wound. A secondary infection left him
with a pronounced limp until his death.2
Verne’s health worsened around 1894. He
complained of symptoms associated with diabetes
and hypertension, such as incessant dizziness, tinnitus,
scotomata, visual impairment due to a cataract in the
right eye, and gastralgia with attacks of aerophagia.
A few years later, he developed bilateral visual
impairment, perhaps due to diabetic retinopathy.2 After
having a hyperglycaemic crisis in 1904, Verne had a
right hemiplegic stroke on March 17, 1905, followed by
a left parietal stroke one week later. He died in Amiens,
France, on March 24, 1905.2
Patients with Bell’s palsy are at higher risk of
developing diabetes and hypertension, and a frequent
association between prediabetes progressing to
type 2 diabetes and facial palsy has been reported.3
Lifestyle is an important factor in developing
hypertension and diabetes. These interrelated
diseases are also related to microangiopathies4 and
strongly predispose an individual to atherosclerotic
cardiovascular disease. It has been estimated
that 35–75% of diabetic, cardiovascular, and renal
complications can be attributed to hypertension,
which also contributes to diabetic retinopathy.5
There is no evidence that Verne had diabetes in his
early years; however, his lifestyle choices, such as his
diet, might have favoured the occurrence of type 2
contributed to his death.
Antonio Perciaccante, Alessia Coralli, Philippe Charlier,
Raffaella Bianucci, Otto Appenzeller
1 Perciaccante A, Coralli A, Charlier P, Bianucci R, Appenzeller O.
The facial paralyses of Jules Verne. Lancet Neurol 2017; 3: 186.
2 Dumas O. Correspondance de Jules Verne avec sa famille. Lyon:
La Manufacture, 1988.
3 Bosco D, Plastino M, Bosco F, et al. Bell’s palsy: a manifestation of
prediabetes? Acta Neurol Scand 2011; 123: 68–72.
4 Riga M, Kefalidis G, Danielides V. The role of diabetes mellitus in the
clinical presentation and prognosis of Bell palsy. J Am Board Fam Med
2012; 25: 819–26.
5 Sower JR, Epstein M. Diabetes mellitus and associated hypertension,
vascular disease, and nephropathy. An update. Hypertension 1995;
26: 869–79.