HOMEEducational Activities > 2017 Report

Educational Activities

Neuropathology Hands-On Seminar

2017 Report

The annual Hands-on Neuropathology Summer Seminar was held from July 24–27, 2017.

Every year, in the midst of the humid summer, we admire the participants’ enthusiasm. This year, the participants included two individuals with pathology backgrounds, two individuals in forensic pathology, three individuals i studying neurology, and two individuals studying neuropsychiatry. All of the participants were relatively young and inexperienced, but the organizers found that they were easy to teach.

The instructional session on multi-monitor observation of virtual slides, which was introduced three years ago, was very popular.

24th of July:

Kojima and Seki, the staff from the Laboratory of Neuropathology, each gave a lecture. One lecture provided an introduction to digital pathology and instructions on how to use the digital practice rooms set up for the attendees, and the other lecture provided an introduction to various staining methods and normal histology images. Then, Arai (i.e., the author of this report) explained the basic viewing method and gave an overview of the modified lesions found with circulation disorders and infections (i.e., inflammatory lesions). Both the attendees and lecturers were nervous on the first day!

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25th of July:

In the morning, there were lectures on synucleinopathies (e.g., Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body dementia, multiple system atrophy), triplet-repeat diseases (e.g., spinocerebellar ataxia, Machado-Joseph disease, dentatorubropallidoluysian atrophy, Huntington’s disease) and specimen observation. Attendees who were unfamiliar with using microscopes were already battling microscopy-induced motion sickness.

In the afternoon, Dr. Keisuke Ishizawa from the Department of Pathology at Saitama Medical University was invited as a guest lecturer and gave a lecture packed with over 150 PowerPoint slides containing information about Alzheimer’s disease, tauopathies (e.g., progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, Pick’s disease), motor neuron diseases (e.g., amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (TDP-43 proteinopathy). At the end of the day, the attendees viewed specimens.

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26th of July:

In the morning, a lecture on various demyelinating diseases (e.g., multiple sclerosis, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, AIDS encephalopathy) and relevant specimens were presented. Demyelinating disease is a general term for diseases in which the myelin sheath is unequivocally damaged. Therefore, with this disease, it is important to learn how to confirm areas of axonal preservation for comparisons with areas of myelin sheath destruction. It is also important to practice identifying viral inclusion bodies and the characteristic pathological changes associated with these conditions.

In the afternoon, Dr. Hiroaki Miyahara from the Department of Pediatrics at Oita University Hospital gave a comprehensive lecture on brain development, described the abnormal lesion formation phenotypes of disorders that develop at various developmental stages, and explained the associated specimens.

The afternoon of third day is the peak of the seminar and is the hardest time for the attendees. Although, at this time, it is quite challenging for the attendees to master brain malformations with their multitude of variations, it is a valuable learning experience.

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27th of July:

The morning of the last day is always set aside for free microscopy time. This gives the attendees a chance to view specimens that they could not see earlier or to ask questions about diseases that they have a particular interest in.

The afternoon of the last day was devoted to a lecture on head trauma presented by Dr. Kazuki Harada from the Forensic Pathology Department of the National Defense Medical College. Head trauma is a fundamental part of basic neuropathology. Every year this lecture falls on the last day; however, it is an indispensable part of the curriculum. In particular, acute axonal injury can only be examined with autopsy cases rather than pathological anatomy cases, which makes this an extremely valuable lecture.

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This is the report for the 4-day 2017 Hand-on Neuropathology Summer Seminar. I would like to express my gratitude to all of the attendees and lecturers and to Ms. Ueki and Ms. Yagi, who were in charge of managing and operating the multi-monitor venue. Thank you all very much!