• Excessive alcohol intake
• Marchiafava-Bignami is associated with primary degeneration of the corpus callosum (although other white matter tracts may also be involved)
• First described in 1903 by two Italian pathologists – Amico Bignami and Ettore Marchiafava. They found necrosis of the corpus callosum on autopsy in 3 alcoholic men that had recently died from seizures. Initially thought to be caused by excess red wine consumption, now known to be related to vitamin B deficiency, generally seen in alcoholics.

• Kuro (黒) (or Kuroi) is a Japanese word for the color “black”
• Kuru is a irreversible neurological degenerative disorder spread by cannibalism
• Koru is a spiral shape (Maori) based on the shape of a new unfurling silver fern frond and symbolizing new life, growth, strength and peace.
• Koro is oriental fear of death caused by the penis disappearing into the body!

• Cadmium
• Itai-itai is Japanese for ‘ouch-ouch’. The original victims were exposed to environmental cadmium from the local mining industry [Reference].
• The disease was first described in Japan in the 1940s as a painful and debilitating skeleteal disorder characterised by a waddling gait resulting from multiple fractures, anemia and renal failure.
• It predominantly affected post-menopausal women, and is thought result from chronic cadmium poisoning in the context of estrogen deficiency and poor nutritional status.

• Yes!
• Pandiculation is the act of stretching and yawning simultaneously

Self-portrait of Joseph Ducreux Paniculating

• Depression
• Churchill made frequent references to his depression, which he called his “black dog” [Reference]

“I don’t like standing near the edge of a platform when an express train is passing through. I like to stand right back and if possible get a pillar between me and the train. I don’t like to stand by the side of a ship and look down into the water. A second’s action would end everything. A few drops of desperation.” – Winston Churchill (1874-1965)