Jacques Reis

University of Strasbourg | UNISTRA · Faculty of Medicine (Department of Neurology)

The identity and role of environmental factors in the etiology of sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (sALS) is poorly understood outside of three former high-incidence foci of Western Pacific ALS and a hotspot of sALS in the French Alps. In both instances, there is a strong association with exposure to DNA-damaging (genotoxic) chemicals years o...

The emergence and global spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is critical to understanding how to prevent or control a future viral pandemic. We review the tools used for this retrospective search, their limits, and results obtained from China, France, Italy and the USA. We examine possible scenarios for the em...

The paper concentrates on reviewing results of studies that address the influence exerted by climate change in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions on local population health, ecological situation and ongoing sanitary-epidemiological processes. The systemic review includes research articles available in PubMed (maintained by The United States National...

The paper concentrates on reviewing results of studies that address the influence exerted by climate change in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions on local population health, ecological situation and ongoing sanitary-epidemiological processes. The systemic review includes research articles available in PubMed (maintained by The United States National...

Neurologists have a particular interest in SARS-CoV-2 because the nervous system is a major participant in Covid-19, both in its acute phase and in its persistent post-Covid phase. The global spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection has revealed most of the challenges and risk factors that humanity will face in the future. We review from an Environmental Neu...

The coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic, one of many global threats to human health, provides an opportunity to analyze how to detect, minimize, and even prevent the spread of future viral zoonotic agents with pandemic potential. Such analysis can utilize existing risk assessment techniques that seek formally to define the hazard, assess the health r...

Sixteen months after the January 30, 2020 declaration by the World Health Organization of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern regarding the spread of COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 had infected ~ 170 million humans worldwide of which > 3.5 million had died. We critically examine information on the virus origin, when and where the first human c...

Sixteen months after the January 30, 2020 declaration by the World Health Organization of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern regarding the spread of COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 had infected ~ 170 million humans worldwide of which > 3.5 million had died. We critically examine information on the virus origin, when and where the first human c...

Human and hominin migrations have occurred since time immemorial. Settlement, the obverse of migration, requires a suitable climate, available food, lack of mortal threat from disease, societal calm and local acceptance. Thus, migrations are a major human characteristic, well documented by evolution biology and paleoanthropology. Their recent socie...

This research is vital due to the considerable global medical and demographic losses during the COVID-19 pandemic and the latest research works providing evidence of a correlation between air pollution and spread of the disease, its sever- ity, clinical course and outcomes. Our research goal was to quantitatively estimate the influence of ambient a...

This research is vital due to the considerable global medical and demographic losses during the COVID-19 pandemic and the latest research works providing evidence of a correlation between air pollution and spread of the disease, its severity, clinical course and outcomes. Our research goal was to quantitatively estimate the influence of ambient ai...

Background Multiple Sclerosis (MS) remains to be a public health challenge, due to its unknown biological mechanisms and clinical impacts on young people. The prevalence of this disease in Iran is reported to be 5.30 to 74.28 per 100,000-person. Because of high prevalence of this disease in Fars province, the purpose of this study was to assess the...

Between 1990 and 2018, 14 cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) were diagnosed in residents of, and in visitors with second homes to, a mountainous hamlet in the French Alps. Systematic investigation revealed a socio-professional network that connected ALS cases. Genetic risk factors for ALS were excluded. Several known environmental factors...

COVID-19, the human primarily respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, commonly involves the nervous system, the effects of which may persist for many months. Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 include relapsing and remitting neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms that can affect children and adults, including those who had mild a...

COVID-19, the human primarily respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, commonly involves the nervous system, the effects of which may persist for many months. Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 include relapsing and remitting neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms that can affect children and adults, including those who had mild a...

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) above US EPA standards is associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk, while Mn toxicity induces parkinsonism. Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) children have pre- and postnatal sustained and high exposures to PM2.5, O3, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and metals. Young MCMA resident...

We address the impact of the tropical environment on the human nervous system using the multifaceted approach characteristic of environmental neurology. First, environmental factors are examined according to their nature (physical, chemical and biological) and in relation to human activity and behavior. Some factors are specific to the tropics (cli...

Western Pacific Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Parkinsonism-dementia Complex (ALS/PDC) is a disappearing neurodegenerative disease in three former high-incidence foci of the U.S. territory of Guam, Papua-Indonesia (New Guinea) and Kii Peninsula, Honshu Island, Japan (Muro disease). We report additional data that associate medicinal use of cycad...

Jean Rodier (1920-2003), distinguished researcher and scientist, directed the Toxicology Department of Hygiene Institute of Rabat under the French Protectorate. From 1946, he developed numerous lines of research in occupational health, in particular on Manganism, a neurological disorder that impacted miners in his home country of Morocco. His many...

After myocardial infarction, stroke is now associated with air pollution. From local data and literature, we report the strength of the association between air pollution and stroke. We try to understand the biological mechanisms between exposure to air pollutants and stroke risk. The association between air pollution and stroke is strong, confirmed...

The purpose of this article is to examine risk perception among some specific stakeholders, including international intergovernmental bodies, private western-based corporates, and among European public opinion surveys. We also address concerns of the Russian Federation and the impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Perception of risks is key t...

After myocardial infarction, stroke is now associated with air pollution. From local data and literature, we report the strength of the association between air pollution and stroke. We try to understand the biological mechanisms between exposure to air pollutants and stroke risk. The association between air pollution and stroke is strong, confirmed...

The purpose of this article is to examine risk perception among some specific stakeholders, including international intergovernmental bodies, private western-based corporates, and among European public opinion surveys. We also address concerns of the Russian Federation and the impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Perception of risks is key t...

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) remains to be a public health challenge, due to its unknown biological mechanism and clinical impact on young people. The prevalence of this disease in Iran is reported to be 5.3 to 74.28 per 100000 cases. Due to high prevalence of this disease in Fars province, this study aimed to assess the distribution of MS i...

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) remains to be a public health challenge, due to its unknown biological mechanisms and clinical impacts on young people. The prevalence of this disease in Iran is reported to be 5.3 to 74.28 per 100,000-person. Because of high prevalence of this disease in Fars province, the purpose of this study was to assess the...

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) remains to be a public health challenge, due to its unknown biological mechanisms and clinical impacts on young people. The prevalence of this disease in Iran is reported to be 5.30 to 74.28 per 100,000-person. Because of high prevalence of this disease in Fars province, the purpose of this study was to assess th...

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) remains to be a public health challenge, due to its unknown biological mechanisms and clinical impacts on young people. The prevalence of this disease in Iran is reported to be 5.30 to 74.28 per 100,000-person. Because of high prevalence of this disease in Fars province, the purpose of this study was to assess th...

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) remains to be a public health challenge, due to its unknown biological mechanisms and clinical impacts on young people. The prevalence of this disease in Iran is reported to be 5.30 to 74.28 per 100,000-person. Because of high prevalence of this disease in Fars province, the purpose of this study was to assess th...

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) remains to be a public health challenge, due to its unknown biological mechanisms and clinical impacts on young people. The prevalence of this disease in Iran is reported to be 5.30 to 74.28 per 100,000-person. Because of high prevalence of this disease in Fars province, the purpose of this study was to assess th...

A comprehensive review of the neurological disorders reported during the current COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates that infection with SARS-CoV-2 affects the central nervous system (CNS), the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and the muscle. CNS manifestations include: headache and decreased responsiveness considered initial indicators of potential neur...

A comprehensive review of the neurological disorders reported during the current COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates that infection with SARS-CoV-2 affects the central nervous system (CNS), the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and the muscle. CNS manifestations include: headache and decreased responsiveness considered initial indicators of potential neur...

Western Pacific Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Parkinsonism-dementia Complex (ALS/PDC) is a disappearing neurodegenerative disease in three former high-incidence foci of Guam-USA, Papua-Indonesia and Kii Peninsula, Honshu Island, Japan. The latter includes two distinct ALS/PDC-affected regions (Hohara and Kozagawa), where the disorder is known a...

Abstract Decision-making in environmental health policy is a complex procedure even in well-known conditions. Thus, in the case of uncertainty, decision-making becomes a hurdle race. We address scientific uncertainty, methods to reduce uncertainty, biomedical doubt and science communication, and the role of stakeholders, activists, lobbies and medi...

Japan provides many lessons for the Environmental Neurology's issues. Drama and disasters have paved the recent history of Japan. The Japanese people have been intoxicated by chemical compounds (methylmercury, sulfur dioxide, cadmium, PCBs and other dioxin-related compounds) and were the victims of several dramatic disasters (atomic bombing, nuclea...

The human environment and exposures arising therefrom are major contributors to neurological disorders ranging from stroke to neurodegenerative diseases. Reduction of exposure to environmental risk factors, with the goal of disease prevention or control, is addressed at the individual as well as the societal level and in recognition of differential...

A growing number of studies have shown that exposure to air pollutants such as particulate matter and gases can cause cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases. The severity of the changes depends on several factors such as exposure time, age and gender. Inflammation has been considered as one of the main factors associated with th...

Observational epidemiological studies provide valuable information regarding naturally occurring protective factors observed in populations with very low prevalences of vascular disease. Between 1935 and 1965, the Italian-American inhabitants of Roseto (Pennsylvania, USA) observed a traditional Italian diet and maintained half the mortality rates f...

The mechanisms of action of the dietary components of the Mediterranean diet are reviewed in prevention of cardiovascular disease, stroke, age-associated cognitive decline and Alzheimer disease. A companion article provides a comprehensive review of extra-virgin olive oil. The benefits of consumption of long-chain ω-3 fatty acids are described. Fre...

Since its establishment the World Federation of Neurology (WFN) has manifested a keen interest in the environment and its relation to neurological diseases. Thus, in 2007 the WFN renamed the "Neurotoxicological Research Group" to "Environmental Neurology Research Group". In this short article, we review some recent events which illustrate the WFN i...

Résumé La neurologie environnementale est une approche nouvelle des pathologies neurologiques qui prend en compte l’impact de l’environnement dans leur genèse. Son champ d’intérêt recouvre de multiples disciplines qui s’occupent d’aspects spécifiques de notre environnement. Elle est basée sur une lecture à la fois analytique et globalisante des fac...

Stakeholders: Public issues of health and wellness, prevention, control and treatment of disease and injury are encapsulated in the drive for discovery and application of new biomedical knowledge. Scientific conclusions about risk factors for particular diseases are assessed in probabilistic terms that recognize uncertainty. While uncertainty often...

Background Outdoor air pollution is now a well-known risk factor for morbidity and mortality, and is increasingly being identified as a major risk factor for stroke. Methods A narrative literature review of the effects of short and long-term exposure to air pollution on stroke and dementia risk and cognitive functioning. Results Ten papers on str...

Air pollutants and the brain: Pollutants in the air take many forms, including gases, fumes, liquid droplets, and solid particulate matter of various sizes. Inhaled fine and ultra-fine particulate matter can enter the lungs, cross the alveolar wall, enter the blood stream, and reach neural tissue either directly (circumventricular organs, sensory,...

This chapter examines the impact of climatic factors on health and disease in tropical zones. The tropics are the regions surrounding the Equator, delimited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere. We examine the physical determinants that define the tropics and their dir...

Environmental medicine is a new field of practice and research dedicated to a worldwide, comprehensive and translational study of the effects of the environment on humans. The World Health Organization defines air pollution as the “contamination of the indoor or outdoor environment by any chemical, physical, or biological agent that modifies the na...

Background: Seasonal variation of relapses in multiple sclerosis (MS) suggests that season-dependent factors, such as ambient air pollution, may trigger them. However, only few studies have considered possible role of air pollutants as relapse's risk factor. Objective: We investigated the effect of particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter smal...

Les big data sont des outils epidemiologiques dont on commence a apprecier le degre de precision et de pertinence pour mesurer le poids des maladies dans une region, un pays ou un continent. Ce nouvel outil est applicable facilement pour les maladies tracantes comme les accidents vasculaires cerebraux (AVC). C’est ainsi que les donnees epidemiologi...

The association between neurodegenerative diseases and environmental exposures, in particular air pollution, has been noticed in the last two decades, but the importance of this environmental factor in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) pathogenesis has not been considered extensively. However, recent evidence suggests that major mechanisms involved in MS pat...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease with complicated unknown etiology. Dramatical increasing of MS prevalence is a serious concern that coincides with the growth of air pollution in cities such as Isfahan and Tehran in Iran during the last decades. Performed studies suggest that exposure to high level of air pollutants chr...

We report here on chronic neurological impairment in three car painters with constant occupational exposure to organic solvents. All had a clinical presentation of Parkinson's disease and, in all cases, SPECT DaTscan brain imaging, using ¹²³I-FP-CIT, showed bilateral reduction of tracer uptake in the basal ganglia, evidence of dysfunction at the do...

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) above US EPA standards is associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk, while Mn toxicity induces parkinsonism. Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) children have pre- and postnatal sustained and high exposures to PM2.5, O3, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and metals. Young MCMA resident...

Air pollution (indoors and outdoors) is a major issue in public health as epidemiological studies have highlighted its numerous detrimental health consequences (notably, respiratory and cardiovascular pathological conditions). Over the past 15years, air pollution has also been considered a potent environmental risk factor for neurological diseases...

In PD patients, even at early stage, QPS induced neither LTP nor LTD like effects in the motor cortex. This lack of plasticity was normalized by L-DOPA intake in parallel with motor symptoms' improvements. Corticomotoneuronal dysfunction has been implicated in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis by Charcot. Subsequently, a dying forwa...

Trop souvent le neurologue clinicien se limite au diagnostic de syndrome et/ou maladie de Parkinson proposant un traitement symptomatique. Il oublie trop souvent de réaliser une enquête environnementale et notamment professionnelle qui s’impose compte tenu de nos obligations légales (art. L461-6 du Code de la sécurité sociale). Nous revoyons les de...

Les maladies du systeme nerveux constituent un defi majeur : en ne considerant que leur part neurologique, on estime que 10 % des Francais sont touches. Outre leur impact humain et social, leur cout economique est majeur (35 % des depenses de sante). Nous ne disposons en France le plus souvent que d’estimations globales. Les accidents vasculaires c...

The report of a Multiple Chemical Sensitivity case highlights two original points. First, even if non-controlled, the reappearance of MCS symptoms after an accidental re-exposure to one scentless semi-volatile chemical (permethrin) of the initial toxic cocktail exposure can be considered as a double blind re-exposure study in situ. Second, environm...

Promoting Environmental Medicine and Environmental Neurology needs in the first place a building up knowledge and research. Education for young students and training during the entire curriculum are a second step. These common goals are necessary to emphasize the main effects of Environment in diseases and so to lead to better care.

Two cases of spontaneously regressing encephalitis with ataxia during Epstein-Barr virus infectious mononucleosis in two previously healthy young adults are described. Apart from the signs of cerebellar lesions, electrooculography revealed nystagmic bursts changing direction every 3 to 4 seconds, overlying slow oscillations of the eyes, which the a...

The ages of onset in multiple sclerosis cases span more than 7 decades. Data are presented for affected relative pairs from a Canadian population base of 30,000 multiple sclerosis index cases (1993–2008). The effects of genetic sharing, parent of origin, intergenerational versus collinear differences, and gender on the ages of onset were evaluated...

The environment has profound influences on human health. Environment is the combination of natural (physical, chemical, biological) and cultural (sociological) conditions in which living organisms, man in particular, develop. Adaptation is the human physiological response to external factors including mechanisms such as circadian rhythms (sleep and...

The neurotoxicity of organic solvents has long been recognized. Some are used as anesthetic agents, others in various industries. Their acute effect has been well documented since the nineteenth century, but more recently they have become notorious as the cause of addiction to glue sniffing. They may alter the immune system by causing lymphopenia,...

CAROLE is a prospective survey of children and adults who experienced epileptic unprovoked seizure(s) diagnosed for the first time between May 1 1995 and June 30 1996 by 243 French neurologists and neuropediatricians. Case records forms at entry allowed to compare patients who had a single seizure or several seizures prior to diagnosis. In patients...

Non-traumatic stereotyped postictal purpura is rare. A 25-year-old woman presented with right facial, cheek and periorbital purpuric eruptions that occurred after secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizures. The stereotyped, invariably right-sided facial skin eruption, which resolved in 48 hours, falsely raised concerns of spousal abuse. Possible...

After five young women were exposed to pyralene and its thermal degradation products all developed a rich functional syndrome which could be explained by the traumatic effect of the accident. Nevertheless, in 3 of the women, abnormal somesthetic evoked potentials were observed including 2 with neurological lesions detectable radiologically. Polychl...

The disorders that are considered in the evaluation of bodily damage after an electrical injury generally concern cutaneous, neurological (1,2,5,7), cardiovascular, renal, ocular or hearing sequelae. The neuropsychological sequelae are underestimated or unknown, however, they seem to be frequent and lead to alterations in the social and the profess...

A study was performed in 220 out-patients with Parkinson's disease followed by general neurologists. The general characteristics of the patients are similar to those observed in the large epidemiological studies. The main conclusion concerns the low use of dopamine agonists. It confirms the discrepancy between drug prescription in general practice...

Four out of 7 siblings born of non-consanguineous parents have presented psychomotor retardation, macrocephaly and facial dysmorphism associated in 2 of them with thoraco-lumbar kyphosis and in one of them with recurrent pulmonary infections which had resulted in death. Chromatography of oligosaccharides displayed a characteristic mannosidosis prof...

The main characteristics of spinal amyotrophies in adults are discussed in relation to a case-history. The aspects discussed include the following: hereditary and unusual conditions, very gradually developing muscular deficit, lack of sensory impairment, electrophysiologic aspects of chronic denervation with normal conduction speeds, neurogenic mus...

A female adult without previous medical or surgical pathology nor specific treatment developed meningoencephalitis localised to the brainstem associated with bilateral subclinical optic neuritis. Serology showed that the disease was related to primary infection with cytomegalovirus. The patient spontaneously recovered.

One-third of Wistar rats bred in our laboratory present recurrent seizures whose EEG and clinical symptomatology resemble those of human petit mal. Bilateral cortical synchronous spike- and wave discharges (7-11 c/s; 200-600 microV, lasting 0.5 to 40 s) accompany behavioral arrest and are associated frequently with facial myoclonia. These seizures,...

A rare case of Chlamydia psittaci encephalitis is reported. The disease started with anxiety, agitation and fever (38.5 degrees C) accompanied with hallucinations and regressed within 48 hours, but a confusional syndrome persisted for 9 days. Alterations in the blood-brain barrier with low CSF protein levels and signs of lateralization could be dem...

A rare case of Chlamydia psittaci encephalitis is reported. The disease started with anxiety, agitation and fever (38.5° C) accompanied by hallucinations and regressed within 48 hours, but a confusional syndrome persisted for 9 days. Alterations in the blood-brain barrier with low CSF protein levels and signs of lateralization could be demonstrated...

The authors report three cases of neurological manifestations associated with a recent acute infection of the respiratory tract, which can be linked to Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections. These cases illustrate the difficulty in establishing a causal relationship between Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection and the neurological complications. Often, only...

An adult female without previous medical or surgical pathology or specific treatment developed meningoencephalitis localised to the brainstem associated with bilateral subclinical optic neuritis. Serology showed that the disease was related to primary infection with cytomegalovirus. The patient spontaneously recovered.