Arthur L. Benton, Ph.D.: pioneer, colleague, mentor, and friend.

Arthur Benton, 97, died in Glenview, IL on December 27, 2006. He was born October 16, 1909 in New York City. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Oberlin College, where Raymond Stetson was his mentor, and his Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University in 1935 under the mentorship of Carney Landis of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Benton completed his training as a psychologist at the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic of New York Hospital. Early in 1941, he volunteered for service in the United States Navy and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the medical department. His active duty lasted until 1945, followed by many years of service in the United States Navy Reserve, retiring at the rank of Captain. During his assignment at the San Diego Naval Hospital, Benton worked closely with neurologist Morris Bender and examined servicemen who had sustained penetrating brain wounds during combat. The experience of assessing servicemen with brain injury and Bender's influence led Benton to develop the Visual Retention Test, which still bears his name and continues to be widely used in clinical neuropsychological assessment.     

Medulloblastoma: I. Clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic overview.

Medulloblastoma, the most common embryonal tumor of the central nervous system, affects both children and adults. It poses a significant therapeutic challenge in that age-dependent differences exist, not only in their pathobiology, but in the efficacy of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This is particularly the case in very young children, whose still developing nervous system exhibits a low tolerance to radiotherapy. We review the epidemiology, clinical presentation, radiologic features, and current therapeutic concepts relative to this unique neoplasm. Efforts are made to highlight clinical controversies.     

Levodopa: pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics.

The success of L-dopa therapy in patients with Parkinson's disease and the concepts discussed in this article are summarized in Figure 6. Even in advanced stages of disease, 80% of parkinsonian disability remains responsive to L-dopa therapy. The 50% of the response contaminated by response fluctuations should be viewed, at least in part, as a hopeful sign that the system is still responding to L-dopa therapy. Unfortunately suboptimal control of response fluctuations is still a source of consternation for patient and treating physicians alike. Response fluctuations notwithstanding, it should be emphasized that patients actually do better at every stage of disease for having been on L-dopa, as recently confirmed in a retrospective study of the relationship between response fluctuations and the timing of initiation of therapy. To the extent that the increasing frequency, amplitude, and complexity of response fluctuations add to the overall parkinsonian disability, the phenomenon demands a better understanding that will hopefully lead to better corrective or preventive measures.