SUMMARY Despite significant improvements in leprosy (Hansen's disease) treatment and outlook for patients since the introduction of multidrug therapy (MDT) 3 decades ago, the global incidence remains high, and patients often have long-term complications associated with the disease. In this article, we discuss recent findings related to genetics, susceptibility, and disease reservoirs and the implications of these findings for Hansen's disease control and health outcomes for patients. We describe the continued difficulties associated with treatment of inflammatory episodes known as “leprosy reactions,” which cause much of the disability associated with the disease and can affect people for many years after MDT is complete. We also discuss some of the contemporary challenges for physicians and patients, including international and internal migration of people affected by the disease. We suggest some important areas of focus for future Hansen's disease research.

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Functions relating the perceived number of flashes to the number of flashes presented were obtained for stimulus presentation rates varying from 10 to 30 flashes per sec. These relationships, called temporal numerosity functions, provide information regarding the rate of increase in the perceived number and indicate the existence of critical points in time following the onset of stimulation. It is assumed that these findings describe the temporal characteristics of a basic central process underlying perception. The results of these studies, and similar studies with other sense modalities, are considered in relation to the concept of the psychological unit of duration, or moment, and also in relation to certain neurophysiological processes whose temporal characteristics are markedly similar to those exhibited by the perceptual results.The concept of time has always held an important place in philosophy and science. Of particular interest, for present purposes, are the questions which have arisen concerning the perception of time and the role of time in perception.One very persistent idea has been that there are natural units of duration, which are a function of the organism itself. William James discussed this at length in The Principles of Psychology (James, 1890, pp. 60S-642), referring to it as "the law of time's discrete flow." It is interesting to note, in view of later developments, that he invoked the concept of "waxing and waning brain processes" to account for this discontinuity. He went so far as to suggest that without such processes we could not have a conception of time at all.

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Pharmacogenomic screening can identify patients with gene variants that predispose them to the development of severe toxicity from fluoropyrimidine (FP) chemotherapy. Deficiency of the critical metabolic enzyme dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) leads to excessive toxicity on exposure to fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy. This can result in hospitalisation, intensive care admissions and even death. Upfront screening of the gene that encodes for DPD ( DPYD ) has recently been implemented in regions throughout Europe and the United Kingdom. Current screening evaluates DPYD variants that are well described within Caucasian patient populations and provides genotyped-guided dose adjustment recommendations based upon the presence of these variants. This article reviews the differences in DPYD gene variants within non-Caucasian populations compared to Caucasian populations, with regard to the implications for clinical tolerance of fluoropyrimidine chemotherapies and genotype guided dose adjustment guidelines.