Robert Burton

Memory Loss in a Patient Treated with Fluoxetine

OBJECTIVE: To report a case of severe memory loss in an elderly patient after initiation of fluoxetine. CASE SUMMARY: An 87-year-old white woman was started on fluoxetine for depression, and the dose was titrated to 20 mg/d. She developed progressive memory loss over the next 6 weeks for which she ultimately was hospitalized. Other potential causes for her memory loss were ruled out. After fluoxetine was discontinued, the patients memory improved significantly over the next 2 months. An objective causality assessment indicated a possible relationship between the memory loss and fluoxetine in this patient. DISCUSSION: Our report documents a case of severe reversible memory deterioration after initiating fluoxetine. Fluoxetine has a favorable adverse effect profile when compared with older classes of antidepressants. Postmarketing studies and isolated case reports, however, suggest that fluoxetine may harm memory in some patients. Some selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) appear to cause memory loss more frequently than others. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians should be aware of the possible effects of fluoxetine (and possibly other SSRIs) on memory.

Robert Mossman, Endurance and the Weddell Sea ice

Before Shackleton arrived at South Georgia aboard Endurance on 5 November 1914 he was aware that the vessel might meet bad pack-ice in the Weddell Sea. This had been forecast on the basis of climate analysis by Robert Mossman, the meteorologist on the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902–1904), who was currently working at the Argentine Meteorological Office. Mossman was interested in teleconnections linking meteorological and oceanic conditions in widely separated places and had studied the links between the Weddell Sea and South America. Mossmans Antarctic data were mainly records from the Orcadas station in the South Orkneys which had operated continuously from 1903. He found a correlation between extensive pack-ice in the Weddell Sea and plentiful rain in a belt across South America that included Buenos Aires. The experiences of Endurance supported this. Modern studies of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) broadly confirm Mossmans conclusions.

The Weddell seals of Larsen Harbour, South Georgia: a unique but apparently declining colony

The small population of Weddell seals at Larsen Harbour, South Georgia, is isolated from the rest of the species and is unique because nearly all pups are born on land rather than on sea-ice. Observations of seals in Larsen Harbour during the breeding season are summarised. These have been infrequent until cruise ships started to visit. With often only a single observation in a year, accurate estimates of pup production are impossible but it appears that the population has decreased over the last three decades.

The meridian transit beacons: a Shackleton legacy on South Georgia

The construction and history of meridian transit beacons erected by members of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition at King Edward Cove, South Georgia, in 1914 are described.

New evidence on the Manager's Villa in Stromness Harbour, South Georgia

In May 1916 Sir Ernest Shackleton and two companions arrived at the Stromness whaling station, South Georgia, after their dramatic boat journey from Elephant Island and traverse of the islands mountains. The Managers Villa, where they were believed to have been made welcome, became a historic building that has been frequently visited by those journeying to South Georgia. There have been two different managers dwellings in Stromness through the years, but their history has not been clear. New evidence indicates that the Villa that was assumed to be the one Shackleton reached in 1916, was not erected in Stromness until 1925. In that year it was moved from the abandoned Ocean Harbour whaling station farther south on the island and replaced the original Managers Villa. This paper reviews new evidence on the Stromness villas and concludes that the historic focus should be shifted to the correct building.