Letters from Our Readers

Readers respond to Rachel Aviv's report on a schizophrenia patient who turned out to have an autoimmune disease, Zach Helfand's Talk of the Town story about Youman Wilder, and Hua Hsu's article on A.I. and education. As a practicing rheumatologist (that is, a doctor who cares for patients with autoimmune diseases), I read Rachel Aviv's article about schizophrenia and immune disorders with great interest ("Second Life," July 28th). I frequently meet patients with lupus whose disease has caused severe neuropsychiatric symptoms, and watching them emerge from their cognitive cocoons after immunosuppressive treatment is always breathtaking. Other autoimmune neurologic phenomena can present in equally bizarre ways. Some people with antiphospholipid syndrome--a condition associated with the formation of blood clots--can experience chorea (involuntary muscle movements) or acute changes in cognition (one of my patients was diagnosed after becoming markedly confused).