https://www.selleckchem.com/products/LBH-589.html Although Guillain-Barré syndrome was officially described in 1916, other cases had been reported earlier, such as some cases of Landry's paralysis. This year is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), one of the fathers of comparative anatomy and palaeontology he died at age 63 from an unknown disease. By reading medical reports about his last days and hours, we conclude Cuvier died from a severe form of Guillain-Barré syndrome. Moreover, we think this observation could be the first complete report of acute polyradiculoneuropathy with pharyngeal-cervical-brachial onset. BACKGROUND The objective of this quality improvement initiative was to identify general surgery residents proficient in a non-English language and have each attempt the Clinician Cultural and Linguistic Assessment (CCLA) to become qualified bilingual staff speakers. METHODS General surgery house staff were asked to self-identify as proficient in a language other than English. Fees for the certification examination were waived, and each resident was excused from clinical duties to complete the exam. McNemar's test was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS All residents responded to the initial survey, with 18/65 reporting a non-English language proficiency. Of the 12 residents who sat for the CCLA exam, 9 (75.0%) passed, with 5 certifying in the most commonly spoken non-English languages at this institution. The number of certified residents increased from 1 to 10 (1.5 % to 15.4%, p = 0.004). CONCLUSION Language barriers result in health care disparities for patients with limited English proficiency. This reproducible quality improvement initiative significantly increased the number of qualified bilingual speakers, while 25.0% of self-described proficient speakers did not demonstrate adequate language proficiency. These newly certified providers allow for increased language concordant care, which may be associated with improv