Papers comprising this volume were presented at the first IEEE Conference on [title] held in Denver, Co., Nov. 1987. As the limits of the digital computer become apparent, interest in neural networks has intensified. Ninety contributions discuss what neural networks can do, addressing topics that in

The development of neurophysiology, the study of the activity of living nervous tissue, has relied heavily on the techniques of electrophysiology. This emphasis is revealed in volumes 14 and 15 of this series, which show how electrophysiological techniques can be applied to research topics ranging from ion channels to human behavior. Kitai and Park show how cellular neurophysiology can be related to classical neuroanatomy, an important basis for any type of functional analysis. Wonderlin, French, Arispe, and Jones describe new (single channel) and more traditional (whole cell) techniques for studying the role of ion channels in cellular pr- esses, a field that is currently developing very rapidly. An exciting nontraditional approach to the study of cellular electrophysiology is discussed by Hopp, Wu, Xiao, Rioult, London, Zecevic, and Cohen in their paper on optic measurement of membrane pot- tials. Humphrey and Schmidt offer a thoughtful review of the uses and limitations of the technique of recording extracellular unit potentials in the brain. Hoffer presents an introduction to a field that is of great interest but is technically very difficult-the reco- ing from cells and axons in the spinal cord and peripheral nervous system in freely moving animals. An electrophysiological approach to the analysis of the neural mechanisms of normal behavior is presented by Halgren in a wide-ranging review of the field of evoked potentials in humans.

In 1961, neurobiologists found that the conduction velocity of the nerve impulse in the giant nerve fiber of the" Penaeus "shrimp abdominal nerve cord was over 200 m/s, the highest speed of information transmission ever observed in the animal kingdom. The peculiar myelin sheath with its unique nodal structure and the electrical properties of the nerve fibers of the shrimp have continued to be investigated for a quarter of century and are now fully described in this book. The investigation dispels the commonly held belief that the fastest recorded impulse conduction is about 120 m/s in the thickest vertebrate myelinated nerve fibers. In the shrimp, researchers found a completely novel type of functional node in the giant fiber which they designated as the fenestration node. In portions of the myelinated fiber, the fenestration node furnished the sites of excitation. Also discovered was a new strategy for increasing impulse conduction in the shrimp. The book includes a section on the formation of the fenestration node and the discovery of a strategy that allows the shrimp to escape its predators by an action of the fastest velocity. The data presented in this volume on the myelin sheath of invertebrates present a new direction for this field and a rich source of information for neurobiologists worldwide.

Biological cell membranes regulate the transfer of matter and information between the intracellular and extracellular compartments as basic survival and maintenance functions for an organism. This volume contains a series of reviews that are c- cerned with how epithelial plasma membranes regulate the transport of solutes between the intracellular and extracellular compartments of a cell. This book is also an attempt to analyze the molecular basis for the movement of various solutes across an epithelial cell membrane. This volume is devoted to a diversity of epithelial transport mechanisms in rep- sentative cell membranes of a variety of living things. The ?rst section of the book (Chapters 1-6) focuses on mechanisms of solute transport in epithelia of inver- brates. The last section which comprises ten chapters (Chapters 7-16) deals with solute transporters in epithelial cell membranes of vertebrates. It is hoped that with this particular ordering the reader can glean a telescopic view of the evolutionary history of the various epithelial solute transporters.

In the late 1980s, it became painfully evident to the pharmaceutical industry that the old paradigm of drug discovery, which involved highly segmented drug - sign and development activities, would not produce an acceptable success rate in the future. Therefore, in the early 1990s a paradigm shift occurred in which drug design and development activities became more highly integrated. This new str- egy required medicinal chemists to design drug candidates with structural f- tures that optimized pharmacological (e. g. , high affinity and specificity for the target receptor), pharmaceutical (e. g. , solubility and chemical stability), bioph- maceutical (e. g. , cell membrane permeability), and metabolic/pharmacokinetic (e. g. , metabolic stability, clearance, and protein binding) properties. Successful implementation of this strategy requires a multidisciplinary team effort, incl- ing scientists from drug design (e. g. , medicinal chemists, cell biologists, en- mologists, pharmacologists) and drug development (e. g. , analytical chemists, pharmaceutical scientists, physiologists, and molecular biologists representing the disciplines of pharmaceutics, biopharmaceutics, and pharmacokinetics/drug metabolism). With this new, highly integrated approach to drug design now widely utilized by the pharmaceutical industry, the editors of this book have provided the sci- tific community with case histories to illustrate the nature of the interdisciplinary interactions necessary to successfully implement this new approach to drug d- covery. In the first chapter, Ralph Hirschmann provides a historical perspective of why this paradigm shift in drug discovery has occurred.

To humans, cold has a distinctly positive quality. 'Frostbite', 'a nip in the air', 'biting cold', all express the concept of cold as an entity which attacks the body, numbing and damaging it in the process. Probably the richness of descriptive English in this area stems from the early experiences of a group of essentially tropical apes, making their living on a cold and windswept island group half way between the Equator and the Arctic. During a scientific education we soon learn that there is no such thing as cold, only an absence of heat. Cold does not invade us; heat simply deserts. Later still we come to appreciate that temperature is a reflection of kinetic energy, and that the quantity of kinetic energy in a system is determined by the speed of molecular movement. Despite this realization, it is difficult to abandon the sensible prejudices of palaeolithic Homo sapiens shivering in his huts and caves. For example; appreciating that a polar bear is probably as comfortable when swimming from ice floe to ice floe as we are when swimming in the summer Mediterranean is not easy; understanding the thermal sensa tions of a 'cold-blooded' earthworm virtually impossible. We must always be wary of an anthropocentric attitude when considering the effects of cold on other species."

Cataract is the major cause of blindness in man throughout the world. It is usually dealt with by surgery but surgery is expensive and may lead to other ocular damage. Apart from surgery one might hope to prevent cataracts or to cure them, but these approaches require a much greater understanding of the structure and metabolism of the lens and of its weaknesses and strengths. The emphasis of this book is on recent findings. The first chapter deals with the normal lens and its structure, cellular composition, metabolism and proteins. In the following chapter the ageing of the lens will be discussed, and the third chapter discusses the epidemiology of cataract emphasizing the size of the problem of cataract and the associated risk factors. Surgery is discussed briefly but without detailed discussion of recent changes in surgical procedure. That is followed by a chapter on experimental cataracts and related in vitro studies. The studies of human cataracts are discussed in chapter 5. The last chapter deals with the prevention of cataract and its delay by anti-cataract agents. There have been advances in this area recently and there is the promise of an effective therapeutic treatment soon.

Perceiving in Depth is a sequel to Binocular Vision and Stereopsis and to Seeing in Depth, both by Ian P. Howard and Brian J. Rogers. This three-volume work is much broader in scope than previous texts and includes mechanisms of depth perception by all senses, including aural, electrosensory organs, and the somatosensory system. The work contains three extensively illustrated and referenced volumes. Volume 1 reviews sensory coding, psychophysical and analytic procedures, and basic visual mechanisms. Volume 2 reviews stereoscopic vision. Volume 3 reviews all mechanisms of depth perception other than stereoscopic vision. Together, these three volumes provide the most detailed review of all aspects of perceiving the three-dimensional world. Volume 3 addresses all depth-perception mechanisms other than stereopsis. The chapter starts with reviews of monocular cues to depth. These cues include accommodation, vergence eye movements, perspective, interposition, shading, and motion parallax. A perceptual constancy is the ability to judge a feature of a stimulus as constant in spite of variations in the retinal image. Constancies in depth perception, such as the ability to perceive the sizes, and 3-D shapes of objects as they move or rotate are reviewed. The ways in which different depth cues interact are discussed. They can complement each other, compete, or interact so as to increase the range of depth perception. The next chapter reviews sources of information, such as changing disparity, image looming, and vergence eye movements, used in the perception of objects moving in depth. Various pathologies of depth perception, including visual neglect, stereoanomalies, and albanism are reviewed. Visual depth-perception mechanisms through the animal kingdom are reviewed, starting with insects and progressing though crustaceans, fish, amphibians, retiles, birds, and mammals. Most animals respond to image looming, and many use perspective and motion parallax to detect depth. Stereoscopic vision based on binocular disparity has evolved in some insects, frogs, and mammals. The chapter includes a discussion of the way in which stereoscopic vision may have evolved. The next chapter describes how visual depth perception is used to guide reaching movements of the hand, avoiding obstacles, and walking to a distant object. The next three chapters review non-visual mechanisms of depth perception. Auditory mechanisms include auditory localization, echolocation in bats and marine mammals, and the lateral-line system of fish. Some fish emit electric discharges and then use electric sense organs to detect distortions of the electric field produced by nearby objects. Some beetles and snakes use heat-sensitive sense organs to detect sources of heat. The volume ends with a discussion of mechanisms used by animals to navigate to a distant site. Ants find their way back to the nest by using landmarks and by integrating their walking movements. Several animals navigate by the stars or by polarized sunlight. It seems to be established that animals in several phyla navigate by detecting the Earth's magnetic field.

This book highlights the latest findings and techniques related to nutrition and feed efficiency in animal agriculture. It addresses the key challenges facing the nutrition industry to achieve high animal productivity with minimal environmental impact. The concept of smart nutrition involves the use of smart technologies in the feeding and management of livestock. The first chapters focus on advances in biological fields such as molecular agriculture and genotype selection, as well as technologies that enhance or enable the collection of relevant information. The next section highlights applications of smart nutrition in a variety of livestock systems, ranging from intensive indoor housing of broilers and pigs to extensive outdoor housing of cattle and sheep, and marine fish farms. Finally, because of the worldwide attention to this issue, the authors address the environmental consequences. This work, which takes a serious look at how nutrition can be used to improve sustainability in animal agriculture, is a key literature for readers in animal and veterinary sciences, the food industry, sustainability research, and agricultural engineering.

This volume includes papers presented at the Third Annual Computation and Neural Systems meeting (CNS*94) held in Monterey California, July 21 - July 26, 1994. This collection includes 71 of the more than 100 papers presented at this year's meeting. Acceptance for meeting presentation was based on the peer review of preliminary papers by at least two referees. The papers in this volume were submitted in final form after the meeting. As represented by this volume, CNS meetings continue to expand in quality, size and breadth of focus as increasing numbers of neuroscientists are taking a computational approach to understanding nervous system function. The CNS meetings are intended to showcase the best of current research in computational neuroscience. As such the meeting is fundamentally focused on understanding the relationship between the structure of neIVOUS systems and their function. What is clear from the continued expansion of the CNS meetings is that computational approaches are increasingly being applied at all levels of neurobiological analysis. in an ever growing number of experimental preparations. and neural subsystems. Thus. experimental subjects range from crickets to primates; sensory systems range from vision to electroreception; experimental approaches range from realistic models of ion channels to the analysis of the information content of spike trains. For this reason, the eNS meetings represent an opportunity for computational neurobiologists to consider their research results in a much broader context than is usually possible.

This comprehensive text is suitable for researchers and graduate students of a 'hot' new topic in medical physics.

Written by the world's leading experts, this book aims to present recent developments in plasma medicine, both technological and scientific, reviewed in a fashion accessible to the highly interdisciplinary audience consisting of doctors, physicists, biologists, chemists and other scientists, university students and professors, engineers and medical practitioners.

The book focuses on major topics and covers the physics required to develop novel plasma discharges relevant for medical applications, the medicine to apply the technology not only in-vitro but also in-vivo testing and the biology to understand complicated bio-chemical processes involved in plasma interaction with living tissues.

Rodents are the predominant experimental animals found in life-sciences research laboratories. The body temperature of a rodent is markedly affected by surgical, chemical or environmental manipulation. Because temperature regulation is controlled essentially by a 'holistic' regulatory system, meaning that its responses affect the activities of all other psychological and behavioural processes, it is clear that researchers working with rodents must be familiar with thermoregulatory physiology. With the help of extensive data tables and figures, this book explains the key facets of rodent thermal physiology, including neurological control and gender and intraspecies variations. There is a novel chapter on the effects of trauma, toxic chemicals and other factors. The book should therefore find use in government, academic or industrial laboratories whose researchers are working with rodents.

During the past two decades, fish endocrinology has witnessed exciting developments due to our increased knowledge at all levels of biological organizations, including molecular biology, cell biology, physiology and behavior. New insights into development, neurobiology, immunology and molecular genetics closely correlated with classical aspects of endocrinology and represent important contributions to our knowledge on regulatory processes of vertebrates, including fish. The purpose of this book is to overview major advances in numerous research areas of fish endocrinology. Most of the chapters not only review and discuss the state-of-the-art in the respective field, but also show perspectives of future research. The book will be of interest to scientists involved in basic fish research, comparative endocrinology, fisheries and aquaculture as well as for students of fish biology.

Interest in retinoic acid, the main biologically active derivative of vi- min A or retinol, increased dramatically between 1989 and 1993, following the cloning of nuclear receptors or RARs reported in 1987 (Fig. 1). Important discoveries since then have shown how RARs work as all-trans retinoic ac- dependent heterodimers with related nuclear receptors for 9-cis retinoic acid called RXRs. This has stimulated the development of synthetic analogs s- cific for each type of receptor, and opens the way to develop new methods for regulating pharmacologically the activity ofretinoic acid-dependent pathways of gene activation. The potential for the development of new drugs by the pharmaceutical industry is now a maj or factor driving forward our understa- ing of vitamin A-regulated pathways in animal development and homeostasis. However, apart from the real potential ofretinoid analogs as novel pharma- logical agents, there remains the considerable intellectual challenge of und- standing the way in which vitamin A and its derivatives function in cell development and differentiation. Retinoid Protocols is an attempt to bring together various methodologies that will be vital for rising to this challenge in the future. Retinoid molecular biology has few methods of its own, but is reliant on standard molecular biology methods applied to this particular research area.

This volume describes the current state of our knowledge on the neurobiology of muscle fatigue, with consideration also given to selected integrative cardiorespiratory mechanisms. Our charge to the authors of the various chapters was twofold: to provide a systematic review of the topic that could serve as a balanced reference text for practicing health-care professionals, teaching faculty, and pre-and postdoctoral trainees in the biomedi cal sciences; and to stimulate further experimental and theoretical work on neurobiology. Key issues are addressed in nine interrelated areas: fatigue of single muscle fibers, fatigue at the neuromuscular junction, fatigue of single motor units, metabolic fatigue studied with nuclear magnetic resonance, fatigue of the segmental motor system, fatigue involving suprasegmental mechanisms, the task dependency of fatigue mechanisms, integrative (largely cardiorespiratory) systems issues, and fatigue of adapted systems (due to aging, under-and overuse, and pathophysiology). The product is a volume that provides compre of processes that operate from the forebrain to the contractile proteins."

The author makes a unique contribution to the field by discussing the history and philosophy of the neurosciences, and then developing critical approaches which integrate techniques, theory, and ethics. Taken as a whole, Jacobson's work will provide a coherent and humane framework for future research programs. The paperback edition of this highly successful text, first published in 1993, is now available! The author brings the ethics of neuroscience into a closer relationship with empirical research. Covering the field's history, philosophy, theories, and techniques, this volume provides the necessary moral and ethical framework to evaluate neuroscience research.

This manual provides an easy guide to pain management for the veterinary practitioner. Beginning with pain terminology, it goes on to describe to physiology of pain, management strategies, various drugs and techniques, and the management of specific conditions and procedures. Strategies for the treatment of pain are comprehensively reviewed, with an overview of the mechanisms by which pain is perceived and the principles of pain management. The drugs currently used in the treatment of acute and chronic pain are discussed as well as the specific techniques that can be used to control intra- and post operative pain in dogs and cats. The book covers a broad range of information on specific aspects of pain management from analgesic techniques to management of chronic pain to pain perception. Published by Teton New Media USA and distributed by CRC Press outside of North America.

JOHN G. HILDEBRAND Research on insect olfaction is important for at least two reasons. First, the olfactory systems of insects and their arthropod kin are experi mentally favourable models for studies aimed at learning about general principles of olfaction that apply to vertebrates and invertebrates alike. Detailed comparisons between the olfactory pathways in vertebrates and insects have revealed striking similarities of functional organisation, physiol ogy, and development, suggesting that olfactory information is processed through neural mechanisms more similar than different in these evolution arily remote creatures. Second, insect olfaction itself is important because of the economic and medical impact of insects that are agricultural pests and disease vectors, as well as positive impact of beneficial species, such as the bees and moths responsible for pollination and production of honey. The harm or benefit attributable to an insect is a function of what it does - that is, of its behaviour - which is shaped by sensory information. Often olfaction is the key modality for control of basic insect behaviour, such as ori entation and movement toward, and interactions with, potential mates, appro priate sites for oviposition, and sources of food. Not surprisingly, therefore, much work on insect olfaction has been motivated by long-term hopes of using knowledge of this pivotal sensory system to design strategies for mon itoring and managing harmful species and fostering the welfare of beneficial ones."

In this introductory text, Dr. Birdi demonstrates experimental methods and analyses of fractal dimensions in natural processes. In addition to a general overview, he discusses in detail problems in the fields of chemistry, geochemistry, and biophysics. Both students and professionals with a minimum of mathematics or physical science training will learn to find and model shapes and patterns from their own everyday observations.

Many organisms have evolved the ability to enter into and revive from a dormant state. They can survive for long periods in this state (often even months to years), yet can become responsive again within minutes or hours. This is often, but not necessarily, associated with desiccation. Preserving onea (TM)s body and reviving it in future generations is a dream of mankind. To date, however, we have failed to learn how cells, tissues or entire organisms can be made dormant or be effectively revived at ambient temperatures. In this book studies on organisms, ranging from aquatic cyanobacteria that produce akinetes to hibernating mammals, are presented, and reveal common but also divergent physiological and molecular pathways for surviving in a dormant form or for tolerating harsh environments. Attempting to learn the functions associated with dormancy and how they are regulated is one of the great future challenges. Its relevance to the preservation of cells and tissues is one of the key concerns of this book.

This book aims to fill the gap between unscientific comments about the hazards and benefits of high-fat or low-fat diets and weight control found in magazines and technical and medical reports about lipid biochemistry and obesity. It aims to explain in simple language the biology of feeding and fasting, fattening and slimming in wild animals as well as people. Topics include where fat comes from and how animals and plants handle them, their natural roles in migration, mating breeding and living in unpredictable habitats such as deserts and arctic regions, and their contributions to our cookery, paints and medicines. The physiological mechanisms of digesting, transporting and utilising energy stores are discussed, along with the contribution of fatty tissue to body insulation and the protection of delicate organs. Archaeological, anthropological and physiological evidence is assembled to explore how, when and why people have become fat, and how evolutionary forces have determined the modern diversity of body shape and size. The book ends with a brief account of the contribution of dietary fats and obesity to health in the modern world.

The great variety in structure and function of arthropod sensory organs is due to the huge number of species living in spatially and temporally different environments and to great variation in behavioral patterns. This atlas compiles the electron microscopic anatomy of arthropod sensory organophotoreceptors, chemoreceptors, and others in relation to function, behavior, and environment. The authors show how each sensory receptor is finely tuned to detect the necessary information in the arthropods surroundings and how the sensory receptors dynamically change their fine structures according to their functional and adaptational states. In each two-page spread of the book, electron or light micrographs are shown on the right, with diagrammatic illustrations and accompanying text on the left, in a format that is attractive and easy to understand. The atlas thus provides an important bridge between the physiology and morphology of arthropod sensory receptors.

This new series on The Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Fishes grew out of the demand for state-of-the-art review articles in a rapidly expanding field of research. Up to the present, most research literature on biochemistry involved rats and humans, but new breakthroughs in the piscine setting have indicated that the field is ready for a review series of its own. Because of funding and experimental availability restrictions, most research in the field has dealt with fish and insects. Within the insect field, comparative biochemistry and comparative physiology have proceeded along independent paths as opposed to the piscine field, where the tendency has been for the latter to envelop the former.
This volume sets out to make comparative biochemistry and comparative physiology independent of each other within the piscine setting, another important rationale for this review series as well as detailing the phylogenetic evolution of fishes. The goal of the series is to provide researchers and students with an appropriate balance between experimental results and theoretical concepts.

Current Ornithology publishes authoritative, up-to-date, scholarly reviews of topics selected from the full range of current research in avian biology. Topics cover the spectrum from the molecular level of organization to population biology and community ecology. The series seeks especially to review (1) fields in which an abundant recent literature will benefit from synthesis and organization, or (2) newly emerging fields that are gaining recognition as the result of recent discoveries or shifts in perspective, or (3) fields in which students of vertebrates may benefit from comparisons of birds with other classes. All chapters are invited, and authors are chosen for their leadership in the subjects under review.