The book presents nine mini-courses from a summer school, Dynamics of Biological Systems, held at the University of Alberta in 2016, as part of the prestigious seminar series: Seminaire de Mathematiques Superieures (SMS). It includes new and significant contributions in the field of Dynamical Systems and their applications in Biology, Ecology, and Medicine. The chapters of this book cover a wide range of mathematical methods and biological applications. They - explain the process of mathematical modelling of biological systems with many examples, - introduce advanced methods from dynamical systems theory, - present many examples of the use of mathematical modelling to gain biological insight - discuss innovative methods for the analysis of biological processes, - contain extensive lists of references, which allow interested readers to continue the research on their own. Integrating the theory of dynamical systems with biological modelling, the book will appeal to researchers and graduate students in Applied Mathematics and Life Sciences.

Nervous System Drug Delivery: Principles and Practice helps users understand the nervous system physiology affecting drug delivery, the principles that underlie various drug delivery methods, and the appropriate application of drug delivery methods for drug- and disease-specific treatments. Researchers developing nervous system putative therapeutic agents will use this book to optimize drug delivery during preclinical assessment and to prepare for regulatory advancement of new agents. Clinicians will gain direct insights into pathophysiologic alterations that impact drug delivery and students and trainees will find this a critical resource for understanding and applying nervous system drug delivery techniques.

This book provides an up-to-date review and analysis of the carrot's nuclear and organellar genome structure and evolution. In addition, it highlights applications of carrot genomic information to elucidate the carrot's natural and agricultural history, reproductive biology, and the genetic basis of traits important in agriculture and human health. The carrot genome was sequenced in 2016, and its relatively small diploid genome, combined with the fact that it is the most complete root crop genome released to date and the first-ever Euasterid II genome to be sequenced, mean the carrot has an important role in the study of plant development and evolution. In addition, the carrot is among the top ten vegetables grown worldwide, and the abundant orange provitamin A carotenoids that account for its familiar orange color make it the richest crop source of vitamin A in the US diet, and in much of the world. This book includes the latest genetic maps, genetic tools and resources, and covers advances in genetic engineering that are relevant for plant breeders and biologists alike.

Neurotechnology and Brain Stimulation in Pediatric Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Disorders provides a comprehensive overview of neurotechnological devices as potential treatments for psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders in children and adolescents. Many neuropsychiatric disorders are covered such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, Depression, Tourette's Syndrome, and OCD. Different device-based treatments are discussed such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, Deep Brain Stimulation, Chronotherapy, and Neurofeedback.

The Serotonin System: History, Neuropharmacology, and Pathology provides an up-to-date accounting on the physiology and pathophysiology of serotonin and the role it plays in behavioral functions. In addition, the book explores the potential roles of 5-HT1 in neurodevelopmental disorders and summarizes the history of the discovery and development of serotonergic drugs for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. This concise, yet thorough, volume is the perfect introduction to this critical neurotransmitter. It is ideal for students and researchers new to the study of behavior, neuropsychiatry or neuropharmacology, but is also a great resource for established investigators who want a greater perspective on serotonin.

Neuroscience of the Nonconscious Mind includes novel concepts and insights on the brain mechanisms that control nonconscious mental functions, some of which were developed in the author's laboratory. The book describes neuroscience of conventional nonconscious mental functions, along with not so conventional functions like creativity, hypnosis and extrasensory perception, thus making it a very unique reference. This thought provoking book for students of mind, brain and consciousness will help explain concepts and introduce the science behind the nonconscious.

Biodiversity of Pantepui: The Pristine "Lost World" of the Neotropical Guiana Highlands provides the most updated and comprehensive knowledge on the biota, origin, and evolution of the Pantepui biogeographical province. It synthesizes historical information and recent discoveries, covering the main biogeographic patterns, evolutionary trends, and conservational efforts. Written by international experts on the biodiversity of this pristine land, this book explores what makes Pantepui a unique natural laboratory to study the origin and evolution of Neotropical biodiversity under the influence of only natural drivers. It discusses the organisms living in Pentepui, including algae, plants, several groups of invertebrates, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. The latter portion of the book delves into the effects of human activity and global warming on Pantepui, and current conservational efforts to combat these threats. Biodiversity of Pantepui is an important resource for researchers in ecology, biogeography, evolution, and conservation, who want to understand the biodiversity and natural history of this region, and how to help conserve and protect the Guiana Highlands from environmental and human damages.

Imaging in Movement Disorders: Imaging in Other Movement Disorders and Dementia, Volume 143 provides an up-to-date textbook on the use of imaging modalities across the spectrum of movement disorders and dementias. The book brings together lessons learned from neuroimaging tools in the content of movement disorders, including idiopathic and sporadic forms of Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, Atypical Parkinsonism, Dystonia, Essential Tremor, and more. Specific chapters cover Neuroimaging Applications in Dystonia, Neuroimaging Applications in Essential Tremor, Neuroimaging applications in Restless Leg Syndrome, Neuroimaging Application in Tourette's Syndrome and TIC Disorders, Neuroimaging Applications in Functional Movement Disorders, and Neuroimaging Applications in Cerebellar Disorders. Addition sections cover Molecular Imaging of Parkinson's Disease Cognitive Impairment, Structural MRI in Parkinson's Disease Cognitive Impairment, Functional MRI in Parkinson's Disease Cognitive Impairment, Molecular Imaging of Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Structural and Functional MRI of Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Transcranial Sonography in Movement Disorders, Imaging transplantation in Movement Disorders, Hybrid PET-MRI Applications in Movement Disorders, amongst other topics.

Neurosurgical Neuropsychology: The Practical Application of Neuropsychology in the Neurosurgical Practice comprehensively explains the use of neuropsychology in neurosurgical settings. The book covers various preoperative techniques that may benefit neurosurgeons, such as functional neuroimaging (fMRI, SPECT, MEG) for presurgical cognitive mapping, as well as more traditional methods to predict outcomes after surgery, including neurocognitive testing and the Wada procedure. The book's editors discuss why neuropsychologists add considerable value to the neurosurgical team. A wide range of patient populations are covered, ranging from Deep Brain Stimulation candidates for Parkinson's disease, to adult and pediatric epilepsy candidates and neuro-oncology cases. This book is ideal for neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, neuro-oncologists, epileptologists, general neurologists, and others who want to know more about the use of neuropsychology as a tool in the presurgical and postoperative phases of neurosurgery.

The purpose of this book is to present a range of cases and comparison of the issues, insights and cases emerging from the Sustainable Energy Mix Summit in the Galapagos that offer a better understanding of energy mix in fragile environments from a variety of International locations and contexts including the Galapagos.

Epigenetics of Chronic Pain, Volume Nine, presents comprehensive information on the role of epigenetics in chronic pain sensitivity, providing a detailed, but accessible, view of the field from basic principles, to clinical application. Leading international researchers discuss essential mechanisms of chronic pain epigenetics, including the molecular processes of chromatin remodeling, histone modifications, and the microRNAs and noncoding RNAs involved in regulating genes tied to pain sensitivity. The influence of epigenetics in inflammatory, neuropathic, visceral and other pain models is examined, with data derived from epigenetic studies on peripheral and central mechanisms of pain sensitivity in animal models and clinical cases studies. The studies and case examples cited highlight therapeutic pathways of significance and next steps for researchers to develop epigenetic-based treatments for chronic pain. In recent years, epigenetic regulation of gene expression has been shown to play a central role in managing human pain sensitivity. Findings show that expression of many genes critical to increases or decreases in pain sensitivity are indeed regulated by DNA methylation and its enzymes, histone-involved chromatin remodeling, and noncoding RNAs, mainly microRNAs.

Neuroinflammation, Second Edition, discusses the role inflammation plays in neuro-inflammatory diseases. As research in neuroinflammation has dramatically increased in recent years, this new edition covers all of the new developments and findings since the first publication nearly a decade ago. Comprehensive coverage of topics includes chapters on multiple sclerosis, optic neuritis and Susac syndrome. New chapters cover the latest research in Epilepsy and Neuroinflammation, Pediatric MS, Pediatric Lupus and Traumatic Brain Injury, amongst other topics. Inflammation is a central mechanism in many neurological diseases, including stroke, multiple sclerosis, brain trauma and meningitis, and it contributes to the generation of pain. Researchers are now beginning to understand the impact of the immune system on different nervous system functions and diseases, ranging from damage, through tolerance, and to modulation and repair.

What difference is there between the visual experience of watching the moon in the sky and the visual experience of seeing a snake slither by your foot? It is easy to believe our interpretation of the world is split into a binary mode, between the bodily self and everything outside it. There is, however, a buffer zone in the immediate surrounding of the body, known as peripersonal space, in which boundaries are blurred. The notion of peripersonal space calls into question not only our entrenched theories of perception, but also has major implications on the way we perceive personal and social awareness. Research has yielded a vast array of exciting discoveries on peripersonal space, across a variety of disciplines: ethology, social psychology, anthropology, neurology, psychiatry, and cognitive neuroscience. The World at Our Fingertips: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of Peripersonal Space brings these perspectives together for the first time, as well as introducing a philosophical dialogue to the questions. Edited by a team of leading psychologists and philosophers in the fields of peripersonal space and bodily awareness, this comprehensive volume presents the reader with a fresh, accessible dialogue between authorities from vastly different areas of thought.

Myasthenia Gravis and Myasthenic Disorders, Second Edition is a thoroughly re-written and updated version of the highly successful first edition published in 1999. The current edition begins with an overview of the anatomy and molecular architecture of the neuromuscular junction and the electrophysiologic diagnosis of its disorders. The introductory chapters are followed by a detailed exposition of the pathogenesis, natural history, diagnosis and therapy of the autoimmune myasthenias, the Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, and the increasingly complex and fascinating diseases collectively referred to as congenital myasthenic syndromes. The acetylcholine receptor is a major target of both autoimmune and inherited myasthenias and a separate chapter reviews its structural and functional properties. The book also describes disorders that often target terminal nerve segment near the neuromuscular junction-- the syndrome of peripheral nerve hyperexcitability and the Guillain-Barr syndrome.
Comprehensively written by leaders at the forefront of research, not to mention thoroughly referenced throughout and gorgeously illustrated, this new edition of the classic 1999 text will cement its place as the text on Myasthenia Gravis and related disorders for years to come.

Few people have had as great an impact on the modern environmental movement as has the great writer and scientist Rachel Carson. This readable and up-to-date biography traces the famous environmentalist's development as a writer from earliest childhood through the publication of her best-known work Silent Spring (1962). Although Carson is now remembered almost exclusively for Silent Spring, which exposed the dangers of pesticides, this book was preceded by three best-sellers about the ocean environment: Under the Sea-Wind (1941), The Edge of the Sea (1955), and The Sea Around Us (1951) which catapulted her to fame. In Rachel Carson: A Biography, Carson emerges as a talented scientist and exceptional writer who was able to share her sense of wonder about nature with both scientists and the general public. Carson's great love of both writing and nature emerged at a young age and enabled her to overcome numerous obstacles in her life. She made a critical decision to switch her major in college from English to biology, she suffered financial problems during the Depression, and family and work responsibilities left her little time to write. She struggled for years to become a writer, working in relative obscurity for 15 years at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service writing pamphlets and brochures. She also endured harsh criticism of Silent Spring toward the end of her life while terribly ill. This biography shows how Carson overcame these difficulties and persevered to become one of the most influential writers of the last half of the 20th century. Her legacy as a champion of nature continues 50 years after her death.

No longer confined to medical devices, medical software has become a pervasive technology giving healthcare operators access to clinical information stored in electronic health records and clinical decision support systems, supporting robot-assisted telesurgery, and providing the technology behind ambient assisted living. These systems and software must be designed, built and maintained according to strict regulations and standards to ensure that they are safe, reliable and secure. Engineering High Quality Medical Software illustrates how to exploit techniques, methodologies, development processes and existing standards to realize high-confidence medical software. After an introductory survey of the topic the book covers global regulations and standards (including EU MDD 93/42/EEC, FDA Title 21 of US CFR, ISO 13485, ISO 14971, IEC 52304, IEEE 1012 and ISO/IEC 29119), verification and validation techniques and techniques, and methodologies and engineering tasks for the development, configuration and maintenance of medical software.

Handbook of Object Novelty Recognition, Volume 26, synthesizes the empirical and theoretical advances in the field of object recognition and memory that have occurred since the development of the spontaneous object recognition task. The book is divided into four sections, covering vision and perception of object features and attributions, definitions of concepts that are associated with object recognition, the influence of brain lesions and drugs on various memory functions and processes, and models of neuropsychiatric disorders based on spontaneous object recognition tasks. A final section covers genetic and developmental studies and gender and hormone studies.

This book contributes to our understanding of linkages between carbon management and local livelihoods by taking stock of the existing evidence and drawing on field experiences in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, an area that provides fresh water to more than 2 billion people and supports the world's largest population of pastoralists and millions of livestock. This edited volume addresses two main questions: 1. Does carbon management offer livelihood opportunities or present risks, and what are they? 2. Do the attributes of carbon financing alter the nature of livelihood opportunities and risks? Chapters analyze the most pressing deficiencies in understanding carbon storage in both soils and in above ground biomass, and the related social and economic challenges associated with carbon sequestration projects. Chapters deliver insights to both academics from diverse disciplines (natural sciences, social sciences and engineering) and to policy makers.

In this interdisciplinary work, philosophers from different specialisms connect with the notion of the wild today and interrogate how it is mediated through the culture of the Anthropocene. They make use of empirical material like specific artworks, films and other cultural works related to the term 'wild' to consider the aesthetic experience of nature, focusing on the untamed, the boundless, the unwieldy, or the unpredictable; in other words, aspects of nature that are mediated by culture. This book maps out the wide range of ways in which we experience the wildness of nature aesthetically, relating both to immediate experience as well as to experience mediated through cultural expression. A variety of subjects are relevant in this context, including aesthetics, art history, theology, human geography, film studies, and architecture. A theme that is pursued throughout the book is the wild in connection with ecology and its experience of nature as both a constructive and destructive force.

What should the average person know about science? Because science is so central to life in the 21st century, science educators and other leaders of the scientific community believe that it is essential that everyone understand the basic concepts of the most vital and far-reaching disciplines. Genetics 101 does exactly that. This accessible volume provides readers - whether students new to the field or just interested members of the lay public - with the essential ideas of genetics using a minimum of jargon and mathematics. Concepts are introduced in a progressive order so that more complicated ideas build on simpler ones, and each is discussed in small, bite-sized segments so that they can be more easily understood. Genetics 101 provides readers of all levels a brief introduction for understanding a science that is so essential to the advancement of science today. It covers: Genetics as a science, The applications of genetics, including developmental genetics and behavioral genetics, Genetics counseling, and other ways in which genetics impacts our lives. The future of the science of genetics, including genetically modified organisms, cloning, and transgenics A glossary and sources for further research complete this handy resource.

Neuropsychiatric manifestation in systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) is one of the most recalcitrant complications of the disease. According to the 1999 ACR nomenclature and case definitions, diffuse psychiatric/neuropsychological syndromes in NPSLE (anxiety disorder, acute confusional state, cognitive dysfunction, mood disorder, psychosis) (diffuse NPSLE) present psychiatric manifestations unlike neurologic syndromes (focal NPSLE) originating from focal CNS lesions, such as cerebrovascular disease, demyelinating syndrome, headache, aseptic meningitis, chorea, seizures and myelopathy. A number of studies have reported that diffuse NPSLE is usually associated with the presence of autoantibodies against neuronal cells in serum as well as in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Moreover, IL-6 has been shown to be elevated in CSF of patients with diffuse NPSLE. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the severity of blood-brain barrier damages plays a crucial role in the development of acute confusional state, the severest form of diffuse NPSLE through the accelerated entry of larger amounts of autoantibodies to NMDA receptor subunit NR2 into the CNS. Since the importance of autoantibodies in the NPSLE has been now evident, such an aggressive treatment, especially B cell depleting therapy, would make sense in that it would reduce the levels of pathogenic autoantibodies, leading to a better prognosis of NPSLE. As far as we know, no single book specifically dedicated to NPSLE alone has been published as yet. As mentioned above, NPSLE constitutes a vastly expanding field of research with increasing numbers of papers published annually. Therefore, we believe that an effort to collect and critically review these publications is invaluable. Such an effort will provide an important contribution to basic researchers as well as clinicians working in the field of neurology, rheumatology, psychiatry and internal medicine fields.