A brain-computer interface (BCI) establishes a direct output channel between the human brain and external devices. BCIs infer user intent via direct measures of brain activity and thus enable communication and control without movement. This book, authored by experts in the field, provides an accessible introduction to the neurophysiological and signal-processing background required for BCI, presents state-of-the-art non-invasive and invasive approaches, gives an overview of current hardware and software solutions, and reviews the most interesting as well as new, emerging BCI applications. The book is intended not only for students and young researchers, but also for newcomers and other readers from diverse backgrounds keen to learn about this vital scientific endeavour.

In the fast-paced world of health care clinical effectiveness relies not only upon medical, but also administrative competence. This issue of Neurologic Clinics features 14 articles from experts in their respective areas of office management. Articles include practice and compensation models; negotiating with payers; using benchmarks; web based neurology resources (clinical); web based neurology resources (practice management); use of electronic health records in neurology practice; hot topics in risk management; HIPPA and other regulatory issues; ethical issues; new concepts in residency and fellowship training; using evidence based medicine; P4P and PQRI; patient education; and the future of neurology.

The successful previous volume on this topic provided a detailed benchwork manual for the most commonly used animal models of acute neurological injuries including cerebral ischemia, hemorrhage, vasospasm, and traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. Animal Models of Acute Neurological Injuries II: Injury and Mechanistic Assessments aims to collect chapters on assessing these disorders from cells and molecules to behavior and imaging. These comprehensive assessments are the key for understanding disease mechanisms as well as developing novel therapeutic strategies to ameliorate or even prevent damages to the nervous system. Volume 2 examines global cerebral ischemia, focal cerebral ischemia, and neonatal hypoxia-ischemia, as well as intensive sections covering traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. Designed to provide both expert guidance and step-by-step procedures, chapters serve to increase understanding in what, why, when, where, and how a particular assessment is used. Accessible and essential, Animal Models of Acute Neurological Injuries II: Injury and Mechanistic Assessments will be useful for trainees or beginners in their assessments of acute neurological injuries, for experienced scientists from other research fields who are interested in either switching fields or exploring new opportunities, and for established scientists within the field who wish to employ new assessments.

Behavioral neuroscience encompasses the disciplines of neurobiology and psychology to study mechanisms of behavior. This volume provides a contemporary overview of the current state of how ethics informs behavioral neuroscience research. There is dual emphasis on ethical challenges in experimental animal approaches and in clinical and nonclinical research involving human participants.

Published since 1959, "International Review of Neurobiology" is a well-known series appealing to neuroscientists, clinicians, psychologists, physiologists, and pharmacologists. Led by an internationally renowned editorial board, this important serial publishes both eclectic volumes made up of timely reviews and thematic volumes that focus on recent progress in a specific area of neurobiology research.

With recent advancements in new knowledge, it has become evident that psychostimulants and related drugs of abuse are influencing our central nervous system (CNS) remarkably and could alter their function for a longtime. This volume is the first to focus on substance abuse induced brain pathology in the widest sense as it covers alterations in neuronal, glial and endothelial cell functions under the influence of acute or chronic usage of substance abuse.

Published since 1959, "International Review of Neurobiology" is a well-known series appealing to neuroscientists, clinicians, psychologists, physiologists, and pharmacologists. Led by an internationally renowned editorial board, this important serial publishes both eclectic volumes made up of timely reviews and thematic volumes that focus on recent progress in a specific area of neurobiology research.

This volume is a collection of articles covering "Novel Approaches to Studying Basal Ganglia and Related Neuropsychiatric Disorders. "Topics covered include molecular profiling of direct and indirect striatal medium spiny neurons, the role of epigenetics in development and function of basal ganglia and transgenic animal models for Parkinson's disease.

This serial is firmly established as an extensive documentation of the advances in contemporary brain research. Each volume presents authoritative reviews and original articles by invited specialists. This volume concentrates on coma and consciousness science. presenting articles from leading figures in the area on the clinical and ethical implications of work in this field. The book provides a thorough review of the various aspects of coma science from a review of the concepts, questioning of recent advances, case studies, through to where research in the field is heading.

* Provides the reader with a unique overview of all aspects of new advances in coma science

* Broad focus with contributions by the top scientists worldwide in the respective disciplines

Five-year-old Tommy killed himself at home, where he lived with parents who said he was unwanted and deficient. College student Jennifer committed suicide by swallowing a huge mixture of pills at a motel, miles from the house where she lived with an imposing, unemotional mother who'd long thought the girl a burden. Bob, a father of two and computer company manager, might have survived his attempt at suicide, but his wife did not call 911 for 10 minutes after she found him in his running car in the garage, so he died on the way to the hospital. All of these cases described in detail by author Mecke share a factor aside from the fatality. Each person was clearly motivated by an instigator: someone who provoked the suicide. Instigators create a crushing relationship with a potentially suicidal person that, as Mecke puts it, becomes a "fatal attachment." Mecke, with more than 40 years experience as clinical psychologist, believes instigators are responsible in a significant number of the more than 30,000 suicides that occur in the United States each year. Through vivid and compelling text, we understand the minds of suicide victims and their instigators, and also learn how early trauma associated with death or abandonment can make one become an instigator. Finally, Mecke shows us how we can intervene to try and break the instigator's grip, to foil the attachment. As she explains one of her primary points, relating to both the suicidal and their instigators, is that children require careful nurturing especially during their early lives. "And the bent their personalities take following a trauma places responsibility upon us all to watch, to explain, to care for them." In addition to tragicstories drawn from her practice, Mecke also describes the instigators in larger scale suicides and those of historical figures--from the cult suicide of hundreds moved by Jim Jones at Jamestown, and the suicide bombings motivated by Osama bin Laden, to the suicide of poet Sylvia Plath and the person who precipitated her death. Classical literature and Greek mythology is also used extensively to address the issue of what triggers suicide. The insights apply universally. This is a must-read for clinicians, counselors, and anyone interested in knowing about suicide and its causes.

This fully revised 2e provides the only unified synthesis of available information concerning the mechanisms of higher-order memory formation. It spans the range from learning theory, to human and animal behavioral learning models, to cellular physiology and biochemistry. It is unique in its incorporation of chapters on memory disorders, tying in these clinically important syndromes with the basic science of synaptic plasticity and memory mechanisms. It also covers cutting-edge approaches such as the use of genetically engineered animals in studies of memory and memory diseases. Written in an engaging and easily readable style and extensively illustrated with many new, full-color figures to help explain key concepts, this book demystifies the complexities of memory and deepens the reader s understanding.
More than 25% new content, particularly expanding the scope to include new findings in translational research. Unique in its depth of coverage of molecular and cellular mechanisms Extensive cross-referencing to Comprehensive Learning and Memory Discusses clinically relevant memory disorders in the context of modern molecular research and includes numerous practical examples
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The award-winning New York Times bestseller that inspired BTS's K-pop song 'Magic Shop'. The day that 12-year-old James Doty walked in to his local magic shop is the day that changed his life. The day that 12-year-old James Doty walked in to his local magic shop is the day that changed his life. Once the neglected son of an alcoholic father and a mother with chronic depression, he has gone on to become a leading neurosurgeon, based at Stanford University. He credits Ruth for this incredible turnaround: the remarkable woman who devoted the summer to transforming his mind and opening his heart. In this uplifting memoir, Jim explains the visualisation techniques Ruth taught him that gave him the self-esteem to imagine a new future for himself. He examines the science behind mindfulness and why the skills he learned - of focus and attention - now help him to think fast and keep calm in the operating theatre. And he shows us what is possible when you start to change your brain and your heart. Into the Magic Shop imparts some powerful life lessons about how to live better, and inspires us to believe that we all have inside us the capacity to change our own destiny. 'I'm sure many readers will be moved by this inspiring story to open their hearts and see what they too can do for others' - His Holiness the Dalai Lama

This volume brings together noted scientists who study presbycusis from the perspective of complementary disciplines, for a review of the current state of knowledge on the aging auditory system. Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is one of the top three most common chronic health conditions affecting individuals aged 65 years and older. The high prevalence of age-related hearing loss compels audiologists, otolaryngologists, and auditory neuroscientists alike to understand the neural, genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying this disorder. A comprehensive understanding of these factors is needed so that effective prevention, intervention, and rehabilitative strategies can be developed to ameliorate the myriad of behavioral manifestations.

The aim is to provide students and researchers in auditory science and aging with a understanding of the various effects of aging on the auditory system.

Contents:

• Introduction and Overview Sandra Gordon-Salant and Robert D. Frisina
• The Physiology of Cochlear Presbyacusis Richard A. Schmiedt
• The Cell Biology and Physiology of the Aging Central Auditory Pathway Barbara Canlon, Robert Benjamin Illing, and Joseph Walton
  
• Closing the Gap between Neurobiology and Human Presbycusis: Behavioral and Evoked Potential Studies of Age-related Hearing Loss in Animal Models and in Humans James R. Ison, Kelly L. Tremblay, and Paul D. Allen
• Behavioral Studies with Aging Humans: Hearing Sensitivity and Psychoacoustics Peter J. Fitzgibbons and Sandra Gordon-Salant.
• Binaural Processing and Auditory Asymmetries David A. Eddins and Joseph W. Hall III

• The Effects of Senescent Changes in Audition and Cognition on Spoken Language Comprehension Bruce A. Schneider, Kathy Pichora-Fuller, and Meredyth Daneman
• Factors Affecting Speech Understanding in Older Adults Larry E. Humes and Judy R. Dubno
• Epidemiology of Age-related Hearing Impairment Karen J. Cruickshanks, Weihai Zhan, and Wenjun Zhong
• Interventions and Future Therapies: Lessons from Animal Models James F. Willott and Jochen Schacht

Sandra Gordon-Salant is Professor and Director of the Doctoral Program in Clinical Audiology in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park. Robert D. Frisina is Professor of Otolaryngology, Neurobiology & Anatomy, and Biomedical Engineering, and Associate Chair of Otolaryngology at the University of Rochester Medical School. Arthur N. Popper is Professor in the Department of Biology and Co-Director of the Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing at the University of Maryland, College Park. Richard R. Fay is Director of the Parmly Hearing Institute and Professor of Psychology at Loyola University of Chicago.

About the series:

The Springer Handbook of Auditory Research presents a series of synthetic reviews of fundamental topics dealing with auditory systems. Each volume is independent and authoritative; taken as a set, this series is the definitive resource in the field.

This practical volume examines a number of topics that explore the current status of immunotherapy and diagnostic markers for neurodegenerative disorders. With a focus on Alzheimer's disease, the first sections of the book examine immunotherapeutic approaches for the aforementioned disease as well as for Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease, amongst others. The last section of the book covers the importance of biomarker techniques to catch these diseases early enough for the treatments to be most useful. Written for the Methods in Pharmacology and Toxicology series, this book contains the kind of detailed descriptions and implementation advice that will offer a smooth transition into the lab. Authoritative and useful, Immunotherapy and Biomarkers in Neurodegenerative Disorders aims to aid in the continued progress in the development of novel immune-based drugs and diagnostic tools for these devastating brain diseases.

This well-established international series examines major areas of basic and clinical research within neuroscience, as well as emerging and promising subfields.

This volume explores interdisciplinary research on Attention and interaction of Attention with other cognitive processes including perception, learning, and memory. The papers cover major research on attention in Cognitive Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology. The volume presents recent advances on attention including binding, dynamics of attention, attention and perceptual organization, attention and consciousness, emotion and attention, development of attention, crossmodal attention, computational modeling of attention, control of actions, attention and memory, and meditation.

This volume provides a broad overview of important new advances in the field of Neuropharmacology. In 20 chapters, a selection of international contributors discuss topics including endocannabinoid function, pain, stress, astrocytes etc, and new possibilities for treatments of neurological diseases with neuropharmacological approaches.
- Cutting-edge articles in neuropharmacology
- Discusses new possibilities for treatments of neurological disorders
- Very international authorship providing a global view of the state of research

Guest Editor Adre du Plessis addresses Neonatal Neurology in this issue of Clinics in Perinatology, a companion to his September 2009 issue on Fetal Neurology. Mechanisms and management of acute brain injury is reviewed, including articles on Systemic and cerebral transitional hemodynamics in premature infants, Hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in the term infant, Neuroprotection in the newborn infant, Intracranial hemorrhage in the premature and term newborn, Infection-inflammatory mechanisms of brain injury in the newborn, Neonatal stroke, and Neonatal seizures. Next, Neurodiagnostic advances for the newborn infant is explored, with articles covering, Advanced brain MRI techniques, Advances in Near Infrared Spectroscopy, and Bedside electrocortical monitoring. The issue closes with a section devoted to Longterm neurologic outcome: Mechanisms of dysfunction and recovery, with articles on Longterm outcome in premature infants, Mechanisms of Cerebral Plasticity, The longterm effects of neonatal seizures, Constraint-induced therapy: Plasticity in practice, and Neonatal brain injury and autistic spectrum disorders in survivors.

This book addresses a fundamental question about the nature of behavior: how does the brain process reward and makes decisions when facing multiple options? The book presents the most recent and compelling lesion, neuroimaging, electrophysiological and computational studies, in combination with hormonal and genetic studies, which have led to a clearer understanding of neural mechanisms behind reward and decision making. The neural bases of reward and decision making processes are of great interest to scientists because of the fundamental role of reward in a number of behavioral processes (such as motivation, learning and cognition) and because of their theoretical and clinical implications for understanding dysfunctions of the dopaminergic system in several neurological and psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, drug addiction, pathological gambling, ...).

* Comprehensive coverage of approaches to studying reward and decision making, including primate neurophysiology and brain imaging studies in healthy humans and in various disorders, genetic and hormonal influences on the reward system and computational models.

* Covers clinical implications of process dysfunction (e.g., schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, eating disorders, drug addiction, pathological gambling)

* Uses multiple levels of analysis, from molecular mechanisms to neural systems dynamics and computational models.

" "This is a very interesting and authoritative handbook by some of the most outstanding investigators in the field of reward and decision making "," Professor Edmund T. Rolls, Oxford Center for Computational Neuroscience, UK

This volume investigates the implications of how our brain directs our movements on decision making. An extensive body of knowledge in chapters from international experts is presented as well as integrative group reports discussing new directions for future research.
The understanding of how people make decisions is of central interest to experts working in fields such as psychology, economics, movement science, cognitive neuroscience, neuroinformatics, robotics, and sport science. For the first time the current volume provides a multidisciplinary overview of how action and cognition are integrated in the planning of and decisions about action.
* Offers intense, focused, and genuine interdisciplinary perspective
* Conveys state-of-the-art and outlines future research directions on the hot topic of mind and motion (or embodied cognition)
* Includes contributions from psychologists, neuroscientists, movement scientists, economists, and others

While virtual reality (VR) has influenced fields as varied as gaming, archaeology and the visual arts, some of its most promising applications come from the health sector. Particularly encouraging are the many uses of VR in supporting the recovery of motor skills following accident or illness. Virtual Reality for Physical and Motor Rehabilitation reviews two decades of progress and anticipates advances to come. It offers current research on the capacity of VR to evaluate, address, and reduce motor skill limitations and the use of VR to support motor and sensorimotor function, from the most basic to the most sophisticated skill levels. Expert scientists and clinicians explain how the brain organizes motor behavior, relate therapeutic objectives to client goals and differentiate among VR platforms in engaging the production of movement and balance. On the practical side, contributors demonstrate that VR complements existing therapies across various conditions such as neurodegenerative diseases, traumatic brain injury and stroke. Included among the topics: * Neuroplasticity and virtual reality.* Vision and perception in virtual reality.*Sensorimotor recalibration in virtual environments.* Rehabilitative applications using VR for residual impairments following stroke.* VR reveals mechanisms of balance and locomotor impairments.* Applications of VR technologies for childhood disabilities. A resource of great immediate and future utility, Virtual Reality for Physical and Motor Rehabilitation distills a dynamic field to aid the work of neuropsychologists, rehabilitation specialists (including physical, speech, vocational and occupational therapists), and neurologists.

Intercellular communication is part of a complex system of communication that governs basic cellular activities and coordinates cell actions. The ability of cells to perceive and correctly respond to their environment is the basis of growth and development, tissue repair, and immunity as well as normal tissue homeostasis. Errors in cellular information processing are responsible for diseases such as cancer, autoimmunity, diabetes, and neurological and psychiatric disorders. There is substantial drug development concentrating on this and intercellular communication is the basis of much of neuropharmacology. By understanding cell signaling, diseases may be treated effectively and, theoretically, artificial tissues may be yielded. Neurotransmitters/receptors, synaptic structure and organization, gap junctions, neurotrophic factors and neuropeptides are all explored in this volume, as are the ways in which signaling controls neuroendocrinology, neuroimmunology and neuropharmacology. "Intercellular Communication in the Nervous System"provides a valuable desk reference for all scientists who consider signaling.

* Chapters offer impressive scope with topics addressing neurotransmitters/receptors, synaptic structure and organization, neuropeptides, gap junctions, neuropharmacology and more * Richly illustrated in full color with over 200 figures * Contributors represent the most outstanding scholarship in the field, with each chapter providing fully vetted and reliable expert knowledge"

This compelling text provides an overview of the available technology for early detection and therapeutic management of vascular risk factors to Alzheimer's before severe cognitive impairment symptoms appear. Chapters bring the reader from the trackless clinical research that has characterized Alzheimer's progress for the last 20 years, to a nexus of new ideas and concepts that can change our outlook of this dementia. In-depth examinations of various hypotheses, preventive measures, current and prospective treatments are openly and clearly explored. The author discusses in depth his proposal of the vascular hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease which has become a mother-lode for basic and clinical studies and a key approach to the prevention of this dementia.Alzheimer's Turning Point offers professionals, students and those looking to learn more about this disorder a fresh clinical perspective of this devastating disease.