This volume describes our current understanding of the biological role of the delta-opioid receptor (DOR) system, focusing on its unique mechanisms of receptor trafficking and signaling in disease states. Part 1 covers the endogenous ligands that regulate the DOR system as well as novel compounds and therapies used to modulate the DOR system. Part 2 describes new insights into the localization and trafficking of the DOR and how ligand-directed signaling alters the fate of the receptor. Part 3 concentrates on the potential role of the DOR system in disease states, such as pain, mood, addiction, and Parkinson's disease. Throughout the book, the DOR system as a target for drug development will be discussed.

The cognitive foundations of geometry have puzzled academics for a long time, and even today are mostly unknown to many scholars, including mathematical cognition researchers. Foundations of Geometric Cognition shows that basic geometric skills are deeply hardwired in the visuospatial cognitive capacities of our brains, namely spatial navigation and object recognition. These capacities, shared with non-human animals and appearing in early stages of the human ontogeny, cannot, however, fully explain a uniquely human form of geometric cognition. In the book, Hohol argues that Euclidean geometry would not be possible without the human capacity to create and use abstract concepts, demonstrating how language and diagrams provide cognitive scaffolding for abstract geometric thinking, within a context of a Euclidean system of thought. Taking an interdisciplinary approach and drawing on research from diverse fields including psychology, cognitive science, and mathematics, this book is a must-read for cognitive psychologists and cognitive scientists of mathematics, alongside anyone interested in mathematical education or the philosophical and historical aspects of geometry.

Today, flavor chemists can generate copious amounts of data in a short time with relatively little effort using automated solid phase micro-extraction, Gerstel-Twister (R) and other extraction techniques in combination with gas chromatographic (GC) analysis. However, more data does not necessarily mean better understanding. In fact, the ability to extract, isolate, and concentrate potential flavor-important chemicals from complex food systems has surpassed the ability to understand how the chemical data relates to flavor. Sensory-Directed Flavor Analysis helps chemists unlock the flavor secrets that may be hiding in their chromatograms by translating cold hard numbers into a better understanding of the sense of smell and taste. The author integrates the two disciplines of sensory science and analytical chemistry, encouraging sensory scientists to incorporate more analytical data while encouraging analytical chemists to include more sensory techniques. Using more ancillary techniques helps each discipline elucidate how various chemical constituents influence food flavor and appeal. The book discusses important enabling technologies and analytical methods including GC-olfactometry (GC-O), combination GC-O and multi-dimensional GC, the application of odor activity values (OAVs), and recombination studies, as well as solid-phase dynamic extraction and preseparation techniques. A broad array of applications, in addition to dozens of tables, graphs, gas chromatograms, and pictures, are included throughout the book. Highlighting the advantages and disadvantages and the appropriate circumstances for each method of analysis, Sensory-Directed Flavor Analysis offers flavor scientists an essential reference to deepen their understanding of the function of chemicals on the perception of taste.

This book summarizes early pioneering achievements in the field of human neural stem cell (hNSC) research and combines them with the latest advances in stem cell technology, including reprogramming and gene editing. The powerful potential of hNSC to generate and repair the developing and adult CNS has been confirmed by numerous experimental in vitro and in vivo studies. The book presents methods for hNSC derivation and discusses the mechanisms underlying NSC in vitro fate decisions and their in vivo therapeutic mode of action. The long-standing dogma that the human central nervous system (CNS) lacks the ability to regenerate was refuted at the end of the 20th century, when evidence of the presence of neurogenic zones in the adult human brain was found. These neurogenic zones are home to human neural stem cells (hNSCs), which are capable of self-renewing and differentiating into neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. NSCs isolated from human CNS have a number of clinical advantages, especially the innate potential to differentiate into functional neural cells. Nevertheless, their full clinical exploitation has been hindered by limited access to the tissue and low expansion potential. The search for an alternative to CNS sources of autologous, therapeutically competent hNSCs was the driving force for the many studies proving the in vitro plasticity of different somatic stem cells to generate NSCs and their functional progeny. Now the era of induced pluripotent stem cells has opened entirely new opportunities to achieve research and therapeutic goals with the aid of hNSCs.

An authoritative collection of recent breakthroughs in Parkinson's Disease (PD) research, Parkinson's Disease: Genetics and Pathogenesis spans key findings on the mechanisms of neurodegeneration and the role of specific genes that may lead to improved therapies for PD. The book reviews the major aspects of the disease including motoric and pathologic features, autonomic dysfunction, sleep disorders, and neuropsychiatric manifestations. It also provides an in-depth review of genetic considerations. With contributions by recognized experts on the topic, emphasis is placed on pathogenesis, experimental models, future therapeutic opportunities, and research trends affecting the field.

An overview of the biochemical mechanisms that produce acute nerve cell death in the brain. Covers injuries and disorders including stroke, brain and spinal cord trauma, hypoglycemic coma, and prolonged epileptic seizures. All of these lead to high concentrations of calcium in nerve cells which, in turn, causes degradation of cytoplasmic proteins, cleavage of nuclear DNA, and eventually cell death. The Second Edition contains 11 thoroughly updated chapters and 3 additional chapters that did not appear in the previous edition.

This book investigates the fascinating concept of a continuum between human memory and memory of materials. The first part provides state-of-the-art information on shape memory alloys and outlines a brief history of memory from the ancient Greeks to the present day, describing phenomenological, philosophical, and technical approaches such as neuroscience. Then, using a wealth of anecdotes, data from academic literature, and original research, this short book discusses the concepts of post-memory, memristors and forgiveness, highlights the analogies between materials defects and memory traces in the human brain. Lastly, it tackles questions of how human memory and memory of materials work together and interact. With insights from materials mechanics, neuroscience and philosophy, it enables readers to understand and continue this open debate on human memory.

The goal for this volume is to provide an up-to-date review of the discriminative stimulus properties of major psychoactive drug classes with an emphasis on how this paradigm enhances our understanding of these drugs and how these findings translate from animals to humans. The drug discrimination paradigm applies to both drugs of abuse and drugs for treating mental illnesses, and research from these studies has provided immense translational value for learning about the mechanisms responsible for drug effects in humans.

'A truly awe-inspiring piece of writing' David Robson, author of The Intelligence Trap In recent decades, many philosophers and cognitive scientists have declared the question of consciousness unsolvable, but Antonio Damasio is convinced that recent findings in neuroscience, psychology and artificial intelligence have given us the necessary tools to solve its mystery. In Feeling & Knowing, Damasio elucidates the myriad aspects of consciousness and presents his analysis and new insights in a way that is faithful to our own intuitive sense of the experience. In forty-eight brief chapters, Damasio helps us understand the relation between consciousness and the mind; why being conscious is not the same as either being awake or sensing; the central role of feeling; and why the brain is essential for the development of consciousness. He synthesises the recent findings of various sciences with the philosophy of consciousness, and, most significantly, presents his original research which has transformed our understanding of the brain and human behaviour. Here is an indispensable guide to understanding the fundamental human capacity for informing and transforming our experience of the world around us and our perception of our place in it.

By far, the most widely used subjects in psychological and biological research today are rodents. Although rats and mice comprise the largest group of animals used in research, there are over 2,000 species and 27 families of rodents, living all over the world (except Antarctica) and thriving in many different habitat types. The vast environmental diversity that rodents face has led to numerous adaptations for communication, including vocalizing and hearing in both the sonic and ultrasonic ranges, effectively communicating in the open air and underground, and using vocalizations for coordinating sexual behavior, for mother-pup interactions, and for signaling an alarming situation to the group. Some rodent species have even developed foot drumming behaviors for communication. Comparative studies from around the globe, using both field and laboratory methodologies, reveal the vast differences in acoustic communication behavior across many rodent species. Some rodents are amenable to training and have been domesticated and bred purely for research purposes. Since the early 1900s, rats and mice have been indispensable to research programs around the world. Thus, much of what we know about hearing and vocalizations in rodents come from these two species tested in the laboratory. The sequencing of the mouse genome in 2002, followed by the rat genome in 2004, only increased the utility of these animals as research subjects since genetically engineered strains mimicking human diseases and disorders could be developed more easily. In the laboratory, rats and mice are used as models for human communication and hearing disorders and are involved in studies on hearing loss and prevention, hormones, and auditory plasticity, to name a few. We know that certain strains of mice retain hearing better than others throughout their lifespan, and about the genes involved in those differences. We know about the effects of noise, hormones, sex, aging, and circadian rhythms on hearing in mice and other rodents. We also know about normal hearing in many families of rodents, including the perception of simple and complex stimuli and the anatomy and physiology of hearing and sound localization. The importance of acoustic communication to these animals, as well as the significance of these mammals to biomedical research, are summarized in the chapters.

Spiking neural networks (SNN) are biologically inspired computational models that represent and process information internally as trains of spikes. This monograph book presents the classical theory and applications of SNN, including original author's contribution to the area. The book introduces for the first time not only deep learning and deep knowledge representation in the human brain and in brain-inspired SNN, but takes that further to develop new types of AI systems, called in the book brain-inspired AI (BI-AI). BI-AI systems are illustrated on: cognitive brain data, including EEG, fMRI and DTI; audio-visual data; brain-computer interfaces; personalized modelling in bio-neuroinformatics; multisensory streaming data modelling in finance, environment and ecology; data compression; neuromorphic hardware implementation. Future directions, such as the integration of multiple modalities, such as quantum-, molecular- and brain information processing, is presented in the last chapter. The book is a research book for postgraduate students, researchers and practitioners across wider areas, including computer and information sciences, engineering, applied mathematics, bio- and neurosciences.

The book focuses on original approaches intended to support the development of biologically inspired cognitive architectures. It bridges together different disciplines, from classical artificial intelligence to linguistics, from neuro- and social sciences to design and creativity, among others. The chapters, based on contributions presented at the Ninth Annual Meeting of the BICA Society, held in on August 23-24, 2018, in Prague, Czech Republic, discuss emerging methods, theories and ideas towards the realization of general-purpose humanlike artificial intelligence or fostering a better understanding of the ways the human mind works. All in all, the book provides engineers, mathematicians, psychologists, computer scientists and other experts with a timely snapshot of recent research and a source of inspiration for future developments in the broadly intended areas of artificial intelligence and biological inspiration.

No other life form on the planet has generated a brain like ours. How did a bundle of cells weighing just 1.2 kg give rise to conscious, self-aware beings capable of understanding time, language, mathematics and music, of exploring outer space and sequencing their own DNA? The answer to such questions is a 7 million year saga. How the Mind Changed is the definitive book on human brain evolution: a sweeping natural history. Beginning with the first primate brain and the rise of our present-day, large human brain, it will describe the remarkable origin of our species' most mysterious organ, how it has developed, and how it will change in the future. To study the brain is to study the essence of what makes us human.

Over the past several years, many investigators interested in the effects of man-made sounds on animals have come to realize that there is much to gain from studying the broader literature on hearing sound and the effects of sound as well as data from the effects on humans. It has also become clear that knowledge of the effects of sound on one group of animals (e.g., birds or frogs) can guide studies on other groups (e.g., marine mammals or fishes) and that a review of all such studies together would be very useful to get a better understanding of the general principles and underlying cochlear and cognitive mechanisms that explain damage, disturbance, and deterrence across taxa. The purpose of this volume, then, is to provide a comprehensive review of the effects of man-made sounds on animals, with the goal of fulfilling two major needs. First, it was thought to be important to bring together data on sound and bioacoustics that have implications across all taxa (including humans) so that such information is generally available to the community of scholars interested in the effects of sound. This is done in Chaps. 2-5. Second, in Chaps. 6-10, the volume brings together what is known about the effects of sound on diverse vertebrate taxa so that investigators with interests in specific groups can learn from the data and experimental approaches from other species. Put another way, having an overview of the similarities and discrepancies among various animal groups and insight into the "how and why" will benefit the overall conceptual understanding, applications in society, and all future research.

The definitive guide to 21st century investigations of multilingual neuroscience The Handbook of the Neuroscience of Multilingualism provides a comprehensive survey of neurocognitive investigations of multiple-language speakers. Prominent scholar John W. Schwieter offers a unique collection of works from globally recognized researchers in neuroscience, psycholinguistics, neurobiology, psychology, neuroimaging, and others, to provide a multidisciplinary overview of relevant topics. Authoritative coverage of state-of-the-art research provides readers with fundamental knowledge of significant theories and methods, language impairments and disorders, and neural representations, functions, and processes of the multilingual brain. Focusing on up-to-date theoretical and experimental research, this timely handbook explores new directions of study and examines significant findings in the rapidly evolving field of multilingual neuroscience. Discussions on the bilingual advantage debate, recovery and rehabilitation patterns in multilingual aphasia, and the neurocognitive effects of multilingualism throughout the lifespan allow informed investigation of contemporary issues. Presents the first handbook-length examination of the neuroscience and neurolinguistics of multilingualism Demonstrates how neuroscience and multilingualism intersect several areas of research, such as neurobiology and experimental psychology Includes works from prominent international scholars and researchers to provide global perspective Reflects cutting-edge research and promising areas of future study in the dynamic field of multilingual neuroscience The Handbook of the Neuroscience of Multilingualism is an invaluable resource for researchers and scholars in areas including multilingualism, psycholinguistics, second language acquisition, and cognitive science. This versatile work is also an indispensable addition to the classroom, providing advanced undergraduate and graduate students a thorough overview of the field.

This new edition provides updated and novel protocols of neuroproteomics methods that encompass both global-scale as well as targeted and specialized topics, which are timely additions for the molecular and phenotypic analysis of the central nervous system and CNS-related disorders. The detailed contents of this book include the exploration of several exciting areas of advanced methods used for neuroproteomics research including relative and absolute protein quantitation by mass spectrometry, characterization of post-translational modifications, as well as bioinformatics and computational approaches. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, methodology chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Updated and accessible, Neuroproteomics: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition serves researchers and clinical scientists involved in the area of biomarker research and protein biochemistry, as well as molecular biologists and biochemists who have been involved in proteomics research already or even for those new to the field.

This is the first book to assemble the leading researchers in the field of LRRK2 biology and neurology and provide a snapshot of the current state of knowledge, encompassing all major aspects of its function and dysfunction. The contributors are experts in cell biology and physiology, neurobiology, and medicinal chemistry, bringing a multidisciplinary perspective on the gene and its role in disease. The book covers the identification of LRRK2 as a major contributor to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's Disease. It also discusses the current state of the field after a decade of research, putative normal physiological roles of LRRK2, and the various pathways that have been identified in the search for the mechanism(s) of its induction of neurodegeneration.

This volume presents a review of recent developments in nitrogen fixation using transition metal-dinitrogen complexes in the last decade. The authors are international experts in the corresponding field and each chapter discusses their latest achievements in the preparation of various transition metal-dinitrogen complexes and their reactivity. This volume will be helpful to researchers, teachers, and students who are interested in innovative and sustainable chemistry.

This book explains, in simple but accurate terms, how orthodox quantum mechanics works. The author, a distinguished theoretical physicist, shows how this theory, realistically interpreted, assigns an important role to our conscious free choices. Stapp claims that mainstream biology and neuroscience, despite nearly a century of quantum physics, still stick essentially to failed classical precepts in which mental intentions have no effect upon our bodily actions. He shows how quantum mechanics provides a rational basis for a better understanding of this connection, even allowing an explanation of certain phenomena currently held to be "paranormal". These ideas have major implications for our understanding of ourselves and our mental processes, and thus also for the meaningfulness of our lives.

Leading researchers are specially invited to provide a complete understanding of a key topic within the multidisciplinary fields of physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology. In a form immediately useful to scientists, this periodical aims to filter, highlight and review the latest developments in these rapidly advancing fields.

This volume covers methodologies, ranging from the molecular level to the network level, used to study receptor-receptor interactions in heteroreceptor complexes inside the central nervous system. The chapters in this book cover topics such as biochemical binding techniques; receptor autoradiography; superfused synaptosome techniques; RTK-GPCR interaction; fluorescence and bioluminiscence energy transfer methods, Co-IP cytometry-based FRET; and novel bioinformatic approaches to understand membrane heteroreceptor complexes and the global panorama of their receptor-receptor interactions. In Neuromethods series style, chapters include the kind of detail and key advice from the specialists needed to get successful results in your laboratory. Cutting-edge and thorough, Receptor-Receptor Interactions in the Central Nervous System is a valuable resource for any scientist or researcher interested in this field of study.

This book discusses the emerging field of industrial neuroscience, and reports on the authors' cutting-edge findings in the evaluation of mental states, including mental workload, cognitive control and training of personnel involved either in the piloting of aircraft and helicopters, or in managing air traffic. It encompasses neuroimaging and cognitive psychology techniques and shows how they have been successfully applied in the evaluation of human performance and human-machine interactions, and to guarantee a proper level of safety in such operational contexts. With an introduction to the most relevant concepts of neuroscience, neurophysiological techniques, simulators and case studies in aviation environments, it is a must-have for both students and scientists in the field of aeronautic and biomedical engineering, as well as for various professionals in the aviation world. This is the first book to intensively apply neurosciences to the evaluation of human factors and mental states in aviation.

Common forms of preventable hearing loss are drug and noise-induced hearing loss which are believed to be produced by a similar mechanism. The generation of reactive oxygen species appears to be a common mechanism mediating hearing loss produced by these different sources. As such, a number of laboratories have focused their research towards identifying the sources of ROS production in the cochlea following administration of chemotherapeutic agents or noise exposure. This led to the identification of ROS generating enzymes, such as xanthine oxidases, nitric oxide synthase, and NADPH oxidases which are activated and/or induced during the development of hearing loss. A consequence of these findings was the implementation of antioxidants in preclinical studies for the treatment of hearing loss. These antioxidants have provided different levels of protection in animal and human studies, but none of these have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of hearing loss. More recently, it was shown that noise-induced hearing loss was associated with recruitment of inflammatory cells and mediators in the cochlea. This finding would suggest that noise could produce injury to the cochlea which stimulates local and/or circulating inflammatory cells. A similar finding was observed in the cochlea following administration of the anticancer drug, cisplatin. In addition, our laboratory and others have provided a plausible mechanism by which noise or chemotherapeutic agents could stimulate the inflammatory response. Surprisingly, this mechanism involves ROS activation of transcription factors linked to inflammatory processes in the cochlea. These studies have led to the use of anti-inflammatory agents for the treatment of hearing loss. Preliminary studies targeting inflammatory cytokines appear especially promising in preclinical studies. A primary goal of this project is to describe our current understanding of the oxidant hypothesis of noise and drug-induced hearing loss and show how this relates to cochlear inflammation. Several different aspects of the cochlear inflammatory process will be discussed in detail, ranging from the sources of inflammatory cells, chemokines, inflammatory cytokines, and cochlea resident immune cells. Molecular pathways leading to activation of the local inflammatory process will be highlighted and treatment options will be discussed. The relevance of certain clinically used anti-inflammatory interventions, such as trans-typmanic steroids will also be discussed. Furthermore, we will examine recent patents focusing on the use of anti-inflammatory agents for the treatment of drug and noise-induced hearing loss.

Medicinal chemistry is both science and art. The science of medicinal chemistry offers mankind one of its best hopes for improving the quality of life. The art of medicinal chemistry continues to challenge its practitioners with the need for both intuition and experience to discover new drugs. Hence sharing the experience of drug research is uniquely beneficial to the field of medicinal chemistry. Drug research requires interdisciplinary team-work at the interface between chemistry, biology and medicine. Therefore, the topic-related series Topics in Medicinal Chemistry covers all relevant aspects of drug research, e.g. pathobiochemistry of diseases, identification and validation of (emerging) drug targets, structural biology, drugability of targets, drug design approaches, chemogenomics, synthetic chemistry including combinatorial methods, bioorganic chemistry, natural compounds, high-throughput screening, pharmacological in vitro and in vivo investigations, drug-receptor interactions on the molecular level, structure-activity relationships, drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, toxicology and pharmacogenomics. In general, special volumes are edited by well known guest editors

The Auditory System at the Cocktail Party is a rather whimsical title that points to the very serious challenge faced by listeners in most everyday environments: how to hear out sounds of interest amid a cacophony of competing sounds. The volume presents the mechanisms for bottom-up object formation and top-down object selection that the auditory system employs to meet that challenge. Ear and Brain Mechanisms for Parsing the Auditory Scene by John C. Middlebrooks and Jonathan Z. Simon Auditory Object Formation and Selection by Barbara Shinn-Cunningham, Virginia Best, and Adrian K. C. Lee Energetic Masking and Masking Release by John F. Culling and Michael A. Stone Informational Masking in Speech Recognition by Gerald Kidd, Jr. and H. Steven Colburn Modeling the Cocktail Party Problem by Mounya Elhilali Spatial Stream Segregation by John C. Middlebrooks Human Auditory Neuroscience and the Cocktail Party Problem by Jonathan Z. Simon Infants and Children at the Cocktail Party by Lynne Werner Older Adults at the Cocktail Party by M. Kathleen Pichora-Fuller, Claude Alain, and Bruce A. Schneider Hearing with Cochlear Implants and Hearing Aids in Complex Auditory Scenes by Ruth Y. Litovsky, Matthew J. Goupell, Sara M. Misurelli, and Alan Kan About the Editors: John C. Middlebrooks is a Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of California, Irvine, with affiliate appointments in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, the Department of Cognitive Sciences, and the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Jonathan Z. Simon is a Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, with joint appointments in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Department of Biology, and the Institute for Systems Research. Arthur N. Popper is Professor Emeritus and Research Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Richard R. Fay is Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology at Loyola University, 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.