Pathophysiological states, neurological and psychiatric diseases are almost universally considered from the neurocentric point of view, with neurons being the principal cellular element of pathological process. The brain homeostasis, which lies at the fulcrum of healthy brain function, the compromise of which invariably results in dysfunction/disease, however, is entirely controlled by neuroglia. It is becoming clear that neuroglial cells are involved in various aspects of initiation, progression and resolution of neuropathology. In this book we aim to integrate the body of information that has accumulated in recent years revealing the active role of glia in such pathophysiological processes. Understanding roles of glial cells in pathology will provide new targets for medical intervention and aide the development of much needed therapeutics. This book will be particularly useful for researchers, students, physicians and psychotherapists working in the field of neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry.

Written by leading researchers, this text explores the intersection of genetics and metabolomics, and points the way to more comprehensive studies of inborn variation of metabolism. All chapters refer to one or more published experimental datasets.

Calcium ions represent Mother Nature's 'ion-of-choice' for regulating fundamental physiological functions, as they initiate a new life at the time of fertilization and guide subsequent developmental and physiological functions of the human body. Calcium channels, which act as gated pathways for the movement of calcium ions across the membranes, play a central part in the initiation of calcium signals, and defects in calcium channel function have been found to result in a plethora of human diseases, referred to as the calcium channelopathies. Pathologies of Calcium Channels brings together leading international experts to discuss our current understanding of human diseases associated with the various calcium channels, from their molecular basis to potential future therapeutic targeting of calcium channels.

The book "Paradigm Shift for Future Tennis" starts with revelations that make obvious the limitations of today's tennis, which does not use the laws of modern Biomechanics and Neurophysiology. The second part of the book includes a new approach to the quantum mind of a champion. It will reveal the secret weapon of Roger Federer and the blueprint of a future tennis champion. This book will expose the new tennis shot emerging from the field of sports science. It is a real weapon, which can generate a ball-speed similar to that of the first serve: the Power High-Forehand. Its aim is to generate maximal possible racket-head speed while players do not wait for the ball to bounce. This is both a tactical and psychological basis for the future tennis game. This aggressive interceptive psychology will shape the minds of future tennis champions. High racket-head speed can be achieved using the stretch-reflex, without big loops and swings. Weapons of a future tennis game will comprise of whip-like tennis serves and ground strokes, based on the stretch-reflex, and using the whole body in a fluid and integrated manner, thus manifesting a superb combination of speed and strength. Restructure your brain and apply the power of state of the art biomechanical, mathematical, medical, neural, cognitive, and quantum computational intelligence to understand the tennis of today and the future

First published in 1943, "Vitamins and Hormones" is the longest-running serial published by Academic Press. The Editorial Board now reflects expertise in the field of hormone action, vitamin action, X-ray crystal structure, physiology, and enzyme mechanisms.
Under the capable and qualified editorial leadership of Dr. Gerald Litwack, "Vitamins and Hormones" continues to publish cutting-edge reviews of interest to endocrinologists, biochemists, nutritionists, pharmacologists, cell biologists, and molecular biologists. Others interested in the structure and function of biologically active molecules like hormones and vitamins will, as always, turn to this series for comprehensive reviews by leading contributors to this and related disciplines.
This volume focuses on insulin and IGFs.
*Longest running series published by Academic Press
*Contributions by leading international authorities

This volume aims to connect current ideas and concepts about GI disorders with the search for novel therapeutics. Towards this goal, authors provide a timely state-of-the-art overview of the GI tract in health and disease, current treatment approaches and ongoing developments in drug discovery, and their potential for the better treatment of patients with GI disorders.

This collection of reviews will be of considerable interests to biologists and MDs working on any aspect of cardiovascular function. With state-of-the-art reviews written by competent experts in the field, the content is also of interest for MSc and PhD students in most fields of cardiovascular physiology.

First published in 1943, "Vitamins and Hormones" is the longest-running serial published by Academic Press. The Editorial Board now reflects expertise in the field of hormone action, vitamin action, X-ray crystal structure, physiology, and enzyme mechanisms.
Under the capable and qualified editorial leadership of Dr. Gerald Litwack, "Vitamins and Hormones" continues to publish cutting-edge reviews of interest to endocrinologists, biochemists, nutritionists, pharmacologists, cell biologists, and molecular biologists. Others interested in the structure and function of biologically active molecules like hormones and vitamins will, as always, turn to this series for comprehensive reviews by leading contributors to this and related disciplines.
This volume focuses on insulin and IGFs.
*Longest running series published by Academic Press
*Contributions by leading international authorities

Foreword by Walter J. Freeman.

The induction of unconsciousness using anesthetic agents demonstrates that the cerebral cortex can operate in two very different behavioral modes: alert and responsive vs. unaware and quiescent. But the states of wakefulness and sleep are not single-neuron properties---they emerge as bulk properties of cooperating populations of neurons, with the switchover between states being similar to the physical change of phase observed when water freezes or ice melts. Some brain-state transitions, such as sleep cycling, anesthetic induction, epileptic seizure, are obvious and detected readily with a few EEG electrodes; others, such as the emergence of gamma rhythms during cognition, or the ultra-slow BOLD rhythms of relaxed free-association, are much more subtle. The unifying theme of this book is the notion that all of these bulk changes in brain behavior can be treated as phase transitions between distinct brain states.

Modeling Phase Transitions in the Brain contains chapter contributions from leading researchers who apply state-space methods, network models, and biophysically-motivated continuum approaches to investigate a range of neuroscientifically relevant problems that include analysis of nonstationary EEG time-series; network topologies that limit epileptic spreading; saddle--node bifurcations for anesthesia, sleep-cycling, and the wake--sleep switch; prediction of dynamical and noise-induced spatiotemporal instabilities underlying BOLD, alpha-, and gamma-band Hopf oscillations, gap-junction-moderated Turing structures, and Hopf-Turing interactions leading to cortical waves.

The evolution of vertebrate hearing is of considerable interest in the hearing community. However, there has never been a volume that has focused on the paleontological evidence for the evolution of hearing and the ear, especially from the perspective of some of the leading paleontologists and evolutionary biologists in the world. Thus, this volume is totally unique, and takes a perspective that has never been taken before. It brings to the fore some of the most recent discoveries among fossil taxa, which have demonstrated the sort of detailed information that can be derived from the fossil record, illuminating the evolutionary pathways this sensory system has taken and the diversity it had achieved.

This volume, along with its companion (volume 475), presents methods and protocols dealing with thiol oxidation-reduction reactions and their implications as they relate tocell signaling. This firstinstallment of Cadenas and Packer's two-volume treatment specifically deals with glutathionylation and dethiolation, and peroxide removal by peroxiredoxins/thioredoxins and glutathione peroxidases. The critically acclaimed laboratory standard for40 years, "Methods in Enzymology" is one of the most highly respected publications in the field of biochemistry. Since 1955, each volume has been eagerly awaited, frequently consulted, and praised by researchers and reviewers alike.Over 450volumes have been published to date, and much of the material is relevant even today--truly an essential publication for researchers in all fields of life sciences.
*Along with companion volume, provides a full overview of techniques necessary to the study of thiol redox in relation to cell signaling
* Gathers tried and tested techniques from global labs, offering both new and tried-and-true methods
* Relevant background and reference information given for procedures can be used as a guide to developing protocols in a number of disciplines"

Essential Computational Modeling for the Human Body presents key contributions selected from the volume in the Handbook of Numerical Analysis: Computational Modeling for the Human Body Vol. 12 (2005).

Computational (Mathematical) Modeling is used by scientists and researchers with various applications in chemical, biological, behavioral, environmental sciences, etc. This guide presents essential research techniques for analysis and essential concrete examples of computational models, while supplying a wide range of commonly used methods and applications, followed by various numerical simulations.

Provides various viewpoints of methods and applications are available for researchers to chose and experiment with; Numerical analysis and open problems useful for experimentation; Computational Models useful for surgery simulations;

Arterial chemoreceptors are unique structures which continuously monitor changes in arterial blood oxygen, carbon dioxide, glucose, and acid. Alterations in these gases are almost instantaneously sensed by arterial chemoreceptors and relayed into a physiological response which restores blood homeostasis. Arterial Chemoreception contains updated material regarding the physiology of the primary arterial chemoreceptor; the carotid body. Moreover, this book also explores tantalizing evidence regarding the contribution of the aortic bodies, chromaffin cells, lung neuroepithelial bodies, and brainstem areas involved in monitoring changes in blood gases. Furthermore this collection includes data showing the critical importance of these chemoreceptors in the pathophysiology of human disease and possible therapeutic treatments. This book is a required text for any researcher in the field of arterial chemoreception for years to come. It is also a critical text for physicians searching for bench-to-bedside treatments for heart failure, sleep apnea, and pulmonary hypertension.

Notch signaling is an evolutionarily conserved pathway in multicellular organisms that regulates cell-fate determination during development and in stem cells. This volume, which is part of the Current Topics in Developmental Biology series, covers topics such as Notch signaling in cardiac development and disease and Notch in stem cells. International authors provide researchers with an overview and synthesis of the latest research findings and contemporary thought in the area.
Covers topics such as Notch signaling in cardiac development and disease, and Notch in stem cellsInternational authors provide researchers with an overview and synthesis of the latest research findings and contemporary thought in the area

This book sheds new light on the physiology, molecular biology and pathophysiology of epithelial ion channels and transporters. It combines the basic cellular models and functions by means of a compelling clinical perspective, addressing aspects from the laboratory bench to the bedside. The individual chapters, written by leading scientists and clinicians, explore specific ion channels and transporters located in the epithelial tissues of the kidney, intestine, pancreas and respiratory tract, all of which play a crucial part in maintaining homeostasis. Further topics include the fundamentals of epithelial transport; mathematical modeling of ion transport; cell volume regulation; membrane protein folding and trafficking; transepithelial transport functions; and lastly, a discussion of transport proteins as potential pharmacological targets with a focus on the pharmacology of potassium channels.

Recent work has begun to elucidate at the molecular level how albumin is handled by the kidney and how albuminuria develops in various proteinuric diseases including minimal change disease and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the renal handling of albumin - from basic mechanisms to the pathophysiology of proteinuric diseases. In describing the basic mechanisms of albuminuria, a particular highlight will be the focus on advanced imaging techniques such as intravital microscopy that have allowed a detailed "window" into albumin transit through the kidney. The volume will cover the epidemiological studies which show that albuminuria is a strong and independent marker of kidney disease progression and cardiovascular events, the molecular details of albumin handling in the kidney at the level of the glomerulus and the proximal tubule and the pathophysiology of proteinuric diseases including minimal change disease, membranous nephropathy, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and diabetic nephropathy.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) transduce signals from a diverse array of endogenous ligands, including ions, amino acids, nucleotides, lipids, peptides, and large glycoprotein hormones. They are also responsible for our sensing of exogenous stimuli, including photons and odorants. GPCRs regulate almost every aspect of our physiological functions. It is estimated that 40% to 50% of currently used therapeutic drugs target GPCRs directly or indirectly. Because the current drugs target only a small portion of the GPCRs, opportunities for targeting the remaining GPCRs is enormous. This volume reviews the latest developments in this rapidly advancing field.

* This series provides a forum for discussion of new discoveries, approaches, and ideas * Contributions from leading scholars and industry experts * Reference guide for researchers involved in molecular biology and related fields

First published in 1943, "Vitamins and Hormones" is the longest-running serial published by Academic Press. The Editorial Board now reflects expertise in the field of hormone action, vitamin action, X-ray crystal structure, physiology, and enzyme mechanisms.
Under the capable and qualified editorial leadership of Dr. Gerald Litwack, "Vitamins and Hormones" continues to publish cutting-edge reviews of interest to endocrinologists, biochemists, nutritionists, pharmacologists, cell biologists, and molecular biologists. Others interested in the structure and function of biologically active molecules like hormones and vitamins will, as always, turn to this series for comprehensive reviews by leading contributors to this and related disciplines.
This volume focuses on hormones of the limbic system.
*Longest running series published by Academic Press
*Contributions by leading international authorities

This timely volume provides an overview to the causes, effects on systems and clinical approaches of metabolic acidosis. Beginning with a basic understanding of the physiology, pathophysiology and development of this disease, subsequent chapters cover the characteristics and context of the processes that can cause it and a thorough presentation of management strategies. Recommended treatments include those carried out by the health care provider as well as the individual patient, such as dietary management. Clinicians and healthcare professionals will find the tools needed to recognize, work up and manage patients with metabolic acidosis in this practical and concise resource.

This issue focuses on what the endocrinologist needs to know about sports and doping, and provides the most up-to-date information.? Topics covered include growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor, anabolics, urine testing, Beta-2 agonists, stimulants, glucocortiocoids, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), erythropoietin (EPO) analogues and blood doping, muscle growth factors, and training issues.