Our hands interact with the environment in ways that are more sophisticated, more varied, and more productive than any other part of our body. With our hands, we first recorded our immediate environment--offering insight for thousands of later generations--by painting sprawling hunting scenes on the walls of prehistoric caves. Pens, ink, paper--items conceived by our minds--could not have been fabricated without our hands, nor employed to advance human society.

The delicate bones, tendons, nerves, muscles, and vessels in our hands make it possible for us to knead dough and perform a heart transplant; make contact with strangers, friends, and lovers; throw a baseball and knit a sweater; create a scale model of a skyscraper, and build that skyscraper. From rote, mundane activities to our most sublime achievements as humans, the hand has helped us shape the world and gain a deeper understanding of our place in it.

In "The Wonder of the Human Hand," surgeons and hand specialists from the world-renowned Curtis National Hand Center describe how the hand is used in work, sports, and music, and trace the human fascination with hands in religion and art. They relate awe-inspiring stories of people throughout history--including major league pitcher Jim Abbott, impressionist painter Pierre-August Renoir, and pianist Leon Fleisher--who accomplished great things with one hand, or with impaired or injured hands, and they tell true tales of miraculous surgeries that create fingers where none exist.

Recounting how the hand interprets the environment and returns tactile information to the brain, the book underscores the importance of the hand to people who cannot see or hear. Throughout, the authors explore how medical science restores hands injured through disease, accident, and combat--always in light of how the form and function of the human hand combine harmoniously in everyday activities and Herculean efforts alike.

In his new book, Gordon M. Shepherd expands on the startling discovery that the brain creates the taste of wine. This approach to understanding wine's sensory experience draws on findings in neuroscience, biomechanics, human physiology, and traditional enology. Shepherd shows, just as he did in Neurogastronomy: How the Brain Creates Flavor and Why It Matters, that creating the taste of wine engages more of the brain than does any other human behavior. He clearly illustrates the scientific underpinnings of this process, along the way enhancing our enjoyment of wine. Neuroenology is the first book on wine tasting by a neuroscientist. It begins with the movements of wine through the mouth and then consults recent research to explain the function of retronasal smell and its extraordinary power in creating wine taste. Shepherd comprehensively explains how the specific sensory pathways in the cerebral cortex create the memory of wine and how language is used to identify and imprint wine characteristics. Intended for a broad audience of readers-from amateur wine drinkers to sommeliers, from casual foodies to seasoned chefs-Neuroenology shows how the emotion of pleasure is the final judge of the wine experience. It includes practical tips for a scientifically informed wine tasting and closes with a delightful account of Shepherd's experience tasting classic Bordeaux vintages with French winemaker Jean-Claude Berrouet of the Chateau Petrus and Dominus Estate.

This book presents the human hand from an overall perspective from the first appearance of hand-like structures in the fins of big fishes living millions of years ago to todays and the future s mind-controlled artificial hands.

Much focus is given to the extremely well-developed sensation of the hand, its importance and its linkage to brain plasticity mechanisms. How can active hands rapidly expand their representational area in the brain? How can the sense of touch substitute for other deficient senses, such as in Braille reading where hand sensation substitutes for missing vision? How can the mere observation of active hands, belonging to others, activate the hand area in the observer s own brain and what is the importance of this phenomenon for learning by imitation and the understanding of other peoples actions, gestures and body language?Why are some of us left-handed and what are the consequences from cultural and physiological viewpoints? Why does phantom sensation and phantom pain occur after hand amputation, and what can we do about it? Why can salamanders regenerate new extremities while humans can not? Is it possible to transplant a hand from a diseased individual to an amputee? Can artificial robotic hands be controlled by our mind, and can they ever gain the role of a normal hand?What role did the hand and the brain play during evolutionin toolconstruction and development of language and cognitive functions? The hand has a high symbolic value in religion, literature and art and our hands have a key role in gestures and body language.

"The Hand and the Brain" is aimed at anybody with interest in life sciences, in the medical field especially hand surgeons, orthopaedic specialists, neurologists and general practitioners, and those working in rehabilitation medicine and pain treatment. The original Swedish version of "The Hand and the Brain "has also become very popular among physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and among a general population with an interest in science. "

Systems Biology is a fast moving field. This accessible book uses the example of regulated exocytosis in pancreatic ss-cells, and its relevance to diabetes, to illustrate the major concepts of systems biology, its methods and applications.

Airway sensory nerve terminals are tailored to detect changes in the physical and chemical environment, thereby supplying local pulmonary information to the central nervous system. Since most intrapulmonary nerve terminals arise from fibres travelling in the vagal nerve, the classification of sensory airway receptors' is largely based on their action potential characteristics, electrophysiologically registered from the vagal nerve. However, the architecture of airways and lungs makes it nearly impossible to functionally locate the exact nerve terminals that are responsible for the transduction of a particular intrapulmonary stimulus. In this monograph we focus on three sensory receptor end organs in lungs that are currently morphologically well-characterised: smooth muscle-associated airway receptors (SMARs), neuroepithelial bodies (NEBs) and visceral pleura receptors (VPRs). Unravelling the main functional morphological and neurochemical characteristics of these sensory receptors using advanced immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy has already allowed us to draw important conclusions about their potential function(s). The current development of ex vivo lung models for the selective identification of SMARs, NEBs and VPRs using vital staining will certainly facilitate direct physiological studies of these morphologically well-characterised airway receptors, since these models allow direct live studies of their functional properties.

Leading neuroscientist Gordon M. Shepherd embarks on a paradigm-shifting trip through the "human brain flavor system," laying the foundations for a new scientific field: neurogastronomy. Challenging the belief that the sense of smell diminished during human evolution, Shepherd argues that this sense, which constitutes the main component of flavor, is far more powerful and essential than previously believed. Shepherd begins Neurogastronomy with the mechanics of smell, particularly the way it stimulates the nose from the back of the mouth. As we eat, the brain conceptualizes smells as spatial patterns, and from these and the other senses it constructs the perception of flavor. Shepherd then considers the impact of the flavor system on contemporary social, behavioral, and medical issues. He analyzes flavor's engagement with the brain regions that control emotion, food preferences, and cravings, and he even devotes a section to food's role in drug addiction and, building on Marcel Proust's iconic tale of the madeleine, its ability to evoke deep memories. Shepherd connects his research to trends in nutrition, dieting, and obesity, especially the challenges that many face in eating healthily. He concludes with human perceptions of smell and flavor and their relationship to the neural basis of consciousness. Everyone from casual diners and ardent foodies to wine critics, chefs, scholars, and researchers will delight in Shepherd's fascinating, scientific-gastronomic adventures.

In Mecanisme de la Physionomie Humaine, the great nineteenth-century French neurologist Duchenne de Boulogne combined his intimate knowledge of facial anatomy with his skill in photography and expertise in using electricity to stimulate individual facial muscles to produce a fascinating interpretation of the ways in which the human face portrays emotions. This book was pivotal in the development of psychology and physiology as it marked the first time that photography had been used to illustrate, and therefore "prove," a series of experiments. Duchenne's book, which contained over 100 original photographic prints pasted into an accompanying Album, was rare, even when it first appeared in 1862. Duchenne was a superb clinical neurologist and in this study he applied his enormous experience in neurological research to the question of the mechanism of human facial expression. Duchenne has been little cited and little known in this century; his book has been virtually unobtainable, and copies are available in only a few libraries in the United States and Europe.

Leading neuroscientist Gordon M. Shepherd embarks on a paradigm-shifting trip through the "human brain flavor system," laying the foundations for a new scientific field: neurogastronomy. Challenging the belief that the sense of smell diminished during human evolution, Shepherd argues that this sense, which constitutes the main component of flavor, is far more powerful and essential than previously believed.

Shepherd begins "Neurogastronomy" with the mechanics of smell, particularly the way it stimulates the nose from the back of the mouth. As we eat, the brain conceptualizes smells as spatial patterns, and from these and the other senses it constructs the perception of flavor. Shepherd then considers the impact of the flavor system on contemporary social, behavioral, and medical issues. He analyzes flavor's engagement with the brain regions that control emotion, food preferences, and cravings, and he even devotes a section to food's role in drug addiction and, building on Marcel Proust's iconic tale of the madeleine, its ability to evoke deep memories.

Shepherd connects his research to trends in nutrition, dieting, and obesity, especially the challenges that many face in eating healthily. He concludes with human perceptions of smell and flavor and their relationship to the neural basis of consciousness. Everyone from casual diners and ardent foodies to wine critics, chefs, scholars, and researchers will delight in Shepherd's fascinating, scientific-gastronomic adventures.

This concise introduction to the gastrointestinal system encapsulates the fundamental facts and principles of this rapidly growing and changing specialty. Written by experienced clinicians and teachers, the text covers the basic concepts of both the science surrounding the gastrointestinal system and the basics of clinical practice in an accessible, lucid format. Now fully supported by a companion website at www.ataglanceseries.com/gastro containing interactive MCQs and downloadable digital flashcards, The Gastrointestinal System at a Glance is the ideal revision aid for medical and allied health students, and provides valuable insight for anyone seeking a comprehensive and concise guide to this subject area. * Fully revised and updated to include further coverage of diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy, revised liver chapters and a new chapter on embryology * Now in full colour throughout * Supported by a companion website containing interactive self-assessment and digital flashcards - perfect for both study and revision * Provides an integrated approach to both the basic and clinical science of this core specialty

Because of developments in powerful computer technology, computational techniques, advances in a wide spectrum of diverse technologies, and other advances coupled with cross disciplinary pursuits between technology and its greatly significant applied implications in human body processes, the field of biomechanics is evolving as a broadly significant area. This Third Volume presents the advances in widely diverse areas with significant implications for human betterment that occur continuously at a high rate. These include dynamics of musculo-skeletal systems; mechanics of hard and soft tissues; mechanics of muscle; mechanics of bone remodeling; mechanics of implant-tissue interfaces; cardiovascular and respiratory biomechanics; mechanics of blood flow, air flow, flow-prosthesis interfaces; mechanics of impact; dynamics of man machine interaction; and numerous other areas. The great breadth and depth of the field of biomechanics on the international scene requires at least four volumes for adequate treatment. These four volumes constitute a well integrated set that can be utilized as individual volumes. They provide a substantively significant and rather comprehensive, in-depth treatment of biomechanic systems and techniques that is most surely unique on the international scene.

The secretions of the exocrine pancreas provide for digestion of a meal into components that are then available for processing and absorption by the intestinal epithelium. Without the exocrine pancreas, malabsorption and malnutrition result. This chapter describes the cellular participants responsible for the secretion of digestive enzymes and fluid that in combination provide a pancreatic secretion that accomplishes the digestive functions of the gland. Key cellular participants, the acinar cell and the duct cell, are responsible for digestive enzyme and fluid secretion, respectively, of the exocrine pancreas. This chapter describes the neurohumoral pathways that mediate the pancreatic response to a meal as well as details of the cellular mechanisms that are necessary for the organ responses, including protein synthesis and transport and ion transports, and the regulation of these responses by intracellular signaling systems. Examples of pancreatic diseases resulting from dysfunction in cellular mechanisms provide emphasis of the importance of the normal physiologic mechanisms. Table of Contents: Introduction / Anatomy / Pancreatic Embryology and Development / Digestive Enzymes / Water and Ion Secretion from the Pancreatic Ductal System / Regulation of Whole-Organ Pancreatic Secretion / Measurement of Exocrine Pancreatic Secretion in Humans / Clinical Application of Knowledge of Pancreatic Physiology / Summary / References

Composed of the heart, blood vessels, and blood, the circulatory system delivers oxygen and nutrients to every tissue in the body. At the center of this incredibly complex system is the heart, a strong muscle that continuously pumps blood throughout the body. Striving to promote a basic understanding of the fundamental physical and biological principles underlying circulatory functions, ""The Circulatory System"" describes the anatomical features of the system and examines how it responds to a broad range of challenges, such as increased activity, the microgravity of space, and hemorrhage.

The Myocardium, Second Edition is a comprehensive presentation of cardiac function, including ultrastructure, cellular development and morphogenesis, ion channels, ion transporters, excitation-contraction coupling and calcium compartmentation, mechanics and force production, and energy metabolism. The Second Edition presents the new molecular, subcellular, and cellular developments which have occurred in this rapidly expanding field during the past 22 years.
Key Features
* Comprehensive overview of all aspects of heart function at the cellular, subcellular, and molecular level
* Integrates molecular events to give understanding of global cardiac function
* Includes basis of important pathological states

Gastroenterologists require detailed knowledge regarding the anatomy of the GI system in order to understand the disturbances caused by diseases they diagnose and treat. Gastrointestinal Anatomy and Physiology will bring together the world s leading names to present a comprehensive overview of the anatomical and physiological features of the gastrointestinal tract. Full colour and with excellent anatomical and clinical figures throughout, it will provide succinct, authoritative and didactic anatomic and physiologic information on all the key areas, including GI motility, hepatic structure, GI hormones, gastric secretion and absorption of nutrients. GI trainees will enjoy the self-assessment MCQs, written to the level they will encounter during their Board exams, and the seasoned gastroenterologist will value it as a handy reference book and refresher for re-certification exams

Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product. Gain a complete understanding of the functioning of the gastrointestinal system with this concise, engagingly written textGastrointestinal Physiology explains the operation and performance of one of the body's most crucial systems. Using clear, compelling language, the book's presentation makes it easy to absorb the content andintegrate it as you learn the physiology of other bodilysystems. Written to help you understand essential conceptsrather than merely memorize facts, this unique textexamines many medically relevant facets of this important body system, including anatomy, pathophysiology, andtherapeutics, in concert with physiological information. FEATURES: Provides a thorough review of core concepts and highlights clinical application Covers the physiologic principles needed to understand and treat patients with digestive and liver diseases Includes clinical examples that link basic science with the practice of medicine Incorporates new information on emerging topics such as the communication between the intestine and central nervous system that controls food intake, the myriad rolesnewly ascribed to the intestinal microbiota, contemporary approaches to therapy for a number of GI maladies, and the role of the gut in obesity Enhanced by valuable learning aids such as study questions, learning objectives, key concepts, numerous illustrations and charts, and recommended readings

Much like the nervous system, the endocrine system relays important communication signals throughout the body. The endocrine system uses chemical signals, known as hormones, which are produced and stored in special glands in the body. Different glands produce specialized hormones and release them into the bloodstream. From there, these hormones can travel directly to the tissues and organs and help regulate bodily functions. In ""The Endocrine System"", learn how this chemical messaging system is vital to the body's growth, metabolism, and sexual development.

This book provides accurate information about the scientific rationale for an increase of attention of clinicians towards the mechanisms involved in hypertension, a pathology in which it is difficult to reach optimal efficacy with the currently used treatments. The book will appeal to medical students, basic science students and biomedical researchers, as well non-medical professionals interested in this field.