The moving story of an English professor studying neurology in order to understand and come to terms with her father's death from Alzheimer's. Winner of the Memoir Prize for Books by the Memoir Magazine In 1985, when Cindy Weinstein was a graduate student at UC Berkeley, her beloved father, Jerry, was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He was fifty-eight years old. Twelve years later, at age seventy, he died having lost all of his memories-along with his ability to read, write, and speak. Finding the Right Words follows Weinstein's decades-long journey to come to terms with her father's dementia as both a daughter and an English professor. Although her lifelong love of language and literature gave her a way to talk about her grief, she realized that she also needed to learn more about the science of dementia to make sense of her father's death. To write her story, she collaborated with Dr. Bruce L. Miller, neurologist and director of the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco, combining personal memoir, literature, and the science and history of brain health into a unique, educational, and meditative work. Finding the Right Words is an invaluable guide for families dealing with a life-changing diagnosis. In chapters of profound and sometimes humorous remembrance, Weinstein relies on literature to describe the shock of her father's diagnosis and his loss of language and identity. Writing in response to Weinstein's deeply personal narrative, Dr. Miller describes the neurological processes responsible for the symptoms displayed by her father. He also reflects upon his own personal and professional experiences. In a final chapter about memory, Weinstein is able to remember her father before the diagnosis, and Miller explains how the brain creates memories while sharing some of his own. Their two perspectives give readers a fuller understanding of Alzheimer's than any one voice could.

Frontotemporal Dementia provides an in-depth look at the history, various types, genetics, neuropathology and psychosocial aspects of one of the most common but least understood causes of dementia, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, from one of the world's leading centers for the study of dementia. Aided by the latest research in diagnosis, mechanism and treatment, this book captures the rich and quickly changing landscape of a devastating neurodegenerative disease, and offers up-to-date clinical advice for patient care. Frontotemporal dementia, in particular, raises psychological and philosophical questions about the nature of self, free will, emotion, art and behavior - important topics for practitioners and families to appreciate as they care for the sufferer. This book includes case studies, photographs and figures from the leaders in the field and personal communication from the researchers driving these developments.

This volume presents a comprehensive guide to one of the most important goals of neuroscience, establishing precision structure-function relationships in the brain. Progressing from the early stages of research, specifically the advent of computerized tomography and later, magnetic resonance imaging, this invaluable resource will take clinicians on an all encompassing journey into the ways different fields of neurology can work together to advance our understanding of brain disorders.

Complex topics including the neurochemistry of cognition, neuropsychology of aging and dementia, disorders of semantic memory, working memory, and the dysexecutive syndromes, amongst others, are thoroughly discussed and presented.

Clinicians will find a state-of-the-art reference guide that can be used to further understand how the fields of neuropsychology and behavioral neurology can complement each other to produce advancements in the neurosciences.
* Comprehensive information on the ways neuropsychology and behavioral neurology can work together to advance research
* Complex topics that explore the neurochemistry of cognition, the neuropsychology of aging and dementia, and disorders of semantic memory, amongst others
* Important breakthroughs in brain mapping techniques that have advanced diagnosis and patient care management within the neurosciences

This foundational work comprehensively examines the current state of the genetics, genomics and brain circuitry of psychiatric and neurological disorders. It consolidates discoveries of specific genes and genomic regions associated with these conditions, the genetic and anatomic architecture of these syndromes, and addresses how recent advances in genomics are leading to a reappraisal of the biology underlying clinical neuroscience. In doing so, it critically examines the promise and limitations of these discoveries toward treatment, and to the interdisciplinary nature of understanding brain and behavior. Coverage includes new discoveries regarding autism, epilepsy, intellectual disability, dementias, movement disorders, language impairment, disorders of attention, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Genomics, Circuits, and Pathways in Clinical Neuropsychiatry focuses on key concepts, challenges, findings, and methods in genetics, genomics, molecular pathways, brain circuitry, and related neurobiology of neurologic and psychiatric disorders.

This new edition of The Behavioral Neurology of Dementia provides clinicians and researchers with the latest research findings written by the leading dementia experts. With chapters ranging from cognitive evaluation to imaging, and genetics and pathology to treatment, the detailed clinical descriptions of diseases and symptoms serve not only as an educational tool for trainees, but also as an opportunity for experienced clinicians to deepen their knowledge and better serve their patients. After years of little progress, the pace of discovery has been speeding up in the last decade, and the authors distil the most valuable discoveries into clear, insightful chapters with applicable information. All the chapters from the first edition have been refreshed with new text and figures. There are new chapters on autoimmune antibody-associated encephalopathy; chronic traumatic encephalopathy; and sleep issues in dementia.