Our understanding of how the skeleton is remodeled and repaired has been enormously expanded in the past decade.

Using advanced molecular technologies including transgenesis, gene knockout, and gene array, we are gaining a better understanding of both the precise pathways through which osteoblasts lay down new bone and how osteoclasts remove old bone. These studies have not only helped us understand the basic biological properties of the skeleton and how it responds to hormonal, cytokine, and mechanical stimulation, but also, in some instances, clarified the source of...

Pheochromocytoma is a rare neuroendocrine tumor with a highly variable presentation. There is lack of agreement about the most efficient and cost-effective methods for diagnosis and localization of the tumor, which can be lethal if not identified and treated promptly.Autopsy studies indicate that up to 50% of all cases remain undiagnosed until death.

Between 30 and 35% of the tumors have a hereditary basis. Development of malignancy is highly variable -- from less than 5% to more than 50% depending on the mutation; there is currently no effective cure.

This volume...

For the last 40 years, biogerontology--the study of the biological basis of aging--has progressed tremendously, and it has now become an independent and respected field of study and research. This volume brings together contributions by biogerontologists, bioethicists, biodemographers, researchers, students, clinicians, and dieticians.

The main areas of discussion and presentation of new research results include (1) biological and non-biological factors affecting lifespan and the quality of life; (2) ethical and social issues related to lifespan and health-span extension; (3)...

The intricate relationships between music and human neurological makeup, as well as the ways in which music can influence neurological development, are explored in this volume, which is a continuation and expansion of two symposia that have preceded it, both of which have been published as Annals volumes.

Researchers in the fields of neurophysiology, neuroimaging, mind-brain studies, and psychology present findings on the evaluation of neurological disorders and music, the relationship of music to development and language, and musical perception. The use and impact of music therapy...

Crosstalk between the neuroendocrine and immune systems plays an essential role in inflammatory, autoimmune, and allergic diseases. An international group of scientists from the fields of neurobiology, neuroendocrinology, immunology, and behavioral sciences reports here on recent advances in our understanding of the communication and modulation taking place between the neuroendocrine and immunological systems.

In an effort to incorporate all recent knowledge in this field, broad aspects of endocrinology and neuropsychiatric and autoimmune disorders is included, with special...

The mysteries of stress and its bodily effects revive old challenges and provide us with new ones. The Bjorntorp Symposium, which is recorded in this volume, focused on the role of stress and the brain in the pathologic conditions of obesity and metabolic syndrome, including in their physiology, pathophysiology, socioeconomic consequences, and therapeutic interventions. Special emphasis was placed on the metabolic consequences of stress, which might contribute to the alarming increase in the prevalence of obesity and its comorbidities in recent years.

The symposium and this volume...

An accurate, inexpensive, and noninvasive method for the early diagnosis of cancer has been something of a holy grail among cancer researchers, but until recently a method meeting all three criteria has been elusive. Nucleic acids were first discovered in circulation in 1948, but it was not until the 1960s and 70s that patients with autoimmune disease and cancer were discovered to have higher levels of circulating DNA than were detected in in healthy persons.

The focus in this volume is on three major applications of the circulating nucleic acids detection method: cancer, fetal...

Diabetes mellitus is a major global health problem. According to the most recent projections, the worldwide prevalence of diabetes mellitus is expected to reach 220 million in the year 2010 and 300 million in 2025 compared to the current prevalence of around 160 million.

This volume focuses on recent advances in the area of diabetes mellitus and its complications, from basic research at the molecular level to clinical medicine, spanning several areas including epidemiology, diagnosis, complications, prevention, treatment, beta cell function and dysfunction, metabolic syndrome,...

The need to protect biodiversity places great constraints on the use of natural spaces such as forests and preserves and often conflicts with the need for sustainable intensification of agricultural and animal production.

Human, domestic animal, and wildlife habitats have increasingly overlapped and have resulted in modified patterns of interaction between wild and domestic animals and humans. In such an environmental context, we can expect to see changes in disease transmission between animals and humans. We have already seen an increase in incidence of previously identified...

The worldwide epidemiology of rickettsial diseases, including veterinary rickettsiology, is the focus of this volume, which is the second volume resulting from the 4th International Conference on Rickettsiae and Rickettsial Diseases.

The heterogeneity of clinical presentations of rickettsial diseases is greater than had previously been appreciated, and atypical and previously unseen presentations are discussed here along with chapters on known vectors and vectors previously not known to transmit a given rickettsial species.

This volume and volume 1063, New Insights...