The field of the excitatory amino acids was born when L-glutamate and L-aspartate were found to be potent convulsants (Hayashi, 1954), and were subsequently found to excite neurons directly (Curtis, Phillis, and Watkins, 1959). Although these studies initiated the hypothesis of glutamate-mediated neurotransmission, it was noted that the ubiquitous actions of glutamate could also reflect a general, nonspecific property of glutamate on neuronal mem branes. It was not until 20 years later that pharmacological, physiological, and biochemical studies provided convincing evidence for a...

This book is a major reassessment of work in the field of critical gerontology, providing a comprehensive survey of issues by a team of contributors drawn from Europe and North America. The book focuses on the variety of ways in which age and ageing are socially constructed, and the extent to which growing old is being transformed through processes associated with globalisation. The collection offers a range of alternative views and visions about the nature of social ageing, making a major contribution to theory-building within the discipline of gerontology. The different sections of the book...

Robert Butler's call for life reviews has exerted a key influence on the way gerontologists have looked at reminiscence and remembering. Widely thought to be a helpful mechanism for integrating past and future, the process of life review needs better specification and evaluation based on sound research. ""The Meaning of Reminiscence and Life Review"" brings together both research and application pieces covering the range of possibilities. It examines important controversies and asks: ""Does it work?"" and ""What is the evidence?"" Given their own voice, what do old people say about looking...

"Aging Public Policy: Bonding the Generations" is presented in three parts. Part One describes the policy process as a response to human needs through the laws of our country. Part Two explores the national policy development on behalf of older persons. Part Three describes the major public policies on behalf of the elderly that include Social Security, Medicare, The Older Americans Act, institutional care, employment and retirement policies. The final chapter discusses the advocacy process in the field of aging.

Time and place are of the greatest significance for scientific inquiry about human lives. As we seek to better understand the nature and rhythm of the life course in modern societies, its effective analysis and explanation simultaneously becomes more pressing and more complicated. This information is crucial for developing and reforming social policies, services, and interventions aimed at improving human development and welfare. Yet as our scientific treatments have become more elaborate, they have also become more fragmented within and between academic disciplines, across the study of...

Putting gender in a lifespan context, Hatch (sociology, U. of Kentucky) atypically accents the gains as well as losses of aging and sex differences in adaptation overall, to the death of a spouse, and to retirement. From the multifactored theoretical perspectives of symbolic interactionism and polit