Focuses on critical epigenetic regulation and chromatin remodeling events that occur in the nervous system and on the presumed mechanisms that operate within neurons to translate them into long-lasting neuronal responses.

Avoiding the hyperbole of past treatments of the subject, this book discusses maladies whose diagnoses are much different between males and females. Examples include autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders and congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

The misfolding and aggregation of specific proteins is an early and obligatory event in many of the age-related neurodegenerative diseases of humans. The initial cause of this pathogenic cascade and the means whereby disease spreads through the nervous system, remain uncertain. A recent surge of research, first instigated by pathologic similarities between prion disease and Alzheimer's disease, increasingly implicates the conversion of disease-specific proteins into an aggregate-prone b-sheet-rich state as the prime mover of the neurodegenerative process. This prion-like corruptive protein...

The recent advances in Programming Somatic Cell (PSC) including induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS) and Induced Neuronal phenotypes (iN), has changed our experimental landscape and opened new possibilities. The advances in PSC have provided an important tool for the study of human neuronal function as well as neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases in live human neurons in a controlled environment. For example, reprogramming cells from patients with neurological diseases allows the study of molecular pathways particular to specific subtypes of neurons such as dopaminergic neurons...

Homeostasis involves a delicate interplay between generative and degenerative processes to maintain a stable internal environment. In biological systems, equilibrium is established and controlled through a series of negative feedback mechanisms driven by a range of signal transduction processes. Failures in these complex communication pathways result in instability leading to disease. Cancer represents a state of imbalance caused by an excess of cell proliferation. In contrast, neurodegeneration is a consequence of excessive cell loss in the nervous system. Both of these disorders exhort...

The environment of the fetus in the womb is emerging as a key determinant not only of its immediate status but also of the offspring's long-term well-being. This largely started with reports of striking epidemiological associations between lower, but still normal, birth weight and a marked increase in the incidence of cardiac, metabolic and neuropsychiatric disorders from childhood to senescence. In seeking to explain these observations, collectively referred to as developmental programming, ' a new subfield of biology has emerged. Major discoveries include detailing the etiological roles of...

Traditionally, neuroscience has considered the nervous system as an isolated entity and largely ignored influences of the social environments in which humans and many animal species live. However, there is mounting evidence that the social environment affects behavior across species, from microbes to humans.

This volume brings together scholars who work with animal and human models of social behavior to discuss the challenges and opportunities in this interdisciplinary academic field.

The misfolding and aggregation of specific proteins is an early and obligatory event in many of the age-related neurodegenerative diseases of humans. The initial cause of this pathogenic cascade and the means whereby disease spreads through the nervous system, remain uncertain. A recent surge of research, first instigated by pathologic similarities between prion disease and Alzheimer's disease, increasingly implicates the conversion of disease-specific proteins into an aggregate-prone b-sheet-rich state as the prime mover of the neurodegenerative process. This prion-like corruptive protein...

This book has brought together leading investigators who work in the new arena of brain connectomics. This includes macro-connectome efforts to comprehensively chart long-distance pathways and functional networks; micro-connectome efforts to identify every neuron, axon, dendrite, synapse, and glial process within restricted brain regions; and meso-connectome efforts to systematically map both local and long-distance connections using anatomical tracers. This book highlights cutting-edge methods that can accelerate progress in elucidating static hard-wired circuits of the brain as well as...

Recent years have seen spectacular advances in the field of circadian biology. These have attracted the interest of researchers in many fields, including endocrinology, neurosciences, cancer, and behavior. By integrating a circadian view within the fields of endocrinology and metabolism, researchers will be able to reveal many, yet-unsuspected aspects of how organisms cope with changes in the environment and subsequent control of homeostasis. This field is opening new avenues in our understanding of metabolism and endocrinology. A panel of the most distinguished investigators in the field...