During the last decade it has become evident that the brain is an important target for hormones. Although it has been discovered only recently that the brain contains numerous peptide hormones, the role of pituitary and hypo- thalamic hormones in brain activity has been the subject of basic studies for quite some time. Peptide hormones are involved in mental performance. pain perception, food and water metabolism. sleep. sexual behaviour and nursing behaviour, and disturbances in the hormonal climate of the brain may be associated with psychopathology. cognitive disturbances and. possibly....

The Fourth International Congress on the Menopause was held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA in October - November 1984. It was different from the previous meetings held under the auspices of the International Menopause Society in three respects: the duration of the Congress was extended to five days, plenary sessions were held on each day, and the scope of the subject matter was expanded to provide a total or holistic overview of the subject - hence the theme for the Congress 'Climacteric Medicine and Science: A Societal need. ' In recent years there has been an increased interest in the...

Despite a plethora of theories, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) has remained an enigma. There has persisted in the literature a constant conflict as to the existence of the syndrome, a question as to whether it is one syndrome or several, and a debate as to whether the origin is psychic, somatic, or both. Advances in endocrinology, specifically in radioligand assays, allowing for accurate hormone measurements, have precipitated a more scientific evaluation of PMS in recent years. Nonetheless, diffi- culties have persisted in accumulating well-documented data because of the protean nature of the...

This book contains a consensus on menopause research, a consensus reached during the First International Congress on the Menopause in June, 1976. The Congress brought together about 165 people, most of whom are engaged in research in this field, in the resort town of La Grande Motte, near Montpellier, France. It was planned so that the main emphasis would be on the exchange of information in small Workshop sessions. Workshop Chairmen were asked to present summaries of their deliberations at the closing session. It is these summaries that form the essence of this text. The Congress also...

The decision taken during the First International Congress on the Menopause in June 1976 to repeat the exercise 2 years later turned out to be a good one. In the last few years much work has been done on the subject of the menopause. I t is, of course, a subject of many facets, but of particular importance recently has been the work done as a result of the reports appearing in 1975 and 1976 alleging an increase in the incidence of endometrial carcinoma in women who had used oestrogens, and of other effects, some beneficial others deleterious, reportedly seen when oestrogens were administered....

Undoubtedly, the medical aspects of mammary carcinoma-its cause, early detection and treatment-have received considerable attention. Rightly so. The disease is widespread and may be regarded as one of the most important health hazards for women. The psycho-social aspects of the problem, however, have so far received far less attention. Yet these aspects are of the utmost importance, as became evident once more during our workshop conference, of which this book presents the proceedings. It dealt with two aspects of psycho-social problems resulting from breast cancer: 1. The psycho-social...