Kategoria BISAC: Social Science >> Anthropology - Physical

Fifty years ago, neuroscientists thought that a mature brain was fixed like a fly in amber, unable to change. Today, we know that our brains and nervous systems change throughout our lifetimes. This concept of neuroplasticity has captured the imagination of a public eager for self-improvement -- and has inspired countless Internet entrepreneurs who peddle dubious "brain training" games and apps. In this book, Moheb Costandi offers a concise and engaging overview of neuroplasticity for the general reader, describing how our brains change continuously in response to our actions and...

This volume seeks to familiarize readers with a diverse range of technologies and approaches for probing neuron and circuit architecture, and, when possible, to attach detailed protocols to help guide readers toward practical application. From classical lipophilic dye and conjugated lectin tracing techniques, to electrophysiological, in vivo imaging, viral tract tracing, and emerging genetic methods to mark, manipulate, and monitor neural circuits, Neural Tracing Methods: Tracing Neurons and Their Connections includes reference to an arsenal of tools and technologies...

As the global climate shifts, communities are faced with a myriad of mitigation and adaptation challenges. These highlight the political, cultural, economic, social, and physical vulnerability of social groups, communities, families, and individuals. They also foster resilience and creative responses. Research in hazard management, humanitarian response, food security programming, and other areas seeks to identify and understand factors that create vulnerability and strategies that enhance resilience at all levels of social organization. This book uses case studies from around the globe to...

Interdisciplinary research is a rewarding enterprise, but there are inherent challenges, especially in current anthropological study. Anthropologists investigate questions concerning health, disease, and the life course in past and contemporary societies, necessitating interdisciplinary collaboration. Tackling these 'big picture' questions related to human health-states requires understanding and integrating social, historical, environmental, and biological contexts and uniting qualitative and quantitative data from divergent sources and technologies. The crucial interplay between new...

This volume provides comprehensive procedures for analyzing the extracellular matrix in native, injured, and engineered neural tissues. Divided into four parts, each focusing on different aspects of the extracellular matrix and the nervous system, Extracellular Matrix covers methods to analyze native tissue, in vitro models for investigating cell-extracellular matrix interactions in a variety of contexts, protocols to investigate the role of the extracellular matrix in nervous system injury, degeneration, and regeneration, as well as therapeutics and engineered systems. Each chapter...

ATP acts as main energy source and is pivotal for numerous signaling cascades both inside the cells (by fuelling various transport systems and donating phosphate groups) and between the cells (by chemical transmission). Similarly glutamate acts as an important molecule for both intercellular signaling though glutamatergic transmission and cell energetics by contributing to ATP production.

Neurovascular Coupling Methods brings the reader up to date with the current state-of-the-art techniques in measuring blood flow in the brain, with chapters describing different techniques or combinations of techniques, applied to specific species in either healthy or abnormal brains. Opening with a section on techniques in normal somatosensory processing, the detailed volume continues with parts covering techniques in normal visual processing, epilepsy and cerebrovascular diseases, such as ischemia, hemorrhage and spreading depression. As a collection in the popular...

Key discoveries concerning the different biological functions of microglia in health and disease have attracted scientists from various fields. In Microglia: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers in the field detail methods for selection of the key cellular, molecular and biochemical techniques that are used in studying the many and varied functions of this fascinating cell. These methods and techniques include microglia cell culture for studying microglia activation and functions, as well as their interaction with other cell types both in vitro and in vivo....

Bringing together techniques and methods currently being applied to the study of exocytosis, Exocytosis Methods collects chapters from experts in the field, examining this fundamental process essential to functions ranging from protein secretion to hormone release and neurotransmission. The book begins with a section covering a range of techniques being applied to the study of single-vesicle fusion events, which are key in order to gain insight into the final steps of vesicle fusion. The volume continues with several model systems that are being employed to unravel the complexities...