Neuroimmune Networks

Neuroimmune pharmacology seeks to harness the immune system to provide pharmacological intervention to combat neurodegenerative diseases. This book provides a comprehensive overview of topics that embrace the link between the immune system and the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. Results from recent studies strongly suggest that a major part of the process in diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s as well as Prion diseases, comes from changes in the innate and adaptive arms of the brain and peripheral immune systems. Thus, the book provides an in-depth study of numerous fields including immunology, pharmacology, neuroscience and neurovirology. It is accompanied by a CD-ROM that includes access to lectures, slide presentations, and question and answers on neuroimmune pharmacology.

A comprehensive, multidisciplinary review, Neural Plasticity and Memory: From Genes to Brain Imaging provides an in-depth, up-to-date analysis of the study of the neurobiology of memory. Leading specialists share their scientific experience in the field, covering a wide range of topics where molecular, genetic, behavioral, and brain imaging techniq

Modern psychosomatic medicine is a comprehensive framework for a holistic (biopsychosocial) perspective of illnesses and patient care. It highlights the influence of psychosocial factors on health, the interaction between psychosocial and biological factors in the course and outcome of diseases, and a whole perspective with respect to treatments. This book discusses holistic approaches to both organic and psychopathological diseases. Over three sections, authors address psychosomatic approaches to fibromyalgia, palliative care, anxiety and depression, obesity, and traumatic stress disorders.

Advances in Immunology

Recent studies have provided clear evidence on the role of neural-immune interactions in normal brain function and neuropathological conditions. Neuroimmune factors, which play an essential role in neuroinflammatory response, have been implicated in the regulation of neuronal function and plasticity. Thus, neural-immune interactions provide a new frame work for understanding the role of the neuroimmune system in normal brain function, neurodevelopment, and a variety of neurological disorders. These advances have a far reaching impact on many areas of neuroscience, including alcohol research. Studies using human alcoholic brains, gene knockout mice, and gene expression profiling have established a clear link between alcoholism and an altered neuroimmune profile. This book integrates emerging knowledge on neural-immune interactions with key discoveries in alcohol research and provides a comprehensive overview of neural-immune interactions in brain function and behavior associated with alcohol use disorders. While Neural–Immune Interaction in Brain Function and Alcohol Related Disorders focuses on neural-immune interactions in areas directly related to alcohol use disorders, it is not intended to be all inclusive. Several areas, including sleep disorders, pain, and cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathways, are not covered as independent chapters but briefly mentioned in the text. The close relevance of these topics to neural-immune interactions and alcohol use disorders warrants future discussion and more research efforts.

Pathbreaking research offers new hope for treating brain diseases and injuries and for maintaining brain health even into old age In the past, the brain was considered an autonomous organ, self-contained and completely separate from the body's immune system. But over the past twenty years, neuroimmunologist Michal Schwartz, together with her research team, not only has overturned this misconception but has brought to light revolutionary new understandings of brain health and repair. In this book Schwartz describes her research journey, her experiments, and the triumphs and setbacks that led to the discovery of connections between immune system and brain. Michal Schwartz, with Anat London, also explains the significance of the findings for future treatments of brain disorders and injuries, spinal cord injuries, glaucoma, depression, and other conditions such as brain aging and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Scientists, physicians, medical students, and all readers with an interest in brain function and its relationship to the immune system in health and disease will find this book a valuable resource. With general readers in mind, the authors provide a useful primer to explain scientific terms and concepts discussed in the book.