No detailed description available for "Toxins as Tools in Neurochemistry".

Scientists agree that exposure to toxic agents in the environment can cause neurological and psychiatric illnesses ranging from headaches and depression to syndromes resembling parkinsonism. It can even result in death at high exposure levels. The emergence of subclinical neurotoxicity-the concept that long-term impairments can escape clinical detection-makes the need for risk assessment even more critical. This volume paves the way toward definitive solutions, presenting the current consensus on risk assessment and environmental toxicants and offering specific recommendations. The book covers: The biologic basis of neurotoxicity. Progress in the application of biologic markers. Reviews of a wide range of in vitro and in vivo testing techniques. The use of surveillance and epidemiology to identify neurotoxic hazards that escape premarket screening. Research needs. This volume will be an important resource for policymakers, health specialists, researchers, and students.

Exposure to toxic chemicalsâ€"in the workplace and at homeâ€"is increasing every day. Human behavior can be affected by such exposure and can give important clues that a person or population is in danger. If we can understand the mechanisms of these changes, we can develop better ways of testing for toxic chemical exposure and, most important, better prevention programs. This volume explores the emerging field of neurobehavioral toxicology and the potential of behavior studies as a noninvasive and economical means for risk assessment and monitoring. Pioneers in this field explore its promise for detecting environmental toxins, protecting us from exposure, and treating those who are exposed.

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.

In recent years, the field of Toxinology has expanded substantially. On the one hand it studies venomous animals, plants and micro organisms in detail to understand their mode of action on targets. While on the other, it explores the biochemical composition, genomics and proteomics of toxins and venoms to understand their three interaction with life forms (especially humans), development of antidotes and exploring their pharmacological potential. Therefore, Toxinology has deep linkages with biochemistry, molecular biology, anatomy and pharmacology. In addition, there is a fast developing applied subfield, clinical toxinology, which deals with understanding and managing medical effects of toxins on human body. Given the huge impact of toxin-based deaths globally, and the potential of venom in generation of drugs for so-far incurable diseases (for example, Diabetes, Chronic Pain), the continued research and growth of the field is imminent. This has led to the growth of research in the area and the consequent scholarly output by way of publications in journals and books. Despite this ever growing body of literature within biomedical sciences, there is still no all-inclusive reference work available that collects all of the important biochemical, biomedical and clinical insights relating to Toxinology. The Handbook of Toxinology aims to address this gap and cover the field of Toxinology comprehensively.

This book describes the major achievements and discoveries relevant to bacterial protein toxins since the turn of the new century illustrated by the discovery of more than fifty novel toxins (many of them identified through genome screening). The establishment of the three-dimensional crystal structure of more than 20 toxins during the same period offers deeper knowledge of structure-activity relationships and provides a framework to understand how toxins recognize receptors, penetrate membranes and interact with and modify intracellular substrates. - Edited by two of the most highly regarded experts in the field from the Institut Pasteur, France - 14 brand new chapters dedicated to coverage of historical and general aspects of toxinology - Includes the major toxins of both basic and clinical interest are described in depth - Details applied aspects of toxins such as therapy, vaccinology, and toolkits in cell biology - Evolutionary and functional aspects of bacterial toxins evaluated and summarized - Toxin applications in cell biology presented - Therapy (cancer therapy, dystonias) discussed - Vaccines (native and genetically engineered vaccines) featured - Toxins discussed as biological weapons, comprising chapters on anthrax, diphtheria, ricin etc.

The attractions of invertebrate nervous systems have long been appreciated by neurophysiologists. Indeed some of the milestones in our understanding of nervous systems have their foundations in experiments done on invertebrate preparations, typified by the role of the squid axon in dissect ing the events that constitute the action potential. More recently we have seen how the relatively simple nervous system of Aplysia has permitted new insights into the molecular mechanisms of memory and learning. Neurochemists, however, have not been enthusiastic about invertebrate tissues as their experimental material. Much of the biochemical information on invertebrate nervous systems that has accrued has been incidental, almost as a by-product of what were primarily physiological investigations. Fortunately the field is changing, and research groups are making a positive choice to turn to invertebrate tissues. Two important factors have contributed to this. First, the study of analogous systems in invertebrates and vertebrates can tell us much about the evolution of nervous systems. The application of the techniques of molecular genetics to the study of such molecules as receptors and ion channels can provide detailed information about their composition that, in turn, allows us to better understand their function. By extending such studies to the invertebrates we should be able to understand how such systems have developed. Secondly, invertehrate pests are responsible for enormous losses of agricultural crops and are major vectors of disease in man.

Tetanus has been known from the very beginning of medical literature since it was first described by Hyppocrates of Cos in the fifth century B.C. For 24 centuries it was considered a neuro logical disease until the breakthrough of CARLE and RATIONE (1884) who demonstrated its infectious etiology. Following the establishment of purified cultures of Clostridium tetani(KITASATO 1889), FABER (1890), and TIZZONI and CATIANI (1890) demon strated that the disease is actually an intoxication caused by a proteic neurotoxin. This toxin was shown by BRUSHCHETIINI (1892) to move retroaxonally and to act at the spinal cord level. Soon thereafter VAN ERMENGEN (1897) demonstrated that botu lism is also due to intoxication with a protein toxin produced by bacteria of the genus Clostridium. These bacteria and their spores and ubiquitous, and the majority of them do not produce neurotoxins. The selective advantage of producing such potent toxin is still a matter of speculation (see Popoff, this volume). The next major advance was the discovery that tetanus neurotoxin 1 can be converted by formaldehyde treatment to a nonpathogenic but still fully immunogenic form, and that this can be used successfully as a vaccine to prevent tetanus (RAMON and DESCOMBEY 1925). Similar vaccines (toxoids) can be prepared with botulism neurotoxins (see MiDDLEBROOK and BROWN, this volume). The prevention oftetanus by vaccination (see Galatzka and Gasse, this volume) is one of the great successes of basic research coupled with an efficient public medicine service.

Neurochemical Techniques in Insect Research properly emphasizes the insect. It only scratches the surface of the exploding repertoire of general neuro chemical techniques that can be applied to insect research in 1985. But it al so presents the advantages of using insects for studying certain biological questions that are approachable by neurochemical techniques. Even more so, it summarizes the long list of unique problems encountered in attempting to study insects by neurochemical techniques. As in other volumes of this series, the contributors to this volume are the authorities in the field. They themselves have developed much of the material presented. Thus the sum effort provides a true description of the state of the art; and, pleasantly, it does so in a very complete and clear manner. Readers of this series will not need to be reminded that, despite the fact that vertebrates make up only about 3% of all animal species, research in in vertebrates such as insects has lagged behind that on vertebrates, at least in the neurochemistry area; the relative simplicity and large cell size of the in sect nervous system has always provided incentive for work in neurophysiol ogy and neuroanatomy. Toxicology interests will always stimulate a certain amount of work on insect neuropharmacology, and insects are extremely suitable for several areas of toxin research. Last but not least, the insects are beautiful organisms for which the applications of genetics can be made to the study of nervous system function.