This comprehensive reference provides a detailed overview of current concepts regarding the cause of Parkinson's disease-emphasizing the issues involved in the design, implementation, and analysis of epidemiological studies of parkinsonism.

Oxidative damage appears to play a central role in the development of a wide range of tissue pathology, including neurodegenerative disease, drug side-effects, xenobiotic toxicity, carcinogenesis, and the aging process, to name just a few. Because of the centrality of oxidative processes to normal and abnormal tissue function, it has become imperative to develop appropriate analytical techniques to facilitate the quantitation of significant reactants. Without advances in methodology, corresponding advances in our knowledge of underlying biochemical events will be necessarily limited. Drs. Hensley and Floyd have done an outstanding job of assembling the work of world-class experts into Methods in Biological Oxidative Stress. The contributors have presented concise, yet thorough, descriptions of the state-of-the-art methods that any investigator working in the field needs to access. Mannfred A. Hollinger v Preface Free radicals and reactive oxidizing agents were once ignored as biochemical entities not worth close scrutiny, but are now recognized as causes or contributing factors in dozens, if not hundreds, of disease states. In addition, free radical metabolisms of xenobiotics have become increasingly important to pharmacologists. Accordingly, the need has arisen to accurately quantify reactive oxygen species and their byproducts. Methods in Biological Oxidative Stress is practical in scope, providing the details of up-to-date techniques for measuring oxidative stress and detecting oxidizing agents both in vitro and in vivo. The contributors are recognized experts in the field of oxidative stress who have developed novel strategies for studying biological oxidations.

Neuroregulation is a challenging and rapidly developing field that holds the key to many currently intractable medical conditions from nervous and mental diseases to stress-related disorders. Advances in Neuroregulation mirrors the broad scope of research in this area with topics ranging from new concepts on the immune system and on the action of antidepressants to the evolution and development of the autonomic nervous system. In addition, the latest research findings are presented for behavioural disorders and medical conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Another area of emphasis is the body's responses to stress and the effect of neuroactive agents in the treatment of stress-related conditions. Many chapters are devoted to the progress being made at the cellular and molecular level, including areas such as: - the conditions for culture of different types of neural cells - conformational diseases and the protein folding problem - vasoactive intestinal polypeptide release from pancreatic islets - the effect of melatonin and corticosterone on macrophages Here, in a book that expands the frontiers of neuroscience, researchers into neuroregulation at the molecular and cellular levels as well as those working at the clinical and systemic levels will find important results relating to their field.

This two-volume reference examines the translational research field of oxidative stress and ageing. It focuses on understanding the molecular basis of oxidative stress and its associated age-related diseases, with the goal of developing new methods for treating the human ageing processes.

Gene Therapy is expected to revolutionize the practice of medicine at the turn of the third Millennium. Therapeutic/prophylactic benefits should arise from both gene transfer and gene repair/inactivation protocols devised for patient's somatic cells. Gene expression cassettes, designed for the production of therapeutic proteins and non-coding RNA, are thus experimented together with emerging gene repair/inactivation techniques on a variety of inherited, acquired and infectious/parasitic diseases, including complex neuro-degenerative processes. This book presents a collection of chapters on the main aspects of Gene Therapy, some of which have already been treated in the past, and updates and further develops the current survey. It is aimed at understanding why Human Gene Therapy is likely to be a medical breakthrough, although definitive clinical success still needs time to accomplish. The contributions focus on both technical/biomedical concepts and on experimental/clinical data that appear to confer potential universality to Gene Therapy. This book does not claim to provide an exhaustive review of the pathologies, which are currently approached with Gene Therapy. The presentation of current and emerging approaches, together with problems and tentative issues aims to serve as a booster for the development of new applications in every field of medicine and will, therefore, be of value and interest to researchers in this exciting field.

Oxidative stress is the result of an imbalance in pro-oxidant/antioxidant homeostasis that leads to the generation of toxic reactive oxygen species. Brain cells are continuously exposed to reactive oxygen species generated by oxidative metabolism, and in certain pathological conditions defense mechanisms against oxygen radicals may be weakened and/or overwhelmed. DNA is a potential target for oxidative damage, and genomic damage can contribute to neuropathogenesis. It is important therefore to identify tools for the quantitative analysis of DNA damage in models on neurological disorders. This book presents detailed information on various neurodegenerative disorders and their connection with oxidative stress. This information will provide clinicians with directions to treat these disorders with appropriate therapy and is also of vital importance for the drug industries for the design of new drugs for treatment of degenerative disorders.* Contains the latest information on the subject of neurodegenerative disorders* Reflects on various factors involved in degeneration and gives suggestions for how to tackle these problems

This volume contains the proceedings of the Ninth Meeting of the "International Study Group for Tryptophan Research" (lSTRY), held at the University of Hamburg, Germany, from October 10 to 14, 1998. At this meeting the recent developments in the field of tryptophan research were presented by leading researchers from all over the world in 81 oral and 48 poster contri butions. Research on tryptophan and its derivatives provides an inexhaustible subject. At the conference we tried to compose a multifacetted picture of the recent investiga tions through contributions from the major disciplines involved. Thus, we tried to strike a balance between basic research topics and clinical, nutritional or industrial applica tions. We offered workshops on tryptophan (in sleep and mood), melatonjn, IDO-acti vation and the eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (EMS) as a platform for intensive discussion for the participants. In these proceedings many contributions are multidisciplinary and have practical or theoretical implications for different research fields. Hence, we have organized this volume in nine main chapters according to basic disciplines and subjects. We are aware that this classification is artificial, but we hope that it is the best compromise for contributors and readers.

This publication offers cutting-edge information about basic neurochemical and neuroimmunological research as well as clinical studies of immunological disarrangements and immunological dysfunctions in psychiatric disorders. Psychiatrists and immunologists in the clinic, and researchers in basic sciences will also find this book essential reading. Likewise, it will be relevant to graduate and undergraduate students with a special interest in the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders.'