The brain is the most complex organ in our body. Indeed, it is perhaps the most complex structure we have ever encountered in nature. Both structurally and functionally, there are many peculiarities that differentiate the brain from all other organs. The brain is our connection to the world around us and by governing nervous system and higher function, any disturbance induces severe neurological and psychiatric disorders that can have a devastating effect on quality of life. Our understanding of the physiology and biochemistry of the brain has improved dramatically in the last two decades. In particular, the critical role of cations, including magnesium, has become evident, even if incompletely understood at a mechanistic level. The exact role and regulation of magnesium, in particular, remains elusive, largely because intracellular levels are so difficult to routinely quantify. Nonetheless, the importance of magnesium to normal central nervous system activity is self-evident given the complicated homeostatic mechanisms that maintain the concentration of this cation within strict limits essential for normal physiology and metabolism. There is also considerable accumulating evidence to suggest alterations to some brain functions in both normal and pathological conditions may be linked to alterations in local magnesium concentration. This book, containing chapters written by some of the foremost experts in the field of magnesium research, brings together the latest in experimental and clinical magnesium research as it relates to the central nervous system. It offers a complete and updated view of magnesiums involvement in central nervous system function and in so doing, brings together two main pillars of contemporary neuroscience research, namely providing an explanation for the molecular mechanisms involved in brain function, and emphasizing the connections between the molecular changes and behavior. It is the untiring efforts of those magnesium researchers who have dedicated their lives to unraveling the mysteries of magnesiums role in biological systems that has inspired the collation of this volume of work.

This book highlights the pathophysiological complexities of the mechanisms and factors that are likely to be involved in a range of neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease, other Dementia, Parkinson Diseases and Multiple Sclerosis. The spectrum of diverse factors involved in neurodegeneration, such as protein aggregation, oxidative stress, caspases and secretase, regulators, cholesterol, zinc, microglia, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, etc, have been discussed in the context of disease progression. In addition, novel approaches to therapeutic interventions have also been presented. It is hoped that students, scientists and clinicians shall find this very informative book immensely useful and thought-provoking.

Advances in Dementia Research and Treatment: 2011 Edition is a ScholarlyBrief™ that delivers timely, authoritative, comprehensive, and specialized information about Dementia in a concise format. The editors have built Advances in Dementia Research and Treatment: 2011 Edition on the vast information databases of ScholarlyNews.™ You can expect the information about Dementia in this eBook to be deeper than what you can access anywhere else, as well as consistently reliable, authoritative, informed, and relevant. The content of Advances in Dementia Research and Treatment: 2011 Edition has been produced by the world’s leading scientists, engineers, analysts, research institutions, and companies. All of the content is from peer-reviewed sources, and all of it is written, assembled, and edited by the editors at ScholarlyEditions™ and available exclusively from us. You now have a source you can cite with authority, confidence, and credibility. More information is available at http://www.ScholarlyEditions.com/.

Neurodegenerative diseases are the most frequent cause of dementia, representing a burden for public health systems (especially in middle and middle-high income countries). Although most research on this issue is concentrated in first-world centers, growing efforts in South America are affording important breakthroughs. This emerging agenda poses new challenges for the region but also new opportunities for the field. This book aims to integrate the community of experts across the globe and the region, and to establish new challenges and developments for future investigation. We present research focused on neurodegenerative research in South America. We introduce studies assessing the interplay among genetic, neural, and behavioral dimensions of these diseases, as well as articles on vulnerability factors, comparisons of findings from various countries, and works promoting multicenter and collaborative networking. More generally, our book covers a broad scope of human-research approaches (behavioral assessment, neuroimaging, electromagnetic techniques, brain connectivity, peripheral measures), animal methodologies (genetics, epigenetics, proteomics, metabolomics, other molecular biology tools), species (all human and non-human animals, sporadic, and genetic versions), and article types (original research, review, and opinion papers). Through this wide-ranging proposal, we hope to introduce a fresh approach to the challenges and opportunities of research on neurodegeneration in South America.

This book covers the new Omics area, Metallomics. As Metallomics is intrinsically a transdisciplinary area, this book is authored by experts in the field on such diverse topics as Environmental, Nuclear, and Human Metallomics. Within these topics metals play important role, as being part of biomolecules, controlling different biochemical process, being signaling agents, being catalyst of biochemical reactions, among others. This volume demonstrates the importance of more investigation about metals and their interactions with biomolecules. As the knowledge in this field is growing and growing daily, then new challenges concerning studies involving Metallomics is appearing, such as comparative metallomics, speciation metallomics, real-time metallomics, new predictions of metals in biomolecules, metalloprotein databank expansion, interactions between metalloprotein-metalloprotein, among others.

This handbook provides an all-inclusive insight into biomarkers assessing the impact of nutrition on human health. The reader will gain insight into the area of circulating body fluid biomarkers, from cardiovascular related markers to liver functional tests. Various biomarkers related to the intake of micronutrient and macronutrients are presented, and the effects of different diets, pesticide exposure and dietary supplements are discussed, so are changes of genetic, cellular and histological variables. This systematic handbook is a must have for biomedical researchers as well as clinicians and pharmacologists, who wish to gain extensive understanding on the analysis of effects of various nutritional and dietary effects on human health, ageing and longevity.

Biometals such as copper, zinc and iron have key biological functions, however, aberrant metabolism can lead to detrimental effects on cell function and survival. These biometals have important roles in the brain, driving cellular respiration, antioxidant activity, intracellular signaling and many additional structural and enzymatic functions. There is now considerable evidence that abnormal biometal homeostasis is a key feature of many neurodegenerative diseases and may have an important role in the onset and progression of disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, prion and motor neuron diseases. Recent studies also support biometal roles in a number of less common neurodegenerative disorders. The role of biometals in a growing list of brain disorders is supported by evidence from a wide range of sources including molecular genetics, biochemical studies and biometal imaging. These studies have spurred a growing interest in understanding the role of biometals in brain function and disease as well as the development of therapeutic approaches that may be able to restore the altered biometal chemistry of the brain. These approaches range from genetic manipulation of biometal transport to chelation of excess metals or delivery of metals where levels are deficient. A number of these approaches are offering promising results in cellular and animal models of neurodegeneration with successful translation to pre-clinical and clinical trials. At a time of aging populations and slow progress in development of neurotherapeutics to treat age-related neurodegenerative diseases, there is now a critical need to further our understanding of biometals in neurodegeneration. This issue covers a broad range of topics related to biometals and their role in neurodegeneration. It is hoped that this will inspire greater discussion and exchange of ideas in this crucial area of research and lead to positive outcomes for sufferers of these neurodegenerative diseases.