Stress reaction is likely to play a crucial role in a variety of degenerative diseases including cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The process of stress adaptation may appear to be simple, but in reality this is a very complex process and we are only beginning to understand the mechanism of adaptation. In January, 1998, scientists from around the world assembled to discuss the potential applicability of the concept of stress adaptation in the clinical arena. This volume contains original research papers presented on this subject during the conference Stress Adaptation, Prophylaxis and Treatment held in Calcutta, India, and serves as an up-to-date source of information for scientists, as well as clinicians interested in applying the concept of stress adaptation to the cure of diseases.

These WHO mhGAP guidelines were developed to provide recommended management strategies for conditions specifically related to stress, including symptoms of acute stress, post-traumatic stress disorder and bereavement. The guidelines were developed by an independent Guidelines Development Group and inform a new mhGAP module on the Assessment and Management of Conditions Specifically Related to Stress.

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.

Since 1950, when Hans Selye first devoted an entire book to the study of stress,professional and public concern with stress has grown tremendous ly. These concerns have contributed to an understanding that has impli cations for both prevention and treatment. The present book is designed to combine these data with the clinical concerns of dealing with stressed populations. In order to bridge the gap between research and practice, contributions are included by major researchers who have been con cerned with the nature of stress and coping and by clinical researchers who have developed stress management and stress prevention programs. The book is divided into three sections. The goal of the first section is to survey the literature on stress and coping and to consider the implica tions for setting up stress prevention and management programs. Follow ing some introductory observations by the editors are the observations of three prominent investigators in the field of stress and coping. Irving JaniS, Seymour Epstein, and Howard Leventhal have conducted seminal studies on the topic of coping with stress. For this book they have each gone beyond their previous writings in proposing models and guidelines for stress prevention and management programs. While each author has tackled his task somewhat differently, a set of common suggestions has emerged.

Living organisms exhibit specific responses when confronted with sudden changes in their environmental conditions. The ability of the cells to acclimate to their new environment is the integral driving force for adaptive modification of the cells. Such adaptation involves a number of cellular and biochemical alteration including metabolic homeostasis and reprogramming of gene expression. Changes in metabolic pathways are generally short-lived and reversible, while the consequences of gene expression are a long-term process and may lead to permanent alternation in the pattern of adaptive responses. The heart possesses remarkable ability to adapt itself against any stressful situation by increasing resistance to the adverse consequences. Stress composes the foundation of many degenerative heart diseases including atherosclerosis, spasm, thrombosis, cardiomyopathy, and congestive heart failure. Based on the concept that excessive stress may play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of ischemic heart disease, attempts were made to design methods for preventing of myocardial injury. Creation of stress reactions by repeated ischemia and reperfusion or subjecting the hearts to heat or oxidative stress enables them to meet the future stress challenge. Repeated stress exposures adapt the heart to withstand more severe stress reactions probably by upregulating the cellular defense and direct accumulation of intracellular mediators, which presumably constitute the material basis of increased adaptation to stress. Thus, the powerful cardioprotective effect of adaptation is likely to originate at the cellular and molecular levels that compose fundamental processes in the prophylaxis of such diseases. Volume six of the Advances in Organ Biology series contains state-of-the-art reviews on myocardial preservation and cellular adaptation from the leading authorities in this subject.

Stress reaction is likely to play a crucial role in a variety of degenerative diseases including cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The process of stress adaptation may appear to be simple, but in reality this is a very complex process and we are only beginning to understand the mechanism of adaptation. In January, 1998, scientists from around the world assembled to discuss the potential applicability of the concept of stress adaptation in the clinical arena. This volume contains original research papers presented on this subject during the conference Stress Adaptation, Prophylaxis and Treatment held in Calcutta, India, and serves as an up-to-date source of information for scientists, as well as clinicians interested in applying the concept of stress adaptation to the cure of diseases.