Dana Guide to Brain Health: A Practical Family Reference from Medical Experts » (BK&CD-ROM)

Floyd E. Bloom is the former chairman of the Department of Neuropharmacology at the Scripps Research Institute in California, a past chairman of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the former editor-in-chief of Science. M. Flint Beal is neurologist-in-chief of the New York Presbyterian Hospital and chairman of the Department of Neurology and Neuroscience at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. David J. Kupfer is the Thomas Detre Professor and chairman of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Medical Director of the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.

A child crashes to the ground from the monkey bars head-first. A high school student prepares for months to take the SAT. A grandmother slowly slips away from her family through the deadly progression of Alzheimer’s Disease. Whether we realize it or not, the importance of brain health to our daily lives goes far beyond just being able to walk and talk. The Dana Guide to Brain Health offers the first comprehensive home medical reference book on the brain, providing an unparalleled, authoritative guide to improving the fitness of our brains and, ultimately, enriching our lives.

With contributions from over one hundred of the most prominent scientists and clinicians in the United States, The Dana Guide to Brain Health is an extensive and wholly accessible manual on the workings of the human brain. This richly illustrated volume contains a wealth of facts and advice, on simple yet effective ways to take care of our brains; the intimate connection between brain health and body health; brain development from the prenatal period through adulthood; and how we learn, remember, and imagine.

The brain is far too important to be excluded any longer from our daily health concerns. The Dana Guide to Brain Health remedies this oversight with a clearly written, definitive map to our brains that reveals how we can take care of them in order to sustain a long and rich life.

Using Our Heads: A Foreword by William Safire

Introduction:  Welcome to Your Brain

How to Read this Book

Contributors

Your Brain: A Primer

Part I.  Understanding Your Brain

1.  How to Think About the Brain

2.  How We Know: Learning the Secrets of the Brain

3.  Basic Brain Care:  Protecting Your Mental Capital

4.  The Brain-Body Loop

Part II.  Your Brain Through Life

5.  Prenatal Development

6.  Brain Development in Childhood

7.  The Adolescent Brain

8.  The Brain in Adult Life and Normal Aging

Part III.  The Healthy Brain

9.  The Body Manager

  B1  The Major Senses: Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smell, and Touch

  B2  Body Regulation

  B3  Basic Drives: Eating, Sleeping, and Sex

  B4  Movement, Balance, and Coordination

  B5  Pain Perception

  B6  Consciousness

10.  Emotions and Social Function

  B7  Emotions

  B8  Inhibition and Control

  B9  Temperament

  B10  Attention and Motivation

11.  Learning, Thinking, and Remembering

  B11  Decision Making and Planning

  B12  Intelligence

  B13  Learning and Memory

  B14  Speech, Language, and Reading

  B15  Visualization and Navigation

  B16  Creativity, Talents, and Skills

Part IV.  Conditions of the Brain and Nervous System

12.  Conditions That Appear in Childhood

  C1  Dyslexia

 C2  Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

  C3  Mental Retardation

  C4  Cerebral Palsy

  C5  Autism

  C6  Metabolic Diseases

  C7  Neurofibromatosis

  C8  Hydrocephalus

  C9  Spina Bifida

  C10  Tumors of Childhood

13.  Disorders of the Senses and Body Function

  C11  Sleep Disorders

  C12  Narcolepsy

  C13  Epilepsy and Seizures

  C14  Dizziness and Vertigo

  C15  Seeing Problems

  C16  Hearing Problems

  C17  Smelling and Tasting Problems

  C18  Autonomous Disorders

  C19  Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

14.  Emotional and Control Disorders

  C20  Depression

  C21  Anxiety and Panic

  C22  Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder)

  C23  Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

  C24  Bipolar Disorder

  C25  Schizophrenia

  C26  Borderline Personality Disorder

  C27  Eating Disorders

  C28  Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

  C29  Substance Abuse and Addiction

  C30  Alcoholism

  C31  Violence and Aggression

  C32  Suicidal Feelings

15.  Infectious and Autoimmune Disorders

  C33  Multiple Sclerosis

  C34  Shingles/Herpes Zoster

  C35  Neurological Complications of AIDS

  C36  Lyme Disease

  C37  Meningitis

  C38  Viral Encephalitis

  C39  Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

  C40  Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

16.  Disorder of Movement and Muscles

  C41  Parkinson's Disease

  C42  Parkinsonism Plus

  C43  Tremors

  C44  Dystonia, Spasms, and Cramps

  C45  Tourette's Syndrom and Tics

  C46  Ataxia

  C47  Huntington's Disease

  C48  Peripheral Neuropathy

  C49  Guillain-Barre Syndrome

  C50  Bell's Palsy

  C51  Myopathies

  C52  Myasthenia Gravis

  C53  Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

17.  Pain

  C54  Headache

  C55  Migraines

  C56  Back Pain and Disk Disease

  C57  Chronic Pain

  C58  Trigeminal Neuralgia

18.  Nervous System Injuries

  C59  Ischemic Stroke

  C60  Hemorrhagic Stroke

  C61  Brain Trauma, Concussion, and Coma

  C62  Spinal Cord Injury

  C63  Paraneoplastic Syndromes

  C64  Brain Tumors

  C65  Nutritional Disorders

  C66  Chemicals and the Nervous System

19.  Disorders of Thinking and Remembering

  C67  Alzheimer's Disease

  C68  Amnesias

  C69  Dementia

  C70  Trouble with Speech and Language

  C71  Apraxias

  C72  Agnosias

Glossary

Appendix A:  Drugs Used to Treat the Brain and Nervous System

Appendix B:  Suggested Reading

Appendix C:  Resource Groups

The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives

The European Dana Alliance for the Brain

About the Editors

Index