Micro-, Meso- and Macro-Connectomics of the Brain


Book Description

This book has brought together leading investigators who work in the new arena of brain connectomics. This includes ‘macro-connectome’ efforts to comprehensively chart long-distance pathways and functional networks; ‘micro-connectome’ efforts to identify every neuron, axon, dendrite, synapse, and glial process within restricted brain regions; and ‘meso-connectome’ efforts to systematically map both local and long-distance connections using anatomical tracers. This book highlights cutting-edge methods that can accelerate progress in elucidating static ‘hard-wired’ circuits of the brain as well as dynamic interactions that are vital for brain function. The power of connectomic approaches in characterizing abnormal circuits in the many brain disorders that afflict humankind is considered. Experts in computational neuroscience and network theory provide perspectives needed for synthesizing across different scales in space and time. Altogether, this book provides an integrated view of the challenges and opportunities in deciphering brain circuits in health and disease.




Micro-, Meso- and Macro-Connectomics of the Brain


Book Description

This book has brought together leading investigators who work in the new arena of brain connectomics. This includes ‘macro-connectome’ efforts to comprehensively chart long-distance pathways and functional networks; ‘micro-connectome’ efforts to identify every neuron, axon, dendrite, synapse, and glial process within restricted brain regions; and ‘meso-connectome’ efforts to systematically map both local and long-distance connections using anatomical tracers. This book highlights cutting-edge methods that can accelerate progress in elucidating static ‘hard-wired’ circuits of the brain as well as dynamic interactions that are vital for brain function. The power of connectomic approaches in characterizing abnormal circuits in the many brain disorders that afflict humankind is considered. Experts in computational neuroscience and network theory provide perspectives needed for synthesizing across different scales in space and time. Altogether, this book provides an integrated view of the challenges and opportunities in deciphering brain circuits in health and disease.




Micro-, Meso- and Macro-Dynamics of the Brain


Book Description

This book brings together leading investigators who represent various aspects of brain dynamics with the goal of presenting state-of-the-art current progress and address future developments. The individual chapters cover several fascinating facets of contemporary neuroscience from elementary computation of neurons, mesoscopic network oscillations, internally generated assembly sequences in the service of cognition, large-scale neuronal interactions within and across systems, the impact of sleep on cognition, memory, motor-sensory integration, spatial navigation, large-scale computation and consciousness. Each of these topics require appropriate levels of analyses with sufficiently high temporal and spatial resolution of neuronal activity in both local and global networks, supplemented by models and theories to explain how different levels of brain dynamics interact with each other and how the failure of such interactions results in neurologic and mental disease. While such complex questions cannot be answered exhaustively by a dozen or so chapters, this volume offers a nice synthesis of current thinking and work-in-progress on micro-, meso- and macro- dynamics of the brain.




Fundamentals of Brain Network Analysis


Book Description

Fundamentals of Brain Network Analysis is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to methods for unraveling the extraordinary complexity of neuronal connectivity. From the perspective of graph theory and network science, this book introduces, motivates and explains techniques for modeling brain networks as graphs of nodes connected by edges, and covers a diverse array of measures for quantifying their topological and spatial organization. It builds intuition for key concepts and methods by illustrating how they can be practically applied in diverse areas of neuroscience, ranging from the analysis of synaptic networks in the nematode worm to the characterization of large-scale human brain networks constructed with magnetic resonance imaging. This text is ideally suited to neuroscientists wanting to develop expertise in the rapidly developing field of neural connectomics, and to physical and computational scientists wanting to understand how these quantitative methods can be used to understand brain organization. Winner of the 2017 PROSE Award in Biomedicine & Neuroscience and the 2017 British Medical Association (BMA) Award in Neurology Extensively illustrated throughout by graphical representations of key mathematical concepts and their practical applications to analyses of nervous systems Comprehensively covers graph theoretical analyses of structural and functional brain networks, from microscopic to macroscopic scales, using examples based on a wide variety of experimental methods in neuroscience Designed to inform and empower scientists at all levels of experience, and from any specialist background, wanting to use modern methods of network science to understand the organization of the brain




Brain Architecture : Understanding the Basic Plan


Book Description

Depending on your point of view the brain is an organ, a machine, a biological computer, or simply the most important component of the nervous system. How does it work as a whole? What are its major parts and how are they interconnected to generate thinking, feelings, and behavior? This book surveys 2,500 years of scientific thinking about these profoundly important questions from the perspective of fundamental architectural principles, and then proposes a new model for the basic plan of neural systems organization based on an explosion of structural data emerging from the neuroanatomy revolution of the 1970's. The importance of a balance between theoretical and experimental morphology is stressed throughout the book. Great advances in understanding the brain's basic plan have come especially from two traditional lines of biological thought-- evolution and embryology, because each begins with the simple and progresses to the more complex. Understanding the organization of brain circuits, which contain thousands of links or pathways, is much more difficult. It is argued here that a four-system network model can explain the structure-function organization of the brain. Possible relationships between neural networks and gene networks revealed by the human genome project are explored in the final chapter. The book is written in clear and sparkling prose, and it is profusely illustrated. It is designed to be read by anyone with an interest in the basic organization of the brain, from neuroscience to philosophy to computer science to molecular biology. It is suitable for use in neuroscience core courses because it presents basic principles of the structure of the nervous system in a systematic way.




Neuroanatomical Terminology


Book Description

This is the first complete defined vocabulary for all parts of the human nervous system that can be seen with functional imaging methods. One main part is a lexicon of standard and nonstandard terms, and another main part is a set of hierarchical nomenclature tables of standard terms.




Cellular Structure of the Human Cerebral Cortex


Book Description

Originally published in German and French, the work is considered to be unsurpassed in both its scientific eloquence and accurate photographic documentation. Revising Brodmann's cortical parcellation system, von Economo took cytoarchitectonics to a new zenith.>The revised edition contains newly compiled tables with extensive quantitative data on the 107 cytoarchitectonic areas of Economo and Koskinas, plus all the 'transition' areas and full reproductions of the original microphotographs. It also contains the concluding chapter that appeared only in the 1929 English edition, with Economo's later views on cytoarchitectonic neuropathology and evolutionary neuroscience, enriched with material and figures from his later studies. Last but not least a newly discovered manuscript by Georg N. Koskinas, appears in English for the first time. In it, Economo's collaborator presents an insightful analysis of the 'General Part' of their larger textbook of cytoarchitectonics.




Vestibular Migraine and Related Syndromes


Book Description

This book provides a multidisciplinary approach to vestibular migraine and related syndromes in which dizziness is the most predominant feature. Starting from the neurological point of view, the pathophysiology, classification, neurophysiology and therapy of migraine are discussed. Readers will learn how to recognize and properly treat vestibular migraine, which is often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed as Ménière’s syndrome (a form of vertigo characterized by vertigo spells and hearing loss that presents comorbidity with migraine) or benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (in which patients experience brief episodes of vertigo, lasting from seconds to 1 minute, when they move their heads in a certain way). The described diagnostic and therapeutic strategies include the newest, state of the art approaches. Further aspects of migraine that are considered include hyperexcitability in the brain and the triad of migraine, dizziness and anxiety. In addition, the imaging of migraine, and of vestibular migraine in particular, is discussed and clinical records are reported. Vestibular Migraine and Related Syndromes is based on the practical and clinical experiences of an authoritative group of well-known neurologists, ENT specialists and neuro-otologists. It provides neurologists with a complete overview of relevant clinical features, otolaryngologists with clear descriptions of clinical aspects and the pathophysiology of migraine and radiologists with guidance on the role of imaging techniques.




Discovering the Human Connectome


Book Description

A pioneer in the field outlines new empirical and computational approaches to mapping the neural connections of the human brain. Crucial to understanding how the brain works is connectivity, and the centerpiece of brain connectivity is the connectome, a comprehensive description of how neurons and brain regions are connected. In this book, Olaf Sporns surveys current efforts to chart these connections—to map the human connectome. He argues that the nascent field of connectomics has already begun to influence the way many neuroscientists collect, analyze, and think about their data. Moreover, the idea of mapping the connections of the human brain in their entirety has captured the imaginations of researchers across several disciplines including human cognition, brain and mental disorders, and complex systems and networks. Discovering the Human Connectome offers the first comprehensive overview of current empirical and computational approaches in this rapidly developing field.




Theory of Mind


Book Description

A concise and readable review of the extensive research into children’s understanding of what other people think and feel, providing a comprehensive overview of 25 years of research into theory of mind.