Download or read book From Molecules to Networks written by John H. Byrne and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 643 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An understanding of the nervous system at virtually any level of analysis requires an understanding of its basic building block, the neuron. This book provides the solid foundation of the morphological, biochemical, and biophysical properties of nerve cells. All chapters have been thoroughly revised for this second edition to reflect the significant advances of the past five years. The new edition expands on the network aspects of cellular neurobiology by adding a new chapter, Information Processing in Neural Networks, and on the relation of cell biological processes to various neurological diseases. The new concluding chapter illustrates how the great strides in understanding the biochemical and biophysical properties of nerve cells have led to fundamental insights into important aspects of neurodegenerative disease. Includes two new chapters: Information Processing in Neural Networks - describes the principles of operation of neural networks and the key circuit motifs that are common to many networks in the nervous system. Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Neurodegenerative Disease - introduces the progress made in the last 20 years in elucidating the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying brain disorders, including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson disease, and Alzheimer's disease.