Erin D. Bigler - Böcker

Now in its Fifth Edition, Neuropsychological Assessment reviews the major neurobehavioral disorders associated with brain dysfunction and injury. This is the 35th anniversary of the landmark first edition. As with previous editions, this edition provides a comprehensive coverage of the field of adult clinical neuropsychology in a single source. By virtue of the authors' clinical and research specializations, this book provides a broad-based and in-depth coverage of current neuroscience research and clinical neuropsychology practice. While the new edition is updated to include new features and topics, it remains true to the highly-regarded previous editions. Methods for obtaining optimum data are given in the form of hypothesis-testing techniques, clinical tips, and clinical examples. In the seven years since the previous edition, many advancements have been made in techniques for examining brain function and in our knowledge about brain-behavior relationships. For example, a surge of functional imaging data has emerged and new structural imaging techniques have provided exquisite detail about brain structure. For the first time, this edition includes examples of these advancements, many in stunning color. This edition also includes new tools for clinicians such as a neuroimaging primer and a comparison table of the neuropsychological features of progressive dementias. The chapters on assessment procedures include discussion of issues related to test selection and reviews of recently published as well as older test batteries used in general neuropsychological assessment, plus newly developed batteries for specific issues.

Over the past two decades researchers and clinicians in the neurosciences have witnessed a literal information explosion in the area of brain imaging and neuropsychological functioning. Until recently we could not view the nervous system except through the use of invasive procedures. Today, a variety of imaging techniques are available, but this technology has advanced so rapidly that it has been difficult for new information to be consolidated into a single source. The goal of this volume is to present information on technological advances along with current standards and techniques in the area of brain imaging and neuropsychological functioning. The quality of brain imaging techniques has improved dramatically. In 1975 one had to be content with a brain image that only offered a gross distinction between ventricular cavities, brain, and bone tissue. Current imaging techniques offer considerable precision and approximate gross neuroanatomy to such an extent that differentiation between brain nuclei, pathways, and white­ gray matter is possible. These technological advances have progressed so rapidly that basic and clinical research have lagged behind. It is not uncommon, particularly in longitudinal research, for the technical meth­ odology of a study to become obsolete while that study is still in progress. This has hampered certain aspects of systematic research and has also produced the need for a textbook that could address contemporary issues in brain imaging and neuropsychology.

Until recent advents in neuroimaging, the brain had been inaccessible to in vivo visualization, short of neurosurgical procedures or some unfortunate traumatic exposure. It is a tribute to the early contributors to clinical neuroscience that through what, by today's standards, would be deemed extremely crude measure­ ments, advancements in understanding brain function were made. For example, the theories of higher cortical functions of the brain by Aleksandr Luria or Hans-Lukas Teuber in the 1950s were essentially based on military subjects who sustained traumatic head wounds during World War II. These researchers could inspect the patient and determine where penetrating entrance and exit wounds were on the head; sometimes they had skull films to identify entrance and exit fracture wounds, sometimes neurosurgical reports were available, and Luria even had the opportunity to acutely examine some patients with exposed wounds. Thus, one would take whatever information might be available and infer what regions of the brain were involved but could never actually visualize the brain. Of course, this changed dramatically with the introduction of brain imag­ ing in the 1970s, but it really was not until the 1990s that analysis and image display technologies finally caught up with the basic brain-imaging methods of computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The focus of Volume I of the Handbook of Human Brain Function was on basic scientific principles of brain imaging as it relates to the study of human brain function. Once the scientific bases for a particular discipline are established, follow. Such is the status of brain imaging in the study of clinical applications human brain function. It is of interest to note that the 1952 Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to Felix Bloch and Edward Purcell, who discovered that nuclei precessing in the radiofrequency range could emit a radiofrquency signal detected by a radio receiver. Their findings initiated a series of very basic re­ search studies on the characteristics of nuclear magnetic resonance. It would take over 25 years of basic research before findings began to point toward truly biomedical applications. However, once realized, clinical applications became standard fare for nuclear magnetic resonance. The example of Bloch and Pur­ cell's work in an area of very basic science expanding to clinical application has been repeated throughout the medical and neurological sciences. This type of progress is what drives science. As a benefit from these scientific advances, research, clinical, and diagnostic imaging from a variety of modalities, not just computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, can be performed. This volume focuses on the clinical applications of various neuroimaging meth­ ods. Chapter 1 introduces the topic of clinical neuroimaging in the study of human brain function.

Every day, children and adolescents worldwide return to the educational setting having sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The possible negative consequences of TBI range from mild to severe and include neurological, cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral difficulties. Within the school setting, the negative effects of TBI tend to persist or worsen over time, often resulting in academic and social difficulties that require formal and informal educational assistance and support. School psychologists and other educational professionals are well-positioned to help ensure students with TBI receive this assistance and support. Working with Traumatic Brain Injury in Schools is a comprehensive practitioner-oriented guide to effective school-based services for students who have experienced a TBI. It is primarily written for school-based professionals who have limited or no neurological or neuropsychological training; however, it contains educational information that is useful to professionals with extensive knowledge in neurology and/or neuropsychology. This book is also written for parents and guardians of students with TBI because of their integral role in the transition, school-based assessment, and school-based intervention processes. Chapter topics include: basic brain anatomy and physiology; head injury and severity level classifications; biomechanics of injury; injury recovery and rehabilitation; neurological, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, social, and academic consequences; understanding community-based assessment findings; a framework for school-based assessment (TBI-SNNAP); school-based psychoeducational report writing, and school-based interventions; monitoring pharmacological interventions; and prevention. An accompanying website includes handouts, sample reports, and training templates to assist professionals in recognizing and responding to students with TBI.

Every day, children and adolescents worldwide return to the educational setting having sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The possible negative consequences of TBI range from mild to severe and include neurological, cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral difficulties. Within the school setting, the negative effects of TBI tend to persist or worsen over time, often resulting in academic and social difficulties that require formal and informal educational assistance and support. School psychologists and other educational professionals are well-positioned to help ensure students with TBI receive this assistance and support. Working with Traumatic Brain Injury in Schools is a comprehensive practitioner-oriented guide to effective school-based services for students who have experienced a TBI. It is primarily written for school-based professionals who have limited or no neurological or neuropsychological training; however, it contains educational information that is useful to professionals with extensive knowledge in neurology and/or neuropsychology. This book is also written for parents and guardians of students with TBI because of their integral role in the transition, school-based assessment, and school-based intervention processes. Chapter topics include: basic brain anatomy and physiology; head injury and severity level classifications; biomechanics of injury; injury recovery and rehabilitation; neurological, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, social, and academic consequences; understanding community-based assessment findings; a framework for school-based assessment (TBI-SNNAP); school-based psychoeducational report writing, and school-based interventions; monitoring pharmacological interventions; and prevention. An accompanying website includes handouts, sample reports, and training templates to assist professionals in recognizing and responding to students with TBI.

Concussion and Traumatic Encephalopathy is a ground breaking text that offers neurologists, neuropsychologists, psychologists, and physiatrists the first comprehensive reconceptualization of concussive brain injury in 100 years. During the twentieth century, progress in understanding concussion was hamstrung by resistance to the observation that many survivors suffer long-term sequelae, and by the lack of advanced neuroimaging technologies. As a result, the potentially immense impact of concussion on global health was largely overlooked. The last decade has witnessed a dramatic renaissance in concussion science. We are just beginning to fathom the implications for society. Informed by twenty-first century advances, this new text updates the definition, epidemiology, pathophysiology, late effects, and promising therapies for concussion. Multiple experts have collaborated to summarize the latest scientific evidence in an engaging way and provide the reader with the first paradigm shifting textbook of this new era.

Until recent advents in neuroimaging, the brain had been inaccessible to in vivo visualization, short of neurosurgical procedures or some unfortunate traumatic exposure. Thus, one would take whatever information might be available and infer what regions of the brain were involved but could never actually visualize the brain.

The focus of Volume I of the Handbook of Human Brain Function was on basic scientific principles of brain imaging as it relates to the study of human brain function. Such is the status of brain imaging in the study of clinical applications human brain function.

Over the past two decades researchers and clinicians in the neurosciences have witnessed a literal information explosion in the area of brain imaging and neuropsychological functioning.