Robert G. Shulman - Böcker

Magnetic resonance imaging methods have taken a commanding position in brain studies because they allow scientists to follow brain activities in the living human. The ability to measure cerebral anatomy, neuronal firing and brain metabolism has extended and re-invigorated hopes of understanding the role that brain activity plays in human life. The brain has assumed a central role in our thinking of the world that can be traced back to the philosophies that are expressed in psychology, religion, literature, and everyday life. Brain scientists, planning and measuring brain activities by imaging methods, have consciously or unconsciously been influenced by these philosophical views. This book, in describing the experiments using imaging methods, traces how assumptions about the nature of brain function made in planning scientific experiments are the consequences of philosophical positions. Experiments that relate brain activities to observable behavior are shown to avoid the philosophical and psychological assumptions about mental processes that have been proposed to underlie these behaviors. These promising, empirical experiments are consistent with the philosophy of Pragmatism which, in judging hypotheses about understanding by their consequences, has questioned the value of everyday conceptualizations of brain activity for imaging studies.

Metabolism By In Vivo NMR reviews and extends the experimental and theoretical reports concerning in vivo NMR, a pioneering approach that offers versatile new ways of studying metabolic pathways. Perfectly timed to coincide with recent findings that demonstrate the novelty and strength of this approach, the book covers recent applications in biochemistry, medicine, and psychology; in vivo NMR techniques; MCA; glucose metabolism focusing on glycogen; the value of muscle glycogen measurements in exercise; and much more. This book is unique in linking in vivo 13C NMR measurements of neuronal activity and energetics with applications to functional imaging and certain disease statesProvides a fundamental neurochemical explanation of brain activity applicable to functional imaging, theories of neuronal activity and disease states, e.g. epilepsy, psychiatric diseases and developmental disordersNovel and potentially controversialWill inspire future research directions.