The population of the United States and other industrialized nations is aging rapidly. The increased life span allows for longer exposure to carcinogens and the accumulation of genetic alterations. Thus, the incidence of cancer is increasing along with the aging of the population. More>>

The mind-brain dichotomy has been on a roller-coaster ride over the past few hundred years. Clinically astute European neuropsychiatrists in the 18th and 19th centuries described various neuropsychiatric disorders based on observations of their patients. More>>

Traumatology has become an increasingly multidisciplinary field. Originally the province of psychiatry and clinical psychology, the field has now been enriched by the contributions of epidemiologists, neuroscientists, anthropologists, and historians. More>>

Considering that the brain is increasingly being credited with having a role in everything we think, feel, and do, it was probably just a matter of time before it was postulated that religious belief has a neural substrate. More>>

Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by its motor signs, including resting tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, and postural instability. PD is more common in the elderly, and there is usually no family history of the disease. More>>

I have read both that the male brain has no estrogen receptors and that testosterone is converted to estrogen in the brain. Where does the truth lie? And what role, if any, does estrogen play in preventing Alzheimer disease in both men and women? More>>

Many recall the phrase "To know syphilis is to know medicine." Now Lyme disease (Lyme borreliosis), the new "great imitator," is the ultimate challenge to the breadth and depth of our knowledge. In psychiatry, we generally treat mental symptoms or syndromes rather than the underlying cause of a disorder. More>>

Many of the things that we busy ourselves with have no apparent utility. Blogging, playing games, and collecting come to mind. To declare that we are compelled to do these things may be too strong, but we do pursue these activities with little deliberation and without concern as to their usefulness. The ubiquity of these pursuits suggests that these activities or their variants helped humans survive at some point and that they now rest on innate brain programs. More>>

Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting 1% of people 65 years and older. The core symptoms include the motor manifestations of tremor, bradykinesia, and rigidity. More>>

Contributing to the problem is the relative unreliability of EEG tracings recorded from patients during the interictal period. Although these tracings can reveal certain abnormalities that are characteristic of epilepsy, such as spikes, they tend to be relatively nonspecific. Interictal spikes, for instance, occur inconsistently; they are present in some persons who do not have epilepsy and absent in others who do. More>>