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Pain is a widespread and complex symptom which causes serious emotional and social burdens to individuals and society. Most patients with pain rely heavily on over the counter (OTC) and prescription pain killers. However, there would be a number of issues that arise from the use of pain killers, in which safety and addiction are the most critical issues. For traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), pain is a result of the meridians being blocked. This could occur as a symptom of or be caused by various diseases. In this case, the key to relieve pain depends on dredging the meridian or meridians. Acupuncture has been practiced in China for over 2000 years to lessen pain. It is based on the “meridian theory”. Acupuncture is being used more widely and with a growing number of people in the treatment of pain because it is safer and has fewer side effects. Along with growing use and interest in acupuncture to treat pain, more attention has been paid to the mechanism underlying its analgesic effect, which is mainly associated with the changes of neurotransmitters. In this review, we summarize and analyze the range and mechanism of acupuncture analgesia treatment.

We prove an averaging principle which asserts convergence of diffusion processes on domains separated by semi-permeable membranes, when diffusion coefficients tend to infinity while the flux through the membranes remains constant. In the limit, points in each domain are lumped into a single state of a limit Markov chain. The limit chain’s intensities are proportional to the membranes’ permeability and inversely proportional to the domains’ sizes. Analytically, the limit is an example of a singular perturbation in which boundary and transmission conditions play a crucial role. This averaging principle is strongly motivated by recent signaling pathways models of mathematical biology, which are discussed toward the end of the paper.

In this article we attempt to extend a kinetic model of neural systems presented earlier, with the introduction of elements related to the dynamics of neurotransmitters. We emphasize the importance of neurotransmitters inducing slow inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) to smoothen the neural system activity obtained in computer simulations. Some kinetic equations are formulated to describe the activity of complex neural systems constituted of several possible subfields. The results of some computational experiments performed with a model of simple feed-forward neural system are described.

Australia — Politicians Chastise Australia's Science Institute.

Australia — GE Healthcare and WA Government Collaborate on Cell-based Imaging Equipment.

Australia — The Goal of Imugene's H5N1 Avian Influenza Virus Vaccine.

China — East China University Sparks Debate on Education Funding.

China — 3D Map of SARS virus Drawn.

China — Researchers Comment that Global Loss of Biodiversity is Harming Ocean Bounty.

China — China Insists that there are No Variant Bird Flu Strain.

China — Gene involved in Eye Lens Development.

China — Cancer-causing Dye Found in Duck Eggs in China.

Hong Kong — Scientists in Hong Kong Found Clues to Pandemic Bird Flu.

Hong Kong — Hong Kong Bird Flu Expert Picked to Head WHO.

India — Ranbaxy Signs Licensing Agreement with Swiss Company Debiopharm.

India — Indian Biotechnology Park.

Japan — Japan's New Premier Chases Innovation.

Japan — Japan Reforms Screening to Speed up Drug Approval.

New Zealand — New Zealand Invests in Neurology Project.

South Korea — South Korea Gives Funding Boost to Stem-Cell Research.

South Korea — South Korea Plans to Inject $253 million into Biotech.

South Korea — Scientists Discover Stem Cells Might Help to Treat Mental Illness.

Singapore — Renowned French Cancer Development Biologist Moves to Singapore's Biopolis.

Singapore — Singapore Plans to Build Bigger Heart Center to Handle Spiraling Patient Numbers.

Singapore — New Centre for Biomedical Ethics at NUS.

Taiwan — Taiwan's CDC Places Order for H5N1 Vaccine.

Taiwan — Tenders sought for Pingtung Agricultural Biotech Park Housing.

When science began considering the brain from a chemistry rather than electrical standpoint, this marked the beginning of new perspectives on how this complex organ operated. Seminal work relating to dopamine helped to introduce the breakthrough concept of neurotransmitters leading to the understanding of the numerous circuitries within the brain. The observance of decreased dopamine levels when anti-psychotic drugs were administered helped to launch new medical treatments especially for patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Today stabilizer compounds are being tested to provide beneficial therapies for both elevated or decreased levels of dopamine as well as for other medical conditions.

Multiple actions of lithium are critical to its therapeutic effects. These complex effects stabilize neuronal activities, support neuronal plasticity, and provide neuroprotection. Three interacting systems appear most critical. Modulation of neurotransmitters by lithium likely readjusts balances between excitatory and inhibitory activities, and so may contribute to neuroprotection. Lithium also modulates signals impacting on the cytoskeleton, a dynamic system contributing to neural plasticity. Finally, lithium adjusts signaling activities regulating second messengers, transcription factors, and gene expression. Neuroprotective effects may be derived from its modulation of gene expression. These findings suggest that lithium may exert some of its long-term beneficial effects in the treatment of mood disorders via underappreciated neuroprotective effects.

When science began considering the brain from a chemistry rather than electrical standpoint, this marked the beginning of new perspectives on how this complex organ operated. Seminal work relating to dopamine helped to introduce the breakthrough concept of neurotransmitters leading to the understanding of the numerous circuitries within the brain. The observance of decreased dopamine levels when anti-psychotic drugs were administered helped to launch new medical treatments especially for patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Today stabilizer compounds are being tested to provide beneficial therapies for both elevated or decreased levels of dopamine as well as for other medical conditions.

The most labile and most sensitive link in the chain of events that constitute the memory process is the phase of consolidation that follows after acquisition, by which memories are transformed, at a loss, from an unstable into a stable state. Therefore the pharmacology of consolidation has been better studied than that of the other phases of memory (acquisition, storage, retrieval). Pharmacological studies unveiled much information concerning the actual mechanism of consolidation. This involves excitatory glutamatergic and cholinergic muscarinic synapses in the amygdala, medial septum and hippocampus, inhibited by benziodiazepine-regulated GABA-A synapses and modulated by B-noradrenergic terminals. Other additional neutrotransmitter systems, possibly different in each structure, may also intervene. Peripheral hormones reflexly modulate these mechanisms. The amygdala, medial septum and hippocampus process different aspects or components of memories (spatial, aversive, etc.). The entorhinal cortex, which receives projections from these three structures, has a post-consolidational, presumably integrative function. The glutamatergic synapses involved in memory consolidation in the amygdala and hippocampus sustain this late role of the entorhinal cortex through the generation of relatively brief long-term potentiations.