Drug abuse, environmental pollution, induced health risks and the increase of the proportion of aged people are three grave problems of medicine and of the society all over the world in our epoch. The neuroendocrine system, with special emphasis to the pineal gland, plays an integrative role in the development and disintegration of the physical and mental changes which occur towards the two end-points of life, at the beginning and termination of the life cycle. This volume, documented by 17 tables, 23 line and column diagrams, and two tables of microphotographs, closes with a detailed bibliography, containing about 200 data of the literature.

Development, Maturation, and Senescence of Neuroendocrine Systems: A Comparative Approach discusses the various phases of the aging continuum of neuroendocrine systems. This book explores the fundamental and physiological component of animals, which is an essential contributor to senescence. Organized into three parts encompassing 21 chapters, this volume starts with a discussion of the concept of neurosecretory neuron that was introduced by Ernst Scharrer in 1928. This book discusses the challenges in the study of the development of the neuroendocrine system in insects, with a focus on Lepidoptera. Other chapters consider the neuroendocrine mechanisms that control the physiological processes in crustaceans. The reader is then introduced to the major neurohemal structures in crustaceans, including the sinus gland, the pericardial organs, and the post-commissural organs. The final chapter discusses the two brain systems that show impact of endogenous steroids that account for subsets of senescent changes. This book is a valuable resource for neurobiologists, molecular biologists, and immunologists.

The book describes the mechanisms involved in the maintenance of neuroendocrine-immune interactions in ageing. The lack of this maintenance leads to the appearance of age-related diseases (cancer, infections, dementia) and subsequent disability. The capacity of some hormones or nutritional factors in restoring and remodelling the neuroendocrine-immune response during ageing is reported presenting possible new anti-ageing strategies in order to reach healthy ageing and longevity.

The general plan of this volume, Nutritional Approaches to Aging Research is for each chapter to present first a reasonably succinct state-of-the-art appraisal of present knowledge in the particular field or problem covered. This will vary considerable depending on the subject matter. Following this, each chapter will focus on the problems and pitfalls, both conceptual and technological, of work in the particular field and, no less important, present some of the opportunities and implications of work in that particular area.

the photoperiod requirements for puberty in males and females is likely to play a major role in the sex difference in the timing of puberty in the lamb.