The Handbook is intended to be a service to the neuroscience community, to help in finding available and useful information, to point out gaps in our knowledge, and to encourage continued studies. It represents the valuable contributions of the many authors of the chapters and the guidance of the editors and most important, it represents support for research in this discipline. Based on the rapid advances in the years since the second edition

The growth of clinical neuropsychology has been unprecedented. This growth has been oriented more toward the provision of than toward the foundation for services. Thus, while a greater number of psychologists are performing a greater number of neuropsychological procedures, there seems to us an uneven parallel growth between these services and the empirical foundations for them. It should come to no one's surprise that increasingly aggressive attacks on the field have been leveled. Despite these attacks, clinical neuropsychology con tinues to enjoy exceptional growth within psychology and acceptance by other health practitioners, insurance companies, legislators, judges, juries, and above all, consumers of our services. Growth without self-reflection is a dangerous enterprise, as is growth without directions. We find it disconcerting that existing and limited "self analysis" has assumed that neuropsychological dysfunction is immune to the same variables that affect psychological dysfunction. Some attention has been paid to the most obvious ones, such as age, but all others have been ignored and/ or misunderstood. This neglect has spawned a body of knowledge replete with questionable data and unfounded conclusions. Hence, it is surprising that clinical neuropsychologists consider themselves to be more scientifically sound than their regular clinical counterparts.

Anyone who has any contact with mental patients, old or young, or their families, or just visits a mental hospital or school for the retarded, is aware of the tremendous suffering caused by malfunctioning of the brain. The func tion of no other organ is so crucial for our everyday life, our proper func tioning, indeed our happiness, and no other illness causes as much anguish to patients or their families as mental illness. It is surprising and sad, therefore, how little effort has been devoted to research in this area; more so because such research is the only hope to ameliorate this suffering, or, to speak in the language of politics or economics, to decrease the enormous sums that we spend on trying to help our patients, with what is must generally be agreed are the most primitive and inadequate methods of treatment. Clearly, since functions of the brain are vital not only in illness, but in health, pathology is not the only area of concern to neurochemists, but it is an area that urgently needs neurochemical contributions. Progress in this field has been slower than in other areas of neurochemistry, and it seems that solutions in this field are very elusive. The reason for this is that the experimental approach is especially difficult in conditions specific for humans, or specific for complex behavior.

Basic Neurochemistry: Molecular, Cellular and Medical Aspects, a comprehensive text on neurochemistry, is now updated and revised in its Seventh Edition. This well-established text has been recognized worldwide as a resource for postgraduate trainees and teachers in neurology, psychiatry, and basic neuroscience, as well as for graduate and postgraduate students and instructors in the neurosciences. It is an excellent source of information on basic biochemical processes in brain function and disease for qualifying examinations and continuing medical education. - Completely updated with 60% new authors and material, and entirely new chapters - Over 400 fully revised figures in splendid color

The Second Edition of the Handbook of Neurochemistry, which was published about 24 years ago, consisted of 10 volumes. The present, Third Edition, The Handbook of Neurochemistry and Molecular Biology, is over twice as large; indicating a great expansion of neuroscience in the past two decades. We now have not only more data on brain mechanisms relating to behavior (mental activity and cognitive processes), but we understand in some detail the mechanisms of these functions. The past editions focused purely on neurochemical aspects the new edition reflects the need of interdisciplinary approach for understanding neural mechanisms. In addition to metabolic processes, the 17 new volumes explore the functions of peptides, transport, immunology and other processes not well understood 24 years ago. Several volumes deal with pathological changes and with repair and therapy of both mental and neurological pathologies. The purpose of this edition is to provide an evaluation of the results of investigations; to serve as a guide rather than enumerating all the available findings in detail it indicates future possibilities and the existing knowledge in neuroscience. The significance of understanding neural processes needs no emphasis its potential is primary in mental and neural pathology, but also in physiological importance. The volumes should serve as an aid to researchers expanding our knowledge and to educators training the next generation of neuroscientists and clinicians.

This volume of the Handbook of Neurochemistry and Molecular Neurobiology focuses on neurochemical aspects of schizophrenia. Chapters cover the full range of schizophrenia symptoms and anatomical pathologies from neurochemical and molecular biology perspectives. Topics include changes in neurotransmitter systems, alteration in receptors, neurotransmitter release, genetic factors, protein alterations, and redox dysregulation.

Proceedings of the 11th European Society for Neurochemistry Meeting held in Groningen, The Netherlandes, June 15-20, 1996