Introductory chapters cover normal and abnormal brain structure, neurogenesis, neuronal proliferation, and signal transduction. Later chapters delve into discus... » 

Introductory chapters cover normal and abnormal brain structure, neurogenesis, neuronal proliferation, and signal transduction. Later chapters delve into discussions of both the environmental factors that may lead to neurocognitive deficits and the cytogenetic, biochemical and molecular defects specifically associated with mental retardation. One chapter reviews gene involvement in non-syndromic mental retardation, autism, and language deficits, as well as multifactorial and genetically complex inheritance. The text concludes with a clinically practical discussion of carrier detection, presymptomatic diagnosis, and treatment of various genetic diseases through enzyme therapy, substrate deprivation, and the use of hemapoietic stem cells. «