Acknowledgments Authors are grateful to Melanie French and Jesse Gaboury for their help reviewing the final version of this chapter. Brief Introduction In , Anthony Barker et al. published in Lancet the first report of a new contactless and painless method…
Overview Invasive stimulation of the 10th cranial nerve (vagus nerve) has demonstrated a beneficial effect in patients with elevated, body mass indices (BMI) and glucose intolerance/insulin resistance ( ). A review of the scientific literature provides at least two key…
History and Background of Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) Stimulation of the carotid sinus and the vagus nerve (VN) by manual manipulation (deep carotid massage) has a long history of use for the treatment of medical conditions ranging from supraventricular tachycardia…
Introduction In the late 1920s, Edgar Adrian conducted a series of experiments showing that nerves carry critical information via electrical impulses to and from the brain, which dramatically changed how the human nervous system was viewed ( ). This led…
Introduction Mammals face threats to life and limb on a daily basis. Survival hinges on multiple strategies, both learned and inborn. For example, zebras display stripes to help blend into the pack and avoid being isolated. Rodents forage for food…
Introduction Neural control of the heart is dependent upon the dynamic interaction between nested feedback loops that involve peripheral and central aspects of the ANS. The primary structure/function organization of this neural network is summarized in Chapter 104 of this…
Introduction About 5%–7% of the general population in Western societies are affected by immune-mediated inflammatory diseases ( ) that include, but are not limited to, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD includes Crohn’s…
Introduction Persistent and nonresolving inflammation has been causally linked to many common disorders. Among these, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), comprising Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) often affect young and middle-aged adults with severe and life impacting…
Introduction Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are chronic autoimmune diseases of complex etiology, affecting approximately 1%–2% of the population. Both diseases cause debilitating symptoms and progressive destruction in the joints and intestinal tract, respectively, severely affecting quality…
Therapeutic Challenges in Inflammatory Disease Inflammation is essential for antimicrobial defense and tissue healing but it must be proportional to the injury or threat and very carefully regulated to restore and maintain homeostasis and health. Excessive and nonresolving inflammation disrupts…