The Origin of The Brain

New concepts arise in science when apparently unrelated fields of knowledge are put together in a coherent way. The recent results in molecular biology allow to explain the emergence of body patterns in animals that before could not be understood by zoologists.

This book presents a new, detailed examination that explains how elegant brains have been shaped in evolution. It consists of 19 chapters written by academic professionals in neuroscience, opening with the origin of single-celled creatures and then introducing primordial types in invertebrates with the great abundance of the brains of vertebrates.

The aim of the book is to sensitize physicians and researchers to the important long-term health effects of early, persistent, and severe trauma. The author, an internist, rheumatologist, and basic researcher in psychoneuroimmunology, shows connections between adverse childhood experiences and typical adult sequelae. After early traumatic experiences and childhood stress, there is a higher incidence of mental illness, chronic pain, sleep disorders, dental problems, obesity, cardiovascular disease, asthma, diabetes mellitus and chronic inflammation. A selection of diseases unmistakably demonstrate the long-term consequences of early childhood trauma. These childhood experiences create a kind of long-term programming that has a negative effect in adulthood.