Impaired glucose tolerance, the precursor of NIDDM, results primarily from reduced suppression of hepatic glucose output due to abnormal pancreatic islet-cell function. The late hyperinsulinemia may be the consequence of an inadequate early beta-cell response rather than of insulin resistance.

I first reviewed an earlier version of this book in 1992 for another journal, and strongly recommended it. One of the few criticisms I had was that the then title `Electrical Stimulation and Electropathology' did not really convey an impression of its contents. In particular, `electropathology', defined as an undesirable reaction or biological damage caused by the application of electricity to the body, was not a well-known term. The original title has now been relegated to a subtitle in this renamed and updated edition, although the new name still only hints at the wide scope, detailed content and general interest of this valuable book. The subject of the book is the reaction of biological systems, and in particular the human body, to electricity (and also to magnetic fields by virtue of their ability to induce currents). The book assumes a basic, as opposed to specialist, knowledge of both physics and physiology. Hence its contents should be amenable to a wide readership who have an interest in the effects of electricity on the human body, and especially to medical physicists. The author is well known for his own research work in the field of electrical stimulation, particularly in the areas of nerve fibre modelling and the perception of transient currents. He has enlisted the help of additional contributors to write specialist chapters on the electrical properties of the heart, skeletal muscle effects and high voltage and current injuries. The book opens with a chapter that introduces the main effects of electricity on the body, including sensory perception, muscular stimulation, thermal effects, stimulation with induced currents and electroporation. Interesting statistics on USA electrical fatalities (now sadly over ten years out of date) show a twofold decrease over the period 1975-87. This is followed by a clear and straightforward introduction to the concepts of conductivity, permittivity and the electrical properties of skin, which provides an admirable grounding in these key areas for the non-specialist. Body impedance data is discussed in some detail because of its obvious relevance to electric shock. A brief, and slightly bizarre, new section looks at the electrical impedance of domestic animals in the context of hazards to them from earth leakage currents; experimental data on their sensory responses is presented later. The author uses his own expertise to good effect in two chapters covering the electrical properties of excitable membranes and how they, and propagating action potentials, can be modelled. The responses of the models to a wide variety of stimuli, including monophasic, biphasic and repetitive pulses are described in detail and compared later with experimental data. The central part of the book provides a wealth of experimental data on the sensory and motor effects of a wide range of electrical stimuli, as diverse as the startle response to static discharges and ventricular fibrillation. Specialist background is provided by invited chapters on the electrical properties of the h...

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The review evaluates thresholds of peripheral nerve stimulation by complex current waveforms. A neuroelectric model employing Frankenhaeuser-Huxley membrane nonlinearities is used to derive excitation thresholds for monophasic and biphasic pulse sequences, as well as sinusoidal stimuli. The model, along with principles of magnetic field induction, is used to derive criteria of acceptability for exposure to time-varying magnetic fields. Applications to pulsed gradient fields from magnetic resonance imaging devices are discussed.

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The US Air Force Office of Scientific Research convened a meeting of researchers in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, engineering, and medicine to discuss most pressing issues facing ongoing research in the field of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and related techniques. In this study, we present opinions prepared by participants of the meeting, focusing on the most promising areas of research, immediate and future goals for the field, and the potential for hormesis theory to inform tDCS research. Scientific, medical, and ethical considerations support the ongoing testing of tDCS in healthy and clinical populations, provided best protocols are used to maximize safety. Notwithstanding the need for ongoing research, promising applications include enhancing vigilance/attention in healthy volunteers, which can accelerate training and support learning. Commonly, tDCS is used as an adjunct to training/rehabilitation tasks with the goal of leftward shift in the learning/treatment effect curves. Although trials are encouraging, elucidating the basic mechanisms of tDCS will accelerate validation and adoption. To this end, biomarkers (eg, clinical neuroimaging and findings from animal models) can support hypotheses linking neurobiological mechanisms and behavioral effects. Dosage can be optimized using computational models of current flow and understanding dose–response. Both biomarkers and dosimetry should guide individualized interventions with the goal of reducing variability. Insights from other applied energy domains, including ionizing radiation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and low-level laser (light) therapy, can be prudently leveraged.

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