The recognition of altered immune system function in many chronic disease states has proven to be a pivotal advance in biomedical research over the past decade. For many metabolic and mood disorders, this altered immune activity has been characterized as inflammation, with the attendant assumption that the immune response is aberrant. However, accumulating evidence challenges this assumption an...

Saliva is an exocrine secretion with the fluid and its components being dispensed into ducts. However, a significant component of salivary gland secretions is found in blood indicating endocrine secretion. The growth factors and hormones secreted into the blood by salivary glands manifest their actions in the face of stressful and often inflammatory stimuli, such as injury, trauma and infection...

The so-called functional somatic syndromes comprise a group of disorders that are primarily symptom-based, multisystemic in presentation and probably involve alterations in mind-brain-body interactions. The emerging neurobiological models of allostasis/allostatic load and of the emotional motor system show striking similarities with concepts used by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to underst...

Early life adversity (ELA), such as child maltreatment or poverty, engenders problems with emotional and behavioral regulation. In the quest to understand neurobiological sequelae mechanisms of risk, amygdala has been major focus. While basic functions this region make it a strong candidate for understanding multiple mental health issues common after ELA, extant literature is marked by profound...