Acknowledgement to reviewers of JSAN in 2016

The editors of JSAN would like to express their sincere gratitude to the following reviewers for assessing manuscripts in 2016.[...

Monoaminergic and histaminergic strategies and treatments in brain diseases

The monoaminergic systems are the target of several drugs for the treatment of mood, motor and cognitive disorders as well as neurological conditions. In most cases, advances have occurred through serendipity, except for Parkinson's disease where the pathophysiology led almost immediately to the introduction of dopamine restoring agents. Extensive neuropharmacological studies first showed that the primary target of antipsychotics, antidepressants, and anxiolytic drugs were specific components of the monoaminergic systems. Later, some dramatic side effects associated with older medicines were shown to disappear with new chemical compounds targeting the origin of the therapeutic benefit more specifically. The increased knowledge regarding the function and interaction of the monoaminergic systems in the brain resulting from in vivo neurochemical and neurophysiological studies indicated new monoaminergic targets that could achieve the efficacy of the older medicines with fewer side-effects. Yet, this accumulated knowledge regarding monoamines did not produce valuable strategies for diseases where no monoaminergic drug has been shown to be effective. Here, we emphasize the new therapeutic and monoaminergic-based strategies for the treatment of psychiatric diseases. We will consider three main groups of diseases, based on the evidence of monoamines involvement (schizophrenia, depression, obesity), the identification of monoamines in the diseases processes (Parkinson's disease, addiction) and the prospect of the involvement of monoaminergic mechanisms (epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, stroke). In most cases, the clinically available monoaminergic drugs induce widespread modifications of amine tone or excitability through neurobiological networks and exemplify the overlap between therapeutic approaches to psychiatric and neurological conditions. More recent developments that have resulted in improved drug specificity and responses will be discussed in this review.peer-reviewe

A Survey on Electric Power Demand Forecasting: Future Trends in Smart Grids, Microgrids and Smart Buildings

Recently there has been a significant proliferation in the use of forecasting techniques, mainly due to the increased availability and power of computation systems and, in particular, to the usage of personal computers. This is also true for power network systems, where energy demand forecasting has been an important field in order to allow generation planning and adaptation. Apart from the quantitative progression, there has also been a change in the type of models proposed and used. In the '70s, the usage of non-linear techniques was generally not popular among scientists and engineers. However, in the last two decades they have become very important techniques in solving complex problems which would be very difficult to tackle otherwise. With the recent emergence of smart grids, new environments have appeared capable of integrating demand, generation, and storage. These employ intelligent and adaptive elements that require more advanced techniques for accurate and precise demand and generation forecasting in order to work optimally. This review discusses the most relevant studies on electric demand prediction over the last 40 years, and presents the different models used as well as the future trends. Additionally, it analyzes the latest studies on demand forecasting in the future environments that emerge from the usage of smart grids.Hernandez, L.; Baladron, C.; Aguiar, JM.; Carro, B.; Sanchez-Esguevillas, AJ.; Lloret Mauri, J.; Massana, J. (2014). A Survey on Electric Power Demand Forecasting: Future Trends in Smart Grids, Microgrids and Smart Buildings. Communications Surveys and Tutorials, IEEE Communications Society. 16(3):1460-1495. doi:10.1109/SURV.2014.032014.00094S1460149516