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This book, the seventh in the series ´Research and Perspectives in Neuroscience´, contains the procedings of a meeting that was held in Paris on October14, 1996. The conference consisted of invited papers and poster presentations. The invited papers, included in this volume, were on cell proliferation prior to neuronal migration, on cellular and molecular factors characteristic of neuronal migration, and on postmigrational neuronal and axonal plasticity. There was a section devoted to disorders of neuronal migration and plasticity and the genetics of some developmental disorders. Great strides have been made in this relatively young branch of modern neuroscience.

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Cell Proliferation in Cortical Development.- The Nature and Nurture of Cortical Development.- Mechanisms of Neuronal Migration.- Finding a Role for Cajal-Retzius Cells in Cerebral Cortex Development.- Intra- and Extracellular Control of Neuronal Migration: Relevance to Cortical Malformations.- Exuberant Growth, Specificity, and Selection on the Differentiation of Cortical Axons.- What About Isocortex Can Be Rewired and Reconfigured?.- Toxicity of Plasticity Lessons from a Model of Developmental Learning Disorder.- New Genetic Insights Into Cerebral Cortical Development.- Genetic and Environmental Determinants of Neocortical Development: Clinical Applications.- Regulators of Neuronal Survival (Bcl-2, Bax, c-Jun) in Prenatal and Postnatal Human Frontal and Temporal Lobes in Normal and Down Syndrome Brain.

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