Books

Itch and pain: similarities, interactions, and differences
Gil Yosipovitch, Hjalte Holm Andersen, Lars Arendt-Nielsen, International Association for the Study of Pain (Editors)

The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) and the International Forum for the Study of Itch (IFSI) share a common mission of bringing clinicians and researchers to think and work together to understand pain and itch, respectively and help find better treatments for patients in both diseases. IASP has established a dedicated Special Interest Group (SIG) focusing specifically on the differences and commonalities between pain and itch pathways and mechanisms. Translating fundamental knowledge from pain to itch and vice versa can help targeting the development of new and better treatments. The purpose of this book entitled" Itch and Pain: Similarities, Interactions and Differences" follows these 2 societies' mission. It is edited by the past president and founder of IFSI (Gil Yosipovitch) and the present president of IASP (Lars Arendt-Nielsen) as well as by a researcher who trained in both itch and pain psychophysics (Hjalte Holm Andersen). For the first time the book provides a comprehensive overview of how these important sensations share common and different pathways/mechanisms and their interactions.


Pruritus
Laurent Misery, Sonja Staender (Editors)

Toward the end of the last century (1994), I edited the first comprehensive medical textbook on itch. Since that time, clinical interest and research in itch have blossomed. (Afterwards, therefore, because of? A pleasing but grandiose notion.)
There is now an International Forum for the Study of Itch (www.itchforum.net), and it has sponsored four International Workshops for the Study of Itch, where everything from chemical receptors to specific itch neurons to itch inhibitors to treatment in the clinic has been discussed.
Over just the past 15 years there has been progress in every aspect of itch: neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, molecular biology, diagnosis, terminology, classification, and treatment. You will find it all here.
In this book, every imaginable aspect of pruritus,* from bench to bedside, has been covered by experts. Misery and Ständer – both recognized across the globe as leading itch workers – have now produced the itch book for the twenty-first century.

Pharmacology of itch
Alan Cowan, Gil Yosipovitch (Editors)

Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology 226

Itching is a remarkably common symptom of dermatologic and systemic diseases and seriously impacts a patient’s quality of life. The good news is that there has been a tremendous upsurge in basic itch research over the past decade, galvanized by an influx of molecular biologists and neurophysiologists, and reflected in excellent cutting-edge reviews (e.g., Biro´ et al. 2007; Han et al. 2013; Roberson et al. 2013; Kremer et al. 2014) and timely books (Yosipovitch et al. 2004; Misery and Ständer 2010; Carstens and Akiyama 2014).
The current volume in Springer’s well-established Handbook series updates the findings of key researchers and summarizes progress in the itch field through 2014. The scope is comprehensive, encompassing pharmacological advances at all levels from receptor to clinic, and includes historical and veterinary aspects.

Frontiers in Neuroscience

Itch is gaining increasing recognition as a widespread and costly medical and socioeconomic problem. It has been estimated that medical costs for itch associated with atopic dermatitis in the United States exceeded $3 billion in 2009. While the biological basis of pain has been intensively investigated over the past several decades, much less research has been devoted toward itch until quite recently. This gap is now quickly being filled, however, as numerous basic research and clinical laboratories have begun to investigate itch mechanisms and treatment. The progressively growing interest in itch has resulted in numerous spectacular discoveries concerning the molecular genetics of itch, identification of itch transduction and signaling pathways, skin biology, and central neural processing of itch. These discoveries have identified new targets for the development of drugs and other strategies to treat the myriad forms of chronic itch.
Our book represents an attempt to capture the excitement, discovery, and challenges in this rapidly advancing field.