This book is a volume of eight collected chapters on advances in the sciences of health and disease. Chapter One examines the properties of regulatory peptides and their mechanisms of effect on integrative brain activity. Chapter Two reviews the role of inflammatory cytokines in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and novel therapeutic targets. Chapter Three provides insight into Tnbs induced ulcerative colitis through the animal model, giving a wide ranging overview of the etiology, pathogenesis, clinical course and pathological features. Chapter Four is a broad overview of issues related to antimicrobial drugs. Chapter Five looks at alternative pharmaceutical options that are, eponymously, "better than Xanax." Chapters Six and Seven are overviews of overweightness and obesity amongst Saudi and Bahraini adolescents, respectively. Finally, Chapter Eight is a review of muscarinic cholinergic receptor antagonism as a potential method of treating major depressive disorder.