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Links between geological processes, microbial activities & evolution of life : Microbes and geology

Microbial activities influence water-rock interaction processes and chemical transport between the major geochemical reservoirs and the formation/transformation of minerals and rocks, whereas geological processes and geochemical controls influence the microbial ecology in extreme environments. How biological activity influences geological processes and what role these processes played in the geological evolution of the Earth are fundamental questions.

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Life in the Universe : Expectations and Constraints

Energy, chemistry, solvents, and habitats -- the basic elements of living systems - define the opportunities and limitations for life on other worlds. This class-tested text examines each of these parameters in crucial depth and makes the argument that life forms we would recognize may be more common in our solar system than many assume. It also considers, however, exotic forms of life that would not have to rely on carbon as basic chemical element, solar energy as a main energy source, or water as primary solvent. Finally the question of detecting bio- and geosignature of such life forms is discussed, ranging from Earth environments to deep space. While speculative considerations in this emerging field of science cannot be avoided, the authors have tried to present their study with the breadth and seriousness that a scientific approach to this issue requires. They seek an operational definition of life and investigate the realm of possibilities that nature offers to realize this very special state of matter and avoid scientific jargon wherever possible to make this intrinsically interdisciplinary subject understandable to a broad range of readers.

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Life - As a Matter of Fat : The Emerging Science of Lipidomics

Lipids are as important for life as proteins, sugars, and genes. The present book gives a multi-disciplinary perspective on the physics of life and the particular role played by lipids and the lipid-bilayer component of cell membranes. The book is aimed at undergraduate students and young research workers within physics, chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, nutrition, as well as pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences. The emphasis is on the physical properties of lipid membranes seen as soft and molecularly structured interfaces. By combining and synthesizing insights obtained from a variety of recent studies, an attempt is made to clarify what membrane structure is and how it can be quantitatively described. Furthermore, it is shown how biological function mediated by membranes is controlled by lipid membrane structure and organization on length scales ranging from the size of the individual molecule, across molecular assemblies of proteins and lipid domains in the range of nanometers, to the size of whole cells. Applications of lipids in nano-technology and biomedicine are also described.

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Complexity in chemistry, biology, and ecology

This book, written by an international team of experts, introduces the reader to various aspects of complexity theory and its applications. It illustrates the latest trends in science to go beyond the mechanistic Newtonian view of the world by shifting the focus to self-organization, adaptation, and emergent phenomena. The authors discuss these properties of complex systems in biology, ecology and chemistry along with the structure and interconnectedness of the "layers" of complexity. The qualitative description is complemented by a discussion of methods for complexity quantification. Networks are covered in detail as a universal language of the complex world.

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Chemistry and Safety of Acrylamide in Food

Specifically covered are the following aspects: exposure from the environment and the diet; biomarkers of exposure; risk assessment; epidemiology; mechanism of formation in food; biological alkylation of amino acids, peptides, proteins, and DNA by acrylamide and its epoxide metabolite glycidamide; neurotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, and carcinogenicity; protection against adverse effects; and possible approaches to reducing levels in food. Cross-fertilization of ideas among several disciplines in which an interest in acrylamide has developed, including food science, pharmacology, toxicology, and medicine, will provide a better understanding of the chemistry and biology of acrylamide in food, and can lead to the development of food processes to decrease the acrylamide content of the diet.

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Carotenoids ; Vol.4 : Natural Functions

The Carotenoids book series provides detailed accounts of the fundamental chemistry of carotenoids and the basic methods used in carotenoid research, and critical discussions of the biochemistry, functions and applications of these important compounds. Volume 4 and its companion, Volume 5, deal with the functions of carotenoids in all kinds of living organisms and the actions of carotenoids in human nutrition and health. The material presented in the earlier Volumes is all relevant to studies of biological functions and actions. In particular, biological studies must be supported by a rigorous analytical base. The various analytical procedures described in Volumes 1A and 1B, supplemented by the data for individual compounds given in the Carotenoids Handbook, must be understood and applied correctly, whether they are being used for quantitative analysis, identification or in complex studies of carotenoids in situ.

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Bone Morphogenetic Proteins : From Local to Systemic Therapeutics

Tissue engineering is gaining interest as it is applied for regeneration of organs to attain their lost function. Although resorbable scaffolds and progenitor cell types are required principles to engineer a functional tissue locally, the inductive signal is a prerequisite to trigger the growth and differentiation of responding cells in space and time. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), also called growth and differentiation factors (GDFs), originally identified from bone have been successfully used to regenerate the bone in humans. Most recent preclinical data suggests that BMPs have a potential to provide protection against inflammation and fibrosis in acute and chronic injury of parenchymal tissues when applied systemically to sustain the function of kidney and liver. The application of BMPs from a local to systemic utility is a rapidly growing field, gaining interest among researchers and biotech entrepreneurs.

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Biosensing for the 21st Century

Covers trends in modern biotechnology All aspects of this interdisciplinary technology, where knowledge, methods and expertise are required from chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, genetics, chemical engineering and computer science, are treated

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BioMEMS and biomedical nanotechnology ; Vol. II : Micro/Nano Technologies for Genomics and Proteomics

Numerous miniaturized DNA microarray, DNA chip, Lab on a Chip and biosensor devices have been developed and commercialized. Such devices are improving the way many impor-tant genomic and proteomic analyses are performed in both research and clinical diagnostic laboratories. The development of these technologies was enabled by a synergistic combina-tion of disciplines that include microfabrication, microfluidics, MEMS, organic chemistry and molecular biology. Some of these new devices and technologies utilize sophisticated mi-crofabrication processes developed by the semiconductor industry.

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Biofuels

In line with the current focus on a sustainable economy, bioethanol and other biofuels have received tremendous attention, making many headlines. Being produced in steadily growing volumes has made it necessary to consider production of biofuels from renewable raw materials that are not currently used. Therefore, the production of biofuels is at the gateway of moving from traditional raw materials to others such as lignocellulosic materials. However, sucha transfer requires new production processes that are economically feasible.This volume addresses and discusses the current status of biofuels, covering aspects from enabling technologies to different technology and processes options, as well as economical and policy perspectives.

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Biochemical Mechanisms of Detoxification in Higher Plants : Basis of Phytoremediation

Plants play a key role in purifying the biosphere of the toxic effects of industrial activity. This book shows how systematic application of the results of investigations into the metabolism of xenobiotics (foreign, often toxic substances) in plants could make a vastly increased contribution to planetary well-being. Deep physiological knowledge gained from an accumulation of experimental data enables the great differences between the detoxifying abilities of different plants for compounds of different chemical nature to be optimally exploited. Hence planting could be far more systematically adapted to actual environmental needs than is actually the case at present.

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Bioactive Heterocycles VI : Flavonoids and anthocyanins in plants, and latest bioactive heterocycles I

Heterocyclic chemistry is the biggest branch of chemistry covering two-thirds of the chemical literature and this book covers the hot topics of frontier research summarized by reputed scientists in

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Bioactive Heterocycles V

This volume contains 10 chapters. The contributions are from researchers famous in their respective fields and the chapters contain high quality reviews on topics related to the chemo-biological studies of several different heterocyclic groups. The first chapter from Saracoglu reviews the functionalization of indoles and the pyrroles via Michael additions, as these compounds have potential for their biological activities. In second chapter Men ́endez reviews the chemistry of the welwitindolinones. Topcu and Demirkiran, in the third chapter, describe the chemistry and biological studies of lignans from Taxus species, including their biosynthesis and recent strategies for the synthesis of lignans.

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Bioactive Heterocycles IV

This volume contains nine more contributions from expert researchers of the?eld, providing readers with in depth and current research results regarding therespective topics. In the?rst chapter, Flemming et al. review the chemistry, biosynthesis, metabolism and biological activities of tetrahydrocannabinol and its deri- tives. Hansch and Verma contribute to the quantitative structure-activity re- tionship (QSAR) analysis of heterocyclic topoisomerase I and II inhibitors. These inhibitors, knowntoinhibit either enzyme, actasantitumoragentsand are currently used in chemotherapy and in clinicaltrials. In the third chapter, Khan reviews some aspects of molecular modeling studies on biologically active alkaloids.

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Bioactive Heterocycles III

Bioactive Heterocycles III provides readers with a comprehensive overview of the most recent breakthroughs in the ?eld of heterocycles. This volume contains 8 chapters written by experts in their respective ?elds from all over the world. The chapters summarize years of extensive research in each area, and providein sight in the new themesofnaturalproduct research.Manyofthe contributors illustrate their laboratory experiences. It's obvious that readers will gain exciting and essential information fromthe volume. In the ?rst chapter, Kayser et al. describe the chemistry, biosynthesis and biological activities of artemisinin, one of the most promising antimalarial molecules, and its related natural peroxides.

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Bioactive Heterocycles II

As part of the series Topics in Heterocyclic Chemistry, this volume titled Bio- tive Heterocycles II presents comprehensive and up-to-date reviews on selected topics regarding synthetic as well as naturally occurring bioactive heterocycles. The frst chapter, "High Pressure Synthesis of Heterocycles Related to Bio- tive Molecules" by Kiyoshi Matsumoto, presents a unique high-pressure s- thetic methodology in heterocyclic chemistry. Basic principles and fruitful examples for pericyclic reactions, such as Diels-Alder reactions, 1,3-dipolar reactions, and also for ionic reactions, such as S and addition reactions, are N discussed.

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Bioactive Conformation I

This series presents critical reviews of the present position and future trends in modern chemical research. It contains short and concise reports on chemistry, each written by the world renowned experts – it is still valid and useful after 5 or 10 years. More information as well as the electronic version of the whole content available at: springerlink.com. The book will appeal to scientists and practitioners in the mentioned fields and in industry.

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Bioactive Confirmation II

Specific binding of a ligand to a receptor is a key step in a variety of biol- ical processes, such as immune reactions, enzyme cascades, or intracellular transport processes. The ligand-receptor terminology implies that the rec- tor molecule is signi?cantly larger than the ligand, and the term "bioactive conformation" usually characterizes the conformation of a ligand when it is bound to a receptor. In a more general sense, bioactive conformation applies toanymoleculeinabiologicallyrelevantboundstateregardlessofsizecons- erations. Mostofthecontributions tothisbookaddressligandsthat aremuch smaller than their receptors. X-ray crystallography and high resolution NMR spectroscopy are the two main experimental techniques used to study bioactive conformations. The- fore, the twovolumes ofthisbookcover approachesthat use either ofthetwo techniques, or a combination thereof.

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Anthracycline Chemistry and Biology II : Mode of Action, Clinical Aspects and New Drugs

This series presents critical reviews of the present position and future trends in modern chemical research. It contains short and concise reports on chemistry, each written by the world renowned experts. The series is still valid and useful after five or ten years. More information as well as the electronic version of the whole content is available at: springerlink.com.

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Anion Sensing

This treatise on anion sensing and recognition represents a new addition to a very small number of books in this area, Although this Topics volume does not cover all the different classes fo receptors, it does provide new and timely perspectives to anion chemistry by highlighting several areas that have been generally overlooked in other reviews. The individual chapters are well-written and include references from earlier works up to the present. As such, this volume will be of interest to the community of researchers interested in anions as well as to those who wish to learn about the host-guest chemistry of anion recognition and its applications.

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