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.
Cellular Automaton Modeling of Biological Pattern Formation: Characterization, Applications, and Analysis
This book focuses on a challenging application field of cellular automata: pattern formation in biological systems, such as the growth of microorganisms, dynamics of cellular tissue and tumors, and formation of pigment cell patterns. These phenomena, resulting from complex cellular interactions, cannot be deduced solely from experimental analysis, but can be more easily examined using mathematical models, in particular, cellular automaton models.
Cell Motility
Cell motility is a fascinating example of cell behavior which is fundamentally important to a number of biological and pathological processes. It is based on a complex self-organized mechano-chemical machine consisting of cytoskeletal filaments and molecular motors. In general, the cytoskeleton is responsible for the movement of the entire cell and for movements within the cell. The main challenge in the field of cell motility is to develop a complete physical description on how and why cells move. For this purpose new ways of modeling the properties of biological cells have to be found. This long term goal can only be achieved if new experimental techniques are developed to extract physical information from these living systems and if theoretical models are found which bridge the gap between molecular and mesoscopic length scales. Cell Motility gives an authoritative overview of the fundamental biological facts, theoretical models, and current experimental developments in this fascinating area.
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.
Career development in bioengineering and biotechnology : Roads well laid and paths less traveled
Career Development in Bioengineering and Biotechnology is an indispensable guide to some of the most exciting career and professional growth opportunities in science, engineering, and beyond, and a "must read" for anyone interested in a career related to this burgeoning field.
Carbon in the Geobiosphere : Earth's outer shell
Carbon and carbon dioxide always played an important role in the geobiosphere that is part of the Earth’s outer shell and surface environment. The book’s eleven chapters cover the fundamentals of the biogeochemical behavior of carbon near the Earth’s surface, in the atmosphere, minerals, waters, air-sea exchange, and inorganic and biological processes fractionating the carbon isotopes, and its role in the evolution of inorganic and biogenic sediments, ocean water, the coupling to nutrient nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, and the future of the carbon cycle in the Anthropocene. This book is mainly a reference text for Earth and environmental scientists; it presents an overview of the origins and behavior of the carbon cycle and atmospheric carbon dioxide, and the human effects on them. The book can also be used for a one-semester course at an intermediate to advanced level addressing the behavior of the carbon and related cycles.
Carbon and Its Domestication
Carbon is chemically versatile and is thus the body and soul of biological, geological, ecological and economic systems. Its appropriation by humans through diversion of its biogeochemical cycle has been a mainstay of development. This domestication is characterized by a number of thresholds: control of fire, development of agriculture, expansion of Europe, fossil-fuel use and biotechnology. All have exacted an environmental toll, not least being climatic change and biodiversity loss. Carbon management now and in the future is a ‘hot’ political issue.
Cancer
The last decade has seen a dramatic shift in anticancer drug research towards agents that aim to target selectively key regulatory and signaling processes known to drive tumorigenesis. A number of these newer agents have now been introduced into clinical practice. This volume reviews advances in cancer chemotherapy research over the last 10 years and will be of interest to scientists engaged in drug research in the pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology and startup companies, academia and government institutions. Chapters written by leading experts in their field reflect a range of current medicinal chemistry approaches to small molecule drugs, including anti-hormonal therapy, growth factor inhibition, survival signaling, cell cycle inhibition, anti-angiogenics and anti-nvasives. Each chapter aims to cover the drug target and biological rationale, chemotypes, clinical status and future prospects in this rapidly developing area of drug research.
Calcium in Human Health
Calcium performs diverse biological functions in the human body and is a micronutrient essential to human health and well-being. It serves as a second messenger for nearly every biological process, stabilizes many proteins, and in deficient amounts is associated with a large number diseases and disorders. In Calcium in Human Health, a panel of highly respected researchers and clinical practitioners comprehensively reviews the state of our knowledge concerning this ubiquitous micronutrient, not only demonstrating its importance to human health, but also defining its many complex roles.
Browning Agents and Active Particles : Collective Dynamics in the Natural and Social Sciences
Lays out a vision for a coherent framework for understanding complex systems'' (from the foreword by J. Doyne Farmer). By developing the genuine idea of Brownian agents, the author combines concepts from informatics, such as multiagent systems, with approaches of statistical many-particle physics. This way, an efficient method for computer simulations of complex systems is developed which is also accessible to analytical investigations and quantitative predictions. The book demonstrates that Brownian agent models can be successfully applied in many different contexts, ranging from physicochemical pattern formation, to active motion and swarming in biological systems, to self-assembling of networks, evolutionary optimization, urban growth, economic agglomeration and even social systems.
Bridging divides : Maritime canals as invasion corridors
Maritime canals dissolve natural barriers to the dispersal of marine organisms, thus providing novel opportunities for natural dispersal, as well as for shipping-mediated transport. The introduction of alien species has proved to be one of the most profound and damaging of anthropogenic deeds - with both ecological and economic costs. This book is the first to assess the impacts of the world’s three principal maritime canals – the Kiel, the Panama, the Suez – as invasion corridors for alien biota. These three canals differ in their hydrological regimes, the types of biotas they connect, and in their permeability to invasions.
Brain dynamics : An introduction to models and simualtions
Brain Dynamics serves to introduce graduate students and nonspecialists from various backgrounds to the field of mathematical and computational neurosciences. Some of the advanced chapters will also be of interest to the specialists. The book approaches the subject through pulse-coupled neural networks, with at their core the lighthouse and integrate-and-fire models, which allow for the highly flexible modelling of realistic synaptic activity, synchronization and spatio-temporal pattern formation. Topics also include pulse-averaged equations and their application to movement coordination. The book closes with a short analysis of models versus the real neurophysiological system.
Biotechnology for Odor and Air Pollution Control
An international board of authors from universities, research institutes, and industries describe various biotechnological methods ranging from laboratory, to pilot evaluation and to full-scale process implementation. Topics include bioprocesses for the treatment of odors and air pollutants in wastewater treatment plants, rendering plants, chemical production facilities, and food and flavor manufacturing facilities. In addition to the basic microbiological and engineering aspects, the design, modeling and control of bioreactors are also presented.
Bioremediation of Soils Contaminated with Aromatic Compounds
Environmental biotechnology, which was in its infancy in the early 80's, has evolved thanks to the revolution brought about by molecular biology. Multiple successes in the biological cleanup of civil and industrial wastewater and of hydrocarbon soil pollution, demonstrate the vast power of clean technologies. In addition, the buildup of information on the activities of microorganisms as catalysts in all sorts of natural, industrial and animal environments has flourished. There is a continuing realization of the critical role of microbial processes in biological, industrial and geological systems. Since environmental biotechnology has matured, it is ready to tackle bigger challenges: the scaling up of many bioremediation systems still in progress, the search for novel biocatalysts for industrial applications, the continuing effort against common human life-threatening processes such as antibiotic resistance, the accumulation of hormone-mimicking substances (endocrine disrupters), the deposition of air-borne pesticides in the environment and, the degradation of recalcitrant contaminants. These endeavors will help prevent the contamination of food chains, protect human life and allow for human activity and economic development that do not compromise environmental sustainabijity.
Biophysical Aspects of Transmembrane Signaling
Transmembrane signaling is one of the most significant cell biological events in the life and death of cells in general and lymphocytes in particular. Until recently biochemists and biophysicists were not accustomed to thinking of these processes from the side of a high number of complex biochemical events and an equally high number of physical changes at molecular and cellular levels at the same time. Both types of researchers were convinced that their findings are the most decisive, having higher importance than the findings of the other scientist population. Both casts were wrong. Life, even at cellular level, has a number of interacting physical and biochemical mechanisms, which finally build up the creation of an "excited" cell that will respond to particular signals from the outer or inner world.
Biophotonics and Coherent Systems in Biology
Biophotonics and Coherent Systems in Biology offers a timely research volume derived from papers submitted at the 3rd International Alexander Gurwitsch Conference. Biophotonics and Coherent Systems in Biology covers the major aspects of modern biophotonics and related biological and biophysical problems of interest to researchers today.Key topics include: Coherency of biophoton emission and its related physical and biological properties , Biological effects of microwaves, Photon emission from living samples, starting from human bodies up to cell cultures, Fundamental role of water in bioenergetics and the influence of electromagnetic fields upon hydrophobic-hydrophilic balance
Biophotonics ; Optical science and engineering for the 21st century
Biophotonics: Optical Science and Engineering in the 21st Century serves as an ideal aid to the research and development of these areas integrating light, photonics, and biological systems.Key topics include: Fluctuation Correlation Spectroscopy in Cells: Determination of Molecular Aggregation ,Using GFP and FRET Technologies for Studying Signaling Mechanisms of Apoptosis in a Single Living Cell, Study on Protein-Protein Interaction in Single Living Cells, Functional Optical Coherence Tomography: Simultaneous In Vivo Imaging of Tissue Structure and Physiology, Imaging –Photo- and Sonodynamic Diagnosis of Cancer Mediated by Chemiluminescence Probes, Biophotonic Analysis of Spontaneous Self-Organizing Oxidative Processes in Aqueous Systems, Biophoton Emission and Defense Systems in Plants
Biophotonics
More profound understanding of the nature of light and light-matter interactions in biology has enabled many applications in the biology and medical fields. So a new discipline is born, namely biophotonics. The aim of this book is to review the current state-of-the-art of the field by means of authoritative chapters written by the world leaders of the respective fields. Biosensors, biochips, optical tomography, optical microsurgery, photodynamics therapy, bioactivation of gene, photobiology of skin, and nanobiophotonics are each introduced and recent advances presented. This book will be useful not only to physicians, biologists, physicists, chemists, materials scientists, and engineers but also to graduate students who are interested in these rapidly developing fields.
Biomineralization II : Mineralization Using Synthetic Polymers and Templates
In nature, biological organisms produce mineralized tissues such as bone, teeth, diatoms, and shells. Biomineralization is the sophisticated process of production of these inorganic minerals by living organisms. Construction of organic–inorganic hybrid materials with controlled mineralization analogous to those produced by nature has recently received much attention because it can aid in understanding the mechanisms of the biomineralization process and development of biomimetic materials processing. The biomineralization processes use aqueous solutions at temperatures below 100 ◦C and no toxic intermediates are produced in these systems. This series presents critical reviews of the present position and future trends in modern chemical research. The short and concise reports on chemistry are each written by world renowned experts. This series is still valid and useful after 5 or 10 years.
Biomineralization I : Crystallization and Self-Organization Process
The five chapters of Biomineralization, volume 1, provide a bridge between the mineralogy and the organic substrates that enable the mineral formation by organisms in nature and under laboratory conditions. The book is a most useful reference for all concerned with biomineralization and biogenic minerals.In nature, biological organisms produce mineralized tissues such as bone, teeth, diatoms, and shells. Biomineralization is the sophisticated process of production of these inorganic minerals by living organisms. Construction of organic–inorganic hybrid materials with controlled mineralization analogous to those produced by nature has recently received much attention because it can aid in understanding the mechanisms of the biomineralization process and development of biomimetic materials processing.



















