Immediate Early Genes in Sensory Processing, Cognitive Performance and Neurological Disorders
This book reviews and details experiments and theories that challenge the reader to expand their view on how IEG research is currently being used to advance our understanding of static and active brain circuits, enabling the processing, acquisition and storage of new information in healthy systems. In addition, we explore roles of IEGs in clinical neuropathology, with potential utility in molecular modeling, to highlight, on a go-forward basis, candidate mechanisms for novel targets in clinical intervention.
Imaging in Drug Discovery and Early Clinical Trials
Efficient tools for the selection and validation of drug targets both at the preclinical and clinical level are required. Non-invasive imaging and in particular molecular imaging methods are becoming essential technologies to support drug discovery and dvelopment. Imaging provides structural, functional, metabolic and molecular readouts that are being applied to characterize a disease phenotype (diagnosis), to elucidate molecular mechanisms involved, to evaluate drug efficacy and safety, and to identify potential biomarkers of the drug's mechanism-of-action, efficacy and safety. Non-invasive imaging techniques constitute a bridge between preclinical and clinical drug evaluation. In this monograph the contribution of imaging modalities to the various stages of drug discovery and development, from early target validation to their use in clinical development programs, is described. Chapters are devoted to the description of the drug discovery process as such, to the various imaging modalities being used both preclinically and clinically, to applications of imaging during the optimization of a lead compound (addressing issues such as bioavailability and efficacy) and during the drug safety evaluation.
Imaging Cellular and Molecular Biological Functions
Imaging cellular and molecular biological function’ provides a unique selection of essays by leading experts, aiming at scientist and student alike who are interested in all aspects of modern imaging, from its application and up-scaling to its development. Indeed the philosophy of this volume is to provide student, researcher, PI, professional or provost the means to enter this applications field with confidence, and to construct the means to answer their own specific questions.
Ileo meccanico dell’intestino tenue : Aspetti TC e correlazioni eco-radiografiche = Mechanical ileus of the small intestine : CT aspects and echo-radiographic correlations
Mechanical occlusion of the small intestine is a frequently encountered clinical problem, whose clinical-instrumental management is made difficult by the complexity of the mechanisms responsible for the occlusive picture. The role of the radiologist is to promptly guide the therapeutic process on the basis of a correct interpretation of the iconographic pictures. The purpose of this volume - the only one of its kind - is to relate the pathophysiology of occlusion to imaging. The rich iconography, which ranges from clinical onset to resolution, emphasizes the role of multidetector computed tomography with intravenous contrast, which is the current gold standard. However, the correlations with the echo-radiographic methods are not forgotten, which retain an effective diagnostic role, with a low biological and economic cost. The mechanical ileus of the small intestine is a striking example in support of the dream of many professionals: that, that is, to have a figure of a fine abdominal emergency radiologist, an expert in organ and disease and not only in the machine, as often unfortunately it happens.
Il senso e la narrazione = The sense and the narration
Humans are creatures of narration: infinitely they narrate and narrate themselves, intertwine dialogues, light up stories to illuminate the dark caves of the heart and the world, recover and transmute memories. We live between a firm and rough, unknowable reality, an enormous furnace of perturbations and calls and colors, and an elusive, delicate and ephemeral interiority: and between the two, between the world and us, we weave with thought and with words a fragile ponte, a bridge called sense. Swing this bridge at the unequal breath of a cosmic wind, dropping phosphoric fragments: sudden hourglasses, anonymous centaurs, sleepless geometers, distant syllogisms, vanished lineages, black basalts, crazy anchorites, silent plesiosaurs, flutes and bagpipes ... and they recompose figures, and we ask ourselves questions about those figures and tell stories. Only the vertigo of asking and narrating can give meaning to a life that some say is interwoven with pure chance. Forever detached from the flourishing matrix of the world, tormented by thought, prisoners of words, slaves of interpretation, lost in a long corridor of facing mirrors: we are at the center of a great, incomprehensible rumble.
Il cancro e la ricerca del senso perduto = Cancer and the search for lost meaning
Cancer disease can be approached with the aim of killing diseased cells or with that of making them go backwards on the road that leads from a state of natural equilibrium to the disease. This book tells an original research by the author inspired by this biological vision of cancer, research that led to the production and use of anticancer products. Inevitably, the history of research slips into a vision of the world and of life that presents the features of a documented critique of the values and priorities that characterize the world in which we live. A profound and human book, which makes you think, which makes you hope.
Hypoxia and the circulation
The hypoxia volumes will focus on cutting edge research at the interface of hypoxia and biomedicine. Hypoxia is a constant threat to the human body and its vital organs throughout life. There are many situations in which the threat is heightened in health and disease, but mechanisms have evolved to lessen its detrimental effects.
Hypoxia and Exercise
The 14th volume in the series will focus on cutting edge research at the interface of hypoxia and exercise. The work will cover the range from molecular mechanisms of muscle fatigue and muscle wasting to whole body exercise on the world’s highest mountains. State of the art papers on training at high altitude for low altitude athletic performance will also be featured.
Hypertension in the Elderly
Topics range from basic concepts, epidemiology and trials, and evaluation and management, to pharmacological treatment, special populations, and adherence, all presented with an emphasis on the optimal management of patients. The authors examine in detail the mechanisms of hypertension in the elderly, particularly age-related changes in vascular stiffness, and methodically review the lifestyle and outcomes trials that were conducted in older persons. The problems of clinical evaluation, secondary hypertension, and target organ damage are also fully addressed, and a practical approach is provided for correctly determining blood pressure, one of the most important tasks in evaluating an older patient. Extensive discussions of pharmacological therapy detail the role of individual drug classes, including diuretics and b-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, calcium antagonists, a-1 blockers, and combination drug therapies. Additional chapters focus on special populations, such as African Americans, patients with diabetes, and patients with arthritis, as well as on the clinician's role in improving therapeutic adherence in older patients. Offers family practitioners and general internists an up-to-date, user-friendly reference on the diagnosis, treatment, and complications of hypertension in the elderly.
Hydrogenosomes and Mitosomes : Mitochondria of Anaerobic Eukaryotes
"Hydrogenosomes and Mitosomes: Mitochondria of Anaerobic Eukaryotes" provides a summary of the current knowledge of these organelles, which occur in unicellular, often parasitic organisms, including human pathogens. The distribution of these organelles is broad, but they were detected primarily in an anoxic habitat or nutrient rich intracellular niche that permits life without the efficient energy generating system of typical mitochondria. Their common characteristic is that they lack the aerobic energy conservation system of typical mitochondria and that they are usually the site of the synthesis of iron-sulfur clusters, regarded as the only indispensable function of eukaryotic mitochondria.These mitochondria-related organelles exhibit a variety of structures and functions. This work describes properties such as protein import, structure, metabolism, adaptation, proteome and their role in drug activation and resistance. Further topics include the evolution and biogenesis of these organelles.
Hydrodynamics of Explosion : Experiments and Models
Hydronamics of Explosion presents the research results for the problems of underwater explosions and contains a detailed analysis of the structure and the parameters of the wave fields generated by explosions of cord and spiral charges, a description of the formation mechanisms for a wide range of cumulative flows at underwater explosions near the free surface, and the relevant mathematical models. Shock-wave transformation in bubbly liquids, shock-wave amplification due to collision and focusing, and the formation of bubble detonation waves in reactive bubbly liquids are studied in detail. Particular emphasis is placed on the investigation of wave processes in cavitating liquids, which incorporates the concepts of the strength of real liquids containing natural microinhomogeneities, the relaxation of tensile stress, and the cavitation fracture of a liquid as the inversion of its two-phase state under impulsive (explosive) loading. The problems are classed among essentially nonlinear processes that occur under shock loading of liquids and may be of interest to researchers in physical acoustics, mechanics of multiphase media, shock-wave processes in condensed media, explosive hydroacoustics, and cumulation.
Human Nucleotide Expansion Disorders
Human neurological and neuromuscular disorders caused by nucleotide expansion, first discovered in 1991, are the focus of growing interest of practicing physicians and of interested biomedical researchers. This volume represents a comprehensive and up-to-date description of many of the better-studied disorders. The expert authors discuss molecular, clinical and pathological aspects of the diseases as well as our current understanding of their underlying mechanisms. Of special interest are ideas and initial results of the different therapeutic strategies that can be employed to overcome some of the disorders. As a summary of the state-of-the-art research in this field, this book is of value to human geneticists, molecular biologists and biochemists as well as to practicing neurologists and pediatricians.
Human microbiome : Clinical implications and therapeutic interventions
The human microbiome refers to the complete microorganisms inhabiting the human body sites including skin, ear, nose, oral cavity, the genital, gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts, and body fluids such as breast milk, saliva, and urine. It is a significant and essential organ recognized for the body and has an established involvement in the host wellbeing, in terms of nutritional requirements and immunomodulation. Talks about how alteration and imbalance in the same can have clinical implications associated with a multitude of gastrointestinal, lifestyle-associated, and neurodegenerative disorders. How the proliferation of specific groups of bacteria and their metabolic activities, as a result of intestinal dysbiosis leads to the 'leaky gut' condition thereby influences brain activity via the bidirectional gut-brain axis. It also coves the importance of microbial seeding and how it can be influenced by the mode of delivery, nutrition, and medication. This book also provides various therapeutic interventions such as the establishment of stool banks and Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) that have recently proved promising in the treatment of ASD, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and Ulcerative Colitis. This book provides a deeper understanding of the development of the human gut microbiome and the factors driving its dysbiosis. This book is a valuable read for health professionals, medical students, nutritionists, and scientific research communities who are eager to update themselves with recent trends in microbiome research. It will also aid gastroenterologists and nutritionists to make well-informed choices regarding therapeutic regimes.
Human fungal diseases : Diagnostics, pathogenesis, drug resistance and therapeutics
Reviews the latest advancements in the fungal infections and their impact on human health. It presents epidemiology, diagnosis, pathogenesis, risk factors, virulence mechanisms, treatment, and strategies for the disease management and prevention of fungal infections. The book further reviews host-pathogen interactions, biofilm formation, and quorum sensing. It also covers the clinical manifestations, diagnostic approaches, and management strategies of opportunistic fungal infections, emerging fungal infections, and allergic fungal infections. It presents the latest advancements in diagnostic methods and therapeutic strategies, covering both conventional techniques and state-of-the-art approaches. Further, the book elucidates antifungal stewardship, nanotechnology, and omics technologies, providing insights into cutting-edge strategies for prevention, control, and management of multidrug-resistant fungi. This book is useful for researchers, students, and health professionals working in the fields of mycology, infectious diseases, immunology, dermatology, and pulmonology.
Human Exploitation and Biodiversity Conservation
The sustainable use of biodiversity is one of the three key objectives of the 1992 "Convention on Biological Diversity". To achieve this, sound conservation practice has to be recognized as beneficial and implemented by all who access, or use it – from subsistence farmers to skiers and pharmaceutical bioprospectors. At the same time, indigenous peoples necessarily utilize enormous numbers of plants, fungi, and fish, particularly for foods and medicines. This book gathers together a wide range of contributions addressing diverse aspects of front-line human involvement in biodiversity exploitation and conservation. Its scope is broad, the organisms explored ranging from birds, invertebrates and mammals – both terrestrial and aquatic – to crops and medicinal plants. Meanwhile, the issues addressed include land use changes, the importance of gardens, hedges and green lanes, housing developments, hunting, invasive species, local community involvement, sacred groves, socioeconomic factors and trade.
Human Drug Metabolism
The third edition of this comprehensive book covers basic concepts of teaching drug metabolism, starting from extreme clinical consequences to systems and mechanisms and toxicity. It provides an invaluable introduction to the core areas of pharmacology and examines recent progress and advances in this fast moving field and its clinical impact.
Human and Animal Relationships
Pathogenic fungi are widely distributed and can infect many organisms, particularly humans, but also other vertebrates and insects. Due to a growing number of fungal infections, there is an increasing need to understand the interaction of pathogenic fungi with their hosts. This second completely updated and revised edition of Volume VI of The Mycota consists of state of the art reviews written by experts in the field, covering three major areas of this rapidly developing field. In the first part the current understanding of pathogenic fungi and the physiological reactions relevant for the pathogen - host interaction are elucidated. The second part describes novel technologies for the identification of proteins, virulence factors and mechanisms central to the host - pathogen interaction. The third part deals with the characterization of the host response towards pathogenic fungi and addresses timely clinical aspects.
How the immune system recognizes self and nonself : Immunoreceptors and their signaling
This brain function must have been particularly important for most animals to protect their lives from enemies and for species to survive through evolution. Similarly, higher organisms have also acquired their immune system through evolution that discriminates nonself pathogens and self-body to protect their lives from pathogens such as bacteria or viruses. The brain system may distinguish integrated images of self and nonself created from many inputs, such as vision, sound, smell, and others. The immune system recognizes and distinguishes a variety of structural features of self and nonself components. The latter actually include almost everything but self.
How does the Galaxy Work? : A Galactic Tertulia with Don Cox and Ron Reynolds
Presents a multi-disciplinary approach to the physical mechanisms which structure the shape, evolution and fate of the Galaxy. It contains 4 panel sessions (the recording transcripts of the galactic 'tertulias'), an introductory historical overview on the Galaxy research, 17 reviews, and the proceedings of more than 50 oral and poster contributions. This book is not a new edition of a previous volume but it is in some way related to the book "The Formation of the Milky Way" (1995; Cambridge University Press), which contains the proceedings of the first IAA-IAC-University of Pisa meeting, held in Granada ten years ago, on the formation of the Milky Way, (see Shore's introduction). Where many other books focus their attention on singular galactic components or specific driving forces, this title provides a wide overview on the gaseous and stellar components and on the physical mechanisms which maintain the dynamical equilibrium of such a complex system as the Galaxy. The book, intended for graduate students and researchers, provides a valuable overview on the different physical mechanisms which drive the galactic gas-stars feedback.
Hot cracking phenomena in welds II
This is the second in a series of compendiums devoted to weld hot cracking phenomena, where this subject has been further scrutinized, bringing to bare the most current thoughts on this complex and diverse subject. With 22 technical papers in total, this book is divided in such a way that specific classifications of hot cracks are examined in detail, including solidification, liquation, and ductility dip cracking. The first chapter looks at solidification cracking theory, applying the most modern approaches to modelling weld solidification. Also provided here is a comprehensive review of cracking models. This is followed by two chapters characterizing solidification cracking behaviour for specific alloy systems: ferrous plus nickel-based alloys and aluminium alloys, respectively. The fourth chapter considers liquation cracking in ferrous alloys, and the fifth examines ductility-dip cracking.



















