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Books in Agricultural and biological sciences

The Agricultural and Biological Sciences collection advances science-based knowledge for the improvement of animal and plant life and for secure food systems that produce nutritious, novel, sustainable foods with minimal environmental impact. Food Science titles include not only those products from agriculture but all other aspects from food production to nutrition, health and safety, chemistry to security, policy, law and regulation. Biological Sciences address animal behaviour and biodiversity, organismal and evolutionary biology, entomology, marine biology and aquaculture, plant science and forestry.

  • The Mycoplasmas V3

    Plant and Insects Mycoplasmas
    • 1st Edition
    • R.F. Whitcomb
    • English
    The Mycoplasmas, Volume III: Plant and Insect Mycoplasmas is a volume of a comprehensive three-volume series encompassing various facets of mycoplasmology. It attempts not only to present an extensive and critical review of the rapidly expanding field of plant and insect mycoplasmas, but also to integrate these important subdisciplines into the total field of mycoplasmology. This volume, in particular, shows relevant information on a group of helical mycoplasmas(spiropla... stressing their part in plant and insect diseases. It discusses the tick-borne spiroplasmas and their possible role in vertebrate disease. Other suspected mycoplasmal plant diseases, vector transmission of mycoplasmas and spiroplasmas, and the chemotherapy of mycoplasmal plant diseases are also described. This book will serve as a standard reference work for mycoplasmologists, as well as for other interested microbiologists, cellular and molecular biologists, membrane biochemists, clinicians, veterinarians, plant pathologists, and entomologists.
  • Reproduction of Marine Invertebrates V3

    Annelids and Echiurans
    • 1st Edition
    • Arthur Giese
    • English
    Reproduction of Marine Invertebrates, Volume III: Annelids and Echiurans illustrates the importance of annelids and echiurans in the evolution of reproductive mechanisms and in the ecology of the sea. It discusses the asexual reproduction, sexual reproduction capacity, and developmental stages of specific annelids, such as polychaeta and clitellata, and of echiurans. The annelids appear to be midway forms in the evolutionary progression of the metazoans. The echiurans, with close affinities to the annelids, are organisms that have become increasingly important for researches in developmental biology. The book will be helpful to marine scientists and biologists, reproduction researchers, and developmental biologists.
  • Growth, Nutrition, and Metabolism of Cells In Culture V1

    • 1st Edition
    • George Rothblat
    • English
    Growth, Nutrition, and Metabolism of Cells in Culture, Volume 1, summarizes the state of knowledge of the growth, nutrition, and metabolism of various types of cell cultures. The chapters are both detailed and comprehensive enough for the specialist and broad enough to provide a general background for the nonspecialist. The present volume discusses the uptake, synthesis, and degradation of biologically important compounds, particularly the major components usually present in tissue culture medium. The book begins by tracing the history of the development of tissue culture. This is followed by separate chapters on early development of cell culture nutrition; the biological effects of serum; the energy metabolism of malignant cells; the gaseous environment of the mammalian cell in culture; and the uptake and utilization of amino acids by cells in culture. Subsequent chapters cover purine and pyrimidine metabolism; lipids in cell culture; the use of cell cultures for sterol metabolism studies; the genetic expressions of human diploid fibroblast cell cultures; and structural features of mammalian complex carbohydrates.
  • Humoral Factors in Host Defense

    • 1st Edition
    • Yuichi Yamamura
    • English
    Humoral Factors in Host Defense contains the proceedings of the First Takeda Science Foundation Symposium on Bioscience, held on October 28-30, 1982, in Kyoto, Japan. The symposium focused on the humoral factors regulating immune responses, with emphasis on T cell-derived immunoregulatory molecules; molecular mechanisms of interferons; factors involved in differentiation and activation of immunocytes; and the use of the molecular genetics approach to host defense factors. Organized into four parts encompassing 22 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of interleukin-2 and T cell-replacing factors, along with their immunological functions and biochemical features. It then discusses antigen-specific T cell factors; immunoregulatory molecules from human monoclonal T cells; physiological and pathological roles of lymphokines; regulation of the immune system by monoclonal T cell peptides; production of a glycosylated human protein by recombinant DNA technology; and molecular genetics of immunoglobulin genes and the major histocompatibility antigen. Geneticists and biologists will find this book extremely useful.
  • Pathophysiology of Parasitic Infection

    • 1st Edition
    • E Soulsby
    • English
    Pathophysiology of Parasitic Infection covers the proceedings of the Seventh International Conference of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology, held in Thessaloniki, Greece, on July 14-16, 1975. The book summarizes the developments in pathophysiology of parasitism. It includes experiments on parasitic infections and the widespread occurrences of diseases in domestic animals caused by helminths, protozoa, and arthropods. Divided into 21 chapters, the book initially examines the mechanisms of pathogenicity from the structural and physiological processes that may be expressed as the pathophysiology of parasitic infections. The subsequent chapters discuss the plasma protein kinetics; the hematological indices associated with parasitic infections; the mechanisms of the swine trichuriasis disease; and the response of sheep and rabbit to infection with Fasciola hepatica. The book also presents evidence on establishing a predictable population of parasites based from the ratio of mature to immature worms and the ratio of mucosal to lumen dwelling stages. A chapter focuses on the effects of nematode infection on the lymphatic system and on blood vessels. Considerable chapters are devoted to body defense against parasitic infection, including immunoglobulin E-like antibodies, vasoactive amines and peptides, and immunoglobulin M. The book further deals with the hematological aspects and treatment of trypanosomiasis. It also tackles the effects of fever as a pathophysiological factor in the course and pathogenesis of East Coast fever caused by Theileria parva. The concluding chapters deal with immune response to parasitic infection, including the effects of anticomplementary substances, macrophage, and lymphocytes. Veterinary parasitologists, parasitic infection researchers, immunologists, teachers, and students with courses related to parasitic infection will find this book invaluable.
  • Mutagenic Effects of Environmental Contaminants

    • 1st Edition
    • H.E. Sutton
    • English
    Mutagenic Effects of Environmental Contaminants investigates the mutagenic consequences of environmental contaminants, such as pesticides, industrials, food additives, drugs, and biologicals, as well as the possible relationships between mutagenesis and carcinogenesis. It describes the monitoring of chemical mutagens in the environment and the ways that genetic mutations cause disease in humans. Organized into 14 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the current burden of human genetic disease and the biochemical mechanisms of mutation. It then discusses practical and feasible methods that use a variety of organisms to screen potential mutagenic agents, increased mutation rates in human populations, mutagens that are currently used commercially, and the interrelationships between mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, and teratogenicity. The reader is also introduced to genetic toxicology, detection of chemically induced mutations in experimental animals, and chromosome and somatic mutations in humans. This book is a valuable resource for scientists, policymakers, and administrators of environmental programs.
  • Cytogenetics Of Aneuploids

    • 1st Edition
    • Gurdev Khush
    • English
    Cytogenetics of Aneuploids deals with the cytogenetic aspects of aneuploidy in plants, emphasizing the trisomics, monosomics, and nullisomics and cytogenetics of substitution lines as well as alien additions and substitutions. An account of aneuploidy in animals and man is also given. This volume is organized into 12 chapters and begins with an overview of terminology and chromosomal formulas, along with a brief history of the cytogenetics of aneuploids as a field of enquiry. The next chapters review the entire literature on trisomics, their sources, cytology, transmission rates, genetics, morphology, anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry. The discussion then shifts to monosomics and nullisomics, including their sources and cytology as well as breeding behavior, morphology, and genetic studies. Other uses of monosomics and nullisomics are considered. The following chapters deal with intervarietal substitutions and alien additions and substitutions, emphasizing different methods of producing substitution lines and their utility in genetic analysis and practical plant breeding programs. The book concludes by describing special features of aneuploidy in animals and highlighting specific cases of aneuploidy in the animal kingdom. This book will be of interest to plant breeders and geneticists.
  • Eukaryotic Cell Genetics

    • 1st Edition
    • John Morrow
    • English
    Eukaryotic Cell Genetics reviews the state of knowledge in somatic cell genetics. The book begins by discussing the development of somatic cell genetics, focusing on the estimation of mutation rates in mammalian cells, with frequent reference to the use of drug resistance as a selective character. It then considers some of the specific properties of such variants in order to understand their molecular basis. The subsequent chapters examine the properties of specific types of auxotrophic variants; the means by which eukaryotic cells may be reassembled to give rise to viable cellular composites; gene regulation in eukaryotic organisms; and chromosome mapping. The discussions also include differentiation in cultured cells; neoplastic transformation; the modulation of gene expression in cultured cells; mutation induction in cultured cells; applications of cell culture; and the mechanism of cellular aging. This book is intended for researchers in the fields of genetics and molecular biology, nonspecialists interested in what is happening in a very exciting area of biology, and students at the graduate level in cell biology.
  • Immunity to Cancer

    • 1st Edition
    • Arnold Reif
    • English
    Immunity to Cancer documents the proceedings of a conference on ""Immunity to Cancer"" held at Williamsburg, Virginia, September 10-12, 1984. This was the first open conference since the New York Academy of Sciences meeting in 1975 that attempted to address the entire range of topics encompassed by tumor immunology and immunotherapy. The papers presented in this volume were invited from experts in diverse areas of tumor immunology and closely related subjects. There was an attempt to proceed logically from a consideration of the antigenicity of tumors and the use of monoclonal antibodies to examine specific antigens, to a review of regulatory and effector mechanisms. Immunological approaches to therapy were then considered systematically, both for classical modes of immunotherapy and for the newly expanded categories of biological response modifiers or biomodulators. Also included were papers on vaccination against cancer and on the analogy between the strategies for chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
  • Energy From Forest Biomass

    • 1st Edition
    • W. Ramsay Smith
    • English
    Energy from Forest Biomass is a book that emerged from the papers presented at the International Union of Forestry Research Organization (IUFRO) XVII World Congress held in Kyoto, Japan. This book includes 18 papers representing different authors from nine countries. The book is divided into four parts. The first part contains discussions of the various researches on fuel plantations around the world, as well as harvesting techniques and associated costs. The second part discusses information on the actual and potential availability of biomass from sources other than fuel plantations. This part also examines the different types of biomass fuels currently used in Japan. The third part deals with the intermediate technology that can be used, such as charcoal production and direct combustion. The last part discusses the innovations in producing energy, such as gasification and liquidification. This book will be useful to graduate and undergraduate students, researchers, scientists, and readers who are interested in the use of biomass for energy purposes.