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Books in Life sciences

  • Astrocytes

    Pharmacology and Function
    • 1st Edition
    • Bozzano G Luisa
    • English
    Interest in the functional roles of astrocytes in the nervous system has grown significantly as it is recognized that these cells not only have their own pharmacology but also release neuro- and vaso-active factors. This book relates astrocyte pharmacology to cell function for the first time, making it an attractive text across the neuroscience community.
  • Plant Disease: An Advanced Treatise

    How Pathogens Induce Disease
    • 1st Edition
    • James G. Horsfall
    • English
    Plant Disease An Advanced Treatise, Volume IV: How Pathogens Induce Disease describes the mechanisms of induction of various types of plant dysfunction by parasites and pathogens. Comprised of 22 chapters, this volume focuses on the effects of major group of pathogens on plant, including fungi, bacteria, nematodes, mycoplasmas, ricketssia, insects, and parasitic seed plants. This volume begins with a series of theoretical and analytical discussions on the evolution and energetics of pathogens, predisposition phenomena, multiple pathogen interactions, and the penetration and colonization of hosts by pathogens. Considerable chapters describe the unique features and special adaptations of each major group of pathogens. This text includes discussions on the special relationships the mycoplasmas and rickettsia have developed with insects and viruses; their effects on growth and differentiation of the plant hosts; and the origin and evolutionary development of these pathogens. This volume also describes what is known about plant disease induction in other plants with toxic chemicals and the role of toxic residues in plant refuse and in the “sickness” phenomenon. A chapter examines a series of iatrogenic diseases and the mechanisms by which they are induced. The concluding chapters deal with the effect of diseased plants and plant pathogens in livestock and human beings. This volume is an invaluable source for plant pathologists, mycologists, advanced researches, and graduate students.
  • Parasitic Protozoa

    Toxoplasma, Cryptosporidia, Pneumocystis, And Microsporidia
    • 2nd Edition
    • English
    Updated and much expanded, the Second Edition of Parasitic Protozoa is designed to be useful to physicians, veterinarians, and research scientists concerned with diseases caused by protozoa in man, and in domestic and wild animals including fish, mollusks and insects, as well as the more commonly considered vertebrate animals. Each section contains information on disease pathogens, treatment, diagnosis, and epidemiology of the diseases caused by the various protozoans. The book is not limited to these medically-oriented subjects, but treats taxonomy, morphology, and metabolism of the organisms in such a way as to be of interest to scientists and graduate students working in the field of protozoology. The entire edition, published in ten volumes, is arranged so that subjects of common interest occupy individual volumes.
  • Introduction to Biomolecular Energetics

    Including Ligand–Receptor Interactions
    • 1st Edition
    • Irving Klotz
    • English
    Introduction to Biomolecular Energetics Including Ligand-Receptor Interactions focuses on the concepts of energetics and their biological applications, including the study of ligand-receptor interactions. The book provides quantitative calculations and addresses topics that have become more prominent in the biochemical and related sciences in recent years, including the first and second laws of thermodynamics, the concept of entropy, free energy or chemical potential, group-transfer potential, physicochemical behavior, and enzyme kinetics. This volume is organized into 10 chapters, and it begins with an overview of the scope of energetics and two general approaches to the field: the classical or phenomenological approach and the statistical-molecula... approach. The chapters that follow explore the concepts of energy and entropy in the context of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, along with the relationships between work, heat, energy and entropy as an index of exhaustion. The discussion then shifts to the free energy function and general procedures for computing standard free energies. The book also introduces the reader to the fundamental relationship between chemical potential (free energy) and concentration; high-energy bond and the concept of group-transfer potential; the use of thermodynamic methods in the analysis of physicochemical behavior; and statistical thermodynamics. The final chapter examines the number of ligands that are bound by the receptor entity, how strongly the ligands are held, and the molecular nature of the forces of ligand-receptor interaction. This book will be of interest to biologists and those who want to understand the principles of energetics governing biochemical changes.
  • Event-Related Brain Potentials in Man

    • 1st Edition
    • Enoch Callaway
    • English
    Event-Related Brain Potentials in Man contains the proceedings of a conference held on April 26-29, 1977, and sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health in Rockville, Maryland to assess the field of event-related brain potential (ERP) research. The papers explore findings on ERPs in man in relation to the link between brain and behavior, brain functions, mental states, and drug interactions. Organized into eight chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the functional neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of ERPs, along with their measurement. It then proceeds with a discussion of some applications of ERPs to patients with neurological and sensory impairment, the use of ERPs to analyze sensation as well as perception and attention, the endogenous components of the ERP, the ERP correlates of psychopathology, and the event-related brain potentials across the life span. The reader is also introduced to ethical issues regarding ERPs, with reference to the history of encephalography. An epilogue assessing the increased status and maturity of the ERP field, along with uncharted territories and future prospects, concludes the book. This book will be of interest to scientists and clinical investigators working in biological sciences, neuropsychology, psychiatry, and neurology.
  • Molecular Biology of the Skin

    The Keratinocyte
    • 1st Edition
    • Michael Darmon + 1 more
    • English
    Molecular Biology of the Skin: The Keratinocyte comprehensively reviews the major aspects of keratinocyte and epidermal differentiation, physiology, and pathology, primarily focusing on the molecular aspects. This exciting new resource discusses keratin genes, retinoic acid, and the use of transgenic animals in the study of dermatological pathology. The volume also highlights areas of genetic disease, new animal models to help in understanding dermatological disorders, and gene therapy using skin as a target. W.W. Franke, a pioneer in the study of the molecular biology of keratins, has written the foreword for the book.Molecular Biology of the Skin: The Keratinocyte is intended for use by dermatologists and basic researchers in cell and developmental biology. It will also be valuable for surgeons and other clinicians as well as researchers in gene therapy, virology, and pharmacology.
  • The Soil Mites of the World

    Vol. 3: Oribatid Mites of the Neotropical Region II
    • 1st Edition
    • P. Balogh + 1 more
    • English
    Distributed in the East European countries, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, People's Republic of Mongolia, Republic of Cuba and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam by Kultura, Budapest, HungaryThis volume presents the second part of brief characterizations and identification keys for oribatid mites inhabiting the Neotropical Region, as well as a check-list and bibliography of all described species from this area.This work is destined to become a basic handbook that will serve academic and applied science/taxonomists, field workers, ecologists, etc., for years to come. It will also aid the work of Latin American oribatologists. This volume is primarily intended for use by taxonomists in acarology, ecologists of neotropical soils and veterinary parasitologists.
  • Biomedical Signal Processing

    • 1st Edition
    • Metin Akay
    • English
    Sophisticated techniques for signal processing are now available to the biomedical specialist! Written in an easy-to-read, straightforward style, Biomedical Signal Processing presents techniques to eliminate background noise, enhance signal detection, and analyze computer data, making results easy to comprehend and apply. In addition to examining techniques for electrical signal analysis, filtering, and transforms, the author supplies an extensive appendix with several computer programs that demonstrate techniques presented in the text.
  • Deer Antlers

    Regeneration, Function and Evolution
    • 1st Edition
    • Richard J. Goss
    • English
    This is a book about one of nature's most remarkable accomplishments. When deer grow antlers they are actually regenerating anatomically complex appendages - something that no other mammal can do. The rate at which antler elongate makes them the fastest growing structures in the animal kingdom. Profoundly affected by male hormones, these secondary sex characters grow into massive tumors if the deer possessing them is castrated. These and other unique characteristics have made antlers the focus of extensive scientific research that addresses some provocative questions: From what tissues do antlers develop? By what morphogenetic mechanisms are they regenerated every year? What social functions prompted their initial evolution? How are they influenced by hormones, and by the seasonal daylength fluctuations that regulate their annual replacement cycles? These and many other questions are considered in this comprehensive account of antlerology.Students of development, evolution, and behavior will find much to appreciate in this volume, as will ecologists, wildlife biologists, and zookeepers. It is a rich source of information for endocrinologists and physiologists interested in the relationship of antlers to the reproductive cycle. The orthopedists will find the study of antlers a valuable model of skeletal growth and bone disease, and the purported medicinal properties of velvet antlers will be a subject of interest to the pharmacologist.Deer Antlers: Regeneration, Function, and Evolution is as scientifically accurate as it is readable. It does not answer all questions about these unique appendages, but it is certain to arouse curiosity about the many unsolved problems of how antlers grow, die, and are shed in the course of a single year.
  • Molecular Action of Toxins and Viruses

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 2
    • P. Cohen + 1 more
    • English
    Molecular Action of Toxins and Viruses investigates the molecular action of bacterial toxins and viruses and its striking similarity to the mechanisms by which many neural and hormonal stimuli control normal cell functions. Topics covered include the biological activity of diphteria toxin; the role of cholera toxin in the regulation of hormone-sensitive adenylate cyclase; toxic lectins and related proteins; and bacterial cytolysins (membrane-damaging toxins). Comprised of nine chapters, this volume begins with a discussion on the biosynthesis and biological activity of diphtheria toxin, toxin-resistant mutant cells, and the entry of toxin into cells and fragment A in the cytoplasm of living cells. The reader is then systematically introduced to the use of cholera toxin as a probe to study the regulation and interaction of adenylate cyclase components; the toxic action of lectins and related proteins such as abrin, ricin, and modeccin; and the ability of bacterial cytolysins to damage cell membranes. The remaining chapters focus on the mechanism of action of colicin E2, colicin E3, and cloacin DF13; similarities in the action of different bacterial toxins; the role of cell membranes in infection with bacterial viruses and colicins; and the life cycle and infection mechanisms of bacteriophage T4. The book concludes with an analysis of the involvement of protein kinases in viral transformation. This monograph will be of interest to students, practitioners, and researchers in fields ranging from molecular biology and biochemistry to cell biology, bacteriology, and physiology.