The discovery of vitamins in the early 1900s, their later chemical characterization and the clarification of pivotal metabolic functions are sequential aspects of a brilliant chapter in the history of modern nutritional sciences and medicine. The name, derived from "vital-amines", indicates their elementary metabolic key functions in human metabolism. Vitamins are truly families of compounds, which include precursors and various free and bound forms, all with individual roles in metabolism and function. A more recent approach therefore searches for the components, the understanding of their roles in physiology and pathology as well as looking for novel pharmacological applications. When used properly, vitamins are, indeed, "magical" substances. Due to their efficacy, they should therefore be regarded as drugs with effects and side effects to be weighted against each other. Today, it is not the previously fatal deficiency-associated diseases that are in the focus of interest, but rather the relation of suboptimal vitamin bioavailability to chronic disease. This is complicated by genetic susceptibility, lifestyle, and the presence or absence of health-compromising habits, such as smoking. In turn, the development and application of new and more sensitive and specific assays further enable us to look more closely into the many functions of vitamins. Water soluble vitamins are complex molecular structures and even today, many areas in vitamin biochemistry are not yet fully understood. Novel effects and functions of vitamins remain and continue to be discovered. This book presents most recent research results and fascinating new knowledge on the role and effects of the water soluble vitamins in man. Some of the most distinguished chemists, biochemists, biologists and clinicians have contributed valuable chapters sharing unexpected novel insights into the biochemistry, (epi)genetics, metabolism, and function of water soluble vitamins, with their potential for clinical applications. Thus, physicians, clinicians, scientists, researchers, epidemiologists. nutritional specialists and health professionals alike will find stimulating and fascinating new insight in the many roles that water soluble vitamins play in human health and disease.

The work described in this book is an excellent example of interdisciplinary research in systems biology. It shows how concepts and approaches from the field of physics can be efficiently used to answer biological questions and reports on a novel methodology involving creative computer-based analyses of high-throughput biological data. Many of the findings described in the book, which are the result of collaborations between the author (a theoretical scientist) and experimental biologists and between different laboratories, have been published in high-quality peer-reviewed journals such as Molecular Cell and Nature. However, while those publications address different aspects of post-transcriptional gene regulation, this book provides readers with a complete, coherent and logical view of the research project as a whole. The introduction presents post-transcriptional gene regulation from a distinct angle, highlighting aspects of information theory and evolution and laying the groundwork for the questions addressed in the subsequent chapters, which concern the regulation of the transcriptome as the primary functional carrier of active genetic information.

After decades of dominance of genetics and genomics, the importance of structural biology is growing exponentially in the field of plant biology. The main objectives of this new book series is to "demystify" structural biology for plant researchers and to provide important insights into the basic molecular mechanisms underlying plant development through the diverse approaches utilized by structural biologists. The book series starts with a theme dedicated to hormonal signaling that has benefited from the application of structural biology. "Plant Structural Biology: Hormonal Regulations" provides up-to-date knowledge of the structural aspects of hormonal signal recognition, signal transduction, hormonal control of downstream regulatory pathways and hormonal crosstalk. The most distinctive features of this book as well as future titles is/will be to provide overview of cutting-edge research in the field of plant structural biology, and to serve as a compendium of various approaches that could be applied to problems being solved in modern plant biology. Last but not least, we hope this book will facilitate and broaden the community of (not only) plant scientists who are interested in structural biology approaches and tools. For these reasons, the style of this series is concise and general, in order to avoiding unnecessary details. Explanatory boxes describing the basics of specific approaches (e.g. X-ray crystallography, NMR, SAXS, molecular dynamics simulations, etc.) are included.

This volume presents detailed, recently-developed protocols ranging from isolation of nuclei to purification of chromatin regions containing single genes, with a particular focus on some less well-explored aspects of the nucleus. The methods described include new strategies for isolation of nuclei, for purification of cell type-specific nuclei from a mixture, and for rapid isolation and fractionation of nucleoli. For gene delivery into and expression in nuclei, a novel gentle approach using gold nanowires is presented. As the concentration and localization of water and ions are crucial for macromolecular interactions in the nucleus, a new approach to measure these parameters by correlative optical and cryo-electron microscopy is described. The Nucleus, Second Edition presents methods and software for high-throughput quantitative analysis of 3D fluorescence microscopy images, for quantification of the formation of amyloid fibrils in the nucleus, and for quantitative analysis of chromosome territory localization. Written in the successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and easily accessible, The Nucleus, Second Edition seeks to serve both professionals and novices with its well-honed methods for the study of the nucleus.

This work on recent advances in immunology covers topics which include: molecular and cellular events in early thymocyte development; regulation of ig light chain isotype expression; and the role of immuno-receptor tyrosine-based activation motif (ITAM) in signal transuction.

Now recognized as a reservoir for growth factors and cytokines modulating cell activation status and turnover, proteoglycans have stimulated great amount of interest and research. In Proteoglycans: Methods and Protocols, experts in the field examine issues of basic concepts and up-to-date analysis methods for proteoglycan and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) at the protein and saccharide levels. The volume continues with the multifunctional aspect of proteoglycans, highlighted through three relevant examples of proteoglycans with highly different strucutures: serglycin, aggrecan, and heparin sulphate proteoglycans. The final chapter describes proteoglycan involvement in the pathogenesis of various disorders and their potential therapeutic value in osteo-articular diseases. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and accessible, Proteoglycans: Methods and Protocols is an ideal guide for scientists attempting to pursue further research in this vital and complex area of study.

1 Vascular Analysis of the Carotid Body in the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat.- 2 Role of the Carotid Sinus Nerve and of Dopamine in the Biochemical Response of Sympathetic Tissues to Long-Term Hypoxia.- 3 The Effects of Almitrine on [3H]5HT and [125I] Endothelin Binding to Central and Peripheral Receptors: An In Vitro Autoradiographic Study in the Cat.- 4 Immunocytochemical and Neurochemical Aspects of Sympathetic Ganglion Chemosensitivity.- 5 Neuronal and Neuroendocrine Markers in the Human Carotid Body in Health and Disease.- 6 The Effects of Chronic Hypoxaemia upon the Structure of the Human Carotid Body.- 7 Dopaminergic and Peptidergic Sensory Innervation of the Rat Carotid Body: Organization and Development.- 8 Effects of Cell-Free Perfusion and Almitrine Bismesylate on the Ultrastructure of Type-1 Cell Mitochondria in the Cat Carotid Body.- 9 Multi-Unit Compartmentation of the Carotid Body Chemoreceptor by Perineurial Cell Sheaths: Immunohistochemistry and Freeze-Fracture Study.- 10 Light and Electronmicroscopical Immunohistochemical Investigation of the Innervation of the Human Carotid Body.- 11 Serotonin (5-Hydroxytryptamine) Expression in Pulmonary Neuro-Endocrine Cells (NE) and a Netumor Cell Line.- 12 Effects of Hypoxia on Cultured Chemoreceptors of the Rat Carotid Body: DNA Synthesis and Mitotic Activity in Glomus Cells.- 13 Localization of Dopamine D2 Receptor mRNA in the Rabbit Carotid Body and Petrosal Ganglion by in situ Hybridization.- 14 Noradrenergic Glomus Cells in the Carotid Body: An Autoradiographic and Immunocytochemical Study in the Rabbit and Rat.- 15 The Modulation of Intracellular pH in Carotid Body Glomus Cells by Extracellular pH and pCO2.- 16 Evidence for Glucose Uptake in the Rabbit Carotid Body.- 17 Effects of Inorganic Calcium Channel Blockers on Carotid Chemosensory Responses in the Cat.- 18 Those Strange Glomus Cells.- 19 Carotid Body Neurotransmission.- 20 Carbonic Anhydrase and the Carotid Body.- 21 Ca2+ Dynamics in Chemoreceptor Cells: An Overview.- 22 Spectrophotometric Analysis of Heme Proteins in Oxygen Sensing Cell Systems.- 23 Neurochemical and Molecular Biological Aspects on the Resetting of the Arterial Chemoreceptors in the Newborn Rat.- 24 Carbonic Anhydrase and Carotid Body Chemoreception in the Presence and Absence of CO2-HCO3-.- 25 Role of Ion-Exchangers in the Cat Carotid Body Chemotransduction.- 26 Dopamine Metabolism in the Rabbit Carotid Body in vitro: Effect of Hypoxia and Hypercapnia.- 27 PO2-Dependence of Phospholipase C in the Cat Carotid Body.- 28 Optical Measurements of Micro-Vascular Oxygen Pressure and Intracellular pH in the Cat Carotid Body: Testing Hypotheses of Oxygen Chemoreception.- 29 Elevation of Cytosolic Calcium Induced by pH Changes in Cultured Carotid Body Glomus Cells.- 30 Role of Carbon Dioxide for Hypoxic Chemotransduction of the Cat Carotid Body.- 31 Metabolic Substrate Dependence of Carotid Chemosensory Responses to Stop-Flow Evoked Hypoxia and to Nicotine.- 32 Effects of Chemosensory Stimulation Membrane Currents Recorded with the Perforated-Patch Method from Cultured Rat Glomus Cells.- 33 Carbonic Anhydrase Near Central Chemoreceptors.- 34 Update on the Bicarbonate Hypothesis.- 35 Regulation of Intracellular pH in Type I Cells of the Neonatal Rat Carotid Body.- 36 Noradrenergic Inhibition of the Goat Carotid Body.- 37 Role of Substance P in Rat Carotid Body Responses to Hypoxia and Capsaicin.- 38 Carotid Sinus Nerve Inhibition Mediated by Atrial Natriuretic Peptide.- 39 Neurotransmitters and Second Messenger Systems in the Carotid Body.- 40 Does Adenosine Stimulate Rat Carotid Body Chemoreceptors?.- 41 Effects of Haloperidol on Cat Carotid Body Chemoreceptionin Vitro.- 42 Effect of Arterial Chemoreceptor Stimulation: Role of Norepinephrine in Hypoxic Chemotransmission.- 43 Carotid Body Denervation and Pulmonary Vascular Resistance in the Rat.- 44 Effects of Chemoreceptor Stimulation by Almitrine Bismesylate on Renal Function in Conscious Rats...

This volume of the Trilogy of Traditional Foods, part of the ISEKI Food Series, describes important aspects of the production of foods and beverages from all over the globe. The intention of this volume is to provide readers with an appreciation of how products were initially made, and which factors have shaped their development over time. Some modern products have remained local, while others are commodities that appear in peoples' cabinets all over the world. Modernization of Traditional Food Processes and Products is divided into two sections. The first section focuses on products originating in Europe, while the second section is a collection of products from the rest of the world. Each chapter describes the origin of a particular food or beverage and discusses the changes and the science that led to the modern products found on supermarket shelves. The international List of Contributors, which includes authors from China, Thailand, India, Argentina, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, attests to the international collaboration for which the ISEKI Food Series is known. The volume is intended for both the practicing food professional and the interested reader.

The critically acclaimed laboratory standard for more than forty years, Methods in Enzymology is one of the most highly respected publications in the field of biochemistry. Since 1955, each volume has been eagerly awaited, frequently consulted, and praised by researchers and reviewers alike. More than 260 volumes have been published (all of them still in print) and much of the material is relevant even today--truly an essential publication for researchers in all fields of life sciences.
Key Features
* Liquid chromatography
* Electrophoresis
* Mass spectrometry

Lectins are an important group of proteins, which bind to carbohydrates and can agglutinate cells or precipitate polysaccharides and glycoproteins. These agglutinating and precipitating properties are very similar to those of antibodies, and hence many of the methods used in lectin research are based on immunochemical techniques. Lectins are however not of immune origin, and are found in almost all organisms, including plants and micro-organisms. Current interest in lectins derives particularly from their usefulness in detecting and studying carbohydrates in solution and on cell surfaces. Studies of lectin-carbohydrate interactions are providing information on the precise molecular details of the interactions between proteins and carbohydrates in general. Lectins also serve as valuable tools in biological and medical research, in areas as diverse as separation and characterization of glycoproteins and glycopeptides, typing of bacteria and fractionation of lymphocytes and of bone marrow cells. Their biological role is uncertain but is generally believed to be primarily as recognition determinants in mirco-organisms, plants and animals. The purpose of the book is to give an accessible overview of the properties of lectins, their possible roles and their applications in biology and biomedical research in biochemistry and cell biology. This book should be of interest to biochemists, biologists, microbiologists, pathologists, histologists, cancer researchers, immunologists and haematologists.

The critically acclaimed laboratory standard for more than forty years, Methods in Enzymology is one of the most highly respected publications in the field of biochemistry. Since 1955, each volume has been eagerly awaited, frequently consulted, and praised by researchers and reviewers alike. Now with more than 300 volumes (all of them still in print), the series contains much material still relevant today--truly an essential publication for researchers in all fields of life sciences.
Key Features
* Presents information on nitrosothiols and nitric oxide in cell signaling
* Details nitric oxide and mitochondrial functions
* Explains nitric oxide synthases

This book highlights the advances in essential oil research, from the plant physiology perspective to large-scale production, including bioanalytical methods and industrial applications. The book is divided into 4 sections. The first one is focused on essential oil composition and why plants produce these compounds that have been used by humans since ancient times. Part 2 presents an update on the use of essential oils in various areas, including food and pharma industries as well as agriculture. In part 3 readers will find new trends in bioanalytical methods. Lastly, part 4 presents a number of approaches to increase essential oil production, such as in vitro and hairy root culture, metabolic engineering and biotechnology. Altogether, this volume offers a comprehensive look at what researchers have been doing over the last years to better understand these compounds and how to explore them for the benefit of the society.

The critically acclaimed laboratory standard, Methods in Enzymology, is one of the most highly respected publications in the field of biochemistry. Since 1955, each volume has been eagerly awaited, frequently consulted, and praised by researchers and reviewers alike. The series contains much material still relevant today - truly an essential publication for researchers in all fields of life sciences.

This series is world-renowned as the leading compilation of current reviews of this vast field. Internationally acclaimed for more than forty years, The Alkaloids: Chemistry and Biology, founded by the late Professor R.H.F. Manske, continues to provide outstanding coverage of this rapidly expanding field. Each volume provides, through its distinguished authors, up-to-date and detailed coverage of particular classes or sources of alkaloids.
Up-to-date reviews on a large and very important group of natural products from both a chemical and biological perspective.
Comprehensive dynamic reviews written by the leading authors in the respective fields.
Broader coverage than before on the biological aspects.

This book, for the first time, comprehensively assembles and analyzes a large body of information on the role of the fundamental mechanism of the protein biosynthesis pathway, translation, in cancer biology. It systematically explores the function of the translation machinery and its regulation, including cell signaling, in the development, maintenance and progression of human cancer. The work presented here unveils the tremendous potential and applications of this vast and exciting branch of genetic, biochemical and molecular science in cancer medicine and drug development.

Chapters contributed by experts in the field take the reader on a journey that starts with a dissection of the translation machinery and its regulation in norm and cancer. Later chapters characterize etiological and pathogenetic roles that translation plays in specific cancer types. Various aspects of diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic significance of the translation machinery and its control in cancer are discussed. Readers will discover the importance of the process of translation and its regulatory mechanisms in physiology and cancer biology.

The chapters and the numerous illustrations included here were contributed by expert scientists and clinicians from renowned academic and clinical establishments in Canada, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Belgium, Spain, Germany and Australia.

The book conveys information and knowledge that may interest a broad range of students and scholars ranging from basic scientists to clinicians and drug developers seeking to better understand the protein synthesis and its aberrations in cancer biology and cancer medicine.

Nitric oxide, recently named"Molecule of the Year"by the journal "Science," impinges on a wide range of fields in biological research, particularly in the areas of biomedicine and cell and organismal biology, as well as in fundamental chemistry. This volume and its companion Volume 268 highlight methods used to research the physiology and toxicity of nitric oxide in cellular and organismal systems. It will be a valuable resource for the experienced researcher as well as for those newly entering the field.
Key Features
* Effects of nitric oxide in cells and tissues
* Biochemical reactivity
* Tissue-specific effects
* Endothelial nitric oxide synthase expressions in heterologous systems
* Cellular signaling
* Pathological and clinical aspects of NO
* Fingerprints of pathological action
* Interaction with membranes, proteins, and nucleic acids
* Peroxynitrite
* Tissue and cellular cytotoxicity
* Clinical aspects

This volume provides a collection of protocols and approaches for the creation of novel ligand binding proteins, compiled and described by many of today's leaders in the field of protein engineering. Chapters focus on modeling protein ligand binding sites, accurate modeling of protein-ligand conformational sampling, scoring of individual docked solutions, structure-based design program such as ROSETTA, protein engineering, and additional methodological approaches. Examples of applications include the design of metal-binding proteins and light-induced ligand binding proteins, the creation of binding proteins that also display catalytic activity, and the binding of larger peptide, protein, DNA and RNA ligands. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.

Since the identification of the first matrix metalloprotease (insterstitial collagenase or MMP-1) more than 20 closely related and evolutionarily conserved vertebrate MMPs have been discovered. Chapters in this volume detail methods and protocols on recent advances in the expression and purification of MMPs, biophysical methods such as X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy and small angle X-ray scattering, computational and experimental methods for determining MMP specificity, methods for detecting MMP activity in vitro and in vivo, and methods for the development and characterization of MMP-based inhibitors as potential therapeutics for the treatment of various diseases. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Matrix Metalloproteases: Methods and Protocols aims to ensure successful results in the further study of this vital field.

Our knowledge of the chemistry of selenium and tellurium has seen significant progress in the last few decades. This monograph comprises contributions from leading scientists on the latest research into the synthesis, structure and bonding of novel selenium and tellurium compounds. It provides insight into mechanistic studies of these compounds and describes coordination chemistry involving selenium and tellurium containing ligands. Contributions also describe the theoretical and spectroscopic studies of selenium and tellurium compounds. Additionally, this monograph outlines the applications of selenium and tellurium in biological systems, materials science and as reagents in organic synthesis and shows how these applications have been a fundamental driving force behind the research into the inorganic and organic chemistry these fascinating elements.

This work brings together a number of accounts of the mechanisms whereby microorganisms are able to degrade a wide variety of compounds. These compounds range from petroleum-derived materials, which continue to predominate in questions of environmental contamination and pollution, to the degradation of the major natural materials that microorganisms may encounter in all types of habitat. Both aerobic and anaerobic modes of attack are covered. The emphasis in all the chapters is upon the underlying biochemical pathways that microorganisms use: differences between bacteria, yeasts and moulds are highlighted whenever opportune and uses of microbial consortia for attack on the most recalcitrant molecules is also documented. Activity of microorganisms in the soil, groundwater and marine environments are all considered. The book should be of interest to all whose work brings them into contact with the results of microbial degradations. The consequences of microbial degradations may be beneficial as well as deleterious: an advantage with some compounds, a decided disadvantage with others. The basis by which microorganisms achieve these attacks then provides the vital knowledge that will accelerate the former and, hopefully, retard the latter. The pathways of microbial degradations of all major classes of compounds are covered in a single volume. The diversity of microbial activities are clearly described and current advances in the applications of biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, enzyme chemistry and engineering feature in almost every chapter.

The critically acclaimed laboratory standard, Methods in Enzymology, is one of the most highly respected publications in the field of biochemistry. Since 1955, each volume has been eagerly awaited, frequently consulted, and praised by researchers and reviewers alike. The series contains much material still relevant today - truly an essential publication for researchers in all fields of life sciences.

This book describes medical applications of photochemistry. In the first part, a general introduction to photochemistry and related phototechnologies is provided. In the second part, photochemistry-based medical applications for diagnostics (biochips and bioimaging) and therapeutics (biomaterials for artificial organs, medical adhesives, dental materials, drug-delivery systems, tissue engineering, and photodynamic therapy) are described, with examples of recent research. The year 2015 is the International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies. Light plays a vital role in our daily lives and is important in many interdisciplinary scientific fields in the twenty-first century. Light-based concepts have revolutionized medicine, including areas such as oncology, molecular biology, and surgery. Although photochemistry has contributed significantly to medicine directly and through photochemical fabrication of biomaterials, a book giving a comprehensive overview of recent progress has not been published until now. The aim of this book is to highlight the contributions of photochemistry in interdisciplinary fields of chemistry and medical engineering. This book will be useful for chemists who are interested in medical applications of photochemistry and engineers who are eager to learn the principles of photochemistry to enable its use in practical applications.

This book provides a premier resource on understanding the ribosome's essential nature and how it interacts with other proteins and nucleic acids to control protein synthesis. As one of the central foundations in our understanding of the biology at the molecular level, this topic appeals to a wide audience, from bench researcher to clinician. With the advent of atomic scale structures, methods to visualize and separate individual molecules, and the computational power to model the complex interactions of over a million atoms at once, our understanding of how gene expression is controlled at the level of protein translation is now deeply ensconced in the biophysical realm."

The series "Advances in Dendritic Macromolecules" aims to cover the synthesis and supramolecular chemistry of dendritic or cascade super-molecules as well as their less perfect hyperbranched cousins.
In Volume 3, Chapter 1 describes the synthesis and characterization of dendrimers and hyperbranched polyesters, both based on 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)propionic acid, as the AB2-monomer. Chapter 2, discusses the advantages and drawbacks of dendritic molecular architectures necessary to create polymeric organic magnetic materials. In Chapter 3, Balzani and colleagues delineate their contributions to the field of polynuclear transition metal complexes in the design and construction of dendritic nanostructures; these luminesence and redox-active complexes suggest their role as photochemical molecular devices operating by photoinduced energy and electron transfer processes. Chapter 4, reviews the overall progress on redox-active dendrimers, especially as redox catalysts, organic conductors, modified electrodes, and models for electron transfer proteins. Chapter 5, summarizes the pioneering research in organometallic dendritic macromolecules and then delineates the redox properties of a series of silicon-based ferrocenyl-containing dendrimers.