Medical research involving human subjects has contributed to considerable advancements in our knowledge, and to medical benefits. At the same time the development of new technologies as well as further globalisation of medical research raises questions that require the attention of researchers from a range of disciplines. This book gathers the contributions of researchers from nine different countries, who analyse recent developments in medical research from ethical, historical, legal and socio-cultural perspectives. In addition to reflections on innovations in science such as genetic databases and the concept of "targeted therapy" the book also includes analyses regarding the ethico-legal regulation of new technologies such as human tissue banking or the handling of genetic information potentially relevant for participants in medical research. Country and culture-specific aspects that are relevant to human medical research from a global perspective also play a part. The value of multi- and interdisciplinary analysis that includes the perspectives of scholars from normative and empirical disciplines is a shared premise of each contribution.

This book presents a wealth of insights and new conceptualizations for the development of "Assistive Technologies for the Interaction of the Elderly." The book arranges the chaptersaccording to important aspects of maximizing the use value in innovation projects. Every chapter will include an executive summary reporting the main results, a storyline using everyday language, and scientific excursions, wherever useful.

The book shows how an innovation project should be structured towards maximum use value and how a project should be structured in order to make a difference. It describes the useful categorization of the large group of the elderly to maximize the focus of the innovation and demonstrates the user involvement into innovation activities. Of course, the assessment of such innovative projects is discussed as well as the lessons learned . The book also explores the business opportunities and the financial evaluation of aspects of assistive technology.

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This volume presents a review of the latest numerical techniques used to identify ligand binding and protein complexation sites. It should be noted that there are many other theoretical studies devoted to predicting the activity of specific proteins and that useful protein data can be found in numerous databases. The aim of advanced computational techniques is to identify the active sites in specific proteins and moreover to suggest a generalized mechanism by which such protein-ligand (or protein-protein) interactions can be effected. Developing such tools is not an easy task - it requires extensive expertise in the area of molecular biology as well as a firm grasp of numerical modeling methods. Thus, it is often viewed as a prime candidate for interdisciplinary research.

This book provides excellent techniques for detecting and evaluating biofilms: sticky films on materials that are formed by bacterial activity and produce a range of industrial and medical problems such as corrosion, sanitary problems, and infections. Accordingly, it is essential to control biofilms and to establish appropriate countermeasures, from both industrial and medical viewpoints. This book offers valuable, detailed information on these countermeasures. It also discusses the fundamentals of biofilms, relates various substrates to biofilms, and presents a variety of biofilm reactors. However, the most important feature of this book (unlike others on the market) is its clear focus on addressing the practical aspects from an engineering viewpoint. Therefore, it offers an excellent practical guide for engineers and researchers in various fields, and can also be used as a great academic textbook.

This book comprises the proceedings of the second International Conference, AsiaHaptics 2016, held in Kashiwanoha, Japan. The book treats the state of the art of the diverse haptics (touch)-related research, including scientific research of haptics perception and illusion, development of haptics devices, and applications to a wide variety of fields such as education, medicine, telecommunication, navigation, and entertainment. This work helps not only active haptic researchers, but also general readers to understand what is going on in this interdisciplinary area of science and technology.

This monograph presents the latest developments and applications of computational tools related to the biosciences and medical engineering. Computational tools such as the finite element methods, computer-aided design and optimization as well as visualization techniques such as computed axial tomography open completely new research fields with a closer joining of the engineering and bio/medical area. Nevertheless, there are still hurdles since both directions are based on quite different ways of education. Often even the "language" is sometimes different from discipline to discipline. This monograph reports the results of different multi-disciplinary research projects, for example, from the areas of scaffolds and synthetic bones, implants and medical devices and medical materials. It is also shown that the application of computational methods often necessitates mathematical and experimental methods.

Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC) technology is a rapidly expanding area of science. It has applications in biotechnology, medicine, clinical diagnostics, chemical engineering, and pharmaceutics. As the LOC systems increase in importance and complexity, it is important for scientists to become familiar not only with the technology, but also with the potential applications. The editors of this book have brought together expert authors from many countries to produce a comprehensive volume focusing on the applications of LOC technology in the biomedical and life sciences. The first section includes chapters on LOC biomolecule separation. Separation of biomolecules is an important element of various clinical laboratories and is required for many "down stream" analytical applications. Various electrophoresis and liquid chromatography applications for proteins and DNA are described, as well as methods for cell separation, with an emphasis on blood cell separation, which have many important clinical applications. The second part includes chapters on analysis and manipulation technologies. Authors describe protein, genetic (mainly PCR), and transcriptome analysis with examples from research and clinical applications, as well as cell manipulation and analysis including cell viability analysis and microorganism capturing. A skillful selection of topics of exceptional importance to current science ensures that this book will be of major value to a wide range of molecular biologists, clinical scientists, microbiologists, biochemists, and anyone interested in LOC technology or developing applications for LOC devices.

This volume represents a valuable collection of mobile health (mHealth) emerging technologies. Chapters focus on three main areas of mHealth: technologies for in vitro and environmental testing, mHealth technologies for physiological and anatomical measurements and mHealth technologies for imaging. This book is designed to make mHealth more accessible and understandable to engineers, medical professionals, molecular biologists, chemical, and physical science researchers developing mHealth technologies. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, technical information about materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Mobile Health Technologies : Methods in Molecular Biology aims to improve access to medical procedures including early detection, diagnostics and treatment through the development of new portable and accessible devices, and that this will lead to improved health technologies.

This book reviews the current understanding of the mechanical, chemical and biological processes that are responsible for the degradation of a variety of implant materials. All 18 chapters will be written by internationally renowned experts to address both fundamental and practical aspects of research into the field. Different failure mechanisms such as corrosion, fatigue, and wear will be reviewed, together with experimental techniques for monitoring them, either in vitro or in vivo. Procedures for implant retrieval and analysis will be presented. A variety of biomaterials (stainless steels, titanium and its alloys, nitinol, magnesium alloys, polyethylene, biodegradable polymers, silicone gel, hydrogels, calcium phosphates) and medical devices (orthopedic and dental implants, stents, heart valves, breast implants) will be analyzed in detail. The book will serve as a broad reference source for graduate students and researchers studying biomedicine, corrosion, surface science, and electrochemistry.

Systems-level neuronal mechanisms that coordinate the temporally, anatomically, and functionally distributed neuronal activity into coherent cognitive operations in the human brain have remained poorly understood. In humans, neuronal oscillations and synchronization can be recorded non-invasively with electro- and magnetoencephalography (EEG and MEG) that have excellent temporal resolution and an adequate spatial resolution when combined with source-reconstruction methods. In this book, leading authors in the field describe how recent methodological advances have paved the way to several major breakthroughs in the observations of large-scale synchrony from human non-invasive MEG data. This volume also presents the caveats influencing analyses of synchronization. These include the non-homogeneous sensitivity of MEG to superficial cortical sources, and, most importantly, the multitude of consequences of linear mixing. Linear mixing is an immense confounder in the sensor-level analyses of synchronization, but is also present at the source level. Approaches that can be used to avoid or compensate for these issues are then discussed. Thereafter, several authors take up a number of the functional roles that large-scale synchronization has in cognition. The authors assess how the spatio-temporal and -spectral organization and strength of both local and large-scale synchronized networks are associated with conscious sensory perception, visual working memory functions, and attention. These chapters summarize several lines of research showing how the strength of local and inter-areal oscillations in both cortical and subcortical brain structures is correlated with cognitive functions. Together these data suggest that synchronized neuronal oscillations may be a systems-level neuronal mechanism underlying the coordination of distributed processing in human cognition. In line with this argument, other authors go on to describe how oscillations and synchronization are altered in clinical populations, complementing the data presented on healthy subjects. Importantly, this book includes chapters from authors using many different approaches to the analyses of neuronal oscillations, ranging from local oscillatory activities to the usage of graph theoretical tools in the analyses of synchronization. In this way the present volume provides a comprehensive view on the analyses and functional significance of neuronal oscillations in humans. This book is aimed at doctoral and post-doctoral students as well as research scientists in the fields of cognitive neuroscience, psychology, medicine, and neurosciences.

This book reviews the state-of-the-art in multiscale computer modeling, in terms of both accomplishments and challenges. The information in the book is particularly useful for biomedical engineers, medical physicists and researchers in systems biology, mathematical biology, micro-biomechanics and biomaterials who are interested in how to bridge between traditional biomedical engineering work at the organ and tissue scales, and the newer arenas of cellular and molecular bioengineering.

Bloom Filter: A Data Structure for Computer Networking, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things, Bioinformatics, and Beyond focuses on both the theory and practice of the most emerging areas for Bloom filter application, including Big Data, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things, and Bioinformatics. Sections provide in-depth insights on structure and variants, focus on its role in computer networking, and discuss applications in various research domains, such as Big Data, Cloud Computing, and Bioinformatics. Since its inception, the Bloom Filter has been extensively experimented with and developed to enhance system performance such as web cache. Bloom filter influences many research fields, including Bioinformatics, Internet of Things, computer security, network appliances, Big Data and Cloud Computing.

This book offers readers a comprehensive biomaterials-based approach to achieving clinically successful, functionally integrated vasculogenesis and myogenesis in the heart. Coverage is multidisciplinary, including the role of extracellular matrices in cardiac development, whole-heart tissue engineering, imaging the mechanisms and effects of biomaterial-based cardiac regeneration, and autologous bioengineered heart valves. Bringing current knowledge together into a single volume, this book provides a compendium to students and new researchers in the field and constitutes a platform to allow for future developments and collaborative approaches in biomaterials-based regenerative medicine, even beyond cardiac applications.

"Advanced Mechatronics and MEMS Devices"describes state-of-the-art MEMS devices and introduces the latest technology in electrical and mechanical microsystems. The evolution of design in microfabrication, as well as emerging issues in nanomaterials, micromachining, micromanufacturing and microassembly are all discussed at length in this volume. Advanced Mechatronics also provides a reader with knowledge of MEMS sensors array, MEMS multidimensional accelerometer, artificial skin with imbedded tactile components, as well as other topics in MEMS sensors and transducers. The book also presents a number of topics in advanced robotics and an abundance of applications of MEMS in robotics, like reconfigurable modular snake robots, magnetic MEMS robots for drug delivery and flying robots with adjustable wings, to name a few.

This monograph presents the latest results related to bio-mechanical systems and materials. The bio-mechanical systems with which his book is concerned are prostheses, implants, medical operation robots and muscular re-training systems. To characterize and design such systems, a multi-disciplinary approach is required which involves the classical disciplines of mechanical/materials engineering and biology and medicine. The challenge in such an approach is that views, concepts or even language are sometimes different from discipline to discipline and the interaction and communication of the scientists must be first developed and adjusted. Within the context of materials' science, the book covers the interaction of materials with mechanical systems, their description as a mechanical system or their mechanical properties.

This book presents innovative intelligent techniques, with an emphasis on their biomedical applications. Although many medical doctors are willing to share their knowledge - e.g. by incorporating it in computer-based advisory systems that can benefit other doctors - this knowledge is often expressed using imprecise (fuzzy) words from natural language such as "small," which are difficult for computers to process. Accordingly, we need fuzzy techniques to handle such words. It is also desirable to extract general recommendations from the records of medical doctors' decisions - by using machine learning techniques such as neural networks. The book describes state-of-the-art fuzzy, neural, and other techniques, especially those that are now being used, or potentially could be used, in biomedical applications. Accordingly, it will benefit all researchers and students interested in the latest developments, as well as practitioners who want to learn about new techniques.

This manual offers a stand-alone reading companion, unique in simplifying the practical components of Bioinformatics in a unique and user-friendly manner. It covers the practical component of syllabi used at most leading universities and discusses the most extensively used tools and methodologies in Bioinformatics. Research in the biological sciences has made tremendous strides in recent years due in part to the increased automation in data generation. At the same time, storing, managing and interpreting huge volumes of data has become one of the most challenging tasks for scientists. These two aspects have ultimately necessitated the application of computers, giving rise to a highly interdisciplinary discipline-Bioinformatics. Despite the richness of bioinformatics resources and methods, the exposure of life sciences undergraduates and postgraduates to bioinformatics is extremely limited. Though the internet offers various tools for free, and provides guides for using them, it fails to help users interpret the processed data. Moreover, most sites fail to update their help pages to accommodate software upgrades. Though the market is flooded with books discussing the theoretical concepts in Bioinformatics, a manual of this kind is rarely found. The content developed to meet the needs of readers from diverse background and to incorporate the syllabi of undergraduate and postgraduate courses at various universities.

This book describes a global assessment of stem cell engineering research, achieved through site visits by a panel of experts to leading institutes, followed by dedicated workshops. The assessment made clear that engineers and the engineering approach with its quantitative, system-based thinking can contribute much to the progress of stem cell research and development. The increased need for complex computational models and new, innovative technologies, such as high-throughput screening techniques, organ-on-a-chip models and in vitro tumor models require an increasing involvement of engineers and physical scientists. Additionally, this book will show that although the US is still in a leadership position in stem cell engineering, Asian countries such as Japan, China and Korea, as well as European countries like the UK, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands are rapidly expanding their investments in the field. Strategic partnerships between countries could lead to major advances of the field and scalable expansion and differentiation of stem cells. This study was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Damage to the central nervous system resulting from pathological mechanical loading can occur as a result of trauma or disease. Such injuries lead to significant disability and mortality. The peripheral nervous system, while also subject to injury from trauma and disease, also transduces physiological loading to give rise to sensation, and mechanotransduction is also thought to play a role in neural development and growth. This book gives a complete and quantitative description of the fundamental mechanical properties of neural tissues, and their responses to both physiological and pathological loading. This book reviews the methods used to characterize the nonlinear viscoelastic properties of central and peripheral neural tissues, and the mathematical and sophisticated computational models used to describe this behaviour. Mechanisms and models of neural injury from both trauma and disease are reviewed from the molecular to macroscopic scale. The book provides a comprehensive picture of the mechanical and biological response of neural tissues to the full spectrum of mechanical loading to which they are exposed. This book provides a comprehensive reference for professionals involved in pre prevention of injury to the nervous system, whether this arises from trauma or disease.

This book presents the methodology and techniques of thermographic applications with focus primarily on medical thermography implemented for parametrizing the diagnostics of the human body. The first part of the book describes the basics of infrared thermography, the possibilities of thermographic diagnostics and the physical nature of thermography. The second half includes tools of intelligent engineering applied for the solving of selected applications and projects. Thermographic diagnostics was applied to problematics of paraplegia and tetraplegia and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). The results of the research activities were created with the cooperation of the four projects within the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic entitled Digital control of complex systems with two degrees of freedom, Progressive methods of education in the area of control and modeling of complex object oriented systems on aircraft turbocompressor engines, Center for research of control of technical, environmental and human risks for permanent development of production and products in mechanical engineering and Research of new diagnostic methods in invasive implantology.

This book describes the interaction of living matter with photons, neutrons, charged particles, electrons and ions. The authors are specialists in the field of radiation protection. The book synthesizes many years of experiments with external radiation exposure in the fields of dosimetry and radiation shielding in medical, industrial and research fields. It presents the basic physical concepts including dosimetry and offers a number of tools to be used by students, engineers and technicians to assess the radiological risk and the means to avoid them by calculating the appropriate shields. The theory of radiation interaction in matter is presented together with empirical formulas and abacus. Numerous numerical applications are treated to illustrate the different topics. The state of the art in radiation protection and dosimetry is presented in detail, especially in the field of simulation codes for external exposure to radiation, medical projects and advanced research. Moreover, important data spread in different up to date references are presented in this book. The book deals also with accelerators, X-rays facilities, sealed sources, dosimetry, Monte Carlo simulation and radiation regulation. Each chapter is split in two parts depending on the level of details the readers want to focus on. The first part, accessible to a large public, provides a lot of simple examples to help understanding the physics concepts under radiation external exposure. The second part, called "Additional Information" is not mandatory; it aims on explaining topics more deeply, often using mathematical formulations. The book treats fundamental radiometric and dosimetric quantities to describe the interaction in materials under the aspects of absorbed dose processes in tissues. Definitions and applications on limited and operational radiation protection quantities are given. An important aspect are practical engineering tools in industrial, medical and research domains. Source characterization and shielding design are addressed. Also more "exotic" topics, such as ultra intense laser and new generation accelerators, are treated. The state of the art is presented to help the reader to work with the book in a self-consistent way. The basic knowledge necessary to apply Monte Carlo methods in the field of radiation protection and dosimetry for external radiation exposure is provided. Coverage of topics such as variance reduction, pseudo-random number generation and statistic estimators make the book useful even to experienced Monte Carlo practitioners. Solved problems help the reader to understand the Monte Carlo process. The book is meant to be used by researchers, engineers and medical physicist. It is also valuable to technicians and students.

This book describes the rational design, development and application of nucleic acid amplification strategies for biosensing, bioimaging and biomedicine. It consists of fifteen chapters demonstrating the use of these strategies in various areas, including fluorescence techniques, Chemiluminescence biosensors, electrochemiluminescence biosensors, colorimetric assays, surface plasmon resonance technologies, electrochemical DNA sensors, photoelectrochemical biosensor, nanopore sensors, quartz crystal microbalance, fluorescence imaging, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, in vitro and in vivo metal ions detection, theranostics and microdroplet chips. Offering a collection of reviews illustrating the latest advances in biochemical analysis and therapeutics, the book shares valuable insights into current challenges and future prospects, making it a valuable resource for a wide readership in the various fields of biosensing, bioimaging and biomedicine.

This detailed new edition provides complete and easy access to a variety of antibody engineering techniques. The volume explores topics such as the generation of native, synthetic, or immune antibody libraries, the selection of lead candidates via the different powerful and innovative display technologies, Fc engineering, as well as their production, characterization, and optimization of antibodies. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, 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 up-to-date, Antibody Engineering: Methods and Protocols, Third Edition presents the reader with an extensive toolbox to create the powerful molecules of tomorrow.

Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC) devices integrate and scale down laboratory functions and processes to a miniaturized chip format. Many LOC devices are used in a wide array of biomedical and other analytical applications including rapid pathogen detection, clinical diagnosis, forensic science, electrophoresis, flow cytometry, blood chemistry analysis, protein analysis, and DNA analysis. LOC devices can be fabricated from many types of material including various polymers, glass, or silicon - or combinations of these materials. A broad variety of fabrication technologies are used for LOC device fabrication. LOC systems have several common features including microfluidics and sensing capabilities. Microfluidics deals with fluid flow in tiny channels using flow control devices (e.g. channels, pumps, mixers, and valves). Sensing capabilities, usually optical or electrochemical sensors, can also be integrated into the chip. This invaluable book describes the latest methods and novel technologies being developed for the fabrication of LOC devices and the new approaches for fluid control and manipulation. Expert authors from around the world describe and discuss the newest technologies for the prototyping of devices, including replication and direct machining methods of fabrication. Part I of the book covers all aspects of fabrication including laser micromachining, silicon and glass micromachining, PMMA and COC microfluidic substrates, and xurography (LOC prototyping with a cutting plotter). Part II focuses on fluid control and manipulation for LOC systems. As well as providing examples of the use of pumps in microfluidics, the topics covered include electrokinetic pumping (electroosmois), electrochemical pumping and electrowetting, and the fabrication of a microchip for rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This comprehensive volume presents the current technologies in the field and includes theoretical and technical information to enable both the understanding of the technology and the reproduction of experiments. The book will help the reader to understand current LOC technologies, to perform similar experiments, to design new LOC systems, and to develop new methodologies and applications. It is an essential book for biologists and clinicians using LOC technology and developing applications and also for engineering, chemical, and physical science researchers developing analytical technologies. It will also be useful as a teaching tool for bioengineering, biomedical engineering, and biology.

Nanotechnology plays a key leading role in developing tools able to identify, measure, and study cellular events at the nanometric level as well as in contributing to the disclosure of unknown biological interactions and mechanisms, which opens the door for advances including nanodevices for diagnostic and therapy, drug delivery systems, and regenerative medicine. In Nanotechnology in Regenerative Medicine: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers in the field provide an overview of a very wide range of currently used technologies and methods that involve nanotechnology principles applicable to tissue regeneration. Being that the application of nanotechnology to regenerative medicine is a very broad field, this book focuses its interests on particular areas such as its use as a means to produce efficient platforms and structures for tissue engineering, delivery systems and biosensors, as well as the use of some techniques to study materials surfaces and the interactions between cells, biomolecules, and surfaces at the nanoscale. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, chapters include introductions to their related 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, Nanotechnology in Regenerative Medicine: Methods and Protocols provides established scientists, junior researchers, and students involved in the bioengineering, biotechnology, and biomedical fields with a sound foundation in a variety of vital nanotechnology approaches in regenerative medicine.