Rather than existing in a planktonic or free-living form, evidence indicates that microbes show a preference for living in a sessile form within complex communities called biofilms. Biofilms appear to afford microbes a survival advantage by optimizing nutrition, offering protection against hostile elements, and providing a network for cell-to-cell signaling and genetic exchange. Biofilms, Infection, and Antimicrobial Therapy provides an in-depth exploration of biofilms, offering broad background information, as well a detailed look at the serious concerns to which biofilm-associated infections give rise. Prosthetic device infections, such as those involving artificial heart valves, intravascular catheters, or prosthetic joints, are prime examples of biofilm-associated infections. With the increasing use of such devices in the modern practice of medicine, the prevalence of these infections is expected to increase. Unfortunately, one of the most troubling characteristics of microbes found in biofilms is a profound resistance to antimicrobial agents. As biofilm-associated infections are particularly difficult to treat, they result in significant mortality, morbidity, and increased economic burden. Clearly, a better understanding of the pathogenesis of these infections and improved means for prevention and treatment are urgently needed! InBiofilms, Infection, and Antimicrobial Therapy, Drs Pace, Rupp, and Finch assemble the contributions of more than 50 of the world's leading authorities on microbial biofilms who present recent findings on antibacterial tolerance and bacterial persistence associated with biofilms and discuses the implications of those findings with regard to human health. They explore the molecular mechanisms of bacterial adherence, biofilm formation, regulation of biofilm maintenance, and cell-to-cell communication and present the latest information on various treatment protocols that should aid physicians in the treatment o

The Understanding GERD chart presents a detailed overview of the symptoms and causes of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). Several views show normal esophagus and stomach anatomy, as well as GERD, esophagitis and Barrett's esophagus. Heavy gauge 3ml lamination with sealed edges and two metal eyelets for hanging makes chart highly durable. Write-on/wipe-off with dry erase marker (not included).

Examine the unique emotional challenges and issues that face couples of mixed HIV status today! Previous books on this subjectmostly written in the days when HIV/AIDS was considered a fatal rather than a chronic diseasefocused on end-of-life issues. However, Couples of Mixed HIV Status: Clinical Issues and Interventions addresses the unique emotional challenges facing today's couples of mixed HIV status and provides a conceptual framework for assessment and intervention. The book offers examples of how to apply emotionally focused couple therapy to help them work through issues including disclosure, the fear of HIV transmission, shifts in emotional intimacy, family planning, betrayal, mistrust, and uncertainty. This unique work, its knowledge base, and the interventions you'll find inside, are applicable to any practitioner who provides couple and family therapyas well as any practitioner who counsels around issues of chronic illness. Couples of Mixed HIV Status provides therapists with a range of theoretical approaches to help mixed HIV status couples deal with their issues and concerns. It includes applications of couple therapy approaches that have proved to be particularly effective as well as case studies that demonstrate how different relationship variables may affect therapy. The book presents the findings of a research study involving 44 mixed HIV status couples in the Northeast and is generously illustrated with tables that make complex research results easy to access and understand. Topics covered in Couples of Mixed HIV Status include: various approaches to couples therapy the historical context of HIV/AIDS HIV transmission family planning and HIV/AIDS emotionally focused couple therapy disclosure issues attachment theory and much more! Couples of Mixed HIV Status: Clinical Issues and Interventions is a valuable resource for therapists and other mental health counselors working with today's couples of mixed HIV status as well as for students of counseling and health related services. Readers who may be in a mixed HIV status relationship or those who are friends and family members of couples living with HIV will also find this book helpful.

This book focuses on lipid metabolism in tumor immunity, covering the application of lipidomics in tumor immunity and all aspects of lipid metabolism in tumor microenvironment. During the progression of tumors, tumor cells and immune cells interact in a dynamic microenvironment. Targeting the immune system has a high potential for treating cancer. However, due to the high heterogeneity of the tumor microenvironment, only a small percentage of patients experience such clinical benefits of tumor immunotherapy. Therefore, understanding the tumor microenvironment is crucial for tumor immunity. Recently, lipid metabolism is an emerging research direction and contributes to cell survival and biofunctions in tumor microenvironment, which is of great interest and significance to be elucidated. This book provides the doctors, researchers, and scientists with a cutting-edge overview of the lipid metabolism and its role in tumor immunity. It also yields benefits for pharmaceutical companies regarding drug discovery.

This book provides an overview of the latest experimental work on sex-based differences in lung function and inflammation. Readers will learn how these differences relate to individual predispositions for the development of lung disease in men and women, and in different stages of their reproductive lives. Further, the book focuses on diseases that predominantly affect women or men, with an emphasis on the physiological mechanisms underlying their pathobiology. In turn, these findings are complemented by chapters on recent studies, which investigate how circulating sex hormone levels impact the lung's innate immune response to environmental agents and air pollution. The pathogeneses of asthma and viral respiratory infection are also major focus areas. As an outlook, the book also discusses current and future research directions aimed at developing sex-specific therapies for lung disease. To examine these anatomical and physiological differences in the male and female respiratory systems, the authors employ a broad range of methods from molecular and clinical biology. Accordingly, the book will be a fascinating read for physiologists and clinicians alike.

Despite the growth of various forms of online discussion, their impact on American political life is only beginning to be examined systematically. In Politics Online Richard Davis provides a thorough analysis detailing the political attitudes, behavior, and demographic nature of the electronic discussion community contrasting that community with the general public.

The increased incidence of pancreatic cancer in the Western world and its grave prognosis has resulted in an urgency for research in this area. Until now the available data on toxicology of the pancreas has been few and fragmentary, scattered throughout the literature. A benchmark volume, Toxicology of the Pancreas pulls together information in this neglected area of toxicological research and highlights fundamental research performed in the last ten years. Leaders in the field discuss important structures, the detoxification and toxification process at the cellular and sub-cellular level, the distribution of phase 1 and phase 2 drug-metabolizing enzymes and their role in pancreatic disease, and the role of diet and toxicants on pancreatic disease. The book also covers the role of altered genes in the integrity of the pancreas and explores comparative toxicology in humans and in the lab species used in testing. Illustrated with histological, electron microscopical, and immunohistochemical formats, this book provides a comprehensive and novel presentation of biological and toxicological data. It stands alone as a reliable resource of information easily accessible to professionals in different disciplines.

Clinical Problems in Oncology: A Practical Guide to Management is an easy-to-use, compact reference guide packed with essential practical information on how to manage oncological emergencies as well as the side effects and complications of cancer and its treatment. The main objective is for the book to become a go-to reference guide for UK-based oncology registrars (fellows in the USA) and house officers seeking information on how to manage and deal with oncological problems at the point of care, on the wards as well as in outpatient clinics. However, the book is prepared in such a way that it will be of use to other medical professionals in the UK or Europe who encounter oncology patients in the course of their work. The book covers the most common scenarios encountered in the day-to-day management of both clinical and medical oncology patients and collates useful information that is currently scattered around in various different places. For example, if a patient was admitted neutropenic with abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea then the doctor may wish to access the following resources: Guidelines on when to use GCSFPharmacy details regarding the toxicities associated with their chemotherapy (i.e. does their chemotherapy regime often cause diarrhoea?)Details on how to grade toxicityA review article on the management of chemotherapy-induced diarrhoeaPharmacy monographs on the correct prescribing of electrolyte replacementPalliative care guidance on how to switch oral opiates to IV opiates or how to start a syringe driverIt is often difficult to find this kind of specific, practical information in a timely manner, even using the Internet Clinical Problems in Oncology collates all of this information and puts it at the practitioner's fingertips, making heavy use of bullet points, tables and flowcharts in order to assist users in finding the information they need quickly. While not replacing local cancer treatment guidelines, this exciting new book provides a truly useful starting point for the management of oncology patients.

This book focuses on topics ranging from the economics of drug-resistant infections and the management of antimicrobial use to new information on methods to optimize the selection, route of administration, dosing, and duration of antimicrobial therapies for common infections. In addition to offering ideas on studied programmatic approaches for judicious utilization of antimicrobial agents, this reference discusses practical means to track intervention outcomes through benchmarking. Authored by experts in their respective fields, the book contains essential principles and practical strategies to optimize the utility of antimicrobial agents in modern inpatient health care settings.

Top scientific authors contribute their expertise and put a wealth of complex information into perspective in Skin Immune System: Cutaneous Immunology & Clinical Immunodermatology, Third Edition. This edition provides an overview of the skin immune system (SIS), a totally updated section on immunodermatological diseases, and six new chapters. Part I presents historical and comparative information on immunodermatology and includes a new chapter on the immunogenetics of inflammatory skin disease, while Part II covers the cellular elements of SIS and highlights newly defined functional subclasses of cells. Part III describes the humoral elements of SIS and provides two new chapters which focus on defensins and cathelicidins, and on the chemokines of human skin. Part IV discusses how the cellular and humoral elements of SIS interact under different circumstances and includes a new chapter on signal transduction pathways in cutaneous immunology. Part V focuses on dermatological diseases with a significant immunological background with a new chapter on the immunology of cutaneous drug eruptions, followed by Part VI on immunotherapy in dermatology, which features a new chapter reflecting the recent wave of products from biotechnology. Since the publication of the previous editions, a great deal of significant information has become available in almost all areas of cutaneous immunology and clinical immunodermatology. This progress has now been reflected in a completely updated and expanded resource.

This book explains the pharmacological relationships between the various systems in the human body. It offers a comprehensive overview of the pharmacology concerning the autonomic, central, and peripheral nervous systems. Presenting up-to-date information on chemical mediators and their significance, it highlights the therapeutic aspects of several diseases affecting the cardiovascular, renal, respiratory, gastrointestinal, endocrinal, and hematopoietic systems. The book also includes drug therapy for microbial and neoplastic diseases. It also comprises sections on immunopharmacology, dermatological, and ocular pharmacology providing valuable insights into these emerging and recent topics. Covering the diverse groups of drugs acting on different systems, the book reviews their actions, clinical uses, adverse effects, interactions, and subcellular mechanisms of action. It is divided into 11 parts, subdivided into several chapters that evaluate the basic pharmacological principles that govern the different types of body systems. This book is intended for academicians, researchers, and clinicians in industry and academic institutions in pharmaceutical, pharmacological sciences, pharmacy, medical sciences, physiology, neurosciences, biochemistry, molecular biology and other allied health sciences.

This extensive book brings together leading melanoma researchers from across the world and highlights many of the cutting-edge protocols and experimental systems currently being used to investigate questions surrounding this disease. The volume opens with sections on 2D and 3D cell culture-based approaches for studying melanoma biology, and continues with collections of chapters examining various approaches for detecting, isolating, and characterizing circulating melanoma cells, circulating tumor DNA, and exosomes, as well as experimental procedures for studying and detecting melanoma metastasis in both pre-clinical and clinical settings, bioinformatics-based approaches, protocols for quantifying and characterizing immune cell infiltrates in both melanoma tumors and tertiary lymphoid structures, and development and evaluation of therapeutic strategies for melanoma treatment. 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 comprehensive, Melanoma: Methods and Protocols aims to serve basic research scientists and clinicians who bring questions from the clinic into the lab in order to translate observations in the laboratory into improved patient care for this highly malignant form of cancer. Chapter 14 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book is one of the first books that deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 pandemic has affected countries all over the world and has made a significant impact on daily life and healthcare facilities and treatment systems. The book covers the main recent emerging technologies that are related to the COVID-19 crisis. The technologies that are included in this book play a significant role in tackling COVID-19 in the future. The scope of this book is to cover all advanced emerging technologies and artificial intelligence techniques to fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

Translational NeuroImmunology: Neuroinflammation updates on bench to bedside studies on neurological disorders that have immunological etiologies. The book covers neuroimmunology and the principles of autoimmune and autoinflammatory neurological disorders, with multiple sclerosis as the main focus. The immunopathology, genetics and epigenetics, microbiome, diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis will be explained in ten chapters. A chapter also examines distinct aspects of pericytes, with final discussions on the neurologic manifestations, diagnostic approaches and treatments of the various neuroimmune disorders and lessons learned from translational research on non-human primates and zebrafish. All sections are presented in an accessible, practical format, making this volume a valuable resource for immunologists, neurologists and researchers in translational biomedical research.

This open access book summarizes the latest scientific findings regarding the biological effects of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) accident in 2011. Various cases of changes in animals and organisms have been reported since the FNPP accident. However, it is often unknown whether they are actually due to radiation, since the dose or dose-rate are not necessarily associated with the changes observed. This book brings together the works of radiation biologists and ecologists to provide reliable radioecology data and gives insight into future radioprotection. The book examines the environmental pollution and radiation exposure, and contains valuable data from abandoned livestock in the ex-evacuation zone and from wild animals including invertebrates and vertebrates, aqueous and terrestrial animals, and plants that are subjected to long-term exposure in the area still affected by radiation. It also analyzes dose evaluation, and offers new perspectives gained from the accident, as well as an overview for future studies to promote radioprotection of humans and the ecosystem. Since the biological impact of radiation is influenced by various factors, it is difficult to scientifically define the effects of low-dose/low-dose-rate radiation. However, the detailed research data presented can be combined with the latest scientific and technological advances, such as artificial intelligence, to provide new insights in the future. This book is a unique and valuable resource for researchers, professionals and anyone interested in the impact of exposure to radiation or contamination with radioactive materials.

Compiling an authoritative collection of research, recommendations, and guidelines from a highly regarded team of experts, this reference promotes a clear understanding of the chemotherapeutic management of cancer in each organ site of the lower female genital tract including the ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, vulva, and vagina.