It is a pleasure to introduce this new book, Clinical and Pathological Aspects of Skin Diseases in Endocrine, Metabolic, Nutritional, and Deposition Disease, edited by two of my friends and respected colleagues, Franco Rongioletti and Bruce R. Smoller. In fact, I was very ent- siastic when I learned that they were preparing this work. Although endocrine, metabolic, w, and deposition diseases are regularly included in general textbooks of dermatology and d- matopathology, one gains the general impression that these topics receive little emphasis and are mainly included for completeness. The prospect of having all of this information in one volume, lovingly described and detailed by experts in the feld, should be of great interest not only to dermatologists, pathologists, and dermatopathologists but also to internists and en- crinologists, who may well gain a different perspective on these disorders. As a derma- pathologist, I am also pleased that this project has been organized and undertaken by two distinguished authorities in cutaneous pathology. This assures a close integration of histo- thology and other laboratory techniques with the clinical aspects of these disorders, which will make it possible - perhaps for the frst time - to view these conditions in a truly comprehensive way. So I invite you, the reader, to open this volume and dig in; be prepared for an eye-catching, intellectually stimulating, and ultimately rewarding experience! Charlottesville, VA James W. Patterson v w Foreword II Dermatopathology is a bridge between Dermatology and Pathology.

Understanding the influence and interaction between physical activity and the endocrine system are of paramount importance in dealing with a multitude of health problems. In Endocrinology of Physical Activity and Sport, renowned physicians and researchers provide a comprehensive and expanded update on the scientific, clinical and practical components of endocrinology as related to sport and exercise. The authors thoroughly review what is known about how such activity effects the endocrine system and how in turn these hormonal responses affect many other organs and systems of the body. In addition, aspects of endocrinology in non-glandular tissue which have endocrine actions are addressed; for example, adipocytes and the release of leptin and related adipocytokines. Further, a wide range of clinically related topics such as athletic amenorrhea, osteopenia, sarcopenia, and hypogonadism are included. This new edition critically integrates what is known about the complex interaction of the endocrine system in the sports context and will again prove immensely valuable to all physicians and clinical investigators treating those active in sports today.

The book covers areas of cellular physiology and metabolism that are of interest to scientists involved in research in diabetes and metabolic diseases. Some chapters of the book are specifically research-oriented, as all the authors are actively practicing either bench or clinical research in the area. Nonetheless, since the work is fully comprehensive of the discipline, it is also suitable for university classes of graduate and undergraduate students. In particular, the book discusses classical aspects of cellular physiology and the metabolism of physical exercise, as well as novel topics like exercise in transplantation and exercise in beta-cell failure, which mark the frontiers of research in sport-related sciences and research. Exercise physiologists, biologists and physicians are the specific professional and academic targets of this work. The team of authors together with the editor are world-renowned experts in the field of physiology and metabolism applied to sport sciences.

In recent years, human studies have made enormous contributions towards an understanding of the genetic basis of diabetes mellitus; however, most of the experimentation needed for the invention and testing of novel therapeutic approaches cannot be performed in humans. Thus, there is no alternative to appropriate animal models. In Animal Models in Diabetes Research, expert researchers explore the current status of the most important models and procedures in order to provide a timely resource in experimental diabetology. The first half of the volume serves as a comprehensive overview on our current knowledge of the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of diabetes in animal models through a series of reviews in model strains. The book then continues with vital, established protocols that are employed in the characterization and study of animal models of diabetes. As a volume in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series, this work contains the type of detailed description and key implementation advice necessary to achieve successful results. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Animal Models in Diabetes Research delivers essential content that will be an important resource to advance diabetes research in the years to come.

In modern medicine, the aging population is prone to many simultaneous cardiovascular (CV) risk factors which often produce co-incident pathology. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the interaction between Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), Diabetes and diverse CV diseases (CVD). This is a complex and challenging area, as the presence of CKD/diabetes promotes CVD while also complicating its treatment. The emergence of CKD as a public health priority is one of the most challenging problems of modern medicine. It is now solidly established that renal dysfunction portends a high risk for cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular diseases remains the main cause of death in western societies and the amplification of the death risk conveyed by coexisting CKD, even though still poorly understood, appears considerable. The bidirectional link that associates renal and cardiovascular diseases, the high risk of the death signalled by their coexistence and the considerable epidemiological burden imposed by this link is at the basis of the emergence of a new discipline aiming at making the borders between nephrology and cardiovascular medicine even more permeable than before. The term Cardio-Renal Syndrome was coined around 5 years ago to try to formalize this link, and act as a stimulus to interaction between clinical teams, researchers and others to achieve better management and outcomes for all. This book takes clinical presentations and clinical problems as its base, and then discuss the evidence for best management of common clinical problems as well as the reasons for the complex interplay between the cardiac and renal systems. Moreover, it addresses the issue of organizing healthcare to maximize the opportunities for prevention and best healthcare economic returns, building on cutting edge initiatives at the Karolinska, Stockholm. The book will be of immediate value and interest to all cardiologists and renal physicians.

This book's aim is to increase the awareness of a great variety of posttranslational modifications in the male and female reproductive system. Some of the most intriguing reproductive strategies, mechanisms, and pathways involving PTM are discussed, with an added angle of evolutionary conservation and diversity. The book also chapters on sperm-egg binding, as well as on histone modification in both the embryo and sperm. Chapters are also devoted to protein ubiquitination, the regulation of sperm function during fertilization in mammals and tubulin modifications in gametes and embryos. There are no other current books on posttranslational protein modifications as they relate to reproduction, making this contribution unique in the field. It is useful for both researchers and graduate students alike.

This book serves as a comprehensive resource on toxicants that can be released from food packaging materials and household plastics. Chapters include sources and levels of chemical exposure, known and suspected health effects and the identification of data gaps with recommendations for further research. In addition, regulatory approaches and risk assessment challenges in the United States and Europe are discussed. Chapters cover both the more widely known chemicals that can migrate from food packaging (bisphenol A, perfluorinated chemicals), and household plastics (lead, phthalates, brominated flame retardants), as well as chemicals that are just entering use in food packaging (nanomaterials in polymer food packaging) and chemicals recently identified as migrating from food packaging to food stuffs (phthalates, benzophenones, antimony, methylnaphthalene and the alkylphenols nonylphenol and octylphenol). Chapters on phthalates and brominated flame retardants discuss challenges that arise with the use of replacement chemicals. The health effect sections of chapters have drawn on a wide variety of toxicological endpoints and recommend approaches to better assess toxicological risks in vulnerable human populations. Reflecting the global nature of our food supply and household consumer goods, contributions have been drawn from international experts. A wide range of scientists will find this book to be useful, including toxicologists, environmental health scientists, food scientists, and regulators.

This contributed volume presents computational models of diabetes that quantify the dynamic interrelationships among key physiological variables implicated in the underlying physiology under a variety of metabolic and behavioral conditions. These variables comprise for example blood glucose concentration and various hormones such as insulin, glucagon, epinephrine, norepinephrine as well as cortisol. The presented models provide a powerful diagnostic tool but may also enable treatment via long-term glucose regulation in diabetics through closed-look model-reference control using frequent insulin infusions, which are administered by implanted programmable micro-pumps. This research volume aims at presenting state-of-the-art research on this subject and demonstrating the potential applications of modeling to the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes. The target audience primarily comprises research and experts in the field but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

This volume represents an up-to-date overview on the major areas of gynecological endocrinology, providing the reader with a complete explanation of female endocrine regulation and metabolism and relevant disorders and treatment. It is published within the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology (ISGE) Series and is based on the 2013 International School of Gynecological and Reproductive Endocrinology Summer Course. The book covers a very wide range of topics – from primary amenorrhea to menopause, from the impact of ovarian surgery on fertility to fertility cryopreservation, from metabolic syndrome and polycystic ovary to premature ovarian failure and from the clinical impact of selective progesterone receptor modulators to the use of progesterone in prevention of premature labor. It will be an important tool for obstetricians and gynecologists, endocrinologists and experts in women’s health as well as interested GPs.

Female Puberty: A Comprehensive Guide for Clinicians is a practical reference, covering the full range of issues related to pubertal development. Developed to answer pointed clinical questions and to provide a thorough review of the literature, the book covers both the basics and the complexities of puberty, encompassing psychosocial development to pubertal nuances in highly specialized populations. Comprehensive in scope, this title offers concepts that are concisely conveyed and chapters that complement each other well. Complex subjects such as details of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis are covered in a readily understandable manner and bullet points throughout the text serve as helpful reminders to the reader. An invaluable contribution to the literature, Female Puberty: A Comprehensive Guide for Clinicians will be of great interest to all health providers concerned with female reproductive health - including obstetrician gynecologists, reproductive endocrine specialists, pediatricians, pediatric specialists, family practitioners and allied health professionals.

Diabetes and Kidney Disease reviews the most up-to-date research on diabetic nephropathy, the current understanding of its pathophysiology, renal structural alterations and clinical features and summarizes recent evidence-based clinical treatment modalities for the prevention and management of diabetic kidney disease. General clinical aspects are covered, as well as an overview to the novel approaches being designed by leading researchers in the field. A convenient compendium for physicians involved in the care of diabetic patients with varying degrees of kidney involvement, Diabetes and Kidney Disease is also a handy resource for medical residents and students interested in the current status and future approaches to reducing the burden of diabetes and diabetic kidney disease.

Androgens play a critical role in the development and maintenance of the male reproductive system and affect important physiological processes and pathological conditions, including the homeostasis of the normal prostate and prostate cancer. Androgen Action: Methods and Protocols is designed to provide a tool box to study various phases of androgen action, from its entry to the cell to the phenotypic response that the cell mounts, with up-to-date techniques for biochemists, molecular biologists, cell biologists, geneticists, and pathologists. The volume opens with a brief review of the research history on androgen action and prostate carcinogenesis, followed by chapters that cover state-of-the-art methods to determine androgen levels in biological tissues and fluids, experimental procedures to study the various aspects of androgen receptor activity, and methodology to study salient examples of interactions between androgen signalling and other major signalling pathways in cells. Written in the 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 protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and easily accessible, Androgen Action: Methods and Protocols provides a comprehensive overview of, and practical guidance on, the diverse methodologies that are propelling androgen action research forward, both for normal physiology as well as in disease states.

Medical Applications of Electrochemistry, a volume of the series Modern Aspects of Electrochemistry, illustrates the interdisciplinary nature of modern science by indicating the many current issues in medicine that are susceptible to solution by electrochemical methods. This book also suggests how personalized medicine can develop.

Clinical Care Pathways in Andrology provides a valuable resource for understanding clinical decision-making in the context of the predominant male reproductive and sexual disorders for which patients commonly seek evaluation and treatment. Conditions that are less well-known but can be severely bothersome to patients, such as penile sensory loss, are also presented. Based on clinical evidence and expert consensus, practical clinical care pathways are featured for each condition. Each clinical care pathway consists of an algorithm that delineates the overall structure of decision-making for each condition, describes initial clinical presentations, and guides the reader through diagnostic testing and treatment. Furthermore, the volume features annotations that develop key andrological concepts and provide explanations for each step in diagnosis and management. Designed for clarity and ease of use, Clinical Care Pathways in Andrology is a practical and valuable reference for urologists, primary care physicians, and residents who are not specialty trained in andrology.

In theoretical terms, sex differences in brains and behaviors of laboratory animals offer the possibility of fascinating scientific studies on a range of molecular phenomena such as genomic imprinting, DNA methylation, chromatin protein modification, non-coding DNA, potentially resulting in important neuroanatomical and neurochemical sex differences in the brain. Such sex differences could arise consequent to exposures to testosterone early in development, or to other effects deriving from the Y chromosome. However, this general subject has been treated with much hyperbole. Historically, sex differences were assumed to be present where they did not really exist, e.g. with respect to mathematics, executive leadership, etc. etc. Under what circumstances do we really care about sex differences in brain and behavior? These circumstances concern human maladies whose diagnoses are much different between boys and girls, or between women and men. Prominent examples discussed in this volume include autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders and congenital adrenal hyperplasia. In fact, infant boys are more susceptible than infant girls to a variety of disorders that arise early in development. This volume then ends with a consideration of effects of estrogenic hormones on the injured brain, and their roles as protective agents.

Hormone measurement is necessary for the diagnosis of a wide range of clinical conditions and is essential for monitoring the effectiveness of treatment. As the number of hormone requests in the clinical field rises exponentially, it has become imperative to create hormone assays accessible to researchers with a varied range of equipment. Hormone Assays in Biological Fluids, Second Edition reviews common techniques used to measure hormones as well as relatively new methods such as tandem mass spectrometry. Additionally, subsequent chapters detail methods for a broad range of hormones; Techniques and principles covered are transferable to a wide range of substances across species. 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, Hormone Assays in Biological Fluids, Second Edition will serve students, technologists, laboratory scientists, and researchers looking to apply, or attain a greater understanding of, methods for measuring hormones.

In the past four years, many genetic loci have been implicated for BMI from the outcomes of genome-wide association studies (GWAS), primarily in adults. Insulin-induced gene 2 (INSIG2) was the first locus to be reported by this method to have a role in obesity but replication attempts have yielded inconsistent outcomes. The identification of the second locus, the fat mass- and obesity-associated gene (FTO), h has been more robustly observed by others. Studies from both FTO knock out and FTO overexpression mouse model support the fact that FTO is directly involved in the regulation of energy intake and metabolism in mice, where the lack of FTO expression leads to leanness while enhanced expression of FTO leads to obesity. Along with numerous other studies, a number of genetic variants have been established robustly in the context of obesity, giving us fresh insights into the pathogenesis of the disease. This book will give a comprehensive overview of efforts aimed at uncovering genetic variants associated with obesity, which have been particularly successful in the past 5 years with the advent of genome-wide association studies (GWAS). This book will cover this state of the art technology and its application to obesity in great detail. Topics covered will include genetics of childhood obesity, genetics of syndromic obesity, copy number variants and extreme obesity, co-morbidities of obesity genetics, and functional follow-up of genetic variants.

Diabetes has long been recognized as a disease of high blood sugar, and there has been a continuous search of the exact reason for its development and effective treatment. In 2005, the World Health Organization had estimated that more than 180 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes mellitus and indicated that this figure is likely to double within the next 20 years. Among the 3.8 million deaths each year associated with diabetes, about two thirds are attributable to cardiovascular complications, and diabetes is now considered to be a major metabolic risk factor for the occurrence of heart disease. Diabetic Cardiomyopathy: Biochemical and Molecular Mechanisms is a compilation of review articles devoted to the study on the topic with respect to biochemical and molecular mechanisms of hyperglycaemia. The wide range of areas covered here is of interest to basic research scientists, clinicians and graduate students, who are devoted to study the pathogenesis of diabetes-induced cardiovascular dysfunction. Furthermore, some chapters are directed towards increasing our understanding of novel ways for the prevention/treatment of cardiomyopathy. Twenty five articles in this book are organized in three sections. The first section discusses general aspects of the metabolic derangements in diabetic cardiomyopathy including metabolic alterations and substrate utilization as well as cardiac remodelling in the heart; role of diet in the development of metabolic syndrome in the heart; effect of hyperglycaemia in terms of biochemical and structural alterations in heart. In the second section, several cellular and molecular mechanisms are discussed indicating that diabetic cardiomyopathy is a multifactorial and complex problem. The third section discusses the prevention and treatment of diabetes using appropriate diet, proper supplements including antioxidants, angiotensin inhibitors and some other drugs. All in all, this book discusses the diverse mechanisms of diabetic cardiomyopathy with some information on new therapeutic approaches for finding solutions to prevent or reverse the development of cardiac dysfunction.

This concise handbook provides an overview of incretin-based therapies and guidance for incorporating them into the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Chapters include landmark clinical trials and international treatment guidelines in order to update readers with all major advances in the field. An ideal resource for medical professionals that treat patients with type 2 diabetes in hospital and clinical settings.

Comprised exclusively of clinical cases covering abnormal female puberty and its clinical management, this concise, practical casebook will provide clinicians in reproductive endocrinology, gynecology and pediatrics with the best real-world strategies to properly diagnose and treat the various forms of the condition they may encounter. Each chapter is a case that opens with a unique clinical presentation, followed by a description of the diagnosis, assessment and management techniques used to treat it, as well as the case outcome and clinical pearls and pitfalls. Cases included illustrate different causes of abnormal puberty as well as management strategies, including congenital anomalies, endocrine disorders, issues of constitutional delay, obesity, eating disorders, ovarian cancer and the effect of pharmacology, among others. Pragmatic and reader-friendly, Abnormal Female Puberty: A Clinical Casebook will be an excellent resource for reproductive endocrinologists, gynecologists and pediatricians alike.

This SpringerBrief focuses on clinical nutrition research, particularly on the effects of slowly absorbed carbohydrates on postprandial glucose metabolism in type 2 diabetes. Slowlyabsorbed carbohydrates will cause gradual increases in blood glucose and insulin levels, and may therefore be effective as part of a treatment strategy for glycemic control and reduction of cardiovascular complications in type 2 diabetes.

This book provides critical insights into and appraisals of recent breakthroughs in type 1 diabetes modulation, with a particular emphasis on the potential impact of current prevention and treatment strategies. It also discusses recent successes and failures in clinical trials. Presenting an comprehensive overview of the disease, it is especially useful for newcomers in the field. It also includes illustrations, which make it easy for the reader to grasp the basic concepts involved. Furthermore, the tables include concise and easy-to-understand information on current clinical trials.

The book aims to cover basic physiologic functions of melatonin, and its therapeutic applications in humans for a variety of clinically relevant disorders. This book contains chapters on the recent aspects of melatonin physiology, its receptors and their role in mitochondrial function, its immunomodulatory role and importance in seasonal dependent diseases, role in human reproduction, role in sleep, circadian rhythm and sleep disorders, role in neurologic disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, melatonin's therapeutic use in neurobehavioral disorders in children, migraine and tension headache is also covered in this book. Melatonin's antioxidant role in Duchenne's muscular dystrophy and in glaucoma have also been discussed in short chapters. Two major melatonin agonists, ramelteon and agomelatine are discussed extensively on their current clinical application and ongoing research. Two chapters on agomelatonin and its role in mood disorders, particularly depressive disorders, are an important feature of this book. The chapters are written by experts from the global academia recognized for their original research and published work in the field of melatonin science.

There are several types of damage that can be found in the male gamete. Genetic damage in spermatozoa can originate during spermatogenesis, or it can originate during transit in both male and female genital tracts. Damage can also be due to ageing, environmental or iatrogenic conditions, as well as to the protocols to cryopreserve and to select spermatozoa in assisted reproduction techniques. The purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive resource for all possible DNA damages in sperm, the relation to fertility and infertility, and possible transgenerational heritable effects.