The obesity epidemic has generated immense interest in recent years due to the wide-ranging and significant adverse health and economic consequences that surround the problem. Much attention has been focused on behaviors that lead to obesity, in particular to over consumption of energy-dense food and to sedentary lifestyle. However, obesity is an extremely complex condition with poorly defined pathogenesis. Thanks to greatly enhanced research in the area, the discovery of pathways in the brain and peripheral organs that mediate energy homeostasis has provided a framework for understanding the biological basis of obesity. Metabolic Basis of Obesity adds an important new dimension to the growing literature on obesity by offering a comprehensive review of specifically how metabolic imbalance culminates in obesity. Developed by a team of expert authors, this important title discusses the principles of energy balance, genetics of body weight regulation, hormones and adipokines, and metabolic pathways in the brain, liver, muscle and fat, to name just several of the areas covered. The book also examines the connection between obesity and diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other complications. Current and future diagnostic and treatment strategies are also reviewed. Comprehensive and timely, Metabolic Basis of Obesity is an essential reference for understanding the burgeoning problem of obesity.

Hopefully, this book will be taken off of the shelf frequently to be studied carefully over many years. More than 40 researchers were involved in this project, which examines respiration, circulation, and metabolism from ?sh to the land vertebrates, including human beings. A breathable and stable atmosphere ?rst appeared about 500 million years ago. Oxygen levels are not stable in aquatic environments and exclusively water-breathing ?sh must still cope with the ever-changing levels of O 2 and with large temperature changes. This is re?ected in their sophisticated count- current systems, with high O extraction and internal and external O receptors. 2 2 The conquest for the terrestrial environment took place in the late Devonian period (355-359 million years ago), and recent discoveries portray the gradual transitional evolution of land vertebrates. The oxygen-rich and relatively stable atmospheric conditionsimpliedthatoxygen-sensingmechanismswererelativelysimpleandl- gain compared with acid-base regulation. Recently, physiology has expanded into related ?elds such as biochemistry, molecular biology, morphology and anatomy. In the light of the work in these ?elds, the introduction of DNA-based cladograms, which can be used to evaluate the likelihood of land vertebrates and lung?sh as a sister group, could explain why their cardio-respiratory control systems are similar. The diffusing capacity of a duck lung is 40 times higher than that of a toad or lung?sh. Certainly, some animals have evolved to rich high-performance levels.

Since the publication of the first edition of this book ten years ago, international research into the physiological ecology of plants in the tropics has increased enormously in quantity and quality. This brand new edition brings the story right up to date. New approaches have been developed in remote sensing while at the other end of the scale molecular biology has come on in leaps and bounds, particularly regarding ecological performance of tropical plants, e.g. in understanding the adaptation of resurrection plants to the extreme habitat of inselbergs. In this fully revised and updated second edition the wealth of new information has made it necessary to break large chapters down into smaller ones.

This insightful and comprehensive book covers nearly every aspect of glutamate receptor structure and function for the working researcher and student. It condenses two previous landmark volumes into one easily accessible volume, and covers the extraordinary research and significant developments in the decade since the previous books were published. This includes the central role glutamate receptors play in neurotransmission.

As the title suggests, and unlike other existing books on sleep medicine, Neuroendocrine Correlates of Sleep/Wakefulness will be devoted primarily to endocrine regulation of the behavioral state control. It will address a wide spectrum of sleep./wakefulness phenomena (both animals and humans), including pathogenesis, diagnosis, and management. From molecular biology to applied clinical therapy, sleep research has been transformed in the last few years from a research backwater to an important interdisciplinary field. Anyone who regularly reads the literature on sleep, biological rhythms, or neuroendocrinology is aware that one of the subspecialties within sleep medicine, the neuroendocrine correlates of sleep/wakefulness, has in particular experienced a growth rate that is even faster than that of the field as a whole. To a significant extent this has been due to the introduction of new research technologies. The widespread adoption of a range of new methods in sleep research has opened a window into activities at the cellular and molecular level, which previously had been tightly closed. Consequently these activities are being characterized with a degree of precision and sensitivity that is without precedent. This volume invites the reader to explore the new vistas that have been opened onto the neuroendocrine frontier of sleep medicine. The editors have selectively identified a number of key articles having a citation frequency, which is considerably above the norm or which otherwise have contributed importantly to defining the neuroendocrine perspective. This new volume on Neuroendocrine Correlates of Sleep/Wakefulness is an up-to-date resource of research summaries and reviews written by major contributors to the fields of sleep, biological rhythms and neuroendocrinology. Its coverage is broad and its basic and clinical science reviews are detailed. In this volume, an international team of experts discuss their latest ideas, concepts, methods, and interpretations with supporting examples. This volume is intended for advanced students and specialists in psychobiology, neuroscience, neuroendocrinology, and psychiatry but might also be interest to anyone concerned with understanding the Neuroendocrine correlates of sleep/wakefulness. The contributions are directed more towards providing an integrated view of the field from the perspective of the authors, rather than being a compendium of recent results. The intent is to provide a reference book for recent and future workers in this and related areas of medicine and biology. Each topic in this volume has received the attention of a panel of authors who have responded to our request to review and place into perspective the major issues, which will undoubtedly confront newcomers to the field. The topics dealt with in Neuroendocrine correlates of Sleep/wakefulness are both diverse and complex. The editors hope that this volume will provide an authoritative summary of important issues in the neuroendocrine correlates of sleep/wakefulness. We also hope that it will motivate new researchers to join the quest for solutions to the problems that have been identified by our contributing authors.

This volume is unique to the existing literature in the Peptide Nucleic Acid field, in that it focuses on comparing and contrasting PNA with other available oligonucleotide homologues and considers areas in which these biomolecules could be profitably applied to clinical and diagnostic applications. Part I of the book addresses comparative strengths and weaknesses of various nucleoside homologues. Part II of the book addresses specific translational or clinical applications for PNA and related antisense biomolecules. The editors have succeeded in presenting a balanced yet broad view of the methods available for gene targeting and modification.

This book collects articles on the biology of hematopoietic stem cells during embryonic development, reporting on fly, fish, avian and mammalian models. The text invites a comparative overview of hematopoietic stem cell generation in the different classes, emphasizing conserved trends in development. The book reviews current knowledge on human hematopoietic development and discusses recent breakthroughs of relevance to both researchers and clinicians.

These new volumes of Methods in Enzymology (554 and 555) on Hydrogen Sulfide Signaling continue the legacy established by previous volumes on another gasotransmitter, nitric oxide (Methods in Enzymology volumes 359, 396, 440, and 441), with quality chapters authored by leaders in the field of hydrogen sulfide research. These volumes of Methods in Enzymology were designed as a compendium for hydrogen sulfide detection methods, the pharmacological activity of hydrogen sulfide donors, the redox biochemistry of hydrogen sulfide and its metabolism in mammalian tissues, the mechanisms inherent in hydrogen sulfide cell signaling and transcriptional pathways, and cell signaling in specific systems, such as cardiovascular and nervous system as well as its function in inflammatory responses. Two chapters are also devoted to hydrogen sulfide in plants and a newcomer, molecular hydrogen, its function as a novel antioxidant.

Gabriel Waksman Institute of Structural Molecular Biology, Birkbeck and University College London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom Address for correspondence: Professor Gabriel Waksman Institute of Structural Molecular Biology Birkbeck and University College London Malet Street London WC1E 7H United Kingdom Email: g. waksman@bbk. ac. uk and g. waksman@ucl. ac. uk Phone: (+44) (0) 207 631 6833 Fax: (+44) (0) 207 631 6833 URL: http://people. cryst. bbk. ac. uk/?ubcg54a Gabriel Waksman is Professor of Structural Molecular Biology at the Institute of Structural Molecular Biology at UCL/Birkbeck, of which he is also the director. Before joining the faculty of UCL and Birkbeck, he was the Roy and Diana Vagelos Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis (USA). The rapidly evolving ?eld of protein science has now come to realize the ubiquity and importance of protein-protein interactions. It had been known for some time that proteins may interact with each other to form functional complexes, but it was thought to be the property of only a handful of key proteins. However, with the advent of hi- throughput proteomics to monitor protein-protein interactions at an organism level, we can now safely state that protein-protein interactions are the norm and not the exception.

That precursors of adult coronary artery disease, hypertension, and type II diabetes begin in childhood have been clearly established by the Bogalusa Heart Study. This unique research program has been able to follow a biracial (black/white) population over 35 years from childhood through mid-adulthood to provide perspectives on the natural history of adult heart diseases. Not only do these observations describe trajectories of cardio-metabolic risk variables leading to these diseases but provide a rationale for the need to begin prevention beginning in childhood. The trajectories of the burden of cardio-metabolic risk variables in the context of their fetal origin and chromosome telomere dynamics provide some insight into the metabolic imprinting in utero and aging process. The observed racial contrasts on cardio-metabolic risk variables implicate various biologic pathways interacting with environment contributing to the high morbidity and mortality from related diseases in our population. To address the seriousness of the onset of cardiovascular disease in youth, approaches to primordial prevention are described focussing on childhood health education as an important aspect of Preventive Cardiology.

This edition of the companion volumes Muscle Pain: Understanding the Mech- isms and Muscle Pain: Diagnosis and Treatment is essential reading for those interested in clinical approaches to acute and chronic pain conditions involving muscle tissues and in the mechanisms underlying these conditions. The volumes cover a very important topic in pain medicine, since muscle pain is very common and can often be dif?cult to diagnose and treat effectively. Furthermore, chronic pain involving muscle and other components of the musculoskeletal system increases with age, such that it is a common complaint of those of us who are middle-aged or older. Indeed, as changing population demographics in "west- nized" countries result in higher proportions of the population living longer and being middle-aged and elderly, chronic muscle pain will likely become even more of a health problem. In the case of acute muscle pain, this can often be very intense, and in the short term can limit or modify the use of components of the musculoskeletal system associated with the sensitive muscle. Chronic muscle pain can also be intense, as well as unpleasant and disabling, and it is in many cases the over-riding symptom of most musculoskeletal disorders that are associated with long-term deleterious changes in musculoskeletal function.

For years lipids have fascinated cell biologists and biochemists due to their profound effects on cell function. "Cellular Lipid Metabolism" highlights new concepts and recent findings, but also reviews important discoveries made in the past. Outstanding international experts contribute 13 chapters on the genetics, molecular and cell biology of lipids. Presenting analyses at the molecular level they reveal the principles by which cellular lipid metabolism functions. Further, numerous intriguing observations that cannot yet be explained are identified, stimulating the readers to future studies. This book provides an invaluable source of information for biomedical researchers in energy metabolism, vascular biology, endocrinology and lipidology.

The need to continually discover new agents for the control or treatment of invertebrate pests and pathogens is undeniable. Agriculture, both animal and plant, succeeds only to the extent that arthropod and helminth consumers, vectors and pathogens can be kept at bay. Humans and their companion animals are also plagued by invertebrate parasites. The deployment of chemical agents for these purposes inevitably elicits the selection of resistant populations of the targets of control, necessitating a regular introduction of new kinds of molecules. Experience in other areas of chemotherapy has shown that a thorough understanding of the biology of disease is an essential platform upon which to build a discovery program. Unfortunately, investment of research resources into understanding the basic physiology of invertebrates as a strategy to illuminate new molecular targets for pesticide and parasiticide discovery has been scarce, and the pace of introduction of new molecules for these indications has been slowed as a result. An exciting and so far unexploited area to explore in this regard is invertebrate neuropeptide physiology. This book was assembled to focus attention on this promising field by compiling a comprehensive review of recent research on neuropeptides in arthropods and helminths, with contributions from many of the leading laboratories working on these systems.

These new volumes of Methods in Enzymology (554 and 555) on Hydrogen Sulfide Signaling continue the legacy established by previous volumes on another gasotransmitter, nitric oxide (Methods in Enzymology volumes 359, 396, 440, and 441), with quality chapters authored by leaders in the field of hydrogen sulfide research. These volumes of Methods in Enzymology were designed as a compendium for hydrogen sulfide detection methods, the pharmacological activity of hydrogen sulfide donors, the redox biochemistry of hydrogen sulfide and its metabolism in mammalian tissues, the mechanisms inherent in hydrogen sulfide cell signaling and transcriptional pathways, and cell signaling in specific systems, such as cardiovascular and nervous system as well as its function in inflammatory responses. Two chapters are also devoted to hydrogen sulfide in plants and a newcomer, molecular hydrogen, its function as a novel antioxidant.

Increasing interest in the study of coordinated activity of brain cell ensembles reflects the current conceptualization of brain information processing and cognition. It is thought that cognitive processes involve not only serial stages of sensory signal processing, but also massive parallel information processing circuitries, and therefore it is the coordinated activity of neuronal networks of brains that give rise to cognition and consciousness in general. While the concepts and techniques to measure synchronization are relatively well characterized and developed in the mathematics and physics community, the measurement of coordinated activity derived from brain signals is not a trivial task, and is currently a subject of debate. Coordinated Activity in the Brain: Measurements and Relevance to Brain Function and Behavior addresses conceptual and methodological limitations, as well as advantages, in the assessment of cellular coordinated activity from neurophysiological recordings. The book offers a broad overview of the field for investigators working in a variety of disciplines (neuroscience, biophysics, mathematics, physics, neurology, neurosurgery, psychology, biomedical engineering, computer science/computational biology), and introduces future trends for understanding brain activity and its relation to cognition and pathologies. This work will be valuable to professional investigators and clinicians, graduate and post-graduate students in related fields of neuroscience and biophysics, and to anyone interested in signal analysis techniques for studying brain function.

The book "Paradigm Shift for Future Tennis" starts with revelations that make obvious the limitations of today's tennis, which does not use the laws of modern Biomechanics and Neurophysiology. The second part of the book includes a new approach to the quantum mind of a champion. It will reveal the secret weapon of Roger Federer and the blueprint of a future tennis champion. This book will expose the new tennis shot emerging from the field of sports science. It is a real weapon, which can generate a ball-speed similar to that of the first serve: the Power High-Forehand. Its aim is to generate maximal possible racket-head speed while players do not wait for the ball to bounce. This is both a tactical and psychological basis for the future tennis game. This aggressive interceptive psychology will shape the minds of future tennis champions. High racket-head speed can be achieved using the stretch-reflex, without big loops and swings. Weapons of a future tennis game will comprise of whip-like tennis serves and ground strokes, based on the stretch-reflex, and using the whole body in a fluid and integrated manner, thus manifesting a superb combination of speed and strength. Restructure your brain and apply the power of state of the art biomechanical, mathematical, medical, neural, cognitive, and quantum computational intelligence to understand the tennis of today and the future!

This volume will explore the most recent findings on cellular mechanisms of inhibitory plasticity and its functional role in shaping neuronal circuits, their rewiring in response to experience, drug addiction and in neuropathology. Inhibitory Synaptic Plasticity will be of particular interest to neuroscientists and neurophysiologists.

The volume raises attention to the need of a completely new approach to breast cancer based on the knowledge collected on early breast cancer in the past two decades. The chapters are contributed by experts of all the fields participating in the clinical research and care of breast cancer. The practical importance of such a book is underlined by the increasing number of breast cancer cases, and also the increasing proportion of early stage-cases. The ultimate goal of the book is to point to the heterogeneous nature of the disease which is more striking and has more importance in care at the very early stages than at the more advanced stages. The book recommends the utilization of all the information provided by multimodality imaging and special pathological methods, a new classification system and therapeutic guidelines since early breast cancers should not be treated based on experience obtained with palpable tumors. No similar book has been yet released to the market. The book is written for all the members of the team participating in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer (radiologists, pathologists, surgeons, clinical and radiation oncologists), but may be useful for medical students and residents too. The chapters are illustrated with didactic pictures, and special emphasis is given to provide a peep into the practice of the special procedures for the careful examination and individualized therapy of each case.

Mechanical stress is vital to the functioning of the body, especially for tissues such as bone, muscle, heart, and vessels. It is well known that astronauts and bedridden patients suffer muscle and bone loss from lack of use. Even the heart, in pumping blood, causes mechanical stress to itself and to vascular tissue. With the loss of mechanical stress, homeostasis becomes impaired and leads to pathological conditions such as osteopenia, muscle atrophy, and vascular tissue dysfunction. In elderly populations, such mechanical pathophysiology, as well as the mechanical activities of locomotor and cardiovascular systems, is important because skeletal and heart functions decline and cause diseases in other organs. In this monograph, mechanical stress is discussed by experts in the field with respect to molecular, cellular, and tissue aspects in relation to medicine. Covering topics such as gravity and tissues and disuse osteoporosis, the book provides the most up-to-date information on cutting-edge advancements in the field of mechanobiology and is a timely contribution to research into locomotor and circulatory diseases that are major problems in contemporary society.

This book summarizes 20 years of work on the kinetics of blood-brain transfer and metabolism mechanisms in mammalian brain. The substances affiliated with these mechanisms include glucose, amino acids, monocarboxylic acids, and oxygen. These substances are important to energy metabolism and neurotransmission in the mammalian brain at rest and during activation. To understand the processes addressed by these mechanisms, the book examines the kinetics of compartmentation and compartmental analysis, particularly as they relate to transporter, enzyme, and receptor function. Compartments are subsets of substances separated by transporters and receptors in membranes, and enzymes in cells. This book is divided in six major chapters covering compartmental analysis, kinetic analysis of transport and metabolism, blood-brain transfer and metabolism of glucose, amino acids, and oxygen, and amino acid metabolism and interaction of amino acid metabolites with receptors.

The study and modulation of cortical connections is a rapidly growing area in neuroscience. This unique book by prominent researchers in the field covers recent advances in this area. The first section of the book describes studies of cortical connections, modulation of cortical connectivity and changes in cortical connections with activities such as motor learning and grasping in primates. The second section covers the use of non-invasive brain stimulation to study and modulate cortical connectivity in humans. The last section describes changes in brain connectivity in neurological and psychiatric diseases, and potential new treatments that manipulate brain connectivity. This book provides an up-to-date view of the study of cortical connectivity, and covers its role in both fundamental neuroscience and potential clinical applications.

This book summarizes present knowledge of different mechanisms involved in the development of positive and negative consequences of cardiac adaptation. Particular attention is paid to the still underestimated adaptive cardiac responses during development, to adaptation to the frequently occurring pressure and volume overload as well as to cardiac changes, induced by enduring exercise and chronic hypoxia. Cardiac Adaptations will be of great value to cardiovascular investigators, who will find this book highly useful in their cardiovascular studies for finding solutions in diverse pathological conditions; it will also appeal to students, fellows, scientists, and clinicians interested in cardiovascular abnormalities.

The human immune system is a complex network of tissues and organs dispersed throughout the body. Immunology, as one of the most rapidly evolving fields in biomedical research, has to date covered the essential cellular and molecular events necessary for immune responses to occur. However, it has paid relatively little attention to important developmental processes underlying the formation of the tissues themselves that carry out immune responses in humans and other mammalians. In contrast to the thymus and bone marrow that are the sole tissues for generating mature leukocytes for antigen recognition and handling in humans and most mammalian species, the peripheral lymphoid tissues where adaptive immune responses are focused display broad tissue distribution and possess diverse architectural characteristics. These organs develop prior to the individual's exposure to external antigens, and despite their similar functions, their varied appearances indicate a substantial complexity of tissue ontogeny. This volume presents a comprehensive overview of the developmental features of the major peripheral lymphoid organs, thus examining the connection between immunological functionality and structural characteristics utilizing a developmental approach, for an audience ranging from undergraduate students to senior researchers in immunology, histology and clinical medicine.

First published in 1901, this volume contains ten lectures originally delivered as the 'Lane Lectures' by Sir Michael Foster at the Cooper Medical College in San Francisco. Examining the history of physiology from about the sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth century, the lectures consider the work and influence of key figures such as Vesalius, Harvey and Borelli, and chart the progress of scientific thought on matters such as digestion, respiration and the nervous system.