Sunday Times bestseller We have a lifetime's association with our bodies, but for many of us they remain uncharted territory. In Adventures in Human Being, Gavin Francis leads the reader on a journey through health and illness, offering insights on everything from the ribbed surface of the brain to the secret workings of the heart and the womb; from the pulse of life at the wrist to the unique engineering of the foot. Drawing on his own experiences as a doctor and GP, he blends first-hand case studies with reflections on the way the body has been imagined and portrayed over the millennia. If the body is a foreign country, then to practise medicine is to explore new territory: Francis leads the reader on an adventure through what it means to be human. Both a user's guide to the body and a celebration of its elegance, this book will transform the way you think about being alive, whether in sickness or in health. Published in association with the Wellcome Collection. WELLCOME COLLECTION Wellcome Collection is a free museum and library that aims to challenge how we think and feel about health. Inspired by the medical objects and curiosities collected by Henry Wellcome, it connects science, medicine, life and art. Wellcome Collection exhibitions, events and books explore a diverse range of subjects, including consciousness, forensic medicine, emotions, sexology, identity and death. Wellcome Collection is part of Wellcome, a global charitable foundation that exists to improve health for everyone by helping great ideas to thrive, funding over 14,000 researchers and projects in more than 70 countries. wellcomecollection.org

Biomechanics of the Gastrointestinal Tract is an up-to-date book for researchers on the study of the mechanical properties and the motor system of the gastrointestinal tract. A well-illustrated book, it provides a comprehensive overview to relevant tissue geometry, morphology and biomechanical theory. Separate chapters cover smooth muscle and nerve function including the application to animal and human studies of motility, symptoms and pain, determination of the true resting state, history-dependent properties, and tissue remodelling in disease. Several methods and diagnostic applications such as determination of in vivo length-tension diagrams and multimodal pain testing are completely new but will undoubtedly be used by many in the future. New non-invasive imaging techniques based on ultrasound, MR- and CT-scanning in combination with balloon distension are emerging as the techniques for future in vivo studies.

In this volume of Reviews of Physiology there are three outstanding contributions, the first on Selenium-containing proteins in mammals and other forms of life, and the second on constitutively active and G-protein coupled inward rectifier K+ channels: Kir2.0 and Kir3.0 and the third on Chloroplast quest: a journey from the cytosol into the chloroplast and beyond.

First Published in 1988. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Boost your exam chances with this brand new workbook and revision guide, designed to improve and assess your knowledge of anatomy and physiology theory and how it applies to practical treatments. - Prepare for success with comprehensive coverage of anatomy and physiology by body system - Coach yourself with a variety of workbook activities for self-study - Test yourself with multiple-choice and exam-style questions - Combine your workbook with Helen McGuinness's bestselling Anatomy and Physiology textbook (sold separately) for the strongest anatomy and physiology support in your Beauty Therapy studies

First published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book highlights the advancements in different fields of clinical electrophysiology and gives the reader a good background of the established practices. To tackle such a wide topic, the book focuses on two main aspects: ablation and pacing, discussing the novel energy sources and approaches to rhythm restoration and control; devices and signal processing, highlighting the new available technologies and numerical approaches aiding practice and home medicine. It also presents the reader with selected strategies that could be a paradigm shifts for the field: in situ cell reprogramming, exploiting the newly founded achievements in epigenetic modification of somatic cells; artificial intelligence; cardiac digital twinning, which aims to collect the information from imaging, mechanics and electrophysiology and condense it into a patient-specific model for personalized treatment.

Traumatic brain injury has complex etiology and may arise as a consequence of physical abuse, violence, war, vehicle collisions, working in the construction industry, and sports. Cellular, Molecular, Physiological, and Behavioral Aspects of Traumatic Brain Injury will improve readers' understanding of the detailed processes arising from traumatic brain injury. Featuring chapters on neuroinflammation, metabolism, and psychology, this volume discusses the impact of these injuries on neurological and body systems to better understand underlying pathways. This book will be relevant for neuroscientists, neurologists, clinicians, and anyone working to better understand traumatic brain injury.

This book offers physiology teachers a new approach to teaching their subject that will lead to increased student understanding and retention of the most important ideas. By integrating the core concepts of physiology into individual courses and across the entire curriculum, it provides students with tools that will help them learn more easily and fully understand the physiology content they are asked to learn. The authors present examples of how the core concepts can be used to teach individual topics, design learning resources, assess student understanding, and structure a physiology curriculum.

The seven papers of this volume present a glimpse into current research on soft tissue mechanics as well as some future directions. The seven papers concern tissues within the cardiovascular system: three focus on arteries, three on the heart, and one on biaxial testing of planar tissues such as heart valves. Given that cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the developed world, the importance of such research is clear.

There are notable common features of the seven papers. First, most of the proposed constitutive relations are motivated directly by data on the underlying microstructure, and especially the orientations of a structurally important protein (collagen) that forms as undulated cross-linked fibers. Another feature of most of the papers is the consideration of the fact that both arteries and the heart contain muscle and that there is a need to quantify the so-called active (contractile) response in addition to the passive (non-contractile) response. Such relations must not only be structurally motivated, they must ultimately include the kinetics of calcium transport in the muscle. Constitutive relations for active behavior are discussed in the majority of the papers. The growth and remodeling of cardiovascular tissues is another common feature of the papers. Over the last twenty years, separate advances in biochemistry, cell biology, genetic engineering, and biomechanics have focused attention on the ubiquitous role of growth and remodeling of tissues. This volume should be of interest to cardiovascular researchers in particular, and to bioengineers and biomechanics soft tissue researchers in general.

The enormous and varied role of calcium in living systems is now widely appreciated by both cell biologists and clinicians. The identification and characterisation of new calcium binding proteins and regulatory pathways is matched by the recognition of the involvement of calcium binding proteins in a growing number of disease states. This book is intended to introduce clinicians to fundamental biological research, whilst at the same time attracting researchers to the clinical world. The publication of the book coincides with the elucidation of the complete Human Genomic Sequence. As a result of this, scientists now have access to an unprecedented array of data, from which new calcium binding proteins and hence new regulatory pathways will undoubtedly be discovered. It is a further aim of this book to provide a key' to open the door to the new postgenomic era. The book is in three parts. The first section introduces the reader to the role of calcium in cell biology, providing an appreciation of how this small, simple, non-metabolisable agent can move rapidly and silently through the different cellular compartments, thereby influencing and controlling the fate of the cell. This section also illustrates and dissects the often-complex interplay between calcium and numerous agents in muscle and endocrine cells, neurons, hepatocytes, and platelets. In the second section the reader will discover the role of calcium and its partners in common diseases such as migraine and drug dependence. New classes of diseases such as annexinopathies, channelopathies, calcium-sensing disorders, and citrullinemia are discussed, and the authors give many new insights into the molecular mechanisms of the diseases, thereby explaining how and why they occur. Such information is clearly of primary importance for the pharmaceutical industry. New ideas and concepts of neurodegenerative diseases are introduced, which should stimulate new approaches. Clinicians will also have access, in a comprehensive and authoritative yet highly readable chapter, to data from recent large-scale clinical studies on the numerous and widely prescribed calcium antagonists. The final section gives information on new methods and devices for calcium imaging, and illustrates how calcium movement and change can be monitored and ingeniously utilised as a fast, cheap, and accurate drug screening instrument.

Nearly everything making up what we call the "environment" of a plant has an infuence on the way it grows. Sunlight, te- perature, moisture contents of soil and atmosphere and vib- tions are all obvious examples of environmental components, and transient variations in their amount or intensity lead the plant to manifest more or less immediate responses. Small changes in carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere can even have effects, but these take a longer time to be registered - at least those that are visible, albeit at the microscopic level. Plants meet the challenges of the environment by means of acclimation. In this respect, plants are notable for the pl- ticity of their development. However, where morphological or physiological plasticity is no longer an option, the responses would be by means of adaptations as a result of genetic - lection or genetic "assimilation" (Waddington 1957). Thus, a feature that was once a facultative transient response to an environmental perturbation becomes a constitutive charac- ristic of plant structure or function. It is in this way that the environment continually molds the way in which plants de- lop, and also defnes the areas upon planet Earth where they will thrive.

First published in 1986. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

It is an exciting task to be the editor of the first monograph covering a new area of the biomedical sciences. Since the first report in 1980 by Robert Furchgott and colleagues (see Chapter 1) of the evidence of endothelium-dependent relaxation in isolated arteries, there are ever increasing numbers of vascular physiologists and pharmacologists who are scraping away the endothelium to look into its role in cardiovascular con trol. And the more one looks, the more one discovers. Not only is the list of substances that can induce endothelium-dependent relaxations im pressively long, but these intriguing cells can also secrete vasoconstrictor substances. The ability of the endothelium to modulate the degree of con traction of the underlying smooth muscle is an ancestral property of the blood vessel wall, illustrating the logic of nature, since the endothelial cells are located in the best possible strategic location to continuously monitor the properties (chemical or physical) of the blood. And more and more data emerge suggesting that in several cardiovascular diseases per turbations in endothelium-dependent responses are one of the early signs of the abnormal process. Thus, the importance of endothelium-dependent responses, triggered by the intellectual curiosity of one of the pioneers of vascular physiology and pharmacology, is now recognized not only by basic scientists, but also by all concerned with the cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of this monograph is to provide them with a reference work, so that they know where to start."

First published in 1985. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book provides a comprehensive, up-to-date review of the state of knowledge on the role of microbes in inducing autoimmune diseases. The initial chapters address the basic concept and clinical implications of immunology, while the following section discusses the role of genetics, epigenetics, hormones, stochastic and environmental factors in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity. The third section introduces readers to various autoimmune disorders and presents the cellular and molecular mechanisms of autoimmune diseases. In closing, the book examines the role of intestinal flora in the development of autoimmune diseases, delineates the underlying mechanism responsible for autoimmunity onset, and examines the potential of microbial therapeutics in the prevention and treatment of autoimmune diseases. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable asset for all scientists and clinicians working in immunology, rheumatology and autoimmune diseases.

Fetal & Neonatal Physiology provides neonatologist fellows and physicians with the essential information they need to effectively diagnose, treat, and manage sick and premature infants. Fully comprehensive, this 2-volume resource continues to serve as an excellent reference tool, focusing on the basic science needed for exam preparation and the key information required for full-time practice. The 5th edition is the most substantially updated and revised edition ever. In the 5 years since the last edition published, there have been thousands of publications on various aspects of development of health and disease; Fetal and Neonatal Physiology synthesizes this knowledge into definitive guidance for today's busy practitioner. Offers definitive guidance on how to effectively manage the many health problems seen in newborn and premature infants. Chapters devoted to clinical correlation help explain the implications of fetal and neonatal physiology. Allows you to apply the latest insights on genetic therapy, intrauterine infections, brain protection and neuroimaging, and much more. Expert Consult eBook version included with purchase. This enhanced eBook experience allows you to search all of the text, figures, images, and references from the book on a variety of devices. Features a fantastic new 4-color design with 1,000 illustrations, 170+ chapters, and over 350 contributors. 16 new chapters cover such hot topics as Epigenetics; Placental Function in Intrauterine Growth Restriction; Regulation of Pulmonary Circulation; The Developing Microbiome of the Fetus and Newborn; Hereditary Contribution to Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia; Mechanistic Aspects of Phototherapy for Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia; Cerebellar Development; Pathophysiology of Neonatal Sepsis; Pathophysiology of Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn; Pathophysiology of Meconium Aspiration Syndrome; Pathophysiology of Ventilator Dependent Infants; Pathophysiology of Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury; Pathophysiology of Neonatal White Matter Injury; Pathophysiology of Meningitis; Pathophysiology of Preeclampsia; and Pathophysiology of Chorioamnionitis. New Pathophysiology of Neonatal Diseases section highlights every process associated with a disease or injury, all in one place. In-depth information, combined with end-of-chapter summaries, enables deep or quick use of the text.

First published in 1984. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

National Book Award finalist
A "New York Times" notable book
"One knows early on one is reading a classic--a text so necessary and abundant and true that all efforts of its kind, for decades before and after it, will be measured by it."--Thomas Lynch, "Los Angeles Times"
After fifteen years in print, "Woman "remains an essential guide to everything from organs to orgasms and hormones to hysterectomies. With her characteristic clarity, insight, and sheer exuberance of language, bestselling author Natalie Angier cuts through the still prevalent myths and misinformation surrounding the female body, that most enigmatic of evolutionary masterpieces. "Woman "is a witty and assured narrative tour de force with a reliable grasp of science.
Updated throughout and with a new introduction bringing readers up to date on the latest science in evolutionary psychology and hormone replacement therapy, this new edition of Woman reinvigorates Angier's joyful vision of womanhood.
"Ultimately, this grand tour of the female body provides a new vision of the role of women in the history of our species."--"Washington Post"

This book is an edited collection of the literature on leptin beginning with the discovery of leptin and a study of its affect on animals and in humans. Chapters will focus on the discovery, history, roles and regulation of leptin in all the major areas of physiology, as well as on assay methods, phylogeny and genetics. The timing of this volume is long overdue and is the first comprehensive coverage of leptin physiology in the field.

Human-Like Biomechanics is a comprehensive introduction into modern geometrical methods to be used as a unified research approach in two apparently separate and rapidly growing fields: mathematical biomechanics and humanoid robotics. The term human-like biomechanics is used to denote this unified modelling and control approach to humanoid robotics and mathematical biomechanics, based on theoretical mechanics, differential geometry and topology, nonlinear dynamics and control, and path-integral methods. From this geometry-mechanics-control modelling perspective, "human" and "humanoid" means the same. This unified approach enables both design of humanoid systems of immense complexity and prediction/prevention of subtle neuro-musculo-skeletal injuries. This approach has been realized in the form of the world-leading human-motion simulator with 264 powered degrees of freedom, called Human Biodynamics Engine (developed in Defence Science & Technology Organisation, Australia).

The book contains six Chapters and an Appendix. The first Chapter is an Introduction, giving a brief review of mathematical techniques to be used in the text. The second Chapter develops geometrical basis of human-like biomechanics, while the third Chapter develops its mechanical basis, mainly from generalized Lagrangian and Hamiltonian perspective. The fourth Chapter develops topology of human-like biomechanics, while the fifth Chapter reviews related nonlinear control techniques. The sixth Chapter develops covariant biophysics of electro-muscular stimulation. The Appendix consists of two parts: classical muscular mechanics and modern path integral methods, which are both used frequently in the main text. Thewhole book is based on the authorsa (TM) own research papers in human-like biomechanics.

The importance of polyamines for all living cells has been recognized since spermine was discovered in human semen more than 300 years ago. Polyamine research intensified when analytical methods were developed for their determination, particularly in tissues and biological fluids. Discovering their close correlation with cancer, and that polyamine concentrations change during the cell cycle, gave reason for further research in this topic. Polyamines in Health and Nutrition concentrates on the direction of polyamine research which has the capacity to influence and benefit our health and which can explain some of the discrepancies and failures of earlier research. It is important to recognize the dietary contribution to the polyamine body pool and to investigate how the polyamine content of the diet can be changed, with the ultimate aim of using this information to improve our health.

The Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre was founded in 1994 with the support of a grant from the Danish National Research Foundation. Among the goals for the Centre is the organization of research symposia, with the aim of bringing a limited number ofintemation ally renowned scientists together to discuss the latest developments and perspectives in their field. The first Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre Conference was held in 1995 and dealt with cardiovascular regulation. The Second Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre Confer ence was held from October 23-26, 1997. The topic of the Symposium was Muscle Metabo lism: Regulation, Exercise, and Diabetes. Seventy invited scientists from all over the world discussed their latest research related to skeletal muscle metabolism. The speakers were asked to expand on their presentations and to write short, but comprehensive, chapters about their given topics. The result is 28 peer-reviewed and edited chapters covering many if not all aspects of muscle energy metabolism related to exercise and diabetes. Emphasis is on regulation of glucose and fatty acid metabolism and the mechanisms regulating their use as fuels for the muscle during exercise. In addition, abnormalities in the regulation of glucose metabolism in the diabetic state are described. However, amino acid and protein metabolism are also thoroughly discussed. We believe that this volume brings an unparralleled, up to date, and comprehensive review of the frontiers in muscle metabolism. Erik A."

Nutrients have been recognized as essential for maximum growth, successful reproduction, and infection prevention since the 1940s; since that time, the lion's share of nutrient research has focused on defining their role in these processes. Around 1990, however, a major shift began in the way that researchers viewed some nutrients particularly the vitamins. This shift was motivated by the discovery that modest declines in vitamin nutritional status are associated with an increased risk of ill-health and disease (such as neural tube defects, heart disease, and cancer), especially in those populations or individuals who are genetically predisposed. In an effort to expand upon this new understanding of nutrient action, nutritionists are increasingly turning their focus to the mathematical modeling of nutrient kinetic data. The availability of suitably-tagged (isotope) nutrients (such as B-carotene, vitamin A, folate, among others), sensitive analytical methods to trace them in humans (mass spectrometry and accelerator mass spectrometry), and powerful software (capable of solving and manipulating differential equations efficiently and accurately), has allowed researchers to construct mathematical models aimed at characterizing the dynamic and kinetic behavior of key nutrients in vivo in humans at an unparalleled level of detail."

Many complex molecular interactions are involved in the development of the mammalian brain. Molecules serving as guidance cues for migratory cells, growing axons and for recognition of postsynaptic targets are a major topic for research because they are directly involved in the formation of neuronal circuits, thus creating the foundation for subsequent functional refinement through interactions with the environment. In addition, most guidance cue molecules are also involved in plasticity, damage repair and regeneration in the adult brain. This volume reviews current knowledge on major classes of molecules involved in: guidance of growing axons; tau proteins involved in the establishment of axonal polarity, outgrowth and contact recognition; gangliosides and lectins involved in neuronal migration, neurite outgrowth and contact recognition; and myelin molecules that inhibit nerve regeneration.