Laboratory Practices in Microbiology provides updated insights on methods of isolation and cultivation, morphology of microorganisms, the determination of biochemical activities of microorganisms, and physical and chemical effects on microorganisms. Sections cover methods of preparation of media and their sterilization, microorganisms in environment, aseptic techniques, pure culture techniques, preservation of cultures, morphological characteristics of microorganisms, wet-mount and hanging-drop techniques, different staining techniques, cultural and biochemical characteristics of bacteria, antimicrobial effects of agents on microorganisms, hand scrubbing in the removal of microorganisms, characteristics of fungi, uses of bacteriophages in different applications, and more. Applications are designed to be common, complete with equipment, minimal expense and quick to the markets. Images are added to applications, helping readers better follow the expressions and make them more understandable. This is an essential book for students and researchers in microbiology, the health sciences, food engineering and technology, and medicine, as well as anyone working in a laboratory setting with microorganisms.

This issue of Immunology and Allergy Clinics, guest edited by Dr. Lanny Rosenwasser, will provide up-to-date clinical concepts regarding Biologics for the Treatments of Allergic Conditions. Articles in this outstanding issue include: Allergic Rhinitis/CRS/Polyposis, Eosinophilic Asthma, Pediatric Asthma, Severe Asthma, ACOS/COPD, Food Allergy, Atopic Dermatitis, Chronic Urticaria, Anaphylaxis, Drug Allergy, Cell Disorders, Biologics and Immunotherapy, and much more.

Every aspect of immune function and host defense is dependent upon a proper supply and balance of nutrients. Severe malnutrition can cause significant alteration in immune response, but even subclinical deficits may be associated with an impaired immune response, and an increased risk of infection. Infectious diseases have accounted for more off-duty days during major wars than combat wounds or nonbattle injuries. Combined stressors may reduce the normal ability of soldiers to resist pathogens, increase their susceptibility to biological warfare agents, and reduce the effectiveness of vaccines intended to protect them. There is also a concern with the inappropriate use of dietary supplements. This book, one of a series, examines the impact of various types of stressors and the role of specific dietary nutrients in maintaining immune function of military personnel in the field. It reviews the impact of compromised nutrition status on immune function; the interaction of health, exercise, and stress (both physical and psychological) in immune function; and the role of nutritional supplements and newer biotechnology methods reported to enhance immune function. The first part of the book contains the committee's workshop summary and evaluation of ongoing research by Army scientists on immune status in special forces troops, responses to the Army's questions, conclusions, and recommendations. The rest of the book contains papers contributed by workshop speakers, grouped under such broad topics as an introduction to what is known about immune function, the assessment of immune function, the effect of nutrition, and the relation between the many and varied stresses encountered by military personnel and their effect on health. Table of Contents Front Matter Executive Summary I Committee Summary, Responses to Questions, Conclusions, and Recommendations 1 A Review of the Role of Nutrition in Immune Function 2 Committee Responses to Questions 3 Committee Conclusions and Recommendations II Stage Setting: The Military Situation 4 Why is the Army Interested in Nutrition and Immune Function? 5 Physiological and Immunological Impact of U.S. Army Special Operations Training: A Model for the Assessment of Nutritional Intervention Effects on Temporary Immunosuppression 6 Immune Function Studies During the Ranger Training Course of the Norwegian Military Academy III Introduction to Immune Function 7 Nutrition and Immune Responses: What Do We Know? 8 Cytokines and Nutritional Status: Possible Correlations and Investigations IV Assessment 9 Methodological Issues in Assessment of Human Immune Function 10 Application of Whole-Blood Cultures to Field Study Measurements V Nutrition 11 Glutamine 12 Vitamin A and Immune Function 13 Vitamin E, Vitamin C, and Immune Response: Recent Advances 14 Fatty Acids and Immune Functions 15 Iron Metabolism, Microbial Virulence, and Host Defenses 16 Trace Minerals, Immune Function, and Viral Evolution VI Health and Stress 17 Exercise, Infection, and Immunity: Practial Applications 18 Neuroendocrine Consequences of Systemic Inflammation 19 Inflammatory Stress and the Immune System 20 Chronobiology of the Immune System 21 Conclusion: Militarily Important Issues Identified in this Report Appendixes Appendix A: Overview of the Immune System and Other Host Defense Mechanisms Appendix B: Glossary of Immunological Terms Appendix C: Overview of Immune Assessment Tests Appendix D: Emerging Infections, Nutritional Status, and Immunity Appendix E: Workshop Agenda Appendix F: Biographical Sketches Appendix G: Acronyms and Abbreviations Appendix H: Nutrition and Immune Function: A Selected Bibliography Index

This issue of Immunology and Allergy Clinics, guest edited by Dr. Mark Ballow and Dr. Elena Perez, will provide up-to-date clinical concepts regarding Immunodeficiencies. Articles in this outstanding issue include: Precision Medicine for Patients with Primary Immune Dysregulation, Immune Disorders Associated with Abnormalities in Treg Cells, Defining Common Variable Immunodeficiency, The Importance of Primary Immune Deficiency Registries, Chronic Lung Disease in Primary Antibody Deficiency: Diagnosis and Management, Immune Deficiencies Associated with Th17 Immunity, Truths and Myths of Vaccines in Patients with Primary Immune Deficiency, The Nuts and Bolts of Subcutaneous Immunoglobulin Replacement Therapy, Newly Discovered Primary Immune Deficiencies, and Specific Antibody Deficiency.

This book illustrates the importance and significance of the systems approach in deciphering diverse aspects of host-parasite interactions in infection dynamics. It describes the complex issues and state-of-the-art progress in the infection biology of parasitic protozoa. The book explores the current concepts and paradigms of gene expression, metabolome, and immune remodeling in these diseases. The chapters encompass updates on the parasitic tropism, co-evolution, systemic responses in hosts, and translational approaches. It provides an overview of the parasite's efficient ways of exploiting host molecules and describes pathways for their survival, differentiation, and replication within the host cells. The book also delineates the role of inflammasomes and their activation in response to the protozoan parasite. The book discusses technological progress and machine learning-based modeling approaches to revisit parasitic infection from a non-conventional perspective. Collectively this book offers a comprehensive purview of concepts and paradigms in parasitic infection in the form of an updated yet discernible elucidation.

Advances in Immunology, Volume 146, the latest release in a long-established and highly respected publication, presents current developments and comprehensive reviews in immunology. Articles address the wide range of topics that comprise immunology, with this release focusing on The design of vaccine strategies to elicit HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies, T cells in latent viral infections, Preserving Immune Homeostasis with A20, Transcriptional control in the context of innate and adaptive lymphoid development, RAG and AID structural biology and the important insights it has generated for the V(D)J recombination and CSR/SHM fields, and more.

This volume provides all the essential protocols that are currently used to study the immune synapse. Chapters in The Immune Synapse: Methods and Protocols cover methods for the study of the dynamics of immune synapse assembly, traffic at the immune synapse, new high resolution imaging, biophysical and computational methods for the study of the immune synapse, effector immune synapses, B cell, NK and mast cell immune synapses, and immune interactions in vivo. 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 practical, The Immune Synapse: Methods and Protocols will be of interest to immunologists and, at a more general level, to cell biologists, biophysicists and computational biologists.

This volume reviews the current research focused on the functional importance of unfolded protein response (UPR) signaling in the context of health and disease. The chapters present cutting-edge work describing the diverse functions of UPR signaling critical for regulating cellular and organismal physiology under physiologic and pathologic conditions. Written by internationally respected scientists, this volume is designed to provide a broad view of the diverse functional importance of UPR, and as such appeals to clinicians and academic researchers alike.

The book starts with dissecting mechanisms underlying viral immune evasion via exploiting the host complement system by vaccinia virus, and by modulating the type 1 interferon response by RNA viruses. Yet another chapter looks into how viroporins expressed by different families of viruses causing influenza A virus, SARS, hepatitis C and HIV interact with several cellular pathways. Understanding of these mechanisms can aid the development of novel potential anti viral targets. The chapter on tuberculosis discusses the emerging importance of the innate immune mechanisms against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and latency. This book has a strong focus on fungal pathogenesis and immunity, starting with virulence and host factors that attain great importance in candidiasis and associated escape tricks ofseriously opportunistic fungi. Two chapters on Aspergillus fumigatus elaborate on the pathogenic mechanisms: first discussing A. fumigatus airway epithelium interaction, followed by fungal and host factors that are paramount in the development of allergic and invasive aspergillosis. In the subsequent chapter, there is a general discussion on the innate and adaptive immune responses against primary and opportunistic fungal pathogens."

This book provides valuable coverage on various immunomodulatory research associated with nutraceutical studies, from plant to animal and marine sources. The book focuses on the various properties of nutraceutical and functional foods, from dietary fibers to fungus, marine sources, ginseng, and several others. Its content is also dedicated to the nutraceutical potential and applications of these modulators. The first section of this book focuses mainly on the recent developments in nutraceutical and functional food associated with various immunomodulators. The next section covers the micronutrients and macronutrients level in order to share important data and help readers gain a basic understanding of the techno-functional, nutraceutical potential and applications of nutritional treatment under specific disease conditions. A detailed overview providing the structural and functional properties related to immunomodulators will be highly beneficial for academics and advanced-level students in immunology, food science, clinical medicine, and life sciences.

This issue of Immunology and Allergy Clinics, Guest Edited by Dr. Mitchell Grayson, is devoted to Infections and Asthma. Articles in this issue include: Epidemiology of Infections and Development of Asthma; Mechanisms of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Induced Asthma; Importance of Viral Characteristics in Respiratory Syncytial Virus Induced Disease; Human Rhinovirus and Asthma Exacerbation; Rhinovirus Attributes That Contribute to Asthma; Infant Immune Response to Respiratory Viral Infections; The Role of Bacteria in Asthma Pathogenesis; Beyond RSV and RV in the Pathogenesis and Exacerbation of Asthma; Biologics for Asthma and Risk of Infection: Should We Be Concerned?; Sinus Infections and Asthma; Helminths and Asthma: Friend or Foe?; and Primary Infection Prevention Strategies for Asthma.

Infections in Systemic Autoimmune Diseases: Risk Factors and Management, Volume Sixteen describes the state-of-the-art of the risk factors and management treating the most common systemic autoimmune diseases (SADS). This updated volume consists of an introductory chapter that provides a brief overview of what different types of infectious diseases exist, followed by eight chapters detailing risk factors, guidelines and recommendations per different disease and bacterial infections. International in scope, the list of more than 20 contributors from Europa and America reads like a who's who of clinical researchers in the field.

This issue of Immunology and Allergy Clinics is devoted to Asthma in Childhood and is Guest Edited by Drs. Leonard Bacharier and Theresa Guilbert. Articles in this outstanding issue include: Inception and Natural History of Pediatric Asthma; Recent Diagnosis Techniques in Pediatric Asthma; Management / co-morbidities for Preschool-aged Children with Asthma; Management/ co-morbidities for School-aged Children with Asthma; Effects of the Environment on Disease Activity; New Advances of Self-Management/Adherence Monitoring and Management in Pediatric Asthma; Severe Asthma in Early Childhood; Inner-city Asthma in Early Childhood; Personalized Medicine and Pediatric Asthma; Prevention in Pediatric Asthma; Asthma in the Schools; and New Directions in Pediatric Asthma.

Immunization during pregnancy with currently recommended vaccines prevents infection in the mother, the unborn fetus, and the young infant, and there is an increasing focus from different stakeholders to use this approach for other infections of importance to protect these vulnerable groups. The aim of this Maternal Immunization book is to provide a contemporary overview of vaccines used in pregnancy (and the lactation period), with emphasis on aspects of importance for the target groups, namely, rationale for the use of vaccines in pregnancy, safety, immunogenicity (immunology), timing to vaccinate, repeat doses, protective effects in the mother, fetus, and infant, and public acceptance and implementation, of existing and of future vaccines.

The enormous advances in the immunologic aspects of biotherapeutics and nanomedicines in the past two decades has necessitated an authoritative and comprehensive reference source that can be relied upon by immunologists, biomedical researchers, clinicians, pharmaceutical companies, regulators, venture capitalists, and policy makers alike. This text provides a thorough understanding of immunology, therapeutic potential, clinical applications, adverse reactions, and approaches to overcoming immunotoxicity of biotherapeutics and nanomedicines. It also tackles critical, yet often overlooked topics such as immune aspects of nano-bio interactions, current FDA regulatory guidances, complement activation-related pseudoallergy (CARPA), advances in nanovaccines, and immunogenicity testing of protein therapeutics.

This volume provides methods and models for investigating the immunosuppressive subset of CD4+ T-cells, regulatory T-cells (Treg). Chapters guide readers through, basic protocols for analyzing Treg in mice and humans, single-cell analysis for analyzing Treg, and methods for the analysis of Treg in clinical application. Written in the format of the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, each chapter includes an introduction to the topic, lists necessary materials and reagents, includes tips on troubleshooting and known pitfalls, and step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Regulatory T-Cells: Methods and Protocols aims to be a useful and practical guide to new researchers and experts looking to expand their knowledge.

Get a quick, expert overview of the essentials of today's vaccinations for adults, including current guidelines and recommendations. This concise, clinically-focused resource, edited by Drs. Gregory A. Poland and Jennifer Whitaker, consolidates today's available information on this important topic into one convenient resource, making it an ideal reference for primary care physicians and nurses who need easily accessible information on adult vaccination best practices. Covers essentials of vaccine safety and discussing vaccine hesitancy with patients. Addresses special populations including the elderly, immunocompromised patients, and adult travelers. Provides up-to-date information on zoster vaccines, Zika vaccine prospects, influenza vaccines, meningococcal vaccines, and pneumococcal vaccines.

Basics of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) Immunotherapy presents the latest on how T cell adoptive immunotherapy has progressed in its ultimate goal of curing metastatic malignant cancers. Recent clinical data obtained with checkpoint receptor blockade inhibitors and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy has been especially promising, thus generating renewed hope that we may be on the verge of finally curing cancer. Over the years, huge progress has been made in controlling several stage IV metastasized cancers through the clinical application of checkpoint receptor inhibitory drugs and CAR-Therapy that has seen unprecedented interest in the immunotherapy field.

This issue of Immunology and Allergy Clinics, guest edited by Drs. J. Tod Olin and James H. Hull, is devoted to Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm and Laryngeal Disorders. Articles in this outstanding issue include: Exercise and the Airway: A Call to Action; Exercise and Sinonasal Disease; Exercise-Induced Laryngeal Obstruction History Background; Exercise-Induced Laryngeal Obstruction Diagnostics; Exercise-Induced Laryngeal Obstruction Speech Speech-language Interventions; Exercise-Induced Laryngeal Obstruction Performance Psychology Interventions; Exercise-Induced Laryngeal Obstruction Surgical Interventions; Excessive Dynamic Airways Collapse (EDAC); Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm Background Prevalence Sport Considerations; Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm Mechanism / Biomarkers; Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm and Environment; Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm Testing; Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm Pharm Therapies with an Eye Towards Athletes; Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm Non- Pharm; and The Future of EIB and Exercise-Induced Laryngeal Obstruction.

Immune Biology of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: Models in Discovery and Translation, Second Edition once again provides clinical and scientific researchers with a deep understanding of the current research in this field and the implications for translational practice. By providing an overview of the immune biology of HSCT, an explanation of immune rejection, and detail on antigens and their role in HSCT success, this book embraces biologists and clinicians who need a broad view of the deeply complex processes involved. It then moves on to discuss the immunobiology mechanisms that influence graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), graft-versus-leukemia effect, and transplantation success. Using illustrative figures, highlighting key issues, describing recent successes, and discussing unanswered questions, this book sums up the current state of HSCT to enhance the prospects for the future. The second edition is fully revised and includes new chapters on microbiome, metabolism, kinase targets, micro-RNA and mRNA regulatory mechanisms, signaling pathways in GVHD, innate lymphoid system development, recovery and function in GVHD, genetically engineered T-cell therapies, immune system engagers for GVHD and graft-versus-tumor, and hematopoietic cell transplant for tolerance induction in solid organ grafts.

This book focusing on the immunopathology of cancers is published as part of the three-volume Springer series Cancer Immunology, which aims to provide an up-to-date, clinically relevant review of cancer immunology and immunotherapy. Readers will find detailed descriptions of the interactions between cancerous cells and various components of the innate and adaptive immune system. The principal focus, however, is very much on clinical aspects, the aim being to educate clinicians in the clinical implications of the latest research and novel developments in the field. In the new edition of this very well received book, first published in 2015, the original chapters have been significantly updated and additional chapters included on, for example, current knowledge on the roles of T-helper cells and NK cells in tumor immunity, the part played by oncoviruses in the development of various cancers, and the applications of fluorescent in situ hybridization, bioluminescence, and cancer molecular and functional imaging. Cancer Immunology: A Translational Medicine Context will be of special value to clinical immunologists, hematologists, and oncologists.