Dr. Gupta provides a comprehensive overview of the clinjical management of food allergy. Articles are devoted to epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, management, immunology, and treatments of food allergy. Current knowledge of the relationship between the gut microbiome and food allergy is also presented as well as eosiniphilic esophagitis and oral allergy synrome.

Personalized Immunosuppression in Transplantation: Role of Biomarker Monitoring and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring provides coverage of the various approaches to monitoring immunosuppressants in transplant patients, including the most recently developed biomarker monitoring methods, pharmacogenomics approaches, and traditional therapeutic drug monitoring. The book is written for pathologists, toxicologists, and transplant surgeons who are involved in the management of transplant patients, offering them in-depth coverage of the management of immunosuppressant therapy in transplant patients with the goal of maximum benefit from drug therapy and minimal risk of drug toxicity. This book also provides practical guidelines for managing immunosuppressant therapy, including the therapeutic ranges of various immunosuppressants, the pitfalls of methodologies used for determination of these immunosuppressants in whole blood or plasma, appropriate pharmacogenomics testing for organ transplant recipients, and when biomarker monitoring could be helpful.

Granulomatous disorders represent a unique group of diseases both non-infectious and infectious that require the utmost clinical pathologic correlation combined with a keen sense of inquiry for underlying systemic disease. Some of these diseases are common and some are rare; however all dermatologists need to diagnose and manage these diseases whether common or rare. This issue of Dermatology Clinics "Granulomatous Disorders of the Adult Skin" supplies the readers with a comprehensive, up to date, and evidence based review of multiple granulomatous disorders (i.e. palisdaing, epitheliod, xanthomatous, casseating, supprative, vasculitic, lymphoproliferative, foreign body). Dermatologists need to be able to differentiate the entities, evaluate patients for specific underlying systemic diseases (diabetes to cancer) and treat with a wide range of immunosuppressant to anti-infectious agents. This issue will help the dermatologist learn the most current etiopathogenesis, clinical/systemic manifestations and therapeutic modalities for these diseases. Other specialists who would find the information useful: Rheumatologists, Infectious Disease specialists, Hematologists/Oncologists, Endocrinologists, Pulmonologists, Oral-maxillary surgeons, and Pharmacists.

Translational Immunology: Mechanisms and Pharmacologic Approaches highlights and summarizes the most important advances in human immunology, clinical translations, new tools to analyze therapeutic targets, and new pharmacological approaches for autoimmunity, inflammatory disorders, and cancer. The book is an essential resource for those seeking to understand the potential translational applications of burgeoning studies in human immunology, helping readers make sense of the existing and emerging scientific advances. The book grounds fundamental science in the translational realm, providing insights from world renowned researchers at the top of their game in their respective fields, in both industry and academic settings. Readers will gain an understanding of the rationale and mechanisms underlying current and emerging pharmacologic approaches for interventional immunology, the gaps therein, and new ideas for better and safer therapeutic approaches, and physicians will glean information about pharmacological limitations in altering disease progression and complications. This reference on the translational realization of the burgeoning findings in immunology provides a go-to reference for experienced professional clinicians, researchers, industry scientists, and those seeking more information on the field.

This book gathers selected peer-reviewed papers presented at the Second International Conference on Infectious Diseases and Nanomedicine (ICIDN), held in Kathmandu, Nepal on December 15-18, 2015. It also includes invited papers from the leading experts in the related fields. The book highlights the importance of "Interdisciplinary Collaborative Research for Innovation in the Biomedical Sciences," the motto of the ICIDN conference. In particular, it addresses interdisciplinary scientific approaches for systematic understanding of the biology of major human infectious diseases and their treatment regimes by applying the tools and techniques of nanotechnology. It also provides cutting-edge information on infectious diseases and nanomedicine, focusing on various aspects of emerging infectious diseases: cellular and molecular microbiology; epidemiology and infectious disease surveillance; antimicrobials, vaccines and alternatives; drug design, drug delivery and tissue engineering; nanomaterials and biomedical materials.

This volume provides an overview of the field and practical hints for vaccinologists in academia and industry. Chapters provide protocols on self-replicating RNA vectors, non-replication mRNA vectors, adjuvantation and delivery, and preclinical and clinical development. 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 cutting-edge, RNA Vaccines: Methods and Protocols aims to increased collaboration on RNA vaccines between basic and applied scientists in academia, government, and industry to develop future solutions for today's challenges.

In the current edition, Selenium: Its Molecular Biology and Role in Human Health expands extensively on the previous editions providing readers with the most significant advances in the rapidly developing selenium field. Evidence from epidemiology and veterinary science supports the essential role of selenium in (human) health, but its split personality in both preventing and supporting cancer and also in promoting insulin resistance has become more clearly defined. The pivotal role of glutathione peroxidase 4 in a new process of programmed cell death, ferroptosis, brings new impetus to the field. Recently defined mutations in selenoprotein and biosynthesis factor genes have been identified in patients, and the resulting disorders further emphasize the significance of selenoproteins in human health. The mechanism of selenoprotein biosynthesis, the functions of selenoproteins, and the roles of dietary selenium have been further elucidated, and new regulatory mechanisms involving selenoproteins discovered. The book, therefore, covers the breadth of current selenium research. With up-to-date chapters written by leaders in their fields, it serves as an invaluable resource for novices as well as specialists.

This text provides a practical guide providing step-by-step protocol to design and develop vaccines. Chapters detail protocols for developing novel vaccines against infectious bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites for humans and animals. Volume 1: Vaccines for Human Diseases has an introductory section on how vaccines impacted diseases, the immunological mechanism of vaccines, future challenges for vaccinologists, and current trends in vaccinology. The design of human vaccines for viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic and prion diseases as well as vaccines for drug abuse, allergy, and tumor vaccines are also described in this volume. As a volume in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters contain introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Vaccine Design: Methods and Protocols, Volume 1: Vaccines for Human Diseases aims to ensure successful results in the further study of this vital field.

Twenty years ago, the idea that Alzheimer's disease (AD) involved any sort of inflammatory or immune component seemed implausible. Now, there are hundreds of laboratories world-wide that are pursuing basic research in this area, and multi-site clinical trials are underway. How this dramatic sea-change came about is made clear in this book, both through overviews of the field and through focused papers on specific topics of recent interest. Complement, cytokines and the complex host of other acute phase reactants are covered, as are summaries of many epidemiologic and clinical-pathological findings. Written by established investigators who have led neuroinflammatory research for two decades, this volume particularly emphasizes correlations between inflammatory phenomena in the brains of AD patients with findings of the "classic" approach, such as pathophysiologic effects of amyloid b peptide. The book documents and synthesizes earlier and recent findings in AD to help a broad range of scientists in gaining a broader and more comprehensive knowledge of the complexities AD presents. In addition, many of the concepts and results that have emerged from AD inflammation research may have implications for other neurologic disorders that involve inflammatory components, including multiple sclerosis and stroke.

Developing Costimulatory Molecules for Immunotherapy of Diseases highlights the novel concept of reverse costimulation and how it can be effectively exploited to develop immunotherapy using either humanized antibodies against CD80, CD86, and other costimulatory molecules or CD28 fusinogenic proteins in the treatment of diseases, including allergies, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus nephritis, severe psoriasis, vulgaris tuberculosis, thopoid, transplantation therapeutic, cancer, and inflammation. The text aims to provide the latest information on the complex roles and interactions within the CD28 and B7 costimulatory families, with the hope that targeting these families will yield new therapies for the treatment of inflammation, autoimmunity, transplantation, cancer, and other infectious diseases.

This issue of Immunology and Allergy Clinics of North America, Guest Edited by Amy D. Klion, MD and Princess U. Ogbogu, MD, is devoted to Eosinophil-Associated Disorders. Drs. Klion and Ogbogu have assembled a group of expert authors to review the following topics: Evaluation and Differential Diagnosis of Persistent Marked Eosinophilia; Spectrum of Eosinophilic End Organ Manifestations; Eosinophilia in GI disorders; Eosinophilia in Hematologic Disorders; Eosinophilia in Rheumatologic/Vascular Disorders; Eosinophilia in Pulmonary Disorders; Eosinophilia in Infectious Diseases; Eosinophilia associated with Immune Deficiency and Immune Dysregulation; Eosinophilia in Dermatologic disorders; Management of Hypereosinophilic Syndromes; and Novel Therapies for Eosinophilic Disorders.

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 aims to bring together a variety of protocols useful for DNA-based typing of blood cell antigens. Protocols range from simple approaches with low technical complexity to highly sophisticated modern developments. Written for the Methods in Molecular Biology series, 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, Molecular Typing of Blood Cell Antigens summarizes contributions from leading scientist in the field DNA typing for blood cell antigens.

According to the World Health Organization, approximately one third of the world's population is latently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb [LTBI]), of whom about 9 million have active tuberculosis (TB). It is estimated that approximately 2 million individuals die each year from active TB. An estimated 14.4% of these individuals have HIV and M. tb co-infection. TB has long been known to be one of the leading causes of death in HIV-infected individuals. Recent evidence now indicates that individuals with type 2 diabetes, the elderly, and chronic smokers are also increasingly susceptible to TB infection, the ability of their immune system to fight off active TB infection having been compromised by their condition. This book therefore aims to provide a detailed review of recent advances in the research that involves characterizing the host's immune responses against TB infection in conditions such as HIV, diabetes, chronic cigarette smoking and aging, and strategies to restore favorable immune responses against this deadly pathogen.

This issue of Immunology and Allergy Clinics of North America, Guest Edited by Anne Marie Ditto, MD, is devoted to Anaphylaxis. Dr. Ditto has assembled a group of expert authors to review the following topics: Idiopathic Anaphylaxis; Mast Cell Activation Syndromes Presenting as Anaphylaxis; Anaphylaxis to Chemotherapy and Biologics; Fatal and Near Fatal Anaphylaxis; Anaphylaxis to Drugs; Perioperative Anaphylaxis; Exercise-Induced Anaphylaxis; Anaphylaxis to Carbohydrate Side Chains-alpha -gal; Anaphylaxis to Food; Anaphylaxis to Insect Stings; and Treatment and Prevention of Anaphylaxis.

The type I interferon (IFN) signaling pathway is well recognized as a pathway activated by viral infections. It is activated by a variety of microbial pattern recognition receptors including the Toll-like receptors, NOD-like receptors and several cytosolic receptors. Activation of the type I IFN pathway leads to the production of both antiviral factors and products that influence immune cell function. More recently it has been shown that bacteria are also capable of activating this pathway. Bacterial Activation of Type I Interferons reviews both the current understanding of how different bacterial species are able to activate this pathway as well as the influence type I IFNs have on the outcome to infection. Several different bacterial species are covered, spanning Gram positive and Gram negative, intracellular, extracellular, and different host infection sites. An introduction to the pathogenesis of each organism is provided, and the signaling molecules involved in the activation of the type I IFN pathway and the role it plays in animal infection models are also covered.

This issue of Immunology and Allergy Clinics, devoted to Obesity and Asthma, is edited by Dr. Anurag Agrawal. Articles in this issue include: Clinical Implications of the Obese Asthma Phenotypes; Childhood Obesity and the Risk of Allergy; Metabolic Asthma: Is there a link between obesity, asthma, and diabetes?; Role of Weight Management in Obese-Asthma Control; Obesity and Airway Disease: A Bioenergetic Problem?; Nutrition, Obesity, and Asthma: Exploring Epigenetic Programming; Obesity and Asthma: The Role of Environmental Pollutants; Novel Therapeutic Strategies for Adult Obese Asthmatics; and From ADMA to Asthma.

Autophagy principally serves an adaptive function to protect organisms against diverse human pathologies, including cancer and neurodegeneration. Recent developments using in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo models show the involvement of the autophagy pathway in immunity and inflammation. Moreover, direct interactions between autophagy proteins and immune signalling molecules have also been demonstrated. Defects in autophagy - similar to cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and aging - through autophagy gene mutation and/or microbial antagonism, may underlie the pathogenesis of many infectious diseases and inflammatory syndromes. In spite of the increasing awareness of the importance of autophagy in these pathophysiological conditions, this process remains underestimated and is often overlooked. As a consequence, its role in the initiation, stability, maintenance, and progression of these diseases are still poorly understood. This book reviews the recent advances regarding the functions of the autophagy pathway and autophagy proteins in immunity and inflammation, focusing on their role in self-nonself distinction, their implications in innate and adaptive immune responses and their dysregulation in the pathology of certain inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

This book is a comprehensive resource on vaccines and immunizations for primary care physicians, advanced practice providers, and trainees. We are now seeing a rise in measles and the potential for rises in other previously rare infectious diseases, significantly due to public and physician misconceptions and misinformation about vaccines. The text addresses this issue by consolidating historical and current advances in vaccine science from how vaccines are developed to CDC recommendations on how and when to administer them. Expert authors also address barriers to improving vaccination rates in the U.S. and offer evidence-based recommendations on overcoming those barriers. This is an essential guide for primary care physicians, family physicians, pediatricians, internists, residents, medical students, mid-level providers, and learners for understanding vaccines and improving preventative care for their patients.

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Primary Immunodeficiency Disorders: A Historic and Scientific Perspective "provides a complete historical context that is crucial for students and researchers concerned with primary immunodeficiency. When researchers have a poor understanding of the way we arrived where we are in research, they can miss important points about a disease, or miss out on how to approach new diseases. This historical knowledge of research can assist greatly by showing how it was done in the past, demonstrating the successes and failures, so that it can be done better in the future.

This book provides an understanding of the process going from clinical problem to lab and back to the clinic, based on historical experiences. Its chapters proceed from the discovery of the T and B cell lineages through the first BMT for immunodeficiency disorder; lab investigation and gene therapy for PID; the discovery of the gene for AT and its function; understanding cytokine defects; and many other stops along the way.
Facilitates communication among physicians and other investigators concerned with immunological and inflammatory diseasesSummarizes for the first time all the known facts from 60 years of primary immunodeficiency research, and teaches how an important field in medicine was establishedProvides stimulating discussions on developing new medical therapies
Highlights the importance of studying humans to understand mechanisms of disease that affect humans

This issue of Immunology and Allergy Clinics, edited by Dr. Pascal Demoly, is devoted to Drug Hypersensitivity.? Articles in this issue include: Drug allergy diagnosis; Principles of drug allergy management: acute drug reactions, individual preventive measures, desensitization, general preventive measures; Antibiotics allergy; Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs HS; Local and general anesthetics allergy; Radiocontrast media and dyes allergy; Chemotherapeutic agents allergy; Vaccine allergy; Biological agents HS; Anti-epileptic allergy; Iron and Vitamin Allergy; Antiviral drug allergy; Additive allergy; and Unmet needs in drug allergy.

Allergy is developing into one of the most prevalent diseases affecting individuals in the very early days of life. While the cause of this epidemic is still unclear, it appears that the westernized life style is playing an important role, which includes nutrition, possibly air pollution as well as hygienic conditions. While epidemiologic studies were able to narrow down these factors, basic research discovered novel mechanisms that control the organisms tolerance against allergens. Particularly interesting is the role of microorganisms that colonize or infect a host and thereby cause damage and immunological activation followed by sensitization or exacerbation of already existing sensitizations. However at the same time microbial activation of the immune system can help to generate a protective immunity that prevents allergen sensitization. The current book is collecting these evidences and connects epidemiologic and clinical mechanistic knowledge. Only the synthesis of this knowledge will help to find solutions to the ongoing allergy epidemic in terms of public health activities, prevention and therapy.