Biomechanical Mapping of the Female Pelvic Floor explores new technological advances in women's healthcare intended to improve pelvic floor characterization, diagnosis and prediction of treatment outcomes. The book describes biomechanical approaches and clinical examples to demonstrate how one can evaluate the changes in the pelvic floor to gain a better understanding of an individual patient's pelvic floor dysfunctions, such as prolapse, incontinence, chronic pelvic pain, and even conditions leading to spontaneous preterm delivery and predicting maternal birth trauma. This book is a valuable resource for researchers focused on gynecology, urogynecology or obstetrics, clinicians, graduate students and biomedical scientists and bioengineers who need to better understand the technological advances in biomechanical characterization and how they can be used not only for diagnosis but also for monitoring several OBGYN-related conditions.

This collaboration of two physiologists and a gastroenterologist provides medical and graduate students, medical and surgical residents, and subspecialty fellows a comprehensive summary of digestive system physiology and addresses the pathophysiological processes that underlie some GI diseases. The textual approach proceeds by organ instead of the traditional organization followed by other GI textbooks. This approach lets the reader track the food bolus as it courses through the GI tract, learning on the way each organ's physiologic functions as the bolus directly or indirectly contacts it. The book is divided into three parts: (1) Chapters 1-3 include coverage of basic concepts that pertain to all (or most) organs of the digestive system, salivation, chewing, swallowing, and esophageal function, (2) Chapters 4-6 are focused on the major secretory organs (stomach, pancreas, liver) that assist in the assimilation of a meal, and (3) Chapters 7 and 8 address the motor, transport, and digestive functions of the small and large intestines. Each chapter includes its own pathophysiology and clinical correlation section that underscores the importance of the organ's normal function.

The Comprehensive Guide to Hepatitis Advances provides the most up-to-date information on all types of hepatitis in one resource. Coverage spans hepatitis in all forms (viral, alcoholic, metabolic, drug, autoimmune, etc.), showing the implications of current research in clinical practice and discussing future research directions. Discussions focus on the scientific advancements in understanding the disease process and in the treatment of different groups of hepatitis. This reference is perfect for basic science researchers in the field of hepatology; practicing gastroenterologists and hepatologists as well as primary care physicians attending to liver disease; and medical residents undergoing specialist training in gastroenterology and hepatology.

Overcoming Resistance to EGFR Inhibitors in EGFR Mutant NSCLC presents updated information on how EGFR mutant lung cancers evolve to evade EGFR inhibitors, clinical strategies that identify these mechanisms, and how to implement newer therapeutic strategies to combat resistance and improve patient survival. As resistance to EGFR inhibitors is often through re-activation of MEK/ERK and PI3K pathways, or through loss of cell death responses, there is much overlap with resistance to targeted therapies in other paradigms, such as BRAF inhibitors in BRAF mutant melanoma, and HER2 inhibitors in HER2 amplified breast cancer. This book is a valuable resource for cancer researchers, clinicians, graduate students and other members of the biomedical field who are interested in promising treatments for lung cancer.

Handbook of Animal Models in Neurological Disorders will better readers' understanding of a large variety of animal models and their applicability in studying a number of neurological disorders. Featuring sections on brain injury, stroke and neuroinflammation, this volume discusses in detail the utility, success and pitfalls of multiple models for each condition. Multiple disorders are covered, ranging from neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and ALS, to multiple sclerosis, headache, migraine, and others. With expert authors, this book has applicability for anyone pursuing neuroscience or biomedical research working to better understand, study and ultimately treat neurological dysfunction.

Intellectually Impaired People: The Ongoing Battle addresses challenges against the background of history, changing societal environments, and current intellectual approaches and attitudes toward persons with disabilities. The book discusses national and international conventions, societal attitudes, sheltered workshops, the right of intellectually impaired persons for self-responsibility and its limitations, and the place of mentally impaired persons in the public image. Additionally, the book attempts to capture the forces that drive the changes of our conceptual frameworks. The US Tuskegee study which withheld antibiotics from black men with syphilis was not ended by scientific criticism but by a courageous man, press reports, and a changed social perception. The non-hiding of handicapped children is not the result of government orders, there are many non-resolvable dilemmas and tension between supporting, understanding, and patronizing a complex situation with many potential future avenues.

Neuroimaging in Parkinson's Disease and Related Disorders discusses the advances of molecular, structural and functional neuroimaging techniques associated with the etiology, pathophysiology, effects and complications of novel therapies in Parkinson's and related disorders. With new neuroimaging methodologies emerging over the past five years, this book provides a comprehensive overview of new technologies and research. Sections discuss the biomarker value of neuroimaging of the brain to understand disease progression in vivo in actual patients with Parkinson's disease and related disorders. Readers will be updated on in vivo pathology and pathophysiology in Parkinson's disease and in a number of related disorders. Also discussed is the association between clinical symptoms, clinical progression, and molecular, structural, and functional changes in the brain of patients with Parkinson's disease and related disorders.

Liquid Biopsy: New Challenges in the era of Immunotherapy and Precision Oncology aims to describe links between cancer, precision oncology, and liquid biopsy, focusing on their participation to immunotherapy management. The book provides updated information on the main applications of liquid biopsy and immunotherapy as well as interesting aspects useful for planning basic and translational research activities. It helps readers understand the central aspects of precision medicine in oncology, including the use of new generation technologies for translational and diagnostic settings and the main clinical trials in this area that may be useful during their research. The book is a valuable source for cancer researchers, oncologists and other members of the medical and biomedical field who are interested in learning more about recent developments in liquid biopsy and its relationship with precision medicine and immunotherapy.

Advances in Resting-State Functional MRI: Methods, Interpretation, and Applications gives readers with basic neuroimaging experience an up-to-date and in-depth understanding of the methods, opportunities, and challenges in rs-fMRI. The book covers current knowledge gaps in rs-fMRI, including "what are biologically plausible brain networks," "how to tell what part is noise," "how to perform quality assurance on the data," "what are the spatial and temporal limits of our ability to resolve FC," and "how to best identify network features related to individual differences or disease state". This book is an ideal reference for neuroscientists, computational neuroscientists, psychologists, biomedical engineers, physicists and medical physicists. Both new and more advanced researchers alike will be able to discover new information distilled from the past decade of research to become well-versed in rs-fMRI-related topics.

Omics Technologies and Bio-Engineering: Towards Improving Quality of Life, Volume 2 is a unique reference that brings together multiple perspectives on omics research, providing in-depth analysis and insights from an international team of authors. The book delivers pivotal information that will inform and improve medical and biological research by helping readers gain more direct access to analytic data, an increased understanding on data evaluation, and a comprehensive picture on how to use omics data in molecular biology, biotechnology and human health care.

Mechanisms of DNA Recombination and Genome Rearrangements: Intersection between Homologous Recombination, DNA Replication and DNA Repair, Volume 601, the latest release in the Methods in Enzymology series, continues the legacy of this premier serial with quality chapters authored by leaders in the field. Homologous genetic recombination remains the most enigmatic process in DNA metabolism. The molecular machines of recombination preserve the integrity of the genetic material in all organisms and generate genetic diversity in evolution. The same molecular machines that support genetic integrity by orchestrating accurate repair of the most deleterious DNA lesions, however, also promote survival of cancerous cells and emergence of radiation and chemotherapy resistance. This two-volume set offers a comprehensive set of cutting edge methods to study various aspects of homologous recombination and cellular processes that utilize the enzymatic machinery of recombination. The chapters are written by the leading researches and cover a broad range of topics from the basic molecular mechanisms of recombinational proteins and enzymes to emerging cellular techniques and drug discovery efforts.

The technological advancements of today not only affect individual's personal lives. They also affect the way urban communities regard the improvement of their resident's lives. Research involving these autonomic reactions to the growing needs of the people is desperately needed to transform the cities of today into the cities of the future. Driving the Development, Management, and Sustainability of Cognitive Cities is a pivotal reference source that explores and improves the understanding of the strategic role of sustainable cognitive cities in residents' routine life styles. Such benefits to residents and businesses include having access to world-class training while sitting at home, having their wellbeing observed consistently, and having their medical issues identified before occurrence. This book is ideally designed for administrators, policymakers, industrialists, and researchers seeking current research on developing and managing cognitive cities.

Marine Pollution: Sources, Fate and Effects of Pollutants in Coastal Ecosystems bring together the theoretical background on common and emerging marine pollutants and their effects on organisms (ecotoxicology). Written by a renowned expert in the field who is a researcher, teacher and advisor of national and international institutions on issues such as oil spills, water quality assessment and plastic pollution, this book offers a thorough account of the effects of pollutants on marine organisms, the relevant environmental regulations, and the public health implications, along with the biological tools advocated by the international institutions for marine pollution monitoring. Marine Pollution: Sources, Fate and Effects of Pollutants in Coastal Ecosystems presents information in a detailed and didactic manner, reviewing the latest scientific knowledge alongside examples of practical applications.

Translational Interventional Radiology, a volume in the Handbook for Designing and Conducting Clinical and Translational Research series, covers the principles of evidence-based medicine and applies these principles to the design of translational investigations in Interventional Radiology. The reader will come to fully understand important concepts including case-control study, prospective cohort study, randomized trial, and reliability study. Medical researchers will benefit from greater confidence in their ability to initiate and execute their own investigations, avoid common pitfalls in Interventional Radiology, and know what is needed for successful collaboration. Further, this reference is an indispensable tool in grant writing and funding efforts. The practical, straightforward approach helps aspiring investigators navigate challenging considerations in study design and implementation. This book provides valuable discussions of the critical appraisal of published studies in Interventional Radiology, elucidating the evaluation of the quality with respect to measuring outcomes and making effective use of all types of evidence in patient care. In short, this practical guide will be of interest to every medical researcher and interventional radiologist who has ever had a good clinical idea but not the knowledge of how to test it.