Allosteric Modulation of G Protein-Coupled Receptors reviews fundamental information on G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and allosteric modulation, presenting original research in the area and collectively providing a comprehensive description of key issues in GPCR allosteric modulation. The book provides background on core concepts of molecular pharmacology while also introducing the most important advances and studies in the area. It also discusses key methodologies. This is an essential book for researchers and advanced students engaged in pharmacology, toxicology and pharmaceutical sciences training and research. Many of the GPCR-targeted drugs released in the past decade have specifically worked via allosteric mechanisms. Unlike direct orthosteric-acting compounds that occupy a similar receptor site to that of endogenous ligands, allosteric modulators alter GPCR-dependent signaling at a site apart from the endogenous ligand. Recent methodological and analytical advances have greatly improved our ability to understand the signaling mechanisms of GPCRs. We now know that allostery is a common regulatory mechanism for all GPCRs and not - as we once believed - unique to a few receptor subfamilies.

Antimicrobial Food Packaging, Second Edition continues to be an essential resource covering all aspects in the development and application of novel antimicrobial films to all types of packaged foods. The book is organized in six parts to include the main backgrounds and frameworks of the topic, types of packaging materials and packaging systems and the migration of packaging elements into food, the most relevant established and emerging technologies for microbial detection in food systems, the development and application of antimicrobial packaging strategies to specific food sectors, and the most promising combinational approaches, also including combinational edible antimicrobial coatings. Useful to a wide audience of researchers, scientists and students, the new edition brings six new chapters that include the latest information on smart packaging, algae biofilms for antimicrobial packaging applications, polylactic acid-tea polyphenol nanofibers, use in antimicrobial packaging, chitosan and proanthocyanidins, chitosan and e-polylysine bionanocomposite films, citrus essential oils, and also includes dairy products.

This monograph is a summary of the conference on Eurytemora, gathering renowned researchers from all over the world to discuss new advances in Phylogeny, Biogeography, Taxonomy, and Ecology of this important group of estuarine crustaceans, held the 13-17 May 2019 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The present volume includes 17 selected papers, in which you will discover new aspects of the modern theory on the history and recent geographical distribution (biogeography) of an important group of estuarine crustaceans, revealing coincidences with a modern model of continental drift. The researchers suggest a new hypothesis on time and place of origin of continental calanoid copepods. The specialists show that studying external morphology in detail helps to increase identification and differentiation between closely related sibling species within the Eurytemora group. Several ecological questions on invasive and pseudocryptic copepod species are debated. Finally, the last chapter of this monography is devoted to taxa related to the Eurytemora group, Epischura, Temora, Temoropia, and Pseudodiaptomus. First published as a Special Issue of Crustaceana 93(3-5): 241-547.

Neuroscience has made considerable progress in figuring out how the brain works. We know much about the molecular-genetic and biochemical underpinnings of sensory and motor functions. Recent neuroimaging work has opened the door to investigating the neural underpinnings of higher-order cognitive functions, such as memory, attention, and even free will. In these types of investigations, researchers apply specific stimuli to induce neural activity in the brain and look for the function in question. However, there may be more to the brain and its neuronal states than the changes in activity we induce by applying particular external stimuli. In Volume 2 of Unlocking the Brain, Georg Northoff addresses consciousness by hypothesizing about the relationship between particular neuronal mechanisms and the various phenomenal features of consciousness. Northoff puts consciousness in the context of the resting state of the brain thereby delivering a new point of view to the debate that permits very interesting insights into the nature of consciousness. Moreover, he describes and discusses detailed findings from different branches of neuroscience including single cell data, animal data, human imaging data, and psychiatric findings. This yields a unique and novel picture of the brain, and will have a major and lasting impact on neuroscientists working in neuroscience, psychiatry, and related fields.

The nematode C. elegans is one of the most important model organisms for understanding neurobiology. Its completely mapped neural connectome of 302 neurons and fully characterized and stereotyped development have made it a prototype for understanding nervous system structure, development, and function. Fifty-six out of C. elegans' total of 959 somatic cells are classified as neuroglia. Although research on worm glia has lagged behind studies focused on neurons, there has been a steep upswing in interest during the past decade. Information arising from the recent burst of research on worm glia supports the idea that C. elegans will continue to be an important animal model for understanding glial cell biology. Since the developmental lineage of all cells was mapped, each glial cell in C. elegans is known by a specific name and has research associated with it. We list and describe the glia of the hermaphrodite form of C. elegans and summarize research findings relating to each glial cell. We hope this lecture provides an informative overview of worm glia to accompany the excellent and freely available online resources available to the worm research community.

With treatment approaches and the field of neuro-oncology neuroimaging changing rapidly, this third edition of the Handbook of Neuro-Oncology Neuroimaging is very relevant to those in the field, providing a single-source, comprehensive, reference handbook of the most up-to-date clinical and technical information regarding the application of neuroimaging techniques to brain tumor and neuro-oncology patients. This new volume will have updates on all of the material from the second edition, and in addition features several new important chapters covering diverse topics such as imaging for the use of Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy, advanced imaging techniques in radiation therapy, therapeutic treatment fields, response assessment in clinical trials, surgical planning of neoplastic disease of the spine, and more. Sections first overview neuro-oncological disorders before delving into the physics and basic science of neuroimaging and great focus on CT and MRI. The book then focuses on advances in the neuroimaging of brain tumors and neuroimaging of specific tumor types. There is also discussion of neuroimaging of other neuro-oncological syndromes. This book will serve as a resource of background information to neuroimaging researchers and basic scientists with an interest in brain tumors and neuro-oncology.

MRI Atlas of the Infant Rat Brain: Brain Segmentation features an entirely new coronal, sagittal and horizontal set of tissue cut in regular 9 m intervals with accompanying photographs of MRI data and color drawings of selected brain regions in the three planes. The use of the single brain allows for greater consistency between sections, while color masking offers advances in manual segmentation techniques with increased refinement in the definition of brain areas. Readers will benefit from uniform and consistent manual tissue segmentation of MRI data in an infant rat brain. This volume provides readers the first infant rat brain MRI atlas and a valuable resource in research analyses of the developing brain for structural and functional MRI analyses.

Our species long lived on the edge of starvation. Now we produce enough food for all 7 billion of us to eat nearly 3,000 calories every day. This is such an astonishing thing in the history of life as to verge on the miraculous. "The Big Ratchet" is the story of how it happened, of the ratchets--the technologies and innovations, big and small--that propelled our species from hunters and gatherers on the savannahs of Africa to shoppers in the aisles of the supermarket.
The Big Ratchet itself came in the twentieth century, when a range of technologies--from fossil fuels to scientific plant breeding to nitrogen fertilizers--combined to nearly quadruple our population in a century, and to grow our food supply even faster. To some, these technologies are a sign of our greatness; to others, of our hubris. MacArthur fellow and Columbia University professor Ruth DeFries argues that the debate is the wrong one to have. Limits do exist, but every limit that has confronted us, we have surpassed. That cycle of crisis and growth is the story of our history; indeed, it is the essence of "The Big Ratchet." Understanding it will reveal not just how we reached this point in our history, but how we might survive it.

For all of neuroscience's advances, we've made little progress on its biggest question: How do simple cells in the brain create intelligence? Jeff Hawkins and his team discovered that the brain uses maplike structures to build a model of the world-not just one model, but hundreds of thousands of models of everything we know. This discovery allows Hawkins to answer important questions about how we perceive the world, why we have a sense of self, and the origin of high-level thought. A Thousand Brains heralds a revolution in the understanding of intelligence. It is a big-think book, in every sense of the word. One of the Financial Times' Best Books of 2021 One of Bill Gates' Five Favorite Books of 2021

Modern populations are superficially aware of media potentials and paraphernalia, but recent events have emphasized the general ignorance of the sentient media. Advertising has long been suspected of cognitive manipulation, but emergent issues of political hacking, false news, disinformation campaigns, lies, neuromarketing, misuse of social media, pervasive surveillance, and cyber warfare are presently challenging the world as we know it. Media Models to Foster Collective Human Coherence in the PSYCHecology is an assemblage of pioneering research on the methods and applications of video games designed as a new genre of dream analogs. Highlighting topics including virtual reality, personality profiling, and dream structure, this book is ideally designed for professionals, researchers, academicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, media specialists, game designers, and students hoping for the creation of sustainable social patterns in the emergent reality of energy and information.

Biomarkers in Bipolar Disorders summarizes cutting-edge findings in biomarkers' research, emphasizing the most promising findings, tools and technologies relevant to drug development and personalized medicine. Key findings cover different levels of evidence such as genes, molecules, cells, systems, brain and behavior related to diagnosis (state and trait/endophenotypes), prediction of treatment response and follow-up outcomes, along with the most promising perspectives in each area. Each section includes a comprehensive and focused overview on the state-of-the-art and perspectives. The book concludes with a section on practical applications, encompassing diagnostics development (genetic testing, biomarkers), and new drug development. Edited by Dr. Rodrigo Machado-Vieira and Dr. Jair C. Soares, and contributed by leading experts in the field of biomarker research, this book will be become the leading tool for all researchers and clinicians in Bipolar Disorder.

Xenobiotics in Chemical Carcinogenesis: Translational Aspects in Toxicology covers the translational toxicology of xenobiotics substances in carcinogenesis by explaining the toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic, toxicogenomic, biotransformation, and resistance mechanisms in the human body. The book begins with a historical review and link to future prospects for chemical carcinogenesis. It discusses major environmental xenobiotics and their risks in inducing cancer, along with content on toxic xenobiotics and their routes of exposure in humans, the role of xenobiotic metabolism in carcinogenesis, and the toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic of xenobiotics in cancer development. Lastly, the book explores current achievements such as using toxicogenomics for predicting the carcinogenicity of xenobiotic substances and the challenges posed by carcinogenic xenobiotic substances when examining preventive methods, diagnosis, and the development of anticancer drugs for specific toxicants.

Although scientists recognize the role of epigenetic mechanisms in DNA damage response, the complex, mechanistic interplay between chromatin regulation and DNA repair is still poorly understood. Comprehending how these processes are connected in time and space and play out in developmental processes may reveal novel directions for new research and disease treatment. Epigenetics and DNA Damage, a new volume in the Translational Epigenetics series, offers a thorough grounding in the relationship between DNA Damage, epigenetic modifications, and chromatin regulation. Early chapters address the basic science of DNA damage and its association with various epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation, post-translational histone modifications, histone variants, chromatin remodeling, miRNAs, and lncRNAs. This is followed by a close discussion of DNA damage and epigenetics in metabolism, aging, cellular differentiation, immune function, stem cell biology, and cancer, tying recent research to translational application in disease understanding. Later chapters examine possible epigenetic therapies combining DNA damage induction and epigenetic alteration, as well as instructive chapters on how to analyze DNA damage and epigenetic alterations in new research.

Neuroscience has made considerable progress in figuring out how the brain works. We know much about the molecular-genetic and biochemical underpinnings of sensory and motor functions, and recent neuroimaging work has opened the door to investigating the neural underpinnings of higher-order cognitive functions, such as memory, attention, and even free will. In these types of investigations, researchers apply specific stimuli to induce neural activity in the brain and look for the function in question. However, there may be more to the brain and its neuronal states than the changes in activity we induce by applying particular external stimuli.
In Volume 1 of Unlocking the Brain, Georg Northoff presents his argument for how the brain must code the relationship between its resting state activity and stimulus-induced activity in order to enable and predispose mental states and consciousness. By presupposing such a basic sense of neural code, the author ventures into different territories and fields of current neuroscience, including a comprehensive exploration of the features of resting state activity as distinguishable from and stimulus-induced activity; sparse coding and predictive coding; and spatial and temporal features of the resting state itself. This yields a unique and novel picture of the brain, and will have a major and lasting impact on neuroscientists working in neuroscience, psychiatry, and related fields.

New Frontiers and Applications of Synthetic Biology presents a collection of chapters from eminent synthetic biologists across the globe who have established experience and expertise working with synthetic biology. This book offers several important areas of synthetic biology which allow us to read and understand easily. It covers the introduction of synthetic biology and design of promoter, new DNA synthesis and sequencing technology, genome assembly, minimal cells, small synthetic RNA, directed evolution, protein engineering, computational tools, de novo synthesis, phage engineering, a sensor for microorganisms, next-generation diagnostic tools, CRISPR-Cas systems, and more. This book is a good source for not only researchers in designing synthetic biology, but also for researchers, students, synthetic biologists, metabolic engineers, genome engineers, clinicians, industrialists, stakeholders and policymakers interested in harnessing the potential of synthetic biology in many areas.