Animal cells are the preferred "cell factories" for the production of complex molecules and antibodies for use as prophylactics, therapeutics or diagnostics. Animal cells are required for the correct post-translational processing (including glycosylation) of biopharmaceutical protein products. They are used for the production of viral vectors for gene therapy. Major targets for this therapy include cancer, HIV, arthritis, cardiovascular and CNS diseases and cystic fibrosis. Animal cells are used as in vitro substrates in pharmacological and toxicological studies. This book is designed to serve as a comprehensive review of animal cell culture, covering the current status of both research and applications. For the student or R&D scientist or new researcher the protocols are central to the performance of cell culture work, yet a broad understanding is essential for translation of laboratory findings into the industrial production. Within the broad scope of the book, each topic is reviewed authoritatively by experts in the field to produce state-of-the-art collection of current research. A major reference volume on cell culture research and how it impacts on production of biopharmaceutical proteins worldwide, the book is essential reading for everyone working in cell culture and is a recommended volume for all biotechnology libraries.

After the success of the first 2 books with the proceedings of the newly established series of European conferences on Health Telematics Education, the 3rd one gives a new dimension to the field of Health and Medical Informatics Education in Europe. It deals with the needs and the current status in Health Telematics Education in Europe, with curriculum development in Health- Medical and Nursing Informatics, with development of courseware material, computer based training and computer assisted learning. Also distance learning and Internet applications, training in using Hospital Information Systems (HIS) and Departmental Information Systems, Inter-University programmes and accreditation of courses are discussed.

Modern medicine generates, almost daily, huge amounts of heterogeneous data. For example, medical data may contain SPECT images, signals lik e ECG, clinical information like temperature, cholesterol levels, etc., as well as the physician's interpretation. Those who deal with such data understand that there is a widening gap between data collection a nd data comprehension. Computerized techniques are needed to help huma ns address this problem. This volume is devoted to the relatively youn g and growing field of medical data mining and knowledge discovery. As more and more medical procedures employ imaging as a preferred diagno stic tool, there is a need to develop methods for efficient mining in databases of images. Other significant features are security and confi dentiality concerns. Moreover, the physician's interpretation of image s, signals, or other technical data, is written in unstructured Englis h which is very difficult to mine. This book addresses all these speci fic features.

Examines harmonization of the US Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with international regulations as they apply to human drug and device development, research, manufacturing, and marketing. The Second Edition focuses on the new drug approval process, cGMPs, GCPs, quality system compliance, and corresponding documentation requirements. Written in a jargon-free style, it draws information from a wide range of resources. It demystifies the inner workings of the FDA and facilitates an understanding of how it operates with respect to compliance and product approval. FDA Regulatory Affairs: provides a blueprint to the FDA and drug, biologic, and medical device development offers current, real-time information in a simple and concise format contains a chapter highlighting the new drug application (NDA) process discusses FDA inspection processes and enforcement options includes contributions from experts at companies such as Millennium and Genzyme, leading CRO's such as PAREXEL and the Biologics Consulting Group, and the FDA Three all-new chapters cover: clinical trial exemptions advisory committees provisions for fast track

Nature-Inspired Computing Paradigms in Systems: Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Safety and Cost (RAMS+C) and Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) covers several areas that include bioinspired techniques and optimization approaches for system dependability. The book addresses the issue of integration and interaction of the bioinspired techniques in system dependability computing so that intelligent decisions, design, and architectures can be supported. It brings together these emerging areas under the umbrella of bio- and nature-inspired computational intelligence. The primary audience of this book includes experts and developers who want to deepen their understanding of bioinspired computing in basic theory, algorithms, and applications. The book is also intended to be used as a textbook for masters and doctoral students who want to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the role of bioinspired techniques in system dependability.

Microfluidics and BioMEMS Applications central idea is on microfluidics, a relatively new research field which finds its niche in biomedical devices, especially on lab-on-a-chip and related products. Being the essential component in providing driving fluidic flows, an example of micropump is chosen to illustrate a complete cycle in development of microfluidic devices which include literature review, designing and modelling, fabrication and testing. A few articles are included to demonstrate the idea of tackling this research problem, and they cover the main development scope discussed earlier as well as other advanced modelling schemes for microfluidics and beyond.

Scientists and students working in the areas of MEMS and microfluidics will benefit from this book, which may serve both communities as both a reference monograph and a textbook for courses in numerical simulation, and design and development of microfluidic devices.

Enzyme-linked immunospot assay (ELISPOT) has been known for some time as a unique state-of-the-art technique for studying the cytokine-secreting activity of immune system cells, and it appears to be one of the fast growing applications in biomedical research, becoming an indispensable tool in vaccine development, HIV research, transplantation studies, and cancer and allergy research. The second edition of Handbook of ELISPOT: Methods and Protocols, only the second book in the field which is entirely dedicated to ELISPOT assay, shares the detailed techniques that have been developed since the release of the popular first edition. Straight from the labs of seasoned experts, this book covers setting and performing ELISPOT assays, ELISPOT for veterinary research, advanced ELISPOT techniques, image and data analysis, as well as vaccine development and diagnostics. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, chapters include introductions to their respective chapters, 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, Handbook of ELISPOT: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition serves as a compilation of a technical reference and a troubleshooting guide for researchers, both experienced and novice, worldwide in order to advance the usage of this key tool.

The term epigenetics describes regulatory and information storing mechanisms of specific genes that do not involve any change of their DNA sequence. Epigenetics is closely related to the extensively folded state, in which the genome is packaged, known as chromatin. New genomic tools nowadays allow the genome-wide assessment of, for example, chromatin states and DNA modifications, and led to the discovery of unexpected new epigenetic principles, such as epigenomic memory. This was the start of the field of epigenomics, the relation of which to human health and disease is discussed in this textbook. This book aims to summarize, in a condensed form, the role of epigenomics in defining chromatin states that are representative of active genes (euchromatin) and repressed genes (heterochromatin). Moreover, this book discusses the principles of gene regulation, chromatin stability, genomic imprinting and the reversibility of DNA methylation and histone modifications. This information should enable a better understanding of cell type identities and will provide new directions for studies of, for example, cellular reprograming, the response of chromatin to environmental signals and epigenetic therapies that can improve or restore human health. In order to facilitate the latter, we favor a high figure-to-text ratio following the rule "a picture tells more than thousand words". The content of the book is based on the lecture course "Molecular Medicine and Genetics" that is given by one of us (C. Carlberg) in different forms since 2002 at the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio. Thematically, this book is located between our textbooks "Mechanisms of Gene Regulation" (ISBN 978-94-017-7741-4) and "Nutrigenomics" (ISBN 978-3-319-30415-1), studying of which may also be interesting to our readers. The book is sub-divided into three sections and 13 chapters. Following the Introduction (section A), section B will explain the molecular basis of epigenomics, while section C will provide examples for the impact of epigenomics in human health and disease. The lecture course is primarily designed for Master level students of biomedicine, but is also frequented by PhD students as well as by students of other bioscience disciplines. Besides its value as a textbook, Human Epigenomics will be a useful reference for individuals working in biomedicine.

Cancer is one of the leading killers in the world and the incidence is increasing, but most cancer patients and cancer survivors suffer much from the disease and its conventional treatments' side effects. In the past, clinical data showed that some complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) possessed anticancer abilities, but some clinicians and scientists have queried about the scientific validity of CAM due to the lack of scientific evidence. There is great demand in the knowledge gap to explore the scientific and evidence-based knowledge of CAM in the anticancer field. With this aim, a book series is needed to structurally deliver the knowledge to readers. Recently there have been encouraging results from both laboratory experiments and clinical trials demonstrating the anticancer effects of herbal medicine. There is considerable interest among oncologists and cancer researchers to find anticancer agents in herbal medicine. This volume is a specialised book presenting the up-to-date scientific evidence for anticancer herbal medicine. This unique book provides an overview of the anticancer herbal medicines and remedies, as well as a detailed evidence-based evaluation of 18 common anticancer herbal medicines covering their biological and pharmacological properties, efficacies, herb-drug interactions, adverse effects, pre-clinical studies, and clinical applications. Gathering international opinion leaders' views, this volume will contribute great to the cancer, academic, and clinical community by providing evidence-based information on the anticancer efficacy of herbal medicine. Readership Oncologists, cancer researchers, pharmacologists, pharmaceutical specialists, Chinese medicine practitioners, medical educators, postgraduates and advanced undergraduates in biomedical disciplines, cancer caregivers, cancer patients.

This book demonstrates the beneficial effects in brain circuits involving memory and attention, reward and social values, decision making and coordination, creativity and persistence of the skills and expertise of continuing education and exposure to the Arts; including chess practice, music/counting, college education and watching movies. These activities were reviewed and investigated using full-spectrum, advanced quantitative imaging techniques. The book highlights extensive applications for this research in common diseases, together with cutting-edge and full-spectrum static and dynamic, functional and structural, regional and inter-network, imaging and phenotypic scales. It will capture the interest of researchers in the areas of neurodevelopmental, neuroplasticity and neuropsychiatric imaging and correlation, as well as disease diagnosis and treatment, and could help convey the methodological innovation and neuroscientific applications of important educational, health and arts/science-related topics.

This book is targeted to biologists with limited statistical background and to statisticians and computer scientists interested in being effective collaborators on multi-disciplinary DNA microarray projects. State-of-the-art analysis methods are presented with minimal mathematical notation and a focus on concepts. This book is unique because it is authored by statisticians at the National Cancer Institute who are actively involved in the application of microarray technology. Many laboratories are not equipped to effectively design and analyze studies that take advantage of the promise of microarrays. Many of the software packages available to biologists were developed without involvement of statisticians experienced in such studies and contain tools that may not be optimal for particular applications. This book provides a sound preparation for designing microarray studies that have clear objectives, and for selecting analysis tools and strategies that provide clear and valid answers. The book offers an in depth understanding of the design and analysis of experiments utilizing microarrays and should benefit scientists regardless of what software packages they prefer. In order to provide all readers with hands on experience in data analysis, it includes an Appendix tutorial on the use of BRB-ArrayTools and step by step analyses of several major datasets using this software which is freely available from the National Cancer Institute for non-commercial use. The authors are current or former members of the Biometric Research Branch at the National Cancer Institute.  They have collaborated on major biomedical studies utilizing microarrays and in the development of statistical methodology for the design and analysis of microarray investigations. Dr. Simon, chief of the branch, is also the architect of BRB-ArrayTools.

The present work offers a snapshot of the state-of-the-art of crystallographic, analytical, and computational methods used in modern drug design and development. Topics discussed include: drug design against complex systems (membrane proteins, cell surface receptors, epigenetic targets, and ribosomes); modulation of protein-protein interactions; the impact of small molecule structures in drug discovery and the application of concepts such as molecular geometry, conformation, and flexibility to drug design; methodologies for understanding and characterizing protein states and protein-ligand interactions during the drug design process; and monoclonal antibody therapies. These methods are illustrated through their application to problems of medical and biological significance, such as viral and bacterial infections, diabetes, autoimmune disease, and CNS diseases. As approaches to drug discovery have changed over time, so have the methodologies used to solve the varied, new, and difficult problems encountered in drug discovery. In recent years we have seen great progress in the fields of genetics, biology, chemistry, and medicine, but there are still many unmet medical needs, from bacterial infections to cancer to chronic maladies, that require novel, different, or better therapies. This work will be of interest to researchers and policy makers interested in the latest developments in drug design.

This book covers the latest developments in the therapeutic implications of angiogenesis, ranging from angiogenesis in the brain, angiogenesis in cancer, angiogenesis' role in atherosclerosis and heart disease as well as metabolic disorders and peripheral vascular disease. The book is comprehensive in its coverage of angiogenesis in a diverse set of diseases and examines the role of cellular and subcellular structures during the development of angiogenesis. Well-organized and thorough, this is an ideal book for researchers and biomedical engineers working in the field of therapeutic implications of angiogenesis. This book also: Covers the basics of the physiology of angiogenesis, including VEGF pathways in angiogenesis, integr ins in angiogenesis, angiogenesis and exercise physiology, and more Details the role of angiogenesis in atherosclerosis and heart disease, including vascular endothelial growth factor and atherosclerotic plaque progression as well as angiogenesis and heart failure Illustrates in detail brain angiogenesis after stroke and the relationship between angiogenesis and Alzheimer's disease

The original role of RP was to confirm the shape and feel of concept design, but innovations in RP now allow for the development of sophisticated medical devices such as catheters, stents, drug delivery systems, syringes and cardio-vascular devices, and more. RP has moved beyond medical devices, as surgeons now regularly use RP models to brainstorm strategies for surgeries. This book presents new uses for rapid prototyping in state-of-the-art medical applications.

This book covers the latest developments in enzyme immobilization with its wide applications, such as for industry, agriculture, medicine, and the environment. Topics covered include basics of enzyme immobilization, its implication in therapeutics and disease diagnostics, and its significance in solving environmental problems. This is an ideal book for researchers, graduate and postgraduate students, as well as scientists in industry, agriculture and health sectors. This book is a complete summary of enzyme immobilization and also thoroughly covers all the latest research. This book covers: The last one-hundred years of innovative research done in enzyme immobilization Recent developments in immobilization techniques, such as types of matrices, immobilization methods, and linking agents, as well as enzyme immobilization without any matrices and its properties The physiological and industrial significance of enzymes from plants and the implementation of immobilized enzymes in the treatment of waste water and polluted air Biomedical and bioanalytical applications of immobilized enzymes

Antiplatelet therapy is the cornerstone of treatment of ischemic cardiovascular disease and over the last few years spectacular advancements in this field have been recorded. This is the first comprehensive handbook entirely dedicated to all the aspects of antiplatelet therapy. The book is divided into three main sections, pathophysiology, pharmacology and therapy, for a total of 23 chapters. A large group of leading experts from different European countries and from the USA, both from academia and industry, have contributed to the book. Besides a detailed overview on the pharmacology and clinical applications of all the currently used or of the novel antiplatelet agents, innovative approaches (e.g. intracellular signalling as an antiplatelet target, small RNAs as platelet therapeutics, etc.) or unconventional aspects (e.g. pharmacologic modulation of the inflammatory action of platelets are also treated. The book is oriented to both basic investigators and to clinicians involved with research on platelet inhibition or with the clinical use of antiplatelet therapies.

This book aims to present the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data in healthcare for medical decision making and data analysis in myriad fields including Radiology, Radiomics, Radiogenomics, Oncology, Pharmacology, COVID-19 prognosis, Cardiac imaging, Neuroradiology, Psychiatry and others. This will include topics such as Artificial Intelligence of Thing (AIOT), Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI), Distributed learning, Blockchain of Internet of Things (BIOT), Cybersecurity, and Internet of (Medical) Things (IoTs). Healthcare providers will learn how to leverage Big Data analytics and AI as methodology for accurate analysis based on their clinical data repositories and clinical decision support. The capacity to recognize patterns and transform large amounts of data into usable information for precision medicine assists healthcare professionals in achieving these objectives. Intelligent Health has the potential to monitor patients at risk with underlying conditions and track their progress during therapy. Some of the greatest challenges in using these technologies are based on legal and ethical concerns of using medical data and adequately representing and servicing disparate patient populations. One major potential benefit of this technology is to make health systems more sustainable and standardized. Privacy and data security, establishing protocols, appropriate governance, and improving technologies will be among the crucial priorities for Digital Transformation in Healthcare.

The understanding of the role of dendritic cells (DCs) in immune responses has come a long way since Steinmann and colleagues described these cells in 1972. - tensive research during the intervening period has provided a good understanding of the complexity of the DC system and its pivotal role in immunity. It is also now clearer how different subsets of DCs interact and regulate each other and how DC populations affect the function of other cells of the immune system. The improved understanding of their role in immune response has led to the idea that modulation of DC functions by, for example, pharmacological agents could be used as a pot- tial therapeutic approach in some pathological conditions. The actual applicability and therapeutic potential of all these approaches is yet to be fully demonstrated but nonetheless, animal models of human diseases are proving to be very helpful in the evaluation of manipulated DCs as a new treatment in diseases like cancer, auto- munity or asthma. DCs are integral to the initiation and regulation of immune response (Banchereau et al. 2000). The outcome of antigen presentation by DCs is determined by their maturation status, which can be induced by their interaction with danger signals. To recognise a wide array of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMP), DCs express a number of pattern recognition receptors (PRR) such as Toll-like rec- tors (TLRs) and C-type lectin receptors (CLR) that recognise structural components of pathogens and discriminate between self and non-self molecules.

The young investigator with an idea has to negotiate many institutional, federal, and industrial challenges in order to get a product to market. Nowhere is described the steps in the development of new drugs, diagnos tics, or devices; the person with an idea has nowhere to turn for information and details. The young investigator may understand the elements of basic and clinical research, but ordinarily has no insight into novel ways of finding research funding or how to explore to find the funding opportunities that are available. The young investigator has little knowledge of the mecha nisms to bring an idea through the developmental phases to the market. There are other players in this complex endeavor with whom he or she has no contact, including those from industry, the Food and Drug Administration, and the legal community. Exposure to the philosophy of product develop ment and to procedural information would be useful to the scientific com munity, as would contact with those who have successfully taken an idea to a finished product. A first attempt to do this was the symposium on Idea to Product: The Process, sponsored by Serono Symposia USA and held No vember 17 to 20, 1994, in Washington, D.C. This book comprises the pro ceedings of that meeting. The editors are indebted to the many contributors to this volume, and we are especially grateful to Serono Symposia USA and to Leslie Nies and her staff for their expertise in organizing the symposium."

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to computational epidemiology, highlighting its major methodological paradigms throughout the development of the field while emphasizing the needs for a new paradigm shift in order to most effectively address the increasingly complex real-world challenges in disease control and prevention. Specifically, the book presents the basic concepts, related computational models, and tools that are useful for characterizing disease transmission dynamics with respect to a heterogeneous host population. In addition, it shows how to develop and apply computational methods to tackle the challenges involved in population-level intervention, such as prioritized vaccine allocation. A unique feature of this book is that its examination on the issues of vaccination decision-making is not confined only to the question of how to develop strategic policies on prioritized interventions, as it further approaches the issues from the perspective of individuals, offering a well integrated cost-benefit and social-influence account for voluntary vaccination decisions. One of the most important contributions of this book lies in it offers a blueprint on a novel methodological paradigm in epidemiology, namely, systems epidemiology, with detailed systems modeling principles, as well as practical steps and real-world examples, which can readily be applied in addressing future systems epidemiological challenges. The book is intended to serve as a reference book for researchers and practitioners in the fields of computer science and epidemiology. Together with the provided references on the key concepts, methods, and examples being introduced, the book can also readily be adopted as an introductory text for undergraduate and graduate courses in computational epidemiology as well as systems epidemiology, and as training materials for practitioners and field workers.

Recent years have witnessed dramatic advances in the development and use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques that can provide quantitative measures with some degree of pathological specificity for the heterogeneous substrates of multiple sclerosis (MS). Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is one of the most promising of these techniques. Thanks to MRS, axonal damage is no longer considered an end-stage phenomenon typical of only the most destructive lesions and the most unfortunate cases, but rather as a major component of the MS pathology of lesions and normal-appearing white matter at all the phases of the disease. This new concept is rapidly changing our understanding of MS pathophysiology and, as a consequence, the therapeutic strategies to modify the disease course favorably. Many of the authors have pionereed the use of MRS in MS, thus contributing to the foundation of the "axonal hypothesis".

Explosive growth in the field of microsystem technology (MST) has introduced a variety of promising products in major disciplines from microelectronics to life sciences. Especially the life sciences and health care business was, and is expected to be a major market for MST products. Undoubtedly the merging of biological sciences with micro- and nanoscience will create a scientific and technological revolution in future. Microminiaturization of devices, down to the nanoscale, approaching the size of biological structures, will be a prerequisite for the future success of life sciences. Bioanalytical and therapeutic micro- and nanosystems will be mandatory for system biologists in the long run, to obtain insight into morphology, the function and the interactive processes of the living system. With such a deeper understanding new and personalized drugs could be developed leading to a revolution in life sciences. Today, microanalytical devices are used in clinical analytics or molecular biology as gene chips. In parallel, standard microbiomedical products are employed in the intensive care and surgical theatre, mainly for monitoring and implantation purposes. The gap between these two different scientific fields will be closed, however, as soon as functional micro devices can be produced, allowing a deeper view into the function of cells and whole organisms.

Here, a new discipline evolved which focuses on microsystems for living systems called "BIOMEMS." In this review at a glance the exciting field of bio-microsystems, from their beginnings to indicators of future successes are presented. It will also show that a broad penetration of micro and nano technologies into biology and medicine will be mandatory for future scientific and new product development progress in life science.

This book will present the results of the EpiAim study, exploring and describing the current situation and trends in the use of Health Informatics and Telematics in Africa an Latin America, two regions that despite their peculiarities and complexity, are witnessing a sustained interest in these new technologies. In fact, rapid changes currently taking place are "putting these countries on the map" of the global information society. The book should help to achieve a better understanding of the opportunities in health informatics for the advancement of technical co-operation between Europe and developing regions, and a view for future potential business opportunities in emerging markets.

This book will cover the cutting-edge developments in molecular and cellular mechanobiology to date. Readers will have a clear understanding of mechanobiology at the molecular and cellular levels, encompassing the mechanosensors, transducers, and transcription. An integrative approach across different scales from molecular sensing to mechanotransduction and gene modulation for physiological regulation of cellular functions will be explored, as well as applications to pathophysiological states in disease. A comprehensive understanding of the roles of physicochemical microenvironment and intracellular responses in determining cellular function in health and disease will also be discussed.