The purpose of this publication is to introduce a new, simpler and more effective way in which to interpret pharmaceutical aerosol particle size data from orally inhaled products (OIPs). Currently, the compendial and regulatory requirements dictate the need for measurements by full resolution multi-stage cascade impactor (CI), a process that is demanding for the operator, time consuming, prone to experimental error, and challenging for method transfers from one laboratory to another. Furthermore, we shall show that the current practice of reducing information from mass-weighted aerodynamic particle size distribution (APSD) measurements through the use of CI stage groupings is not the most effective decision-making tool for OIP quality control (QC) in comparison with newly introduced, mutually-independent efficient data analysis (EDA) metrics that can be derived either from full resolution or abbreviated impactor measurements (AIM).

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) are expected to promote new applications for the ambulatory health monitoring of chronic patients and elderly population, aiming to improve their quality of life and independence. These networks are composed by wireless sensor nodes (WSNs) used for measuring physiological variables (e.g., glucose level in blood or body temperature) or controlling therapeutic devices (e.g., implanted insulin pumps). These nodes should exhibit a high degree of energy autonomy in order to extend their battery lifetime or even make the node supply to rely on harvesting techniques. Typically, the power budget of WSNs is dominated by the wireless link and, hence, many efforts have been directed during the last years toward the implementation of power efficient transceivers.

Because of the short range (typically no more than a few meters) and low data rate (typically in between 10 kb/s and 1 Mb/s), simple communication protocols can be employed. One of these protocols, specifically tailored for WBAN applications, is the Bluetooth low energy (BLE) standard.

This book describes the challenges and solutions for the design of ultra-low power transceivers for WBANs applications and presents the implementation details of a BLE transceiver prototype. Coverage includes not only the main concepts and architectures for achieving low power consumption, but also the details of the circuit design and its implementation in a standard CMOS technology."

"Advances in Cancer Research" provides invaluable information on the exciting and fast-moving field of cancer research. Here, once again, outstanding and original reviews are presented on a variety of topics. This volume covers AEG-1/MTDH/Lyric implicated in multiple human cancers.
Provides information on cancer researchOutstanding and original reviewsSuitable for researchers and students

"Advances in Cancer Research" provides invaluable information on the exciting and fast-moving field of cancer research. Here, once again, outstanding and original reviews are presented on a variety of topics.
Provides information on cancer researchOutstanding and original reviewsSuitable for researchers and students

Recent evidence demonstrates that normal prostate tissue contains stem cells. There is also accumulating evidence that prostate cancer contains a population of cells with stem cell-like characteristics referred to as cancer stem cells, or tumor initiating cells. Both the normal prostate stem cell and cancer stem cell populations have important implications for the generation, therapeutic targeting, and prevention of prostate cancer. The purpose of this book is to explore the role of stem cells in prostate cancer, which is becoming an increasingly hot trend in cancer research.

Lynch syndrome (LS) is the most common cause of inherited colorectal cancer, a disease with a high mortality rate. An estimated 37,000 of diagnosed colorectal cancer cases worldwide are attributed to Lynch syndrome each year. Intensive cancer screening, with early initiation and frequent follow-up, can reduce colorectal cancer incidence and mortality in LS patients. This book provides an up-to-date overview on the genetic and epigenetic basis of Lynch syndrome. It evaluates clinical features of the disease and critically comments on molecular tools available for identifying mutations responsible for Lynch syndrome; in addition the importance of functional assays that can help clarify the clinical nature of identified mutations is also discussed. The book also focuses on challenges in genetic counselling of at-risk individuals and discusses related ethical issues. The purpose of the book is to give a concise knowledge base for the broader scientific and medical community, including genetic counselors, in order to improve awareness on the potential impact that the diagnosis of LS has on treatment, management and surveillance of LS patients.

Alternative medicine: Herbal drugs and their critical appraisal - Part II.- Virus population dynamics, fitness variations and the control of viral disease: an update.- Applications of yeast in drug discovery.- Sympathetic nervous system and experimental diabetes: role of adrenal medullary hormones.- From outer to inner space: Traveling along a scientific career from astrochemistry to drug research.- Index Vol. 57.- Index of titles, Vol. 1-57.- Author and paper index, Vol. 1-57.

Volume64 in the internationally acclaimed "Advances in Clinical Chemistry" contains chapters authored by world renowned clinical laboratory scientists, physicians and research scientists.The serialprovides the latest and most up-to-date technologies related to the field of Clinical Chemistry andis the benchmark for novel analytical approaches in the clinical laboratory.
Expertise of international contributorsLatest cutting-edge technologiesComprehensive in scope"

"Advances in Cancer Research" provides invaluable information on the exciting and fast-moving field of cancer research. Here, once again, outstanding and original reviews are presented on a variety of topics.

This new volume of Current Topics in Developmental Biology covers Stem Cells in Development and Disease. The chapters provide a comprehensive set of reviews covering such topics as the mechanisms of pluripotency in vivo and in vitro, hematopoietic stem cell development, intestinal stem cells and their defining niche, epithelial stem cells in adult skin, the mammary stem cell hierarchy, satellite cells, neural stem cells of the hippocampus, lung stem and progenitor cells in tissue homeostasis and disease, spermatogonial stem cell functions in physiological and pathological conditions, the origin, biology, and therapeutic potential of facultative adult hepatic progenitor cells, nephron progenitor cells, adult stem cell niches, cancer stem cells, pluripotency and cellular heterogeneity, and cellular mechanisms of somatic stem cell aging
Covers the area of Stem Cells in Development and DiseaseInternational board of authors Provides a comprehensive set of reviews covering such topics as Intestinal Stem Cells, Nephron Stem Cells/Progenitors, Skin epithelial Stem Cells and Lung Stem Cells

Written by authors representing the diverse field of clinical chemistry and diagnostics, reviews in Advances in Clinical Chemistry cover a range of cutting-eduge research ranging from basic biochemical exploration to microarray technology.
Written by authors representing the diverse field of clinical chemistry and diagnostics, reviews in Advances in Clinical Chemistry cover a range of cutting-eduge research ranging from basic biochemical exploration to microarray technology.

Published since 1953, "Advances in Virus Research" covers a diverse range of in-depth reviews providing a valuable overview of the current field of virology.
Key features:

* Contributions from leading authorities * Informs and updates on all the latest developments in the field

This book contains the full papers presented at the MICCAI 2013 workshop Bio-Imaging and Visualization for Patient-Customized Simulations (MWBIVPCS 2013). MWBIVPCS 2013 brought together researchers representing several fields, such as Biomechanics, Engineering, Medicine, Mathematics, Physics and Statistic.

The contributions included in this book present and discuss new trends in those fields, using several methods and techniques, including the finite element method, similarity metrics, optimization processes, graphs, hidden Markov models, sensor calibration, fuzzy logic, data mining, cellular automation, active shape models, template matching and level sets. These serve as tools to address more efficiently different and timely applications involving signal and image acquisition, image processing and analysis, image segmentation, image registration and fusion, computer simulation, image based modelling, simulation and surgical planning, image guided robot assisted surgical and image based diagnosis.

This book will appeal to researchers, PhD students and graduate students with multidisciplinary interests related to the areas of medical imaging, image processing and analysis, computer vision, image segmentation, image registration and fusion, scientific data visualization and image based modeling and simulation.

Biobanking, an emerging field supported by academia, industry and health administrators alike, is distinctly different today from the practice that once defined it. The science of Biobanking, which initially involved simply storing blood or tissue samples in a freezer, is now a highly sophisticated field of research, and expected to grow exponentially over the next decade or two. This book aims to serve the purpose of further enriching the available literature on Biobanking, by offering unique and more useful collection of ideas for the future. The book outlines the experiences of developing modern Biobanking repositories in different countries, whilst covering specific topics regarding the many aspects of Biobanking. This book will be of interest to a wide range of readers including: academics, students, volunteers and advocates of patients' rights.

The development of treatment strategies that can help patients with spinal cord injury to regain lost functions and an improved quality of life is a major medical challenge, and experimental spinal cord research has to meet these challenges by resolving fundamental problems, establishing a basis for possible novel treatment strategies of spinal cord injury, and motivating their clinical translation. In "Animal Models of Spinal Cord Repair," expert researchers examine a broad range of experimental models for research on spinal cord injury, how they have contributed to our current state of knowledge, and what their advantages are in the further advancement of spinal cord repair. With models from simple lamprey to non-human primates, the information presented is intended to guide the implementation of animal models for spinal cord repair as well as to raise the awareness of the relevance of experimental models which may not be in the current mainstream of this research. As a part of the "Neuromethods" series, this work contains the kind of detailed description and implementation advice to guarantee successful results in the laboratory.

Comprehensive and cutting-edge, "Animal Models of Spinal Cord Repair" presents the background information and hands-on methods descriptions, as well as the basic and clinical issues, needed to stimulate and guide researchers with different backgrounds towards the development of improved strategies for functionally relevant repair of the injured human spinal cord."

Legionnaires disease, a potentially fatal type of pneumonia primarily affecting elderly and immuno-compromised persons, is caused by the ubiquitous environmental bacterium "Legionella pneumophila." This book offers authoritative reviews of different facets of its virulence, focusing on comparative phagocyte infection, virulence gene regulation, biochemical functions of effector proteins and cellular pathogen-host interactions, as well as host responses and immunity to "L. pneumophila." Taken together, the contributions in this compilation provide a state-of-the-art overview of current insights into the molecular pathogenesis of the opportunistic and potentially fatal pathogen "L. pneumophila.""

Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and nano-electro-mechanical systems (NEMS) are part of the hottest new wave of biomedical research and development today. This uniquely applications-focused book enables bio-device designers to reach new levels of success, with state-of-the-art coverage of everything from MEMS/NEMS design and fabrication to the most advanced breakthroughs in the bio-manipulation of cells and genes. Showcasing the work of leading international experts, this trail-blazing book explains the synthesis and use of metal nanoparticles in bio-sensing and drug delivery applications, including quantum dots. It explores in detail various micro and nano manipulation tools and techniques, including manipulators and endoscopes for microsurgery, in-vitro and in-vivo imaging diagnostics, and optical nano-surgery of subcellular components.

Today, when many parents seem reluctant to have their children vaccinated, even with long proven medications, the Salk vaccine trial, which enrolled millions of healthy children to test an unproven medical intervention, seems nothing short of astonishing. In Selling Science, medical historian Stephen E. Mawdsley recounts the untold story of the first large clinical trial to control polio using healthy children - 55,000 healthy children - revealing how this long-forgotten incident cleared the path for Salk's later trial. Mawdsley describes how, in the early 1950s, Dr. William Hammon and the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis launched a pioneering medical experiment on a previously untried scale. Conducted on over 55,000 healthy children in Texas, Utah, Iowa, and Nebraska, this landmark study assessed the safety and effectiveness of a blood component, gamma globulin, to prevent paralytic polio. The value of the proposed experiment was questioned by many prominent health professionals as it harbored potential health risks, but as Mawdsley points out, compromise and coercion moved it forward. And though the trial returned dubious results, it was presented to the public as a triumph and used to justify a federally sanctioned mass immunization study on thousands of families between 1953 and 1954. Indeed, the concept, conduct, and outcome of the GG study were sold to health professionals, medical researchers, and the public at each stage. At a time when most Americans trusted scientists, their mutual encounter under the auspices of conquering disease was shaped by politics, marketing, and at times, deception. Drawing on oral history interviews, medical journals, newspapers, meeting minutes, and private institutional records, Selling Science sheds light on the ethics of scientific conduct, and on the power of marketing to shape public opinion about medical experimentation.

With an emphasis on applications of computational models for solving modern challenging problems in biomedical and life sciences, this book aims to bring collections of articles from biologists, medical/biomedical and health science researchers together with computational scientists to focus on problems at the frontier of biomedical and life sciences. The goals of this book are to build interactions of scientists across several disciplines and to help industrial users apply advanced computational techniques for solving practical biomedical and life science problems. This book is for users in the fields of biomedical and life sciences who wish to keep abreast with the latest techniques in signal and image analysis. The book presents a detailed description to each of the applications. It can be used by those both at graduate and specialist levels.

"Animal Models for the Study of Human Disease" identifies important animal models and assesses the advantages and disadvantages of each model for the study of human disease. Thefirst section addresses how to locate resources, animal alternatives, animal ethics and related issues, much needed information for researchers across the biological sciences and biomedicine.The next sections of the work offers models for disease-oriented topics, including cardiac and pulmonary diseases, aging, infectious diseases, obesity, diabetes, neurological diseases, joint diseases, visual disorders, cancer, hypertension, genetic diseases, and diseases of abuse.
Organized by disease orientation for ease of searchabilityProvides information on locating resources, animal alternatives and animal ethicsCovers a broad range of animal models used in research for human disease"

This volume explores recent advances in the use of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) and adult stem cells (ASCs) in basic and clinical applications. The chapters discuss use of PSCs for drug screening, genome editing, modeling of kidney, motor neuron diseases, and diabetes as well as their application in cancer; ASCs are discussed in the contexts of banking of umbilical cord stem cells, use of multipotential stromal cells (MSCs) for bone repair, cellular interactions during fracture repair stages, and therapeutic applications of neural crest stem cells and lung stem cells. The text is organized by sections dealing with PSCs and ASCs specifically, presenting the reader with a comprehensive examination of both these forms of stem cells. Expertly authored and drawing from a wealth of international perspectives, Recent Advances in Stem Cells: From Basic Research to Clinical Applications presents a succinct yet detailed review of cutting-edge research in this rapidly expanding field. This installment of Springer's Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine series is essential reading for academics, researchers, and clinicians in the fields of cell biology, genetics, nephrology, osteology, oncology, and pulmonology.

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) play an integral role in biomedical research, enabling researchers to examine physiological mechanisms and pathways relevant to human pathogenesis and its therapy. That, along with their low cost, easy manipulation, short reproductive cycles, and physiological homology to humans, has made zebrafish a vital model organism for neuroscience research. Zebrafish Protocols for Neurobehavioral Research addresses protocols for both larval and adult models, written by the leading experts in the field of zebrafish research. Part I of this book takes advantage of the high-throughput nature of larval models to offer protocols for research requiring high output, easily manipulated screens. The second half of the book focuses on the robust and sophisticated behaviors of adult zebrafish, suitable for the neurophenotyping of complex traits and multi-domain disorders. Importantly, these models complement each other, working together to provide researchers with valuable insights into neurobiology of normal and pathological behavior. Thorough and cutting-edge, this volume is a useful, authoritative reference guide that should hold a coveted spot in zebrafish laboratories across the globe.

Injury is recognized as a major public health issue worldwide. In most countries, injury is the leading cause of death and disability for children and young adults age 1 to 39 years. Each year in the United States, injury claims about 170,000 lives and results in over 30 million emergency room visits and 2.5 million hospitalizations. Injury is medically defined as organ/tissue damages inflicted upon oneself or by an external agent either accidentally or deliberately. Injury encompasses the undesirable consequences of a wide array of events, such as motor vehicle crashes, poisoning, burns, falls, and drowning, medical error, adverse effects of drugs, suicide and homicide. The past two decades have witnessed a remarkable growth in injury research, both in scope and in depth. To address the tremendous health burden of injury morbidity and mortality at the global level, the World Health Organization in 2000 created the Department of Injury and Violence Prevention, which has produced several influential reports on violence, traffic injury, and childhood injury. The biennial World Conference on Injury Control and Safety Promotion attracts a large international audience and has been successfully convened nine times in different countries. In the United States, the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control became an independent program of the federal Centers for Disease Prevention and Control in 1997. Since then, each state health department has created an office in charge of injury prevention activities and over a dozen universities have established injury control research centers. This volume will fill an important gap in the scientific literature by providing a comprehensive and up-to-date reference resource to researchers, practitioners, and students working on different aspects of the injury problem and in different practice settings and academic fields.

This authored monograph presents key aspects of signal processing analysis in the biomedical arena. Unlike wireless communication systems, biological entities produce signals with underlying nonlinear, chaotic nature that elude classification using the standard signal processing techniques, which have been developed over the past several decades for dealing primarily with standard communication systems. This book separates what is random from that which appears to be random and yet is truly deterministic with random appearance. At its core, this work gives the reader a perspective on biomedical signals and the means to classify and process such signals. In particular, a review of random processes along with means to assess the behavior of random signals is also provided. The book also includes a general discussion of biological signals in order to demonstrate the inefficacy of the well-known techniques to correctly extract meaningful information from such signals. Finally, a thorough discussion of recently proposed signal processing tools and methods for addressing biological signals is included. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and expert practitioners but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

Nonclinical Study Contracting and Monitoring: A Practical Guide offers a systematic and straightforward handbook for obtaining high quality preclinical Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) studies. This book is full of real-world examples, processes, procedures, useful templates, checklists and sample reports to provide readers with a better understanding of exactly what happens during all stages of a GLP study and the critical aspects of GLP study design and conduct. Designed for both the novice and experienced scientist, this book covers the GLP regulations and how they impact preclinical studies, the differences between GLP, non-GLP and peer-reviewed studies, preclinical GLP study design, laboratory selection, contracts and business ethics, how to obtain test material for the study, animal sourcing and release for study, preparation of a draft report and much more. By illustrating the overall big picture and tying it together with the individual steps, this book is an essential resource to help scientists ensure a high quality GLP study that passes both scientific and regulatory scrutiny.
Includes both the "big picture" look at complex processes, such as contracting toxicology and safety studies with CROs, as well as a detailed account of each individual step.

Contains several real world examples of problems in preclinical studies to provide you with an idea of the types of challenges that are routinely encountered and how this book can help you avoid these issues.

Provides monitoring checklists through the book that will help you comply with each GLP requirement and maintain compliance throughout the entire process.

Both entry level and experienced scientists involved in nonclinical toxicology study monitoring will benefit from the ideas, examples, discussions and strategies presented throughout this book.