380 years ago, in the year 1614, Ubbo Emmius transplanted the gene ofscience from Ostfriesland into the education genome ofthe city ofGroningen as devel- oped by Regnerus Praedinius. He thereby founded the University ofGroningen. It is with great pleasure that the Faculty of Medicine as one of the founding faculties ofour University, welcomes you to this 19th International Symposium ofBloodTransfusion, whichwill coverthe themeofHereditaryDiseasesandtheir relation to Transfusion Medicine, where cell expansion, gene transfer and gene therapy are the read thread. Since the earlydays there has beena specificand sincere interest in inborn errors ofmetabolism and hereditarydisorders. This interest has resulted in a structured research, diagnostic and counselling facilities, and therapeuticapproaches where various disciplines within our faculty work closely together with groups from related faculties of the University of Groningen, as well as other national and international scientific institutions. The field of inborn errors, genetic abnormalities and mutations, and hereditary diseases covers a broad gamma of extremely interesting and exciting scientific aspects,whichrangefrom clearphysicalaberrationstomolecularanalysisofgenes and genomes, coding areas and amino acid sequences. It is intriguing to realise that the balance of life seemingly depends on the position or presence of one single molecule as a part ofthe total complex ofgenetic information in the cell.

Since the establishment of the DNA structure researchers have been highly interested in the molecular basis of the inheritance of genes and of genetic disorders. Scientific investigations of the last two decades have shown that, in addition to oncogenic viruses and signalling pathways alterations, genomic instability is important in the development of cancer. This view is supported by the findings that aneuploidy, which results from chromosome instability, is one of the hallmarks of cancer cells. Chromosomal instability also underpins our fundamental principles of understanding tumourigenesis: It thought that cancer arises from the sequential acquisition of genetic alterations in specific genes. In this hypothesis, these rare genetic events represent rate-limiting 'bottlenecks' in the clonal evolution of a cancer, and pre-cancerous cells can evolve into neoplastic cells through the acquisition of somatic mutations. This book is written by international leading scientists in the field of genome stability. Chapters are devoted to genome stability and anti-cancer drug targets, histone modifications, chromatin factors, DNA repair, apoptosis and many other key areas of research. The chapters give insights into the newest development of the genome stability and human diseases and bring the current understanding of the mechanisms leading to chromosome instability and their potential for clinical impact to the reader.

While the historic roots of clinical chemistry originate from the chemical sciences the growth of the subject has been dependent upon the poli tical, social, economic and technologic national soil in which it has developed. Thus the present leaders in this field have backgrounds variously in chemistry, medicine, pharmacy or sometimes biology. Today, clinical chemistry has attained stature as a unified independent discipline. It is characterized by active and productive international and national societies; its function codified in the law of many countries; its scientific content the sole subject of international and national journals as well as textbooks and educational programs; and its inter national, regional and national meetings have become focal points for major exchange of scientific, clinical and technical information and exhibition. The positive impact of the discipline upon the delivery of health care has given it a significant position in the economics of public health. As a consequence it has become the most rapidly-growing segment of the industrial and commercial component of health main tenance. These changes have brought the need to define the educational and training processes to prepare future leaders of clinical chemistry. The diverse backgrounds of the present directors of clinical chemicallabora tories has required that the viewpoints of chemists, pharmacists, physicians and biologists be brought into harmony. This has been achieved by the years of discussion, debate and review by colleagues of varied professional backgrounds. This monograph reflects their consensus viewpoint for the practice of clinical chemistry at its most advanced level."

In transfusion medicine the scientific fundamentals of immunology have had a considerable clinical impact. Transfusion may suppress the immunity but some patients could suffer disadvantages including GvHD, alloimmunisation and possible cancer, where white cells (WBC) play pivotal roles in this phenomenon, presenting antigens and producing cytokines. A clinical application of this practice is LAK-cells targeted against cancer. MHC on the WBC may provide additional immunological modulations through series of secondary messengers. Thus reduction of WBC in the blood and bone marrow may be advantageous for patients. On the other hand, sharing a part of MHC or making the transplanted white cells anergic by storage may be even more advantageous for patients. CMV infection could mimic part of this MHC. UV radiation is effective in the inactivation of the WBC although filters are easy means for such removal. However, their accurate quantification requires flow cytometry that has considerable potential application in blood transfusions. Idiotypic antibody could play an important role in platelet theory. However, the potential infection risks in transfusion like HIV and HCV remain, but application of molecular biological methods like PCR or RT/PCR has great potentials in detection of infectious diseases, transplantation and genetic disorders. Immuno affinity purified concentrates, like factor IX and protein C, could reduce patients' immune functions, where in the future protein C could be derived from transgenic animals. Advances are sure to emerge through adoptive immunotherapy and gene therapies are exciting prospects when genes transferred into lymphocytes could be used to correct cell mediated immune deficiency, as in ADA.

Cell Surface Receptors: A Short Course on Theory and Methods, Second Edition is a primer for the study of cell surface receptors. The simplified discussion of methods and their underlying principles removes the usual intimidation caused by the specialized vocabulary or sophisticated mathematics that characterize many of the primary papers in this field. In this way, the basic concepts become emphasized. This volume is a starting point: a textbook as well as a manual to which the investigator can return for a refresher course, when needed.

When Volume 1 (Toxicolpgy) in this series of Standard Operating Procedures was pub lished in early 1979, the FDA's Good Laboratory Practice Regulations did not have the force of United States Law, but nevertheless had a substantial impact on the conduct of toxicology in laboratories throughout the world. These Regulations are now in force, and Volume 2 (Pathology) was published later the same year. Our critics have implied that we have attempted to reduce toxicology to the level of the cookery book, or alternatively that we seek to impose our standards on others, In some sinister way ensuring that the IRI code will become the international norm. We dismiss these criticisms as arrant nonsense. The many thousands of volumes already sold worldwide can provide at best a framework for adaptation to suit local laboratory condi tions, and thus speed to GLP compliance those organisations which might otherwise have remained foundering at the starting post. If Volumes 1 and 2 of this series have con tributed anything to the conduct of toxicology it must surely be in those non-English speaking nations which, because of the international nature of pharmaceutical and chemical trading, are required by commercial pressures to be in compliance with a foreign law formulated in unfamiliar terminology and introduced for reasons that are not immediately obvious. Much has happened in the short period of time since Volumes 1 and 2 were published."

This is the fourth volume of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) compiled from documents prepared in these laboratories in part fulfilment of the requirements of various Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) regulations and guidelines. SOPs have now become an everyday feature of work in most industrial and contract toxicology laboratories. They provide a written definition of the mechanics of unit operations which together comprise the framework for experiments in safety evaluation. Metabolic studies and analytical chemistry are closely linked to toxicology since they embody essential aspects of the overall assessment of product safety. Some authorities consider certain parts of these subjects to be outwith the scope of the GLP requirements but for the reasons stated this is contrary to our own view. We have tried where possible to define in SOP format for use in our own laboratories the unit operations involved in these disciplines and they form the basis of this volume. Some relevant material from previous volumes has been brought together in updated form and is also presented here for completeness. Dr I P Sword Managing Director Inveresk Research International Musselburgh EH21 7UB Scotland ix Introduction GENERAL 1. The Food and Drug Administration of the US Government published its Good Laboratory Practice Regulations for Non-Clinical Laboratory Studies in the Federal Register (22 December 1978). The Regulations are the culmin ation of a number of years of investigation into the standards to which safety evaluation studies were performed in laboratories in the USA."

John Sinclair and a panel of expert investigators present a comprehensive collection of cellular and molecular techniques for the analysis of cytomegalovirus (CMV) biology and its pathogenetic mechanisms. The methods-all described in step-by-step detail with ready reproducibility in mind-range from basic virus culture to complex molecular analysis of CMV structure and function. Included are methods for CMV detection using both immunological and biological techniques, methods for analyzing fundamental aspects of the CMV infection cycle, and methods for analyzing T cell response to cytomegalovirus infection in the human host. Comprehensive and state-of-the-art, Cytomegalovirus Protocols provides investigators with a collection of the key methods that are illuminating not only the basic biology of this complex and intriguing human herpesvirus, but also its significant role in human infectious diseases and their emergent therapies.

During the past two decades, many books, governmental reports and regu lations on safety measures against chemieals, fire, microbiological and radioactive hazards in laboratories have been published from various coun tries. These topics have also been briefly discussed in books on laboratory planning and management. The application ofvarious scientific instruments based on different ionizing and non-ionizing radiations have brought new safety problems to the laboratory workers of today, irrespective of their scientific disciplines, be they medicine, natural or life sciences. However, no comprehensive laboratory handbook dealing with aIl these hazards, some of which are recently introduced, had so far been available in a single volume. Therefore, it was thought worthwhile to publish this Handbook on safety and health measures for laboratories, with contributions from several experts on these subjects. As this second edition of the Handbook, like the first edition, is a multiauthor volume, some duplication in conte nt among chapters is unavoidable in order to maintain the context of a chapter as weIl as make each chapter complete. An attempt has also been made to maintain the central theme, which is how to work in a laboratory with maximum possible environmental safety."

Radiophannaceuticals labeled with short-lived radionuclides are utilized to unravel biochemical processes, and to diagnosis and treat diseases of the living body are-developed through extensive evaluation in ~iological models. 'fhC first attempt to compile information was a volume entitled ANIMAL MODELS IN RADIOTRACER DESIGN that was edited by William C. Eckelman and myself in 1983. The volume had a focus on the animal models that investigators were using in order to design radiotracers that displayed in vivo selectivity as measured by biodistribution and pharmacokinetic studies. A concern in the early days of nuclear medicine was species differences. Often a series of labeled compounds were evaluated in a several different animal models in order to gain confidence that the selected radiotracer would behave appropriately in humans. During the past 12 years there have been remarkable advances in molecular genetics, molecular biology, synthetic radiopharmaceutical chemistry, molecular modeling and visualization, and emission tomography. Biological models can now be selected that are better defined in terms of molecular aspects of the disease process. The development of high resolution PET and SPET for clinical applications facilitates the development of new radiopharmaceuticals by the use of models to quantitatively evaluate drug effects, and progression of disease, and hence to arrive at better diagnosis and treatments for animals and humans. With these advances there is an effective use of biological models, and the refinement of alternatives for the development of new radiophannaceuticals.

In our contemporary world, scientific heritage is cal Mycology infrastructure are recognized for their often forgotten. Many important contributions dur- scholarly and authoritative contributions. This book ing the past 100 years in research, teaching, and is truly a landmark publication towards ensuring diagnosis have had a profound impact upon the that the past, present, and future are connected to evolution of Medical Mycology in the United States. each other. This book, written by Dr Espinel-Ingroff, makes a Libero Aje/lo, Ph. D significant contribution towards ensuring that those who have laid the foundation for our current Medi- Michael R. McGinnis, Ph. D vii Acknowledgments The invaluable editorial assistance and creative I owe a debt of appreciation to the following reinforcement of my husband, David Ingroff, was individuals for their assistance during the gathering especially important during the preparation of this of the data including the mailing of the question- book. Special thanks go to Drs Libero Ajello, naires: Drs Michael Rinaldi and William Merz, Michael McGinnis, and William Blake for their President and Treasurer, respectively, of the Medical Mycological Society support, guidance, encouragement, and continuous of the Americas in 1994; the Medical College of Virginia Tompkins McCaw's editorial assistance. I would like to thank the numer- ous medical mycologists who responded to the Library week-end staff and the Library Interloan questionnaire and/ or made themselves available for Service; J. Kerr, Archivist of the American Society interviews. Also, Drs Glenn Bulmer, Timothy for Microbiology; Drs W. Dismukes and M.

eat shock proteins (HSPs), also called stress proteins, are not only induced in response to elevated temperatures, but also as a result of various stress situations, including environmental strains, viral H infection, ischemia, anoxia and oxidative stress. These stress situations trigger cellular defence mechanisms that act as an emergency system capable of combatting the toxic consequences due to the accumulation of misfolded proteins. Heat shock proteins are involved in many physiological processes, including development and differentiation, organisation of the cytoarchi tecture by binding to cytoskeletal elements and regulation of the balance between cell death and survival. Many heat shock proteins work as molecular chaperones. In this role, they contribute to in vivo protein folding and prevent nonproductive interactions with other proteins and cellular c- ponents. In recent years it has been found that the chaperone system and the proteolytic machinery work closely together, and that proteasomal - hibition causes the upregulation of stress proteins. Impairment of the proteasomal machinery and chaperone functions lead to protein damage, which contributes to neurodegenerative disorders and to the aging process.

This volume provides guidance and answers to frequently asked questions in infectious diseases, thus facilitating improved patient care, prudent and cost effective management and investigation of these disorders. Other more complicated but less common conditions are also reviewed. Uniquely, this volume directly discusses several controversies regarding infectious diseases from the 21st century.

9. REFERENCES 90 CHAPTER 9: OPPORTUNITIES FOR REPLACEMENT, REDUCTION AND REFINEMENT: HUMAN VIRAL VACCINES 93 1. INTRODUCTION 93 2. TESTS FOR EXTRANEOUS MICROORGANISMS 94 3. MUMPS VACCINE . . . 94 4. HEPATITIS B VACCINE 95 4. 1. Test for freedom from live hepatitis virus 95 4. 2. Potency test 95 5. INFLUENZA VACCINE 96 5. 1. Potency test 96 5. 2. Abnormal-toxicity test 96 6. MEASLES VACCINE. . . . . 96 6. 1. Tests for extraneous agents 97 6. 1. 1. Test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis 97 6. 1. 2. Test for extraneous viruses 97 6. 2. Abnormal-toxicity test 98 7. POLIOMYELITIS VACCINE. . . 99 7. A. Inactivated poliomyelitis vaccine 99 7. A. l. Production. . . . . . 99 7. A. 2. Test for residual live virus 99 7. A. 3. Tests for extraneous agents 100 7. A. 3. l. Test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis . . . . . 100 7. A. 3. 2. Test for extraneous viruses 100 7. A. 4. Tumourigenicity test. . . . . 100 XII 7 . A. 5. Potency test . . . . . . . 101 7. A. 6. Test for abnormal toxicity 102 7. B. Live, oral poliomyelitis vaccine 103 7. B. l. Test for extraneous agents 103 7. B. 2. Test for neurovirulence 105 7. B. 3. Test for abnormal toxicity 106 8. RABIES VACCINE 106 8. 1. Production 106 8. 2. Test for residual live virus 107 8. 3. Tests for extraneous microorganisms 107 8. 3. 1. Test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis 107 8. 3. 2. Tests for extraneous viruses 108 8. 3. 2. 1. In dogs 108 8. 3. 2. 2.

The focus of this symposium was on the present and future capabilities of flow cytometry for both medical and biological applications in cancer. This technology began with quite modest instrumentation, with limited capabilities to answer biological questions. Today, both the clinical workhorses and the powerful multi-laser, multi-detector, sorting machinery, coupled with sophisticated computers and storage devices and the increasing storehouse of markers and dyes, are taking us to the limit and beyond in finding answers to the cause and cure of cancer. In the past, both normal hematopoietic tissue and leukemias have been the tissue samples of choice in the application of flow cytometry, and some of the most recent applications with these tissues are presented here. However, the book also discusses the increasingly sophisticated disaggregation techniques which allow investigators the possibility to train their lasers on solid tumors. Not only can we use flow cytometry with associated fluorescent markers to understand the biology of cancer, but also the wide array of existing and developing markers provides us with important diagnostic tools in the detection of cancer early in either the malignant or relapse process. And the field comes full circle, with the use of the technology for gene mapping and other genetic studies to unlock the basic malignant process.

This book offers a description of current and recently developed laboratory assays in the field of haemostasis and thrombosis. It is the result of a unique cooperation between experts from more than 60 institutes in 12 European countries, brought together by the ECA T (European Concerted Action on Thrombosis and Disabilities) under the auspices of the Commission of the European Communities in Brussels, Belgium. The ECAT, which was initiated in 1981, designed and performed three prospective clinical studies to establish haemostatic factors as risk indicators of thrombosis. Included were patients with angina pectoris at risk from myocardial infarction, patients undergoing angioplasty at risk from re-stenosis, and patients receiving hip replacement at risk from deep venous thrombosis. Assay procedures were chosen, training courses for technicians held, and essential reagents were supplied from a central source. A quality control assessment scheme served to compare assay results both within and between laboratories. In the angina pectoris study, centres determined most of the assays locally; in the other two studies assays were performed centrally. The need for further quality assessment in Europe Dr J. F. Davidson in Glasgow, led to a separate activity coordinated by including coagulation inhibitors and plasminogen as risk factors for familial venous thrombosis. The Editors hope the ECA T Assay Procedures book will contribute to further harmonization ofhaemostasis assays, and ultimately to their standardization.

Transfusion medicine provides an excellent bridge connecting the healthy community donors with the patient's needs at the bedside; the dominant philosophy has been on patient care and science, but it is now realised that blood banks manufacture increasing amounts of blood components to administer to patients -- a role analogous to manufacturing functions. The concept of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) is therefore relatively new. While quality has always been important, the impact of GMP, Total Quality Management (TQM) and Quality Assurance (QA) will be profound. As the regulatory agencies, like the FDA in the U.S.A. and the EEC Commission in Europe, increase their enforcement activities, doctors, technical experts and managers will have to face many issues of quality assurance including documentation, validation, audit system, regulatory laws, licensing, teaching and training of staff and their job descriptions, standards, processing facilities, procedure validations, automation, record keeping, internal and external quality control of products and their release.The expansion of this philosophy to include Good Clinical Practice (GCP) is an even greater challenge demanding consensus therapy protocols and quality management of transfusion through auditing by the hospital transfusion committees. Such comprehensive plans will profoundly affect the financial and organisational structure of blood transfusion in the future.

A link between inflammation and cancer has been established many years ago, yet it is only recently that the potential significance of this connection has become apparent. Although several examples of chronic inflammatory conditions, often induced by persistent irritation and/or infection, developing into cancer have been known for some time, there has been a notable resistance to contemplate the possibility that this association may apply in a causative way to other cancers. Examples for such progression from chronic inflammation to cancer are colon carcinoma developing with increased frequency in patients with ulcerative colitis, and the increased incidence of bladder cancer in patients suffering from chronic Schistosoma infection. Inflammation and cancer have been recognized to be linked in another context for many years, i.e., with regards to pathologies resembling chronic lacerations or 'wounds that do not heal.' More recently, the immunology of wound healing has given us clues as to the mechanistic link between inflammation and cancer, in as much as wounds and chronic inflammation turn off local cell-mediated immune responses and switch on growth factor release as well the growth of new blood vessels - angiogenesis. Both of these are features of most types of tumours, which suggest that tumours may require an immunologically shielded milieu and a growth factor-rich environment.

Multivariate analysis is a mainstay of statistical tools in the analysis of biomedical data. It concerns with associating data matrices of n rows by p columns, with rows representing samples (or patients) and columns attributes of samples, to some response variables, e.g., patients outcome. Classically, the sample size n is much larger than p, the number of variables. The properties of statistical models have been mostly discussed under the assumption of fixed p and infinite n. The advance of biological sciences and technologies has revolutionized the process of investigations of cancer. The biomedical data collection has become more automatic and more extensive. We are in the era of p as a large fraction of n, and even much larger than n. Take proteomics as an example. Although proteomic techniques have been researched and developed for many decades to identify proteins or peptides uniquely associated with a given disease state, until recently this has been mostly a laborious process, carried out one protein at a time. The advent of high throughput proteome-wide technologies such as liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy make it possible to generate proteomic signatures that facilitate rapid development of new strategies for proteomics-based detection of disease. This poses new challenges and calls for scalable solutions to the analysis of such high dimensional data. In this volume, we will present the systematic and analytical approaches and strategies from both biostatistics and bioinformatics to the analysis of correlated and high-dimensional data.

Despite major advances in HIV treatment, many areas require more study, in order to create efficacious, potent antiretrovirals that can suppress viral load completely and durably without toxic side effects, to define unknown drug targets and fine-tune known targets, and to better understand the interplay between viral and host factors. In "HIV Protocols, Second Edition," expert researchers provide clear, state-of-the-art methods for the study of HIV. Directed toward three specific goals, this text aims to document up-to-date protocols for select aspects of HIV biology, to bring together both virological and immunological approaches in a single, convenient volume, and to present a comprehensive account of a range of techniques not available in any existing HIV protocol book. As a volume in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, the chapters include brief introductions to the subject, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and Notes sections containing priceless tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.

Comprehensive and cutting-edge, "HIV Protocols, Second Edition" is an ideal guide to the wide array of techniques used in fundamental or applied research into the biology and pathogenesis of HIV-1."

According to the most recent clinical oncology data, one out of seven newly diagnosed malignancies worldwide result from infection and chronic inflammation in conjunction with cancer. In Inflammation and Cancer: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers deliver a systematic guide to techniques addressing various aspects of experimental cancer biology, selectively focused on inflammation-mediated tumorigenesis, while promoting improvisations on a per-case basis. Volume 2, Molecular Analysis and Pathways is devoted to an extensive description of experimental strategies aimed at investigating the molecular cross-talks between components of cell signaling chains and their ramifications in diagnostic development and drug target discovery. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, chapters include brief introductions to their subjects, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step laboratory protocols, and a notes section, which examines tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, Inflammation and Cancer: Methods and Protocols promises to serve as a vital guide and resource for investigators and clinicians working toward the goal of combatting the estimated 2, 200 inflammation-related oncogenesis fatalities occurring every day.

The XIIIth International and the VIIth European Congress of Clinical Chemistry took place at the Netherlands Congress Centre in The Hague, from June 28th to July 3rd 1987. The Organizing Committee and the Scientific Committee for these combined congresses aimed to present the state-of-the-science as well as the state-of-the-art for those fields of clinical chemistry which show a strong progress and which will most probably inflict a great part of all clinical chemists. "Clinical Chemistry, an Overview" comprises almost all papers which were presented during the congress in 5 plenary lectures and 97 lectures during 24. symposia. The invited speakers, being experts in their fields of clinical chemistry, succeeded very well in presenting an overview over the newest developments in connection to the knowledge already known, thereby demonstrating the progress made in clinical chemistry during the last years. The Editors take great pleasure in thanking once more the members of the Scientific Committee and of the International Scientific Advisory Board in creating an excellent scientific programme for this congress. The Editors also take great pleasure in thanking all those whose afforts have made possible the publication of this book. We are most grateful to all speakers who also prepared a manuscript for publication. The Editors also appreciate the most helpful and encouraging attitude of Plenum Press Publishers Corporation."

Cytokines are cellular growth factors which also provide communication between cells and their milieu. This clearly is an exciting area in modern medicine that will have significant impact on various facets of transfusion. Erythropoietin therapy stimulates red cell production while thrombopoietin seems to positively affect megakaryopoiesis and can be an added armamentarium for the thrombocytopenic patient. Using haematnopoietic growth factors, stem cells could be mobilized early to the peripheral blood for collection and subsequent transplantation into haemato-oncology patients instead of bone marrow transplantation. Using a cocktail of cytokines in cell culture, stem cells could be expanded and selected for therapy. Cytokines and growth factors can even be modified, which may lead to successful gene therapy in malignancies, including solid tumour vaccines. However, the presence of cytokines in certain blood products could have biological effects following transfusion, although its clinical relevance needs to be ascertained. There is much potential for the use of cytokines in the treatment of infections. Early diagnostic methods are now available to monitor their levels and relevance. It is likely that cytokines will increasingly play a role in therapy and could develop our fundamental knowledge about the development of T-cells. An ethical dilemma remains, however, regarding the use of cytokines in healthy donors for harvesting suitable specific cells. Longer clinical observation will be necessary to gather the necessary information. Cytokines and growth factors in blood transfusion was the theme of the 21st International Symposium in Blood Transfusion, where twenty clinicians and scientists, experts in their own fields, were invited to update the above information. Their findings are presented in four sections in this volume: Fundamental aspects - cytokines in development of T-cells, growth factors in haematopoiesis, growth factor receptors and signal transduction, cytokine response in platelet and whole blood transfusions. Function, production and diagnosis &endash; laboratory diagnostics of cytokines and growth factors, cytokines in blood components, cytokines and growth factors in cell expansions, cytokines for genetic modification towards gene therapy, progenitor cells from healthy donors. Application in clinical medicine &endash; clinical relevance of cytokines in transfusion products, cytokines and growth factors in solid tumours, gene therapy in malignancies, vaccine strategies inducing T-cell immunity against tumours, cytokines in the treatment of infections, thrombopoietin and megakaryopoiesis. Future potential use in transfusion medicine &endash; erythropoietin, immunotherapy, ethical aspects of the use of cytokines and growth factors in donors, potential of cytokines and growth factors in transfusion medicine.

The classic reference, expanded and updated

Tietz's Applied Laboratory Medicine, Second Edition provides a comprehensive overview of modern laboratory medicine in a real-life, case-based format. Complete with patient history and laboratory data, the cases illustrate many new laboratory tests and treatments, current risk factor guidelines based on laboratory tests, and new test algorithms. For ease of use, cases are grouped by body system or disease category, including cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal, liver, gastrointestinal, endocrine, gynecologic and obstetrical, hematological, and central nervous system, as well as lipid and metabolism disorders, congenital disorders, toxicology, infectious, autoimmune diseases, and more. Extensively updated and expanded, this reference features: Ninety cases illustrating the latest laboratory tests for disease diagnosis and risk assessment, including: cardiac damage markers, congestive heart failure markers, cardiac risk factors, autoimmune markers, bone resorption markers, and genetic testing New case studies encompassing hematology, coagulation, infectious disease, autoimmune disease, molecular diagnostics, and more Detailed case studies that include the definition of the disease, its pathophysiology, and treatment

This is a practical, valuable reference for clinical chemists, clinical lab technologists, pathologists, allied health professionals, general practitioners, residents, medical students, and educators.

Given the vital importance of immune system research, the gathering of clear, consistent, and informative protocols involving the study of dendritic cells is paramount. Bringing the popular first edition fully up to date, Dendritic Cell Protocols, Second Edition presents protocols from experts in the field that cover the basics and more complex forays into the exploration of DC development and function, both in mice and humans. The first section of the volume involving humans explores topics such as the isolation of blood DC subtypes, primary skin Langerhans cells, and the generation of gene-manipulated human DCs with the inclusion of more clinically relevant methods as well, while the second section involving rodent models delves into DC and precursor generation in vitro, isolation ex vivo, disease models, as well as DC functions and properties. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series style, chapters include introductions to their respective subjects, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, Dendritic Cell Protocols, Second Edition aims to become a bench-side handbook for both beginners and experts in the field of DC research and a long-term reference for some of the most popular methods put forward by those who lead the field.