This book provides an introduction to the principles of pharmacogenomics and precision medicine, followed by the pharmacogenomics aspects of major therapeutic areas such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, organ transplantation, psychiatry, infection, antithrombotic drugs. It also includes genotyping technology and therapeutic drug monitoring in Pharmacogenomics; ethical, Legal and Regulatory Issues; cost-effectiveness of pharmacogenetics-guided treatment; application of pharmacogenomics in drug discovery and development and clinical Implementation of Pharmacogenomics for Personalized Precision Medicine. The contributors of Pharmacogenomics in Precision Medicine come from a team of experts, including professors from academic institutions and practitioner from hospital. It will give an in-depth overview of the current state of pharmacogenomics in drug therapy for all health care professionals and graduate students in the era of precision medicine.

This book presents the latest data from basic research and clinical trials supporting the effectiveness of ketamine as a treatment for depression, bipolar disorder, and suicidal behavior, setting these positive findings within the context of the serious problem of ketamine abuse. The first part of the book focuses on the evidence regarding ketamine abuse, with specific reference to Asian countries, and discusses countermeasures and complication management. It then addresses the mechanisms underlying the antidepressant and side effects of ketamine, which have remained elusive, describing and discussing important new research findings. Further, it explains insights gained from whole brain imaging in rodents and from behavioral pharmacology, and presents evidence regarding the role of gut microbiota, the NMDA receptor GluN2D subunit, and the lateral habenula in the actions of ketamine. These advances form the basis for the safer use of ketamine in patients with treatment-resistant depression and are expected to lead to the development of new antidepressants.

Saliva as a unique sample for health assessment is gaining attention among researchers of different fields in the last 20 years; being reflected in an impressive increase in the number of papers published studying saliva from different biological aspects in human and veterinary species. Once deemed merely a digestive juice is now considered a biological fluid capable of communicating information about physiopathological processes occurring in organisms, since saliva has been shown to contain molecular and bacterial compounds that can change in response to local and systemic pathologies. Furthermore, the interest of saliva as a diagnostic, prognostic and monitoring biofluid is forced by its non-invasive nature being of easy and inexpensive sampling, involving only minimal discomfort and allowing the collection of multiple/repeated specimens at anytime, anywhere and without need for specialized staff. In this contributed volume, the authors bring together, summarize and reflect the generated knowledge about saliva as a source of biomarkers for health and welfare evaluation in humans and animal models. This volume also highlights the importance of confounding factors, such as sampling methods, flow, total protein content, contamination, or storage. This book will serve as a manual for graduates, practitioners and researchers by providing general ideas about the possibilities and utilities of saliva in clinical practice or investigation, and indicating the main cautions each should have in mind before saliva usage.

This book is dedicated to label-free, non-invasive monitoring of cell-based assays and it comprises the most widely applied techniques. Each approach is described and critically evaluated by an expert in the field such that researchers get an overview on what is possible and where the limitations are. The book provides the theoretical basis for each technique as well as the most successful and exciting applications. Label-free bioanalytical techniques have been known for a long time as valuable tools to monitor adsorption processes at the solid-liquid interface in general - and biomolecular interaction analysis (BIA) in particular. The underlying concepts have been progressively transferred to the analysis of cell-based assays. The strength of these approaches is implicitly given with the name 'label-free': the readout is independent of any label, reagent or additive that contaminates the system under study and potentially affects its properties. Thus, label-free techniques provide an unbiased analytical perspective in the sense that the sample is not manipulated by additives but pure. They are commonly based on physical principles and read changes in integral physical properties of the sample like refractive index, conductivity, capacitance or elastic modulus to mention just a few. Even though it is not implied in the name, label-free approaches usually monitor the cells under study non-invasively meaning that the amplitude of the signal (e.g. electric field strength, mechanical elongation) that is used for the measurement is too low to interfere or affect. In contrast to label-based analytical techniques that are commonly restricted to a single reading at a predefined time point, label-free approaches allow for a continuous observation so that the dynamics of the biological system or reaction become accessible.

This book demonstrates the potential of urine as a biomarker resource for early disease detection, covering the related theory, strategies, tools and findings. Biomarkers are measurable changes associated with diseases. Blood, as a critical part of its internal environment, is closely monitored and controlled by the body to maintain homeostasis, especially in the early stages of diseases. In contrast, urine, as a form of waste excreted by the body, collects a variety of substance changes. Accordingly, urine can offer an ideal resource for early biomarker discovery. In addition, urine is more stable than blood in vitro, and is easy to store and analyze. The book discusses exciting preliminary applications of urine biomarkers for diseases affecting major biological systems. Its main goal is to make scientists, clinicians and medical companies aware of this important, exciting, undeveloped, and profitable field.

For over thirty years, rodents have been used in the study of many human and animal diseases. The rat in particular continues to serve as an experimental model for drug safety and efficacy tests for the treatment of neurological disorders, heart disease, diabetes, breast, liver and other cancers. With the more recent advent of transgenic technology, an impressive amount of new knowledge about transmissible spongiform encephalopathies has been accumulated. It is likely that the principles learned from the study of these prion diseases will be applicable to elucidating the causes of more common neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. As a result of this and, more importantly, because of increasingly complicated legislation governing the use of animals in regulated procedures, there is a need for experimenters (both experienced and those new to the laboratory) to improve their skills continuously and to become au fait with all aspects of preparatory techniques. The Rat Nervous System provides an accessible guide to the dissection and perfusion of rats, placing particular emphasis on the preparation of nervous tissue for further study in the laboratory including biochemical analysis and microscopic study. Logically structured with highly illustrated chapters covering gross anatomy, anatomy of the nervous system, anaesthesia, biological fixation and tissue extraction, the book provides a comprehensive introduction to those techniques required to provide consistent, high-quality tissues for subsequent investigation. Animal husbandry of a high standard, together with minimisation of discomfort, is essential if the information sought by the investigator is to be valid and reproducible; an overview of these topics is therefore also incorporated in this volume.

This book presents an overview of up-converting phosphor (UCP), including UCP preparation, development of the rapid detection strips and UCP industrialization. It also discusses the wide clinical applications of this technology, such as in food poisoning, infectious diseases, drug-abuse and disaster rescue, where rapid point-of-care testing is often critical. Conventional testing methods are mainly based on gold immunochromatography, which relies heavily on results being read with the naked eye. However, up-converting phosphor technology (UPT) employs UCP particles as labels for rapid target detection. Unlike other conventional fluorescence techniques, UCP is excited by infrared light and emitted visible light. This anti-stokes phenomenon provides this special label with significant advantages, including zero background detection, high resistance to environmental influences (e.g. pH, salts, sample contamination), high sensitivity and quantitative detection. Systematically summarizing UCP technology and its wide applications, this book is a valuable resource for researchers and technicians in the field.

The book provides a reference for years to come, written by world-renowned expert investigators studying sex differences, the role of sex hormones, the systems biology of sex, and the genetic contribution of sex chromosomes to metabolic homeostasis and diseases. In this volume, leaders of the pharmaceutical industry present their views on sex-specific drug discovery. Many of the authors presented at the Keystone Symposium on "Sex and gender factors affecting metabolic homeostasis, diabetes and obesity" to be held in March 2017 in Lake Tahoe, CA. This book will generate new knowledge and ideas on the importance of gender biology and medicine from a molecular standpoint to the population level and to provide the methods to study them. It is intended to be a catalyst leading to gender-specific treatments of metabolic diseases. There are fundamental aspects of metabolic homeostasis that are regulated differently in males and females, and influence both the development of diabetes and obesity and the response to pharmacological intervention. Still, most preclinical researchers avoid studying female rodents due to the added complexity of research plans. The consequence is a generation of data that risks being relevant to only half of the population. This is a timely moment to publish a book on sex differences in diseases as NIH leadership has asked scientists to consider sex as a biological variable in preclinical research, to ensure that women get the same benefit of medical research as men.

The atlas of the Light and Specular Microscopy of the Cornea, particularly of the corneal endothelium presents photographs of healthy and pathological corneas, as well as corneas prepared for grafting. Photographs are taken from donor or patient's corneas. The first part section of the atlas shows healthy corneas and its particular layers: the epithelium (superficial and basal cells, subepithelial nerve plexus), stroma and keratocytes, and the endothelium. Blood vessels or palisades of Vogt in limbus are shown as well. The second part section that shows corneas processed for grafting is focused focuses on the endothelial layer. Main causes of exclusion of corneas from grafting, such as the presence of dead cells, polymeghatism, pleomorphism, cornea guttata or stromal scars have been shown. The third part section of the atlas shows corneas before and after storage in tissue cultures or hypothermic conditions with the aim to assess its suitability of for tissue for grafting. The last final section contains photographs of pathological corneal explants

The over-arching goal of this volume is to help infertility practitioners evaluate and manage their patients with poor semen quality. The authors review the existing literature on the effects of medications on male fertility, and provide detailed information about what is known, giving the number of individuals and population characteristics for studies of medication effects on male fertility. Medications are designed to treat illness and reduce symptoms, but all have undesirable adverse effects such as headache or stomach upset. Some adverse reactions can even be life-threatening, so it is no surprise that some drugs have negative effects on male reproduction. Medical practitioners rarely consider a man's reproductive plans when prescribing medications. Men are routinely treated with drugs that can impair or abolish fertility. Although practitioners in the field of reproductive medicine generally realize that certain drugs impact negatively on reproductive health, there are limited resources providing evidence-based knowledge useful in counseling patients. Tables throughout this volume summarize the information for each drug, providing a handy reference for clinical use.

This book discusses in detail various serological tests that are used to identify medical conditions and diseases, from a general overview of each test to the equipment and steps needed to carry them out. The book is aimed specifically at immunology students and professionals who may occasionally need to use these tests, and thus lack training and experience in performing them. The book provides a brief overview of the immune system, including antibodies, antigens, and their interactions. The bulk of the book is comprised of 16 chapters that each explain different serological tests. These chapters start with a general introduction of the test or disease being detected, followed by the test principle, reagents required for the test, procedures and steps to perform the test, and, finally, result interpretation. Both test principles and result interpretation segments include illustrations to aid comprehension. In addition, the book also enables the reader to distinguish between positive and negative results in serological testing.

Plasmodium falciparum malaria is responsible for the deaths of nearly 500,000 people each year. Much attention has been paid to antibody and cellular mechanisms of immunity against this pathogen. By contrast, the role that the complement system plays in immunity and pathogenesis in this infection is not very well recognized or understood. Based on the work of a number of research groups, we know that complement plays an important role in these processes. In this book, some of the leading scientists in the field discuss the mechanisms of complement activation during malaria infection as well as the role of complement in the pathogenesis of key syndromes such as severe malarial anemia, cerebral malaria, and placental malaria. In addition, they review recently-identified complement evasion strategies of P. falciparum merozoites, and how these mechanisms may translate into paradoxical enhancement of infection rather than protection. Finally, they also discuss the role of the mosquito complement system on immunity against the parasite.

An immersive, multimedia experience for students and an invaluable assessment and remediation tool for instructors. This comprehensive resource provides the theoretical and practical knowledge students need to be prepared for classroom tests and certification and licensure examinations. It begins with an overview of test-taking skills and techniques. Then, you can build your knowledge with more than 2,100 multiple-choice questions. The bonus quick-reference bookmark, featuring essential normal lab values, lets students cover the answers in the text as they go. Quick-reference bookmark features essential normal lab values. Use the bookmark to cover the answers as you review each question. Multiple-choice questions provide test-item classifications that categorize each question by subject category, task, and taxonomy level. Detailed rationales explain why each answer is correct or incorrect. An overview of basic molecular diagnostic principles with thorough explanations offers an introduction to the field. Problem-solving sections in each chapter reinforce the practical application of material. 300 full-colour photomicrographs bring complex concepts to life. Instructor resources: Ebook, Davis Edge access for quizzing resources and monitoring of student progress Student resources: Ebook, Davis Edge access for quizzing resources

This book summarizes the contributions at an April 2016 conference held at Albany Medical College, Reproductive Ethics: New Challenges and Conversations. Reproductive ethics does not suffer from a lack of challenging issues, yet a few "hot button" issues such as abortion and surrogacy seem to attract most of the attention, while other issues and dilemmas remain relatively underdeveloped in bioethics literature. The goal of this book is to explore and expand the range of topics addressed in reproductive ethics. This is a multi-disciplinary book bringing together philosophers, clinicians, sociologists, anthropologists, and other scholars whose research or clinical interests touch reproductive issues. The results of this compilation are a comprehensive and unique discussion of the evolving issues in the rapidly changing field. The majority of the popular reproductive ethics anthologies were published at least 10 years ago. The field of reproductive ethics would benefit from a new anthology that addresses some of the perennial dilemmas in reproductive ethics (e.g. abortion, sex selection) from updated perspectives and that also covers new technologies that have emerged only in the last few years, such as social egg freezing.

Cardiovascular immunology is a newly emerging research area, investigating the crosstalk between the cardiovascular and the immune system. This crosstalk is evident through (1) crucial immunological capacities and functions of cardiovascular cell types, including cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, pericytes and cardiac resident macrophages, (2) the impact of aberrant immune function on the development of cardiovascular disease such as atherosclerosis, direct and indirect immune-mediated heart disease and vasculitis, and (3) the crucial role of the immune system in cardiac repair and regeneration. The Immunology of Cardiovascular Homeostasis and Pathology covers all these aspects of cardiovascular immunology, starting with homeostatic immunological functions of traditional cardiovascular cell types, and moving then to the role of the immune system in cardiovascular pathology and to recent research into targeting the immune system to boost cardiac healing and regeneration.

This book provides basic, simple, and logical explanations for choices to be made to run the best Elispot possible. It allows the newcomer to truly understand the best options for specific protocol steps, reagents and materials, and provides even the experienced Elispot user with insight into best practices. The techniques presented here are supported by the author's twenty-plus years of first-hand experience working with this assay, as well as the shared experiences of numerous colleagues and collaborators. The enzyme-linked immunospot (Elispot) assay is a widely used technique to monitor cells on the single cell level for the release of analytes like cytokines, chemokines or immunoglobulins (antibodies), in response to particular stimuli. The most important feature of Elispot is its outstanding sensitivity, allowing the detection of specific cells in very low frequencies. The advantages of Elispot have resulted in it being widely adapted for use in research and translational applications in numerous fields including cancer, infectious diseases, autoimmunity, and transplantation.

List of Contributors ix PART 1 CURRENT CONCEPTS OF HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE 1 A European overview of the health care scene KS Johansen 3 Is there a European concept of health and health care? 2 JGW Wittkiimper 7 3 The effects of health and safety legislation on the practice of clinical laboratory science A Berlin, AE Bennett and WJ Hunter 19 4 Current economic, technical and political pressures at the laboratory level: some benefits towards health care delivery JG Lines and N Sanders 33 PART 2 THE CLINICAL LABORATORY IN THE CHANGING SCENE OF HEALTH CARE 5 The clinical laboratory in the changing scene of health care as seen by a professional society member M Roth 41 6 The clinical laboratory in the changing scene of health care as seen by an industry member JE Barclay 45 7 The clinical laboratory in the changing scene of health care as seen by a health agency member R Netter 55 8 The clinical laboratory in the changing scene of health care as seen in the USA R Nadeau 59 v CONTENTS PART 3 WOULD THE VALUE OF CLINICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE BE INCREASED BY FURTHER WRITTEN AND MATERIAL STANDARDS? 9 Would the value of clinical laboratory science be increased by further written and material standards in histology? J Rygaard 67 10 Would the value of clinical laboratory science be increased by further written and material standards in cytopathology? OAN Husain 73 11 Would the value of clinical laboratory science be

The clinical laboratory is often known as a "black box" to nurses, physicians, and surgeons, but this concise book removes the veil by covering all the pertinent aspects of the clinical laboratory. This book bridges between medicine and chemistry by offering an overview to a clinical laboratory's structure and function, the importance of laboratory utilization and test ordering, as well as pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical issues of importance to recognize in any clinical laboratory. An interactive FAQ and a detailed index are also available.

Anderson's Atlas of Hematology, Third Edition is the most comprehensive atlas for the laboratory technologist. This text meets the needs of beginning hematology students in 2-year and 4-year medical laboratory science programs or students in programs learning the basics of hematology such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and medical students. Used as a quick reference, study guide, or atlas, this is an invaluable tool for today's laboratory technician student. The Third Edition is divided into two units. Unit One: Cell Descriptions, features three sections covering blood cells, bone marrow, and cytochemistry. For each cell type, there is a description of the cell size, nucleus, and cytoplasm as well as a list of associated clinical disorders. Unit Two: Hematologic Disorders, includes three sections dedicated to red blood cell disorders, white blood cell disorders, and miscellaneous disorders. For each disorder, there's a summary of pathology as well as clinical and laboratory features. In addition, a diagnostic scheme sets forth the relevant laboratory findings that lead to the delineation of each disorder.

Focusing on practical, patient related issues, this volume provides the basic concepts of Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) as they relate to Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and presents various practical applications. It includes EBM concepts for use in the identification of cost-effective panels of immunostains and other laboratory tests and for improvement of diagnostic accuracy based on the identification of selected diagnostic features for particular differential diagnosis. EBM concepts are also put forth for use in Meta-analysis to integrate the results of conflicting literature reports and use of novel analytical tools such as Bayesian belief networks, neural networks, multivariate statistics and decision tree analysis for the development of new diagnostic and prognostic models for the evaluation of patients. This volume will be of great value to pathologists who will benefit from the concepts being promoted by EBM, such as levels of evidence, use of Bayesian statistics to develop diagnostic and other rules and stronger reliance on "hard data" to support therapeutic and diagnostic modalities.

Endocrine Pathology: Differential Diagnosis and Molecular Advances, Second Edition provides detailed coverage of endocrine pathology with extensive discussion of the differential diagnosis as well as presentation of molecular pathobiology of the major endocrine organs. Revised and expanded from the first edition, each chapter, written by leaders in their respective field, has been updated with the latest advances that are transforming the field of endocrine pathology. Richly illustrated with color photomicrographs, useful diagrams and line drawings, each chapter includes differential diagnosis of common and uncommon lesions as well as material on molecular developments, with emphasis on the molecular findings that are most helpful in the diagnosis of specific disorders. Endocrine Pathology: Differential Diagnosis and Molecular Advances, Second Edition, provides a useful and well-organized resource designed not only for the endocrine pathologist and the general surgical pathologist, but also for the clinical endocrinologist and the endocrine surgeon.

This book focuses on putting successful molecular strategies into practice for the treatment of gynecologic cancer. It approaches research into the pathology and treatment of gynecologic oncology from both clinical and experimental perspectives. New insights made possible by the introduction of advanced technologies into the field are presented. This new volume will be necessary reading for clinicians and experimental researchers alike.

This illustrated guide to the role of the forensic anthropologist in investigating child abuse is an essential resource in one of the most contentious areas of forensic pathology. Not only does it supply a review of the literature in this field, but it illustrates the material with photographs from real cases investigated by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, which serves a population of four million people. Broken down into body regions and skeletal elements for ease of reference, the atlas facilitates the vital work performed by forensic anthropologists, who bring to the autopsy table a store of specialist knowledge that can turn a case. Despite the frequency of child fatalities (in America, 2.3per 100,000) attributed to physical abuse, merely recognizing the offense is a major forensic challenge. The tell-tale signatures of non-accidental injury can be very subtle, making it difficult to differentiate between accidental and non-accidental injury. Yet successful adjudication of a child abuse case often rests on the correct interpretation of skeletal injury. In this volume the authors guide the reader through published data regarding the mechanics and interpretation of injuries,including the agencies they indicate. The material includes discussion of the limitations faced in interpreting some injuries, where making a judgment on cause is tricky. In addition, a chapter on natural diseases affecting the bones provides a good overview of several conditions that are often invoked as 'mimics' of child abuse. Finally, this publication evinces the value of collaboration between the pathologist and the anthropologist.

Early detection of cancer at the cellular level, even before anatomic anomalies are visible, is critical to more efficacious and cost effective diagnosis and therapeutic advances. In Cancer Nanotechnology: Methods and Protocols, an international panel of experts provide the most recent, cutting-edge, "how-to" approaches developed and employed by researchers in a variety of disciplines to identify cancer specific biomarkers, construct suitable multifunctional targeted nanostructure platforms, along with enhanced imaging and therapeutic applications. Covering such topics as multifunctional and multimodal nanoparticles, nanoparticle mediated cancer theranostics, molecular targets for cancer nanotechnology, and nanoparticles for non-invasive image-guided cancer therapy, the volume addresses the key challenges of the field today, specifically targeted and localized delivery of the drugs. As a volume in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series, the protocols chapters include brief introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Cancer Nanotechnology: Methods and Protocols integrates cancer biology, clinical oncology, molecular cancer imaging, materials science and chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, toxicology, computer science, electrical engineering, chemistry, physics, and mathematics in order to achieve the vital goals of nanotechnology-mediated early cancer detection and more efficacious and less toxic therapies for these devastating diseases.