The ability to remember an antigenic encounter for several decades, even for a life time, is one of the fundamental properties of the immune system. This phenomenon known as "immunological memory," is the foundation upon which the concept if vaccination rests. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms by which immunological memory is regulated is of paramount importance. Recent advances in immunology, particularly in the field of innate immunity, suggest that the innate immune system plays fundamental roles in influencing immunological memory. Indeed, emerging evidence suggests that events that occur early, within hours if not minutes of pathogen or vaccine entry profoundly shape the quantity, quality and duration of immunological memory. The present volume assembles a collection of essays from leading experts that span the entire spectrum research from understanding the molecular mechanisms of innate immune recognition, to dendritic cell function, to the generation and maintenance of antigen-specific B and T-cell responses.

Years ago when we were asked to write a book on the present-day knowledge of the molecular biology of poliovirus, we did not expect that such an apparently simple task could involve so much time and effort. Our writing was hampered by the fact that both of us are full time "workers," so that this monograph is mainly a spare time expedience. The main attention of this book focuses on a detailed review of the molecular biology of poliovirus and especially on the advances of the last decade; medical and environmental aspects are only briefly mentioned. Observations from older studies are considered in view of more recent information. Some of the older ob servations provided fundamental insights and paved the way for present day research; too often such data has been neglected or independently rediscovered. Today, poliovirus research has again attracted considerable interest. High points gained within the last few years were the elucidation of the complete nucleotide sequences of the RNAs of the three poliovinls serotypes and the corresponding vaccine strains, the demonstration of genome evolution during transmission of poliovirus in an epidemic, further characterization of the antigenic sites on the virus particle and of the antigenic drift, characterization of alternate conforma tional states of the virion capsid, the development of monoclonal antibodies against some of the virus proteins, observations on the role of the plasma membrane, cytoskeleton, and cytoplasmic membranes as mediators in the virus induced redirection of the synthetic machinery of the host cell, and characteriza"

There is a high demand for antimicrobials for the treatment of new and emerging microbial diseases. In particular, microbes developing multidrug resistance have created a pressing need to search for a new generation of antimicrobial agents, which are effective, safe and can be used for the cure of multidrug-resistant microbial infections. Nano-antimicrobials offer effective solutions for these challenges; the details of these new technologies are presented here.

The book includes chapters by an international team of experts. Chemical, physical, electrochemical, photochemical and mechanical methods of synthesis are covered. Moreover, biological synthesis using microbes, an option that is both eco-friendly and economically viable, is presented. The antimicrobial potential of different nanoparticles is also covered, bioactivity mechanisms are elaborated on, and several applications are reviewed in separate sections. Lastly, the toxicology of nano-antimicrobials is briefly assessed."

Course covers topics in infectious diseases in children and is intended for Pediatric Infectious disease trainees, trainers, and all those who manage children with infections.

The International Symposium on Frontiers in Microbiology has been de dicated to Prof. P. De Somer, whom I succeeded shortly after his death on 17 June 1985 as Rector of this now more than 560-year old University. When Prof. De Somer became the head of the University he started to remodel it, giving our old Alma Mater a more transparent administrative structure, strengthening its scientific and cultural autonomy, and establishing close links with the most prestigious national and foreign institutions. This made De Somer to one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of rectors in the history of Belgian Universities. He was a great leader, a perfect organizer, a clever negotiator, and a brilliant orator. In his speeches one immediately sensed his intuitive cognition and witty evaluation of the values of life. He knew perfectly well how to persuade the unwilling and to disenchant the illusionist. Sometimes a visionary himself, he would not pursue his ideas unless there was a chance of success. As innovative Prof. P. De Somer was in providing to this University a new face, or should I say facelifting, as international is his reputation as the founder, and, since its inception, only director, of the Rega Institute. Built now more than 30 years ago, the Rega Institute has re mained one of the world's leading centers in microbiological research."

"Corynebacterium diphtheriae" is the classical etiological agent of diphtheria and the type strain of the genus "Corynebacterium." While diphtheria of the respiratory tract became rare with the introduction of vaccination programs in industrialized countries, even today several thousand cases per year are reported to the World Health Organization. This shows that diphtheria is not completely eradicated and that reservoirs exist. The book summarizes the latest advances made in understanding "C. diphtheriae" and the closely related species "Corynebacterium ulcerans" and" Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis." Topics addressed are genomics of toxigenic corynebacteria, host-pathogen-interaction, detection, surveillance and treatment as well as application aspects.

The oral cavity supports a rich and diverse microbial population. Oral health is dependent on the maintenance of stable microbial communities; disease occurs when this balance is disturbed and more pathogenic species outgrow the commensals. Health and disease in the mouth are active processes in which the ecology of communities, not of single organisms, is paramount. In this book, expert contributors from around the world provide an update on recent developments in the burgeoning field of oral microbial ecology. The chapters are arranged into five sections: microbial populations in oral biofilms, the structure of oral biofilms, communication and sensing within biofilms, health to disease, and new approaches for oral biofilm control.

Although there are a number of excellent current reviews on one or another aspect of cytomegalovirus, the last comprehensive treatment of this subject was that of Krech et al. (197la). In view of the amazing advances in the virological, epidemiologic, and clinical knowledge of cytomegaloviruses, an up-to-date book is needed. Such a work should cover many areas of expertise and a voluminous technical literature. Each area might have been reviewed and analyzed by workers more expert than myself. However, I have embarked on the entire venture alone in order to attain unity and continuity in this book, characteristics that are not easily achieved in the more popular multiauthored works. I have tried to review the Iiterature and provide a critical summary for each area discussed. To do this, I provide as much of the primary data of the relevant works as needed and not just the qualitative conclusions. Inevitably, the flow of the narrative may be interrupted by dry facts and figures. However, such information is essential to make this a meaningful reference work. But for those not interested in such details, I have provided at what I hope are crucial points critiques and summaries. This book is not an exhaustive review of all the literature. This is probably no Ionger possible or even desirable. By selection, however, one runs the risk of having missed or ignored important papers. I am keenly aware of this, and I wish to apologize for such oversight, if that is possible.

Antiviral chemotherapy has come of age, and, after an initial slow pro gress, the development of new antiviral agents has proceeded at a more rapid pace and the perspectives for their clinical use have increased considerably. Now, 25 years after the first antiviral assay (idoxuridine) was introduced in the clinic, it is fitting to commemorate the beginning of the antivirals' era. In its introductory chapter B.E. Juel-Jensen touches on what may be con sidered as five of the most fundamental requirements of an antiviral drug: efficacy, relative non-toxicity, easy solubility, ready availability and rea sonable cost. Surely, the antiviral drugs that have so far been used in the clinic could still be improved upon as one or more of these five essential demands are concerned. How is all began is narrated by W.H. Prusoff. The first antiviral drugs to be used in humans were methisazone and idoxuridine, the former, which is now of archival interest, in the prevention of smallpox, the latter, which was approved for clinical use in the United States in 1962, for the topical treatment of herpetic keratitis. In terms of potency, also because of solubility reasons, idoxuridine has been superseded by trifluridine in the topical treatment of herpes simplex epithelial keratitis. H.E. Kaufman did not find trifluridine or acyclovir ef fective in the treatment of deep stromal keratitis or iritis and he reckons that other antiviral drugs (i.e. bromovinyldeoxyuridine) would not be effec tive either."

Influenza continues to be an ongoing problem despite the existence of vaccines and drugs. Disease outbreaks can occur relatively quickly as witnessed with the recent emergence of the influenza virus A/H1N1 pandemic. The development of new anti-influenza drugs is thus a major challenge. This volume describes all aspects of the virus structure and function relevant to infection. The focus is on drug discovery of inhibitors to the enzyme sialidase, which plays a key role in the infectious lifecycle of the virus. Following an overview of the influenza virus, the haemagglutinin, the interactions with the cell receptors and the enzymology of virus sialidase, recent results in drug design are presented. These include a full coverage of the design, synthesis and evaluation of carbohydrate as well as non-carbohydrate influenza virus sialidase inhibitors. Further reviews of the clinical experience with influenza virus sialidase inhibitors and of the development of resistance to these inhibitor drugs complement the topic.

Although adenoviruses have been established for quite some time as one of the most pliable tools to study the molecular biology of mammalian cells, rapid progress continues to be made with this virus system. The adenoviral genome introduced into the nucleus of cells as a Trojan Horse, as it were, is now facili- tating investigators to uncover details of cellular mechanisms. In this volume twelve chapters have been collected that summarize important current research on different mechanisms in adenovirus- infected and -transformed cells. It has become increasingly apparent that some of these mechanisms do not only pertain to highly specialized strategies of the viral genome and its expres- sion or replication, but may simultaneously shed light on events indigenous to the cell. "Adenovirus DNA: The Viral Genome and its Expression" high- lights the first publication of the entire annotated sequence of 35. 937 nucleotide pairs of adenovirus type 2 DNA by the Cold Spring Harbor and Uppsala groups (chapter 1). Goran Akusjarvi, Ulf Pettersson (Uppsala University) and Rich Roberts (Cold Spring Harbor) present a survey on the structure and function of the adenovirus-2 genome (chapter 2). A considerable amount of in- formation has been collected on the biochemical mechanisms in- vol ved in adenov irus DNA repl ication in human cells. Al though highly specialized in the way of initiating DNA replication, adenov irus DNA repl ication represents probably one of the best studied systems in work on eukaryotic DNA replication.

The application of enzymes or whole cells (fermentatively active or resting; microbial, plant, or animal) to carry out selective transformations of commercial importance is the central theme of industrial biocatalysis. Traditionally, biocatalysis has been in the domain of the life scientist or biochemical engineer. However, recent advances in this field have enabled biocatalytic processes to compete head on with, and in some cases out perform, conventional chemical processing. Chemo-biocatalytic systems are being developed thereby combining the most attractive features of bio catalysts, namely high specificity, with those of chemical catalysts, such as high reactivities and wide substrate specificities. Hence, synthetic chemists and chemical engineers are now beginning to use biocatalysts as highly selective reagents in chemical synthesis and processing. This book is about biocatalysts and their past, present, and potential applications in the food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries. The con cept of the book did not emanate from a meeting. Rather, it is a compila tion of selected examples where biocatalysis either has already made a significant impact in the aforementioned industries, or has the potential to make a substantial contribution. I have been fortunate to have assembled contributions from world-class researchers in the field of biocatalysis. Their timely contributions are sincerely appreciated."

Nanoparticles for Gene Delivery into Stem Cells and Embryos, by Pallavi Pushp, Rajdeep Kaur, Hoon Taek Lee, Mukesh Kumar Gupta. Engineering of Polysaccharides via Nanotechnology, by Joydeep Dutta. Hydroxyapatite-Packed Chitosan-PMMA Nanocomposite: A Promising Material for Construction of Synthetic Bone, by Arundhati Bhowmick, Subhash Banerjee, Ratnesh Kumar, Patit Paban Kundu. Biodegradable Polymers for Potential Delivery Systems for Therapeutics, by Sanjeev K. Pandey, Chandana Haldar, Dinesh K. Patel, Pralay Maiti. Phytomedicine-Loaded Polymeric Nanomedicines: Potential Cancer Therapeutics, by S. Maya, M. Sabitha, Shantikumar V. Nair, R. Jayakumar. Proteins and Carbohydrates as Polymeric Nanodrug Delivery Systems: Formulation, Properties and Toxicological Evaluation, by Dhanya Narayanan, J. Gopikrishna, Shantikumar V. Nair, Deepthy Menon. Biopolymeric Micro and Nanoparticles: Preparation, Characterization and Industrial Applications, by Anil Kumar Anal, Alisha Tuladhar. Applications of Glyconanoparticles as "Sweet" Glycobiological Therapeutics and Diagnostics, by Naresh Kottari, Yoann M. Chabre, Rishi Sharma, Rene Roy.

Viral infections of the nervous system are important because they are associated with high morbidity and mortality. A variety of pathogenetic mechanisms are involved in these infections and an understanding of the pathogenesis is essential in understanding the diagnostic and clinical management aspects of the disease. Specialized investigations are often necessary for definitive diagnosis, although a presumptive diagnosis should often be suspected on the basis of the clinical features. Many of the chapters in this book are written by neurologists who are experts in basic science research of their topic in addition to active clinical practice in their specialty.

This book covers the state-of-the-art research on molecular biology assays and molecular techniques enabled or enhanced by microfluidic platforms. Topics covered include microfluidic methods for cellular separations and single cell studies, droplet-based approaches to study protein expression and forensics, and microfluidic in situ hybridization for RNA analysis. Key molecular biology studies using model organisms are reviewed in detail. This is an ideal book for students and researchers in the microfluidics and molecular biology fields as well as engineers working in the biotechnology industry. This book also: Reviews exhaustively the latest techniques for single-cell genetic, epigenetic, metabolomic, and proteomic analysis Illustrates microfluidic approaches for inverse metabolic engineering, as well as analysis of circulating exosomes Broadens readers' understanding of microfluidics convection-based PCR technology, microfluidic RNA-seq, and microfluidics for robust mobile diagnostics

Antimicrobial Peptides: Challenges and Future Perspectives covers the latest developments about antimicrobial peptides in the scenario of drug resistance. The book is divided into 16 chapters arranged in sequence and preceded by chapters on historical developments and their role as regulatory molecules in innate defense mechanism. Emphasis is given to purification techniques and characterization suitable for interdisciplinary research. Chapters provide an inventory of various antimicrobial peptides, from a diverse array of organisms such as bacteria, fungi, insects, amphibians, plants and mammals. A section on marine ecosystem broadens readers understanding on marine based antimicrobial peptides. Additional sections provide an informative overview on peptides with antiviral properties and those targeting multi-drug resistant bacteria. Recent reports and mechanism on resistance against antimicrobial peptides are also provided, along with key insights into the challenges and future perspectives of peptide drug development.

This book provides readers with information on the factors underlying the emergence of infectious diseases originating in animals and spreading to people. The One Health concept recognizes the important links between human, animal, and environmental health and provides an important strategy in epidemic mitigation and prevention. The essential premise of the One Health concept is to break down the silos among the different health professions and promote transdisciplinary collaborations. These concepts are illustrated with in-depth analyses of specific zoonotic agents and with examples of the successes and challenges associated with implementing One Health. The book also highlights some of the challenges societies face in confronting several specific zoonotic diseases. A chapter is included on comparative medicine to demonstrate the broad scope of the One Health concept. Edited by a team including the One Health Initiative pro bono members, the book is dedicated to those studying zoonotic diseases and comparative medicine in both human and veterinary medicine, to those involved in the prevention and control of zoonotic infections and to those in the general public interested in the visionary field of One Health.

W. B. Harrison, B. A. C. Dijkmans During the last decade intervention has been instituted for all kinds of disease- even in a premorbid state, as early as possible, to control the activity of the disease, to avoid further damage and to maintain quality of life. Apart from the principle 'Treat now, not later," emphasis is laid on aggressive initial therapy. These adagia have influenced in recent times all fields of medicine, from oncology to infectious diseases and also - the topic of the present edition - the "autoimmune diseases." As an example of the latter, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) demonstrates how the attitude of physicians has been changed. From an expectant point of view in the eighties (primum nil nocere) the attitude has been changed, as we approached and entered the new millennium, to initial ag gressive therapy especially in patients with a poor prognosis. Despite the advance of instituting monotherapy with a single optimised disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) - with methotrexate as prototype agent in RA - adequate disease re mission is not often achieved, and adverse events may well prevent the use of higher dosages of the single agent in question. Therefore, the next step was to combine two or more DMARDs. The choice of combining DMARDs can be purely practical and based upon the anti-rheumatics most used in daily practice, for instance methotrexate and sulphasalazine. The choice of combining drugs can be influenced by different toxicity patterns to avoid cumulative toxicity."

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.

This book provides an essential update on the startling array of novel insecticidal toxins and drugs produced by the fascinating bacterium Photorhabdus. The respective chapters describe everything from the detailed molecular biology of the 'Toxin complexes' or Tc's to the complexity of insect immune response in relation to both the bacterium and its nematode vector. The volume covers both primary (toxin production and regulation) and secondary (natural product synthesis and regulation) metabolism and emphasises the potential use of toxins and drugs in both agriculture and medicine. It also discusses in detail two totally novel quorum sensing mechanisms and the likely role of LuxR solos in sensing the presence of different bacterial hosts. Lastly, the book explores the unique case of P. asymbiotica, which seems to have evolved the ability to infect both insects and humans. This synthesis proves that Photorhabdus truly does offer a 'gold mine' for the discovery of novel insecticidal proteins and novel natural products with potential uses in agriculture and medicine alike.

The clinical microbiology laboratory is often a sentinel for the detection of drug resistant strains of microorganisms. Standardized protocols require continual scrutiny to detect emerging phenotypic resistance patterns. The timely notification of clinicians with susceptibility results can initiate the alteration of antimicrobial chemotherapy and improve patient care. It is vital that microbiology laboratories stay current with standard and emerging methods and have a solid understanding of their function in the war on infectious diseases. Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Protocols clearly defines the role of the clinical microbiology laboratory in integrated patient care and provides a comprehensive, up-to-date procedural manual that can be used by a wide variety of laboratorians. The authors provide a comprehensive, up-to-date procedural manual including protocols for bioassay methods and molecular methods for bacterial strain typing. Divided into three sections, the text begins by introducing basic susceptibility disciplines including disk diffusion, macro and microbroth dilution, agar dilution, and the gradient method. It covers step-by-step protocols with an emphasis on optimizing the detection of resistant microorganisms. The second section describes specialized susceptibility protocols such as surveillance procedures for detection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, serum bactericidal assays, time-kill curves, population analysis, and synergy testing. The final section is designed to be used as a reference resource. Chapters cover antibiotic development; design and use of an antibiogram; and the interactions of the clinical microbiology laboratory with the hospital pharmacy, and infectious disease and control. Unique in its scope, Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Protocols gives laboratory personnel an integrated resource for updated lab-based techniques and charts within the contextual role of clinical microbiology in modern medicine.

This volume focuses on blocking disease transmission and the ecological perspective of pathogens and pathogenic processes. The chapters on blocking transmission cover the environmental safety of space flight, biocides and biocide resistance, as well as infection control in healthcare facilities. The book also offers insights into the ecological aspects of infectious disease, introducing the reader to the role of indigenous gut microbiota in maintaining human health and current discussions on environmentally encountered bacterial and fungal pathogens including species that variously cause the necrotizing skin disease Buruli ulcer and coccidioidomycosis. Further, it explores the influenza A virus as an example for understanding zoonosis. It is a valuable resource for microbiologists and biomedical scientists alike.

R. VANFURTH Infection is an inseparable part of communal life, and infections are more common and more severe in hospital communi ties because the sick are more easily infected than the healthy. However, even though progress in the medical sciences has meant that many more patients suftering from relatively severe diseases can be helped at present, the use of more sophisticated and complex treatment leads to impairment of the defence mechanisms in more patients than was the case ten to twenty years ago, and these patients are also more prone to develop an infection. Two questions are particularly relevant in this context. 1) Under what conditions do hospital infections occur? Defects of host defence mechanisms are of great importance in this respect. Such defects can be due to the disease or to the treatment given to the patient. 2) Which of the host defence mechanisms can be affected by a stay in the hospital? Among the factors involved in the host defence against infections (Table I), a number are especially important in this respect. For instance, venepuncture, indwelling catheters, and surgery all cause a breach in the surface structures. Anaesthesia causes temporary impairment of mechanical factors. Vascularization may be defective -- especial ly in the aged and patients with diabetes mellitus -- and this may complicate the healing of wounds in the skin and mucous membranes after surgery."