Most of us pay little attention to the workings of our lungs but the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked interest in their functioning and fear about the risks they face. Dr MeiLan K. Han, a leading pulmonologist and a national spokesperson for the American Lung Association, takes readers on a fascinating tour of this most vital organ. Han explains the wonder of breathing and reveals how the lungs serve as the body's first line of defence. She provides a timely overview of the latest scientific thinking about the leading respiratory risks-including indoor and outdoor pollution, smoking and vaping, wildfire smoke and viruses like SARS-CoV-2-and offers a practical guide to keeping lungs healthy. With authority as both practitioner and medical researcher, she argues powerfully for a social policy that makes a priority of preserving lung health nationwide.

In a simplified form, epigenetics refers to heritable changes in phenotype that are not due to changes in the underlying DNA sequence. In this book, epigenetic mechanisms of regulation and dysregulation in health and disease are explored in great depth. Detailed chapters on epigenetic processes including DNA methylation and chromatin post-translational modifications including potential interventions with DNA methyltransferase inhibitors and histone deacetylase inhibitors are explored in initial chapters. These provide a detailed overview and important background to the entire field. The book is then focussed on epigenetic mechanisms involved in various diseases including anti-inflammatory and autoimmune conditions. Important accounts relating to the effects of epigenetics in metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and asthma are the focus of subsequent chapters. The role of epigenetic dysregulation in malignancy is a current topic of interest and represents an intense field of research. A large component of this book is dedicated to the analysis of aberrant epigenetic processes in carcinogenesis and cancer progression. Further, chapters are focused on emerging cancer prevention using nutritional components and anti-cancer therapies particularly with histone deacetylase inhibitors, which have already been approved for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. The emerging role of nanoparticle preparations, especially in the context of delivering potential epigenetic therapies to target cells in various diseases, is also explored in this book. Overall, this book encompasses a wide range of topics related to epigenetic mechanisms in health and disease and would appeal to anyone with an interest in epigenetics, chromatin biology and emerging epigenetic interventions and therapies.

The impairment of lung function caused by environmental exposure to pollutants and toxicants is a rising health problem, particularly in highly industrialized parts of the world. The problem is urgently calling for the development of new methodologies to assess both the level of elemental exposure and the effects for quality of health and longevity. This volume provides state-of-the-art information about the recent advances in occupational and non-occupational pollutant-related disorders of the respiratory tract, and the assessment of a threat they pose for the health-span. Heavy traffic-related air pollution, unnoticeable but salient health detriment, is dealt with at length.

This book represents an updated review of the physiology of the carotid body chemoreceptors. It contains results in the topics at the frontiers of future developments in O2-sensing in chemoreceptor cells. Additionally, this volume provides data from studies carried out in other O2-sensing tissues including pulmonary vasculature and erythropoietin producing cells. It is a prime source of information and a guideline for arterial chemoreception researchers.

This volume covers data describing the role of free radicals and antioxidants in respiratory disorders, including the data that deal with clinical and pre-clinical trials. Chapters describe the relationship of oxidative stress to a number of respiratory and pulmonary conditions from a basic science and clinical perspective, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, acute lung injury, pulmonary hypertension, toxicity and fibrosis, cancer and asbestosis. The book also discusses the use of conventional biomarkers of oxidative stress and breath condensates as adjuncts to classical laboratory testing, the effect of antioxidants on cellular protection, as well as the development of novel antioxidant modalities.

This volume presents the most recent developments in diagnosis and treatment of patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and those who continue to be refractory to conventional GERD therapies. The book delineates the role of newly developed endoscopic therapies in GERD and outlines the best candidates for surgical fundoplication. Topics as the risks associated with GERD, lifestyle modification in GERD and the role of H2RA and proton pump inhibitor therapy in treating reflux disease are also explored. Written by authorities in the field, Diagnosis and Treatment of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease is a concise yet comprehensive resource that is useful for primary care providers, gastroenterologists, pulmonologists, surgeons and ENT specialists.

Over the last decade the science and medicine of high altitude and hypoxia adaptation has seen great advances. High Altitude: Human Adaptation to Hypoxia addresses the challenges in dealing with the changes in human physiology and the particular medical conditions that arise from exposure to high altitude. In-depth and comprehensive chapters cover both the basic science and the clinical consequences of exposure to high altitude. Genetic, cellular, organ and whole body system responses to high altitudes are covered and chapters discuss these effects on a wide range of diseases. Expert authors provide insight into the care of patients with pre-existing medical conditions that fail in some cases to adapt as well as offer insights into how high altitude research can help critically ill patients. High Altitude: Human Adaptation to Hypoxia is an important new volume that offers a window into greater understanding and more successful treatment of hypoxic human diseases.

Asthma is a chronic relapsing airways disease that represents a major public health problem worldwide. Intermittent exacerbations are provoked by airway mucosal exposure to pro-inflammatory stimuli, with RNA viral infections or inhaled allergens representing the two most common precipitants. In this setting, inducible signaling pathways the airway mucosa play a central role in the initiation of airway inflammation through production of antimicrobial peptides (defensins), cytokines, chemokines and arachidonic acid metabolites that coordinate the complex processes of vascular permeability, cellular recruitment, mucous hyper-secretion, bronchial constriction and tissue remodeling. These signals also are responsible for leukocytic infiltration into the submucosa, T helper-lymphocyte skewing, and allergic sensitization. Currently, it is well appreciated that asthma is a heterogeneous in terms of onset, exacerbants, severity, and treatment response. Current asthma classification methods are largely descriptive and focus on a single aspect or dimension of the disease. An active area of investigation on how to collect, use and visualize multidimensional profiling in asthma. This book will overview multidimensional profiling strategies and visualization approaches for phenotyping asthma. As an outcome, this work will facilitate the understanding of disease etiology, prognosis and/or therapeutic intervention.

Lung cancer and autoimmune diseases are complex entities in that they involve gene disturbance, gene polymorphism, and impaired gene repair mechanisms. The volume focuses on altered gene expression in tumor processes and in chronic autoimmune disorders. The chapters discuss the biological rationale for novel disease protein markers, present relevant clinical results, and give some diagnostic and therapeutic tips.

This two-volume work covers the molecular and cell biology, genetics and evolution of influenza viruses, the pathogenesis of infection, resultant host innate and adaptive immune response, prevention of infection through vaccination and approaches to the therapeutic control of infection.. Experts at the forefront of these areas provide critical assessments with regard to influenza virology, immunology, cell and molecular biology, and pathogenesis. Volume I provides overviews of the latest findings on molecular determinants of viral pathogenicity, virus entry and cell tropism, pandemic risk assessment, transmission and pathogenesis in animal species, viral evolution, ecology and antigenic variation, while Volume II focuses on the role of innate and adaptive immunity in pathogenesis, development of vaccines and antivirals. 

The mechanistic basis of chronic inflammation remains unclear. The research sheds new light on the immune cells expressing the activation markers HLA-DR and regulatory T cells (Tregs) and the cells expressing Siglec receptors as being key players in the immune system responsiveness to antigens and thus in lung tissue damage of chronic inflammation. The results help understand the mechanisms of action of common drugs used in COPD, such as formoterol, tiotropium, or corticosteroids, and point to novel drug targets. The chapters also deal with brain damaging effects, by far unrecognized, of inhaled corticosteroid therapy, a time-proven management of chronic inflammatory airway conditions; asthma being a case in point. Novel methods, likely less producing side effects, of macrolide antibiotics administration by inhalation are discussed, emphasizing not only bacteriostatic but also anti-inflammatory action.

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.

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Comprehensive Clinical Guide delivers a concise review of our current understanding of disease pathogenesis and provides current evidence in the medical literature regarding its diagnosis and management. Each chapter includes key points and a summary aiming to update clinicians about various issues concerning the diagnosis and management of IPF. In addition to outlining the current state of knowledge, each chapter also provides a summary of ongoing research and identifies the needs for future research in the field. Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Comprehensive Clinical Guide is an important new text that provides its readers with a better understanding of the pathobiology and natural history of IPF as it continues to evolve.

T. Buch, E. Schafer, D. Steinritz, A. Dietrich, T. Gudermann: Chemosensory TRP Channels in the Respiratory Tract: Role in Toxic Lung Injury and Potential as "Sweet Spots" for Targeted Therapies. D.C. Zebrowski and F. B. Engel: The Cardiomyocyte Cell Cycle in Hypertrophy, Tissue Homeostasis, and Regeneration. P. Hegyi and O.H. Petersen: The Exocrine Pancreas: The Acinar -Ductal Tango in Physiology and Pathophysiology.

This book is unique in approaching multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) from the perspective of its pathophysiological mechanism, and addressing aspects that are overlooked in most of the available literature. Eminent experts in the field from Europe and beyond offer new insights into risk stratification, severity assessment, and management of critically ill patients with sepsis. The principal focus is on recently developed concepts in infection management and in antibiotic use, bearing in mind that in these patients the pharmacokinetics of antibiotics are altered, affecting renal clearance and requiring dosage adjustments. The significance of the PIRO (predisposing factors, infection, response, organ dysfunction) model in the development of effective treatment strategies is emphasized. This book will be of interest and value to all who are involved in the treatment of, or research into, sepsis and MODS.

This multidisciplinary book covers all aspects of oxygen delivery to tissue, including blood flow and its regulation as well as oxygen metabolism as discussed at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the International Society on Oxygen Transport to Tissue (ISOTT) held in Australia in 2005. Special attention is paid to methods of oxygen measurement in living tissue and the application of these technologies to understanding the physiological and biochemical basis for pathology related to tissue oxygenation.

This book comprehensively describes the physiological changes and consequences that occur in humans during spaceflight. It specifically presents the adaptations of the cardiovascular and the respiratory system. Specific changes occurring after 10, 20 or more days in space are depicted. Furthermore, the book explains various effective countermeasures that are required upon return of the astronauts to Earth. The book is a must-have for all biomedical and clinical researchers in the field of cardiovascular biology and respiration, and a fascinating reading for all interested laymen, who wish to understand a bit more about spaceflight research and technology.

Smoking and Lung Inflammation is the first book directly related to chronic lung inflammation of its kind in several respects. First, the it focuses on both basic and clinical research on COPD, and the inflammatory mechanisms that function in these diseases. Second, it is unique with respect to scope of the discussion of the unusual characteristics of the immune response which occurs in these patients. Third, it includes knowledge being gained from translational research conducted through clinical trials at several Medical Schools in the United States. Not only is this research providing information about novel drugs and therapies, but it is also advancing our understanding of the genetics of these diseases. This work will illuminate the molecular basis for these diseases, and hopefully will permit us to individualize the therapies for these diseases.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of the organization of endogenous lung stem and progenitor cell compartments during fetal lung development, postnatal lung growth and in adulthood. Progressing stage by stage, the chapters on fetal lung development emphasize the integrated role of epithelial, stromal, vascular and neural cell elements in building a functional lung, while the subsequent chapters on adult lung regeneration describe the nature and properties of adult lung stem/progenitor cells distributed along the proximal-distal axis of the airway tree. The chapters on regulation of lung regeneration and repair discuss how regenerative cells interact with their niche microenvironment and how regulation of lung regeneration and repair in the steady state and following injury recapitulates ontogeny. And, lastly, the chapters on cellular therapies for lung disease and bioengineering the lung focus on promising emerging therapies and approaches in lung regenerative medicine. The scope of this volume of the Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine series focuses on exploring the topic of building and rebuilding the lung from a cellular rather than a molecular perspective. Thus, the section on cellular therapies does not include extensive coverage of each of the numerous lung diseases, including cancer, which could be amenable to stem cell-based therapies, although the final chapter does include some discussion on the future prospects and challenges. All of the contributors are working on the cutting edge of the lung stem cell field, making this book essential reading for those with an interest in the field of lung stem cell biology and the potential role of cellular therapies and tissue bioengineering approaches in lung regenerative medicine, including biomedical scientists, graduate students, post-graduate researchers and respiratory clinicians.

The past few decades have seen major impacts of different pandemics and mass casualty events on health resource use in terms of rising healthcare costs and increased mortality. In this context, the development of acute respiratory failure in patients requires the use of mechanical ventilation, either invasive or noninvasive. Recently, noninvasive ventilation (NIV) has proved to be a valuable strategy to reduce mortality rates in patients. This is the first book to describe the clinical indications of NIV in patients who have been hospitalized with high-risk infections as well as in the prehospital management of mass casualty incidents, including chemical or biological disasters and pandemics. Compiled by internationally respected experts, it offers comprehensive coverage of all aspects of noninvasive mechanical ventilation in public health emergencies, such as equipment needs and guidelines for health organizations. Considering recent events (SARS, H1N1 influenza pandemic), the book concludes with a critical review of current studies and future prospects for the use of NIV, offering a valuable resource for all practitioners managing mass casualty incidents and disasters.

The spectrum of systemic rheumatologic disease (often termed connective tissue disease) is characterized by autoimmune-mediated organ dysfunction, and the lungs are a frequent target. There are numerous pulmonary manifestations associated with connective tissue diseases, and all patients with rheumatologic disease are at risk of developing associated lung disease. Pulmonary Manifestations of Rheumatic Disease covers the comprehensive management of rheumatologic lung disease, which requires a multi-disciplinary approach and is optimized by active engagement by rheumatologists working closely with pulmonologists and other specialists. The book offers a practical reference using a case-based approach for practicing clinicians in the ongoing assessment and understanding of rheumatologic lung disease, and presents the science and pathophysiology underlying rheumatologic lung diseases. The first text of its kind specifically dedicated to describe diverse, commonplace, and challenging aspects of rheumatologic lung diseases, Pulmonary Manifestations of Rheumatic Disease serves as an invaluable tool for the practicing clinician.

This volume focuses on current evidence-based pharmacological treatments of various forms of pulmonary hypertension and provides a comprehensive review of the latest developments in this area. The first part of the book covers the definition, classification, pathophysiology, pathology, biomarkers and animal models of the disease, thus laying the conceptual basis for what follows. The middle section provides an overview of the established therapies, such as calcium channel blockers, prostanoids, endothelin receptor antagonists, phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors and inhaled nitric oxide. The last section explores novel pathways and emerging therapeutic approaches including soluble guanylate cyclase stimulators, Rho-kinase inhibitors, inhibitors of serotonin receptors and transporters, peptide growth factors, vasoactive peptides, modulators of redox equilibrium and cyclic nucleotide homeostasis, as well as immunosuppressive and anti-proliferative agents. Particular attention is given to the clinical applications of these experimental therapies, that are on the horizon. The book thus spans the continuum from basic science to clinical applications.

Although respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has been a high priority for vaccine development for over 50 years now, still no vaccine is available and none has yet demonstrated sufficient promise to move to licensure. The success of RSV immune prophylaxis and the availability of ever more powerful tools to study the immune response and pathogenesis of disease, combined with the ability to construct a wide variety of vaccines using different vaccine platforms, give us grounds to believe that an RSV vaccine is within reach. This book brings together in one source what is currently known about the virus: its clinical and epidemiologic features; the host response and pathogenesis of the disease; vaccines, vaccine platforms, and treatment; and animal and tissue culture models of RSV infection. It is designed to organize the critical information relevant to RSV vaccine development, facilitate the assimilation of data, and speed progress toward producing a safe and effective vaccine.

This book provides a detailed review of state of the art knowledge on critical care topics as well as the latest research findings. It covers the core aspects in excellent detail, but is not so comprehensive as to make its daily use unfeasible. For each condition considered, discussion of the pathophysiology is integrated with observations on diagnosis and treatment in order to allow a deeper understanding. The book is scientifically based, with extensive references to published research. This will allow readers to investigate their individual interests further and will enable physicians to justify measures by providing a coherent, evidence-based strategy and relevant citations where needed. Core Knowledge in Critical Care Medicine will appeal to experienced practitioners as an aide-memoire, but will also be of great value to a wide range of more junior staff wishing to complement their background knowledge with important facts applicable to everyday practice.

Laryngeal cancer is a complex medical condition, and its treatments, both surgical and nonsurgical, typically affect a variety of life functions. The complex consequences of laryngeal cancer necessitate that many different medical specialties work together as a cohesive, collaborative care team to support patients and their caregivers/families. Despite the interdisciplinary treatment that laryngeal cancer requires, many resources offer the perspective of only one specific profession. This book caters to the team approach that is needed to provide patients with evidence-based treatment and maximise outcomes. To fill this need for an interdisciplinary text, it brings together a wide range of medical professionals to represent their unique perspectives on the treatment of patients with laryngeal cancer. Each chapter addresses a different critical aspect of the interdisciplinary care and how they impact the other aspects, written by experts in each field. Bonus material: a supplemental website is available for healthcare providers to share with their laryngeal cancer patients and their families/caregivers. This resource provides critical information about all aspects of their care and treatment, presented in a simple, digestible way for the layperson to understand. When the whole team of health care professionals involved in laryngeal cancer management understands the big picture of care, they can tailor individual treatment priorities to the needs of each unique patient and maximise quality of life. Because of this, this book is designed to be a comprehensive guide for any professional involved in the many facets of interdisciplinary care for patients with laryngeal cancer.