Quantities, Symbols, Units, and Abbreviations in the Life Sciences is a reliable compilation of the most up-to-date recommendations for using units, symbols, abbreviations, and acronyms in scientific publications across the biological sciences. Drawing on the authority of the various nomenclature committees of the many international societies in the biosciences, as well as on the editors of prestigious scientific journals, and on eminent individuals active in scientific publishing, this essential reference provides authors and editors with easy access to the authoritative usage of the universally accepted terms they need for clear scientific communication. The compiled symbols, units, and abbreviations are defined, with commentary and some etymological background frequently provided. The diverse scope of disciplines treated includes biochemistry, molecular biology, medicine, genetics, immunology, and virology, plus appropriate sections on mathematics, physics, and chemistry.

This volume introduces a summary of all the techniques used to estimate pH reliably. Emphasis is placed on the techniques that provide the most reliable and detailed data. The role of cell pH is explained with special emphasis on enzymology and membrane transport and bioenergetics. This book was written especially for molecular biologists, biochemists and biophysicists.

Not many years ago, problems of membranes and transport attracted the attention of but a few dozen enthusiasts, mainly physiolo gists who recognize the significance of membranes for the stabilization of the general steady state of organisms. The first symposium organ ized some fifteen years ago could boast of the attendance of perhaps fifty scientists (the remaining fifty were not yet sure that membranes was the topic of their choice), ranging in specialization from physical chemistry to bacterial genetics, who clairvoyantly decided to study what now has become the number one subject at most congresses of biophysics, physiology, and even biochemistry and microbiology. As is the case with many rapidly developing fields, the interest in membranes and transport seems to be growing out of bounds and the whole field of membra no logy, interdisciplinary as it is, has penetrated into the realms of a number of branches of physics, chemistry, and biology. Its subject is primarily biological and, although much has been done in the world to increase the "exactness" of biology over the past thirty years, one cannot strive for a rigorous mathematical description of biological phenomena since, as M. H."

It is not a particularly rewarding task to engage in writing a book on a subject which is undergoing a rapid and potentially revolutionary develop ment, but, on the other hand, the investigation of transport of substances into and out of cells has reached a stage of maturity or at least of self realization and this fact alone warrants a closer examination of the subject. No one will doubt at present that the movement-mostly by selective translocation-of substances, ranging from hydrogen ions to deoxyribo nucleic acids, across the cell-surrounding barriers represents one of the salient features of a living cell and that, if we are permitted to go so far, the cessation of the selective transport processes might be considered as the equivalent of cell death. Hardly anybody will question the premise that cell and tissue differentiation within the ontogenetic development of an organism is closely associated with properties of the outer cell face. Perhaps no serious scholar will attempt to refute the concept that mem branes with characteristic morphology and composition represent the ar chitectural framework for the whole cell. And probably no experienced biologist will raise objections to the belief that many physiological processes, like nervous impulse conduction and other electrical phenomena of cells and tissues or their volume changes, are associated with membrane-regulated shifts of ions and molecules."

TO THE SECOND EDITION When preparing the manuscript for the original edition of this book we were only partly aware of the pace at which the field of membrane transport was developing and at which new ideas as well as new techniques would be applied to it. The fact is that some of the chapters are now outdated (e. g., the one on the molecular aspects of transport) and many others require revision in the light of new information that has appeared in the past five years. However, it is also true that we overemphasized in the first edition certain points that now appear less important and underestimated the impact of certain others that have since assumed a position among the most forcefully discussed topics of membrane research. In making amends, it was thus thought useful to include the discussion of these latter problems both in the theoretical and in the comparative sections and, on the other hand, to omit some of the less topical subjects. There was a different reason for rewriting the section on kidney and for dropping the section on mito chondria. The help of an expert nephrologist was enlisted for improving chapter 24, while it was decided that mitochondria represent a special field both conceptually (being only subcellular particles) and methodologically (more indirect estimation techniques being involved than with whole cells or tissues) and that more adequate information can be found in treatises specializing in work with mitochondria."

Quantities, Symbols, Units, and Abbreviations in the Life Sciences is a reliable compilation of the most up-to-date recommendations for using units, symbols, abbreviations, and acronyms in scientific publications across the biological sciences. Drawing on the authority of the various nomenclature committees of the many international societies in the biosciences, as well as on the editors of prestigious scientific journals, and on eminent individuals active in scientific publishing, this essential reference provides authors and editors with easy access to the authoritative usage of the universally accepted terms they need for clear scientific communication. The compiled symbols, units, and abbreviations are defined, with commentary and some etymological background frequently provided. The diverse scope of disciplines treated includes biochemistry, molecular biology, medicine, genetics, immunology, and virology, plus appropriate sections on mathematics, physics, and chemistry.