The last decade or so has seen remarkable advances in our knowledge of cough. This applies especially to its basic mechanisms: the types of airway sensors, the phar- cological receptors on their membranes, the brainstem organization of the 'cough centre', and the involvement of the cerebral cortex in the sensations and the vol- tary control of cough. With the exception of the last of these, nearly all the studies have been on experimental animals rather than humans, for obvious reasons. One group of experimental studies has particular relevance to human patients, and that is the demonstration of the sensitization of cough pathways both in the periphery and in the brainstem. Similar sensitizations have been shown for patients with chronic cough or who have been exposed to pollutants, and it is reasonable to suppose that this is the basis of their cough and that the underlying mechanisms are generally similar in humans and other species. Important advances are also being made in clinical cough research. For the three main causes of clinical cough, asthma, post-nasal drip syndrome, and gast- oesophageal re?ux disease, we are beginning to understand the pathological processes involved. There remains a diagnostically obdurate group of idiopathic chronic coughers, but even for them approaches are being devised to clarify und- lying mechanisms and to establish diagnoses. Perhaps surprisingly, the ?eld in which there has been the least spectacular - vance is the therapy of cough.

This book is a tribute to Paul Erdos, the wandering mathematician once described as the "prince of problem solvers and the absolute monarch or problem posers". It examines -- within the context of his unique personality and lifestyle -- the legacy of open problems he left to the world after his death in 1996. Unwilling to succumb to the temptations of money and position, Erdos never had a home and never held a job. His "home" was a bag or two containing all his belongings and a record of the collective activities of the mathematical community. His "job" was one at which he excelled: identifying a fundamental roadblock in some particular line of approach and capturing it in a well-chosen, often innocent-looking problem, whose solution would likewise provide insight into the underlying theory. By cataloguing the unsolved problems of Erdos in a comprehensive and well-documented volume, the authors hope to continue the work of an unusual and special man who fundamentally influenced the field of mathematics.

Asthma has rapidly become one of the most common chronic illnesses of the Western world, and its prevalence continues to rise, with the proportion of patients with more severe diseases also increasing. Faced with this problem, more researchers are focusing on the causes, mechanisms, and pathophysiology of asthma. The major hopes are that more effective drugs will become available and that preventive measures can be instituted. Increasingly, molecular and cell bi- ogy approaches are being used to characterize and understand the mechanisms of the inflammatory process that is typical of the asthmatic airway. This volume on Asthma: Mechanisms and Protocols in the Methods in Molecular Medicineseries provides an overview of the molecular mechanisms involved in asthma by p- viding extensive protocols that are being used in asthma research. Briefly, it c- ers details of methods for obtaining cells from the airways, analysis of gene and protein expression in the limited clinical samples from asthmatic airways, use of molecular and cellular tools for studying cytokine expression and release, studies of asthma-related genes and genetic polymorphisms, and understanding the - fects of asthma treatments. With such coverage, the volume ties in several dis- plines, including allergy and immunology, cell biology, pharmacology, and histology. We have continued in the spirit of the series to provide a bench book for day-to-day use.

Emphasizing state-of-the-art pharmacological and therapeutic approaches in controlling pathophysiological processes in the airways, Pharmacology and Therapeutics of Airway Disease reviews normal and abnormal physiological, biochemical and molecular aspects of the respiratory tract.Covering the basic mechanisms of inflammatory cell activation and pathophysiology in disease, therapeutic ways of controlling inflammation, reversing or preventing airflow obstruction, and symptomatic treatments of advanced disease. Written as a concise clinical reference guide covering the current and future airway disease treatments, this text encompasses: pathophysiology of respiratory tract diseases the methods of measuring airway and clinical responses the concepts upon which many treatments are used in COPD and asthma conditions the way in which these treatments work, and how new treatments can be discovered and tested in various patient groups state-of-the-art pharmacological and therapeutic approaches in controlling pathophysiological processes in the airways normal and abnormal physiological, biochemical and molecular aspects of the respiratory tract basic mechanisms of inflammatory cell activation and pathophysiology in disease therapeutic ways of controlling inflammation ways of reversing or preventing airflow obstruction, and symptomatic treatments of advanced disease

This book is a tribute to Paul Erd\H{o}s, the wandering mathematician once described as the "prince of problem solvers and the absolute monarch of problem posers." It examines -- within the context of his unique personality and lifestyle -- the legacy of open problems he left to the world after his death in 1996. Unwilling to succumb to the temptations of money and position, Erd\H{o}s never had a home and never held a job. His "home" was a bag or two containing all his belongings and a record of the collective activities of the mathematical community. His "job" was one at which he excelled: identifying a fundamental roadblock in some particular line of approach and capturing it in a well-chosen, often innocent-looking problem, whose solution would likewise provide insight into the underlying theory. By cataloguing the unsolved problems of Erd\H{o}s in a comprehensive and well-documented volume, the authors hope to continue the work of an unusual and special man who fundamentally influenced the field of mathematics.

This book is a tribute to Paul Erd\H{o}s, the wandering mathematician once described as the "prince of problem solvers and the absolute monarch of problem posers." It examines -- within the context of his unique personality and lifestyle -- the legacy of open problems he left to the world after his death in 1996. Unwilling to succumb to the temptations of money and position, Erd\H{o}s never had a home and never held a job. His "home" was a bag or two containing all his belongings and a record of the collective activities of the mathematical community. His "job" was one at which he excelled: identifying a fundamental roadblock in some particular line of approach and capturing it in a well-chosen, often innocent-looking problem, whose solution would likewise provide insight into the underlying theory. By cataloguing the unsolved problems of Erd\H{o}s in a comprehensive and well-documented volume, the authors hope to continue the work of an unusual and special man who fundamentally influenced the field of mathematics.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th International Workshop on Algorithms and Models for the Web Graph, WAW 2014, held in Beijing, China, in December 2014. The 12 papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in this volume. The aim of the workshop was to further the understanding of graphs that arise from the Web and various user activities on the Web, and stimulate the development of high-performance algorithms and applications that exploit these graphs. The workshop gathered the researchers who are working on graph-theoretic and algorithmic aspects of related complex networks, including social networks, citation networks, biological networks, molecular networks, and other networks arising from the Internet.

Asthma has rapidly become one of the most common chronic illnesses of the Western world, and its prevalence continues to rise, with the proportion of patients with more severe diseases also increasing. Faced with this problem, more researchers are focusing on the causes, mechanisms, and pathophysiology of asthma. The major hopes are that more effective drugs will become available and that preventive measures can be instituted. Increasingly, molecular and cell bi- ogy approaches are being used to characterize and understand the mechanisms of the inflammatory process that is typical of the asthmatic airway. This volume on Asthma: Mechanisms and Protocols in the Methods in Molecular Medicineseries provides an overview of the molecular mechanisms involved in asthma by p- viding extensive protocols that are being used in asthma research. Briefly, it c- ers details of methods for obtaining cells from the airways, analysis of gene and protein expression in the limited clinical samples from asthmatic airways, use of molecular and cellular tools for studying cytokine expression and release, studies of asthma-related genes and genetic polymorphisms, and understanding the - fects of asthma treatments. With such coverage, the volume ties in several dis- plines, including allergy and immunology, cell biology, pharmacology, and histology. We have continued in the spirit of the series to provide a bench book for day-to-day use.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Internet and Network Economics, WINE 2007, held in San Diego, CA, USA, in December 2007.

The 61 revised full papers presented together with 4 invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions for inclusion in the book. The papers are organized in topical sections on equilibrium, information market, sponsored auction, network economics, mechanism design, social networks, advertisement pricing, computational general equilibrium, network games, and algorithmic issues.

Emphasizing state-of-the-art pharmacological and therapeutic approaches in controlling pathophysiological processes in the airways, Pharmacology and Therapeutics of Airway Disease reviews normal and abnormal physiological, biochemical and molecular aspects of the respiratory tract.Covering the basic mechanisms of inflammatory cell activation and pathophysiology in disease, therapeutic ways of controlling inflammation, reversing or preventing airflow obstruction, and symptomatic treatments of advanced disease. Written as a concise clinical reference guide covering the current and future airway disease treatments, this text encompasses: pathophysiology of respiratory tract diseases the methods of measuring airway and clinical responses the concepts upon which many treatments are used in COPD and asthma conditions the way in which these treatments work, and how new treatments can be discovered and tested in various patient groups state-of-the-art pharmacological and therapeutic approaches in controlling pathophysiological processes in the airways normal and abnormal physiological, biochemical and molecular aspects of the respiratory tract basic mechanisms of inflammatory cell activation and pathophysiology in disease therapeutic ways of controlling inflammation ways of reversing or preventing airflow obstruction, and symptomatic treatments of advanced disease

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 14th International Workshop Algorithms and Models for the Web Graph, WAW 2017, held in Toronto, ON, Canada, in June 2017. The 7 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 14 submissions. The papers are organized around topics such as graphs that arise from the Web and various user activities on the Web; the development of high Performance algorithms and applications that exploit these graphs; graph-theoretic and algorithmic aspects of related complex networks; social networks, citation networks, biological networks; molecular networks, and other networks arising from the Internet.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 13th International Workshop on Algorithms and Models for the Web Graph, WAW 2016, held in Montreal, QC, Canada, in December 2016. The 13 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 14 submissions. The workshop gathered the researchers who are working on graph-theoretic and algorithmic aspects of related complex networks, including social networks, citation networks, biological networks, molecular networks, and other networks arising from the Internet.