Natural polymers have been utilized extensively in food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, textiles, oil drilling and paint industries. Their non-toxic and inexpensive attributes readily enhance their commercial acceptability and make them potent agents in lieu of synthetic polymers. This book explores the opportunistic utility of natural polymers in developing effective drug delivery systems and provides a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of their source, chemical structure and mechanism of action. Covering novel polymers for drug delivery - in particular extracts from plants, microorganisms and proteins, as well as water soluble and water insoluble biodegradable polymers - it presents an encyclopaedic overview of natural polymers': - quintessential roles in binding drugs towards enhancing bioavailability - modification and derivatization for targeted delivery - role as active drugs Natural Polymers for Drug Delivery is an invaluable resource for researchers, students and industrial scientists in the fields of biochemistry, chemistry, pharmacology and food science.

The human body contains 20 times more microbes than it does cells and in each cell there are about 10 microbes. Approximately 99% of the viruses and bacteria inhabiting our body are yet to be identified. Some of our colonists, viruses in the cells of our brain influence even our thoughts and feelings. This book illustrates how microbes and human life go hand in hand. Microbes for Human Life elaborates the relevance of microbes and their role in everyday human life microbes in food production and agriculture, in biotechnology and industry, and in ecology and environment. It also discusses some of the negative impacts of microbes on our world, such as their role in causing diseases and bio-terrorism. But the primary focus is on how microbes, in their incredible variety, are essential to human life. The book presents the many ways in which we intentionally, and at times unintentionally, utilize microbes to improve our lives and enhance our life experience.