Recent critical advances in the field of immunotoxicology have led to incredible contributions to basic science, including crucial improvements in human risk assessment. In Immunotoxicity Testing: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers explore these changes, providing the reader with current, lab-ready procedures, along with the corresponding background information that is necessary to identify effective testing approaches for chemicals and drugs. Among the first volumes to meld consideration of immunotoxicity testing strategies with a comprehensive presentation of detailed laboratory protocols, chapters include a description of the evolution of immunotoxicity testing, a look at the importance of immunotoxicity testing for health risk reduction, and ideas concerning the future of the field. Composed in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology(tm) series format, most chapters contain a brief introduction, step-by-step methods, a list of necessary materials, and a Notes section which shares tips from the experts on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Comprehensive and innovative, Immunotoxicity Testing: Methods and Protocols is a critical, one-stop reference resource for the most important and commonly used laboratory protocols in immunotoxicology.

Chronic diseases are the leading cause of deaths worldwide and according to the World Economics Council and the Harvard School of Public Health, the cost of chronic diseases is expected to reach a staggering 48% of global gross domestic product by the year 2030. The urgency of the issue was demonstrated in 2011 when for only the second time in its existence, the U.N. General Assembly brought a health issue to the floor for consideration: chronic diseases. To date, most considerations of the issue have approached the topic from the vantage point that chronic diseases are a myriad of largely unconnected diseases and conditions arising in diverse tissues, organs and physiological systems. This book, Immunotoxicity, Immune Dysfuction, and Chronic Disease, deviates from that prior model. It considers the interconnectivity of chronic diseases with both environmental insult of the immune system and subsequent immune dysfunction and inflammatory dysregulation as the underlying basis for many, if not most, chronic diseases. This change in the perception of environment-immune linkages to chronic disease is significant and has immediate implications both for the prevention of disease as well as for the development of more effective therapeutic approaches. Rather than considering environmental factors and types of reported immune alterations (e.g., depressed humoral immunity) as is common in books involving immunotoxicity, the present book approaches the environment-immune-disease triad from the standpoint of the disease. Each chapter emphasizes one or more specific immune dysfunction-based chronic disease(s) or condition(s) (e.g., asthma, atherosclerosis, multiple sclerosis, lupus) and describes: 1) the suggested environmental risk factors, 2) the underlying immune dysfunction(s) associated with the disease and 3) the overall health consequences of the disease. This book is an early entry for a new Toxicology book series for Springer titled: Molecular and Integrative Toxicology (MaIT). The series will feature detailed research information, but in the context of a more integrative or holistic framework. As part of this framework, the chapters will contain a section on "Key Points" as well as "Recommendations" where appropriate. The goal is to cover the most timely, state-of-the-art issues in toxicology as well as to ensure that the information is maximally accessible for research scientists, teachers, physicians and students. We are particularly grateful to the numerous chapter authors for providing comprehensive and expert disease-oriented contributions. We are also appreciative of their willingness to consider their material not as disparate pieces of what has become a major health crisis, but rather as key pieces in a network of apparently interconnected health challenges.

Chronic diseases are the leading cause of deaths worldwide and according to the World Economics Council and the Harvard School of Public Health, the cost of chronic diseases is expected to reach a staggering 48% of global gross domestic product by the year 2030. The urgency of the issue was demonstrated in 2011 when for only the second time in its existence, the U.N. General Assembly brought a health issue to the floor for consideration: chronic diseases.

To date, most considerations of the issue have approached the topic from the vantage point that chronic diseases are a myriad of largely unconnected diseases and conditions arising in diverse tissues, organs and physiological systems. This book, "Immunotoxicity, Immune Dysfuction, and Chronic Disease," deviates from that prior model. It considers the interconnectivity of chronic diseases with both environmental insult of the immune system and subsequent immune dysfunction and inflammatory dysregulation as the underlying basis for many, if not most, chronic diseases.

This change in the perception of environment-immune linkages to chronic disease is significant and has immediate implications both for the prevention of disease as well as for the development of more effective therapeutic approaches. Rather than considering environmental factors and types of reported immune alterations ("e.g., " depressed humoral immunity) as is common in books involving immunotoxicity, the present book approaches the environment-immune-disease triad from the standpoint of the disease. Each chapter emphasizes one or more specific immune dysfunction-based chronic disease(s) or condition(s) ("e.g., " asthma, atherosclerosis, multiple sclerosis, lupus) and describes: 1) the suggested environmental risk factors, 2) the underlying immune dysfunction(s) associated with the disease and 3) the overall health consequences of the disease.

This book is an early entry for a new Toxicology book series for Springer titled: Molecular and Integrative Toxicology (MaIT). The series will feature detailed research information, but in the context of a more integrative or holistic framework. As part of this framework, the chapters will contain a section on Key Points as well as Recommendations where appropriate. The goal is to cover the most timely, state-of-the-art issues in toxicology as well as to ensure that the information is maximally accessible for research scientists, teachers, physicians and students. We are particularly grateful to the numerous chapter authors for providing comprehensive and expert disease-oriented contributions. We are also appreciative of their willingness to consider their material not as disparate pieces of what has become a major health crisis, but rather as key pieces in a network of apparently interconnected health challenges."

Recent critical advances in the field of immunotoxicology have led to incredible contributions to basic science, including crucial improvements in human risk assessment. In Immunotoxicity Testing: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers explore these changes, providing the reader with current, lab-ready procedures, along with the corresponding background information that is necessary to identify effective testing approaches for chemicals and drugs. Among the first volumes to meld consideration of immunotoxicity testing strategies with a comprehensive presentation of detailed laboratory protocols, chapters include a description of the evolution of immunotoxicity testing, a look at the importance of immunotoxicity testing for health risk reduction, and ideas concerning the future of the field. Composed in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology(tm) series format, most chapters contain a brief introduction, step-by-step methods, a list of necessary materials, and a Notes section which shares tips from the experts on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Comprehensive and innovative, Immunotoxicity Testing: Methods and Protocols is a critical, one-stop reference resource for the most important and commonly used laboratory protocols in immunotoxicology.

Science Sifting is designed primarily as a textbook for students interested in research and as a general reference book for existing career scientists. The aim of this book is to help budding scientists broaden their capacities to access and use information from diverse sources to the benefit of their research careers.The book describes why the capacity to access and integrate both linear and nonlinear information has been an important historic feature of pivotal scientific breakthroughs. Yet, it is a process that our students are rarely, if ever, taught in universities. This book goes beyond simply describing the features of great scientific breakthroughs. It discusses the basis for accessing and using nonlinear information in the linear research context. It also provides a series of tools and exercises that can be used to enhance access to nonlinear information for application to research and other endeavors.Topics covered include focal points in scientific breakthroughs, the use of concepts maps in research, use of different vantage points, information as patterns, fractals for the scientist, memory storage and access points, and synchronicities. Young researchers need useful tools to help with a more holistic approach to their research careers. This book provides the useful tools to support flexibility and creativity across a long-term research career.Roald Hoffmann - Winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry - has contributed the to Science Sifting. More information on Professor Hoffmann can be found at .

Science Sifting is designed primarily as a textbook for students interested in research and as a general reference book for existing career scientists. The aim of this book is to help budding scientists broaden their capacities to access and use information from diverse sources to the benefit of their research careers.The book describes why the capacity to access and integrate both linear and nonlinear information has been an important historic feature of pivotal scientific breakthroughs. Yet, it is a process that our students are rarely, if ever, taught in universities. This book goes beyond simply describing the features of great scientific breakthroughs. It discusses the basis for accessing and using nonlinear information in the linear research context. It also provides a series of tools and exercises that can be used to enhance access to nonlinear information for application to research and other endeavors.Topics covered include focal points in scientific breakthroughs, the use of concepts maps in research, use of different vantage points, information as patterns, fractals for the scientist, memory storage and access points, and synchronicities. Young researchers need useful tools to help with a more holistic approach to their research careers. This book provides the useful tools to support flexibility and creativity across a long-term research career.Roald Hoffmann - Winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry - has contributed the to Science Sifting. More information on Professor Hoffmann can be found at .

Strategies for Protecting Your Child's Immune System is the first book to focus on prevention of environmental damage to the immune system of embryos, babies and older children. It provides expecting and existing parents, their families and physicians with science-based information to protect and proactively manage their child's immune system. Environmental exposures (pollutants, allergens, drugs, diet, physical factors) in the home, school and community can damage the developing immune system and increase the risk of lifelong chronic diseases such as allergies, asthma, type 1 diabetes, celiac disease and neurological problems. This book imparts specific tools to parents and their physicians to help keep the early-life immune system out of harm's way and minimize environmental health risk.

The major histocompatibility complex (Mhc) is one of the few identified gene systems in domestic animals that is associated with quantitative traits such as disease resistance, immune response, growth, and reproduction. As knowledge of this important system increases, we move closer toward the reality of genetic enhancement of animal welfare and production efficiency. This book represents the current state of knowledge on the Mhc of agriculturally important animals and explores the latest advances in technology. For the first time, the unique findings of recent Mhc research are presented in a single source. The Major Histocompatibility Complex Region of Domestic Animal Species begins with a discussion of the evolution of Mhc. The chapters are then organized with respect to specific species, with a chapter devoted to each. The Mhc of mice and humans are used as a common reference for comparisons between diverse species. The text concludes with a look at future strategies and directions in Mhc research. Comparative immunologists and geneticists, veterinarians, animal breeders, researchers, and university and postgraduate students will all benefit from this detailed look at the evolution, structure, and organization of Mhc.