At the beginning of the 20th century, life expectancy at birth in North America and Western Europe was around 50 years of age. Nowadays, women have gained more than 30 years of age and men are trailing closer. However, according to several sociologists such as Louis Chauvel, the notion of a "greying society" is not entirely adequate since aging people are physically and socially younger and more active for a longer time. Of course, the other side of the medal is to tackle the challenge of ...

This book offers a clearly written, entertaining and comprehensive source of medical information for both writers and readers of science fiction.Science fiction in print, in movies and on television all too often presents dubious or simply incorrect depictions of human biology and medical issues. This book explores the real science behind such topics as how our bodies adapt to being in space, the real-life feasibility of common plot elements such as suspended animation and medical ...

Using a multidisciplinary approach, this book describes the biochemical mechanisms associated with dysregulation of proteases and the resulting pathophysiological consequences. It highlights the role and regulation of different types of proteases as well as their synthetic and endogenous inhibitors. The role of proteases was initially thought to be limited to general metabolic digestion. However, we now know that the role of protein breakdown is much more complex, and proteases have multip...

Most biological reactions and functions occur within a narrow range of pH. Any changes in the pH have great impacts on the biological functional at every level, including protein folding, enzymatic activities and proliferation and cell death. Therefore, maintain the pH homeostasis at the local or systemic level is one of the highest priorities for all multicellular organisms. Many redundant mechanisms are in place to maintain the pH homeostasis, a topic that is well covered in the scientif...

The book presents the latest developments in clinical medicine, particularly involved with pulmonary care and diseases. Emphasis is placed on the role of childhood obesity, often a result of the ill effects of an unhealthy diet and nutritional deficits, in shaping propensity for inflammatory pathologies, allergies, immune deficiency and respiratory and cardiovascular sequelae in adult life. Oxidative damage, caused by not full well understood cellular biochemistry, when unchecked by antiox...

The enormous potential of siRNA as a therapeutic has led to an explosion of interest from the scientific community. There has been intense interest from Big Pharma to capitalise on this new technology but the fact remains that delivery is a key determinant in realizing the full clinical potential of RNA interference. There is an urgent need for better delivery methods to take this technology forward. This book addresses the role of different RNAi molecules in cellular processes as rational...

The book provides an intensive overview on exercise for cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment, from basic research to clinical practice. The volume firstly summarizes the acute and chronic response to exercise. Secondly, evidence for exercise as medicine for the heart based on clinical studies and basic research is summarized. Thirdly, molecular mechanisms mediating the beneficial effects of exercise including IGF-1-PI3K-AKT signalling, NO signalling, C/EBPB-Cited4 signalling, No...

Monographs on Endocrinology, Volume 3: Hypothalamic Control of Lactation provides information pertinent to the fundamental aspects of lactation, which is dependent upon the temporal cortex of the brain. This book discusses the manifold problems of hypothalamic lactation. Organized into four parts encompassing 30 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the mechanisms of lactation and explores the hormone requirements for mammary development in various species. This text then examin...

Main Question: G protein coupled receptors are involved in highly efficient and specific activation of signalling pathways. How do GPCR signalling complexes get assembled to generate such specificity? In order to answer this question, we need to understand how receptors and their signalling partners are synthesized, folded and quality-controlled in order to generate functional proteins. Then, we need to understand how each partner of the signalling complex is selected to join a complex, an...

A powerful collection of readily reproducible cutting-edge techniques for characterizing the ligand or substrate binding of neurotransmitter receptors and transporters. The procedures cover interdisciplinary interactions for monoamine transporters, amino acid transporters, ionotropic receptors, metabotropic glutamate receptors, GABA receptors, and other G protein-coupled receptors. By illuminating how neurons in the central nervous communicate with other, these techniques can lead to the d...

This book describes the role of heat shock proteins in the life cycle of malaria parasites. The work includes a general introduction on the structural and functional features of heat shock proteins. The main focus is on the role of heat shock protein families from Plasmodium falciparum, their role in protein folding and in the development of malaria pathology. The functions of individual families of heat shock proteins from plasmodium species and their cooperation in functional networks is...

Streptococci are Gram-positive bacteria that cause a wide spectrum of diseases, such as pharyngitis, necrotizing fasciitis and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, as well as rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease as sequelae. Antibiotics alone have not been able to control the disease and in spite of many efforts an effective vaccine is not yet available. A prerequisite for novel and successful strategies for combating these bacteria is a complete understanding of the highly complex p...