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Seemingly simple behaviours turn out, on reflection, to be discouragingly complex. For many years, cognitive operations such as sensation, perception, comparing percepts to stored models (short-term and long-term memory), decision-making and planning of actions were treated by most neuroscientists as separate areas of research. This was not because the neuroscience community believed these operations to act independently--it is intuitive that ...

This exciting new book addresses the latest research on mast cells and basophils and its significance in relation to allergic and autoimmune diseases. This is an area of burgeoning interest, driven by increasing recognition of the fundamental importance of these cell types in several disease processes. The book covers recent advances relating to the factors and mechanisms that regulate the growth, differentiation and function of mast cells an...

Cells change their shape and by alternating their internal cytoskeleton. The dynamics of the cytoskeletal structure underline these changes, thus the signals that drive the changes must be interpreted by cellular machinery in order to carry out the required remodelling. Until recently, it has been very difficult to obtained detailed mechanistic information about these important signalling processes. Understanding the processes that regulate c...

Lung infection is a major cause of morbidity and death in developing, as well as developed, countries. Whereas TB is receiving increasing attention, other aspects of lung infection, many treatable or preventable, are relatively neglected. The subject of innate immunity has moved towards the centre of immunology and is key to the pathogenesis of infectious diseases and vaccination strategies. While much has been learnt about cellular and mole...

This book explores existing and potential strategies for using the genome sequences of human, mouse, other vertebrates and human pathogens to solve key problems in the treatment of immunological diseases and chronic infections. The assembled genome sequences now provide important opportunities for solving these problems, but a major bottleneck is the identification of key sequences and circuits controlling the relevant immune reactions. This w...

Much recent research in evolutionary developmental biology has focused on the origin of new body plans. However, most evolutionary change at the population and species level consists of tinkering: small-scale alterations in developmental pathways within a single body plan. Such microevolutionary events have been well studied on a population genetic level and from the perspective of adaptive phenotypic evolution, but their developmental mechani...

Dietary supplements can contain a wide variety of ingredients, either singly or in combination, including nutrients, botanicals and 'bioactive components' commonly found in foods. They are marketed and used by consumers for a range of reasons: to enhance "well-being", as traditional medicines, for health promotion or disease risk reduction, and as alternatives or complements to conventional drug therapies. On a global basis, the dietary suppl...

Acetaldehyde contributes to pathologies ranging from cancer to asthma. It affects the whole body, the architecture of the cell and molecular control mechanisms. The origins of acetaldehyde vary from bacteria in the oral cavity and intestinal tract to atmospheric acetaldehyde as an environmental pollutant. Significant amounts of acetaldehyde are also derived from cigarette smoke and alcohol, both of which are major contributors to disease globa...

Although normally thought of as a sex hormone, recent research has highlighted the numerous and significant effects that oestrogen has on the CNS, extending far beyond its important reproductive role. It has been shown that oestrogen acts as a neural growth factor with important influences on the survival, plasticity, regeneration and ageing of the mammalian brain. This exciting book brings together leading clinicians and researchers to discu...

Osteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative disease associated with joint pain and loss of joint function. It has an estimated incidence of four in every 100 people and significantly reduces the quality of life in affected individuals. The major symptoms are chronic joint pain, swelling and stiffness, severe pain is often the key factor causing patients to seek medical attention. Within the affected joint there is focal degradation and remodellin...

The field of neural transplantation is at a crucial stage in its development, with results of important clinical trials on transplantation in patients with Parkinson's disease expected soon and novel, alternative approaches to fetal transplantation being actively investigated. This timely book brings together leading neuroscientists, clinicians, and cell and developmenta, biologists to discuss the use of neural transplants in neurodegenerative...

In recent years, there has been great interest in exploiting the hypoxic tumour microenvironment for therapeutic gain. It has also become clear that this microenvironment is acidic and thus hostile to the growth and survival of viable normal cells. These observations lead to several fundamentally important questions that form the basis for this book. What are the relationships between tumour perfusion and tumour pH? What are the effects of tum...

This book brings together a cross-fertilization of ideas between human molecular genetics, developmental biology, tissue biology and the biochemistry of cell signalling pathways, in order to create new insights into the mechanisms of normal and abnormal skeletogenesis. This broad perspective is essential in order to understand the aetiology of genetic diseases affecting skeletal development at all levels from genotype to phenotype, i.e. from m...

Chronic inflammation predisposes to some forms of cancer and the host response to malignant disease shows several parallels with inflammation and wound healing. The cells involved in inflammation are detected in a range of common cancers, together with the inflammatory cytokines and members of the chemokine ligand/receptor systems. Neutralization or deletion of the gene for some inflammatory cytokines confers resistance to tumour induction and...

Ageing at individual and population levels presents one of the greatest challenges to humankind as we enter this new century. Throughout the world today older adults are the fastest growing population groups. Mortality rates have declined in virtually all countries, raising the average life expectancy in the developing countries to the high 60s, and the high 70s in the developed world. Ageing is associated with an increased risk for developmen...

The cerebral cortex is the crowning achievement of evolution and the biological substrate of human mental capacities. Using a comparative evolutionary developmental approach to the study of its origin helps to offer new insights into this complex and important problem. The comparison of immature stages reveals features of evolution that are otherwise obstructed by the complexity of the mature brain, and the analysis of development in terms of ...

Transient receptor potential (TRP) genes were originally identified as encoding critical components of phototransduction in Drosophila. Since the discovery of the first mammalian transient receptor potential channel (TRPC), more than 20 mammalian homologues have been reported. These ion channel proteins are widely distributed in tissues and appear to play a fundamental role in cell signalling, growth and death. There are two major subfamilies...

Stem cells are specialized cells with unique potential for self-renewal and specific cell-type commitment. They remain uncommitted until a particular physiological signal prompts them to differentiate and become lineage-specific cells with particular physiological functions. In 1998 investigators isolated embryonic stem cells from human embryos for the first time and were able to culture these in vitro. Since then, stem cell-based technologie...

The reversible acetylation of lysine residues on histone proteins has emerged as a major factor in the regulation of transcription in eukaryotes. All core histone proteins are acetylated and unique functional chromosomal domains are characterized by specific patterns of acetylation within their histone proteins. Functional correlations have been established between the level of acetylation of individual genes and their transcriptional activity...

Recent technological advances have led to a rapid acceleration in our ability to gather genetic data. The complete genetic sequences are now known to several organisms and accelerated programmes are in place for sequencing many other genomes, including human. The speed with which complete sequencing can be accomplished will continue to increase as new technologies come online. In principle, the scope for developing new diagnostic techniques an...