Bøger udgivet af Morgan & Claypool Publishers

Examines the role of two well-characterized opsonic receptors, the Fc? receptor and the complement receptor, CR3 in macrophages. In particular, it focuses on the different mechanisms employed by these receptors during particle recognition and phagocytic uptake.

Bacteria have lived in and on animal hosts since multicellular life evolved about 1 billion years ago. Hosts provide habitat and nutrition to the microbial communities and derive many benefits from their guests that contribute with metabolic (recovery of energy and nutrients), defensive (barrier effect against invaders) and trophic (immune regulation, neuro-endocrine development) functions.

Adiabatic quantum computation (AQC) is an alternative to the better-known gate model of quantum computation. This monograph presents an introductory overview of this unusual and rapidly developing approach to computation. The discussion throughout is aimed at an audience of computer scientists with little background in quantum computation or in physics.

Instead of viewing interference as an inherently counterproductive phenomenon that should to be avoided, this title examines how to design practical systems that transform interference into a harmless, and even a beneficial phenomenon. To achieve this goal, the book considers how wireless signals interact when they interfere, and use this understanding in our system designs.

Seizures are more common early in life than in adulthood. Bidirectional interactions between seizures and normal developmental processes define their expression and outcomes. Several developmentally regulated factors control neuronal excitability. GABAA receptors hold a central role as they control neuronal activity in an age-specific manner.

The prohormone convertases (PC) 1/3 and 2 are calcium-activated eukaryotic subtilisins with low pH optima which accomplish the limited proteolysis of peptide hormone precursors within neurons and endocrine cells. This title reviews the biochemistry, regulation, and roles of PC1/3 and 2 in disease, with an emphasis on the work published in the last 10 years.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) influence various physiological processes including host defense, hormone biosynthesis, and cellular signaling. Increased ROS production (oxidative stress) is implicated in many diseases of the cardiovascular system, including hypertension, atherosclerosis, cardiac failure, stroke, diabetes, and kidney disease.

The corpus callosum is the largest fibre tract in the human brain and subserves many of the brain's higher-order functions. Disconnection syndromes resulting from surgical ablation, developmental absence (agenesis of the corpus callosum), disease, or injury of the corpus callosum can have profound consequences on cognition.

Describes the important role of the immune system, including microglia, during brain development, and discusses some of the many ways in which immune activation during early brain development can affect the later-life outcomes of neural function, immune function, and cognition.

The endothelium controls vascular tone by releasing various vasoactive substances. Additionally, another pathway associated with the hyperpolarization of both endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells contributes also to endothelium-dependent relaxations (EDHF-mediated responses).

Highlights the important role that HO enzymes and their related metabolites, bilirubin and CO, play in the regulation of renal function and in the response of the kidney to both acute and chronic pathologies.

Investigation of the normal and disordered enteric nervous system and its interactions with the central nervous system is a branch of neurogastroenterology. Neurogastroenterology is a scientific and clinical subspecialty of gastroenterology that deals with the neural mechanisms that influence function of the digestive tract and that underlie projection of conscious sensations to the gut.

In the intestine, a unique immunological system that is different from the systemic immune system exists to provide adaptive immunity in response to luminal bacteria and dietary antigens. There are many lymphoid cell aggregates called gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) including Peyer's patches (PPs), which function as important induction sites for the mucosal immune response.

Drugs that target a specific microvascular response to inflammation, such as leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion or angiogenesis, have shown promise in both the preclinical and clinical studies of inflammatory disease. Future research efforts in this area will likely identify new avenues for therapeutic intervention in inflammation.

Describes the development of placodes and their derivatives and summarizes recent advances in the characterization of the repertoire of transcription factors underlying their development. The text also reviews recent studies that have started to address the role of several classes of signalling molecules in placode induction and segregation.

Provides an overview of fundamental aspects of oocyte and early embryonic development and the interference and genetic approaches that have provided access to maternally regulated aspects of vertebrate development. Some of the pathways and molecules highlighted in this review are well known and are essential regulators of multiple aspects of animal development.

Focuses the student and researcher on a unique vascular bed: the hepatic circulation. This title presents the development of knowledge of the hepatic vasculature from a historical perspective with modern concepts summarized based on the perspective of the author's four decades of devotion to this most marvelous of organs.

The microcirculation of the gastrointestinal tract is under the control of both myogenic and metabolic regulatory systems. The myogenic mechanism contributes to basal vascular tone and the regulation of transmural pressure, while the metabolic mechanism is responsible for maintaining an appropriate balance between O2 demand and O2 delivery.

Histologically, muscle is conveniently divided into two groups, striated and nonstriated, based on whether the cells exhibit cross-striations in the light microscope. Smooth muscle is involuntary: its contraction is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. Striated muscle includes both cardiac (involuntary) and skeletal (voluntary).