Download or read book T Cell Paradigms in Parasitic and Bacterial Infections written by Stefan H.E. Kaufmann and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has been said that the development of vaccines against a variety of infectious diseases is among the greatest triumphs of immunology. Indeed, several pathogens have lost their horror through the availability of effective vaccination measures. Unfortunately, this does not hold true for the pathogens dealt within this volume. Malaria, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, leprosy, and tuberculosis together are prevalent in more than 100 countries, and over 400 million persons suffer from these diseases. It is becoming increasingly clear that the failure to control these infections in a satisfactory way is directly related to the complexity oftheir interactions with the immune system. These agents have lived with their hosts for long enough to give both-host and parasite-ample opportunity to develop a highly sophisticated interrelationship. The central role of T lymphocytes both in acquired resistance to and pathogenesis of these microbes is well appreciated. In the beginning it may have been thought that acq uired resistance against infectious agents is nothing but another aspect of the immune response, studied with soluble and particulate antigens. This simple concept has gradually changed, and it has become clear that the viability not only of the immune cells but also of the 'antigens' adds another dimension to the game. Several achievements in cellular immunology and molecular biology have now made it possible to better understand at least some mechanisms in this intricate interplay.

Download or read book Disease Control Priorities Third Edition Volume 6 written by King K. Holmes and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2017-11-06 with total page 1027 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Infectious diseases are the leading cause of death globally, particularly among children and young adults. The spread of new pathogens and the threat of antimicrobial resistance pose particular challenges in combating these diseases. Major Infectious Diseases identifies feasible, cost-effective packages of interventions and strategies across delivery platforms to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, malaria, adult febrile illness, viral hepatitis, and neglected tropical diseases. The volume emphasizes the need to effectively address emerging antimicrobial resistance, strengthen health systems, and increase access to care. The attainable goals are to reduce incidence, develop innovative approaches, and optimize existing tools in resource-constrained settings.

Download or read book The Neurobiological Basis of Suicide written by Yogesh Dwivedi and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2012-06-25 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With recent studies using genetic, epigenetic, and other molecular and neurochemical approaches, a new era has begun in understanding pathophysiology of suicide. Emerging evidence suggests that neurobiological factors are not only critical in providing potential risk factors but also provide a promising approach to develop more effective treatment and prevention strategies. The Neurobiological Basis of Suicide discusses the most recent findings in suicide neurobiology. Psychological, psychosocial, and cultural factors are important in determining the risk factors for suicide; however, they offer weak prediction and can be of little clinical use. Interestingly, cognitive characteristics are different among depressed suicidal and depressed nonsuicidal subjects, and could be involved in the development of suicidal behavior. The characterization of the neurobiological basis of suicide is in delineating the risk factors associated with suicide. The Neurobiological Basis of Suicide focuses on how and why these neurobiological factors are crucial in the pathogenic mechanisms of suicidal behavior and how these findings can be transformed into potential therapeutic applications.

Download or read book ADP Ribosylating Toxins written by Klaus Aktories and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ADP-ribosylating toxins have been the focus of intensive research for more than 30 years. Researchers from diverse fields of science have taken an interest in these bacterial toxins; they are studied, for example, by microbiologists, biochemists, cell biologists, and pharmacologists. There are two principal reasons for the broad and still growing interest in ADP ribosylating toxins. First, insights into the structure and functions of the toxins might be the key to prevention and treatment of diseases caused by the toxin-producing infectious micro organisms. Second, the ADP-ribosylating toxins provide potent and often unique pharmacological tools for the study of the physiological functions of their target proteins. The latter is especially the case with cholera and pertussis toxins, which both modify the IX-subunits of heterotrimeric G-proteins involved in signal transduction pathways. These toxins have proved invaluable in extending our basic understanding of the regulation of hormone-controlled signal transduction. This volume provides a review and an update of recent studies on the basic properties of bacterial ADP-ribosylating tbxins and/or exoenzymes. Our current knowledge of the cel lular entry mechanisms of ADP-ribosylating toxins is reviewed by MADSHUS and STENMARK. WILSON and COLLIER then deal with recent insights into the enzyme mechanism and active site structure of diphtheria toxin and Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A, which modify elongation factor 2. Toxins which ADP-ribosylate heterotrimeric G-proteins involved in trans membrane signal transduction are the subject of the next two chapters.

Download or read book Adhesion in Leukocyte Homing and Differentiation written by Dominique Dunon and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume of Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology was planned in parallel with an EM BO workshop on cell-cell Interactions in Leukocyte Homing and Differentiation held at the Basel Institute for Immunology in November 1992, and many of the workshop speakers have contributed to it. Cell adhesion is one of the most dynamic fields of biological research and presented in this book is the current knowledge on the structure and function of the major families of cell adhesion molecules-the integrins, the selectins, the immunoglobulin superfamily, and CD44. Complex interactions between the members of these families mediate diverse adhesion functions, including leukocyte-leukocyte interactions, lymphocyte homing, inflammation, and lymphocyte-stromal cell interaction during hematopoiesis. A great deal of emphasis is placed on the regulatory elements that control the expression and function of adhesion molecules. Cytokines not only induce the expression of certain adhesion molecules, but may also modify their functional status. For instance, the integrins exist in either an inactive nonfunctional form or an active functional form, and a number of intracellular or extracellular stimuli modify integrin function. This is particularly important during leukocyte binding to endothelium and transendothelial migration, which proceeds through a cascade of adhesion events. Although cell adhesion molecules play an important role in many processes, this book concentrates on their role within the immune system. A number of chapters discuss the migration of lymphocytes between hematopoietic organs such as the thymus, lymph nodes, Peyer's patches, and spleen.

Download or read book Borna Disease written by Hilary Koprowski and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Borna disease was first described over 200 years ago, in what is now Southeastern Germany, as a fatal neurologic affliction of horses and was considered a curiosity for many decades. The causative agent was unknown, and the animal species infected in nature were limited to horses and sheep. Today, as described in this volume, the host range has extended to all warm-blooded animals, the genes and proteins of the virus have been identified, and many of the mechanisms responsible for behavioral disturbances are understood. Serologic studies suggest that BDV or related agents are likely to play a role in human neuropsychiatric diseases.

Download or read book Transacting Functions of Human Retroviruses written by Irvin S.Y. Chen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The coding domains of simple retrovirus genomes direct the synthesis of virion proteins. Complex retroviral genomes generate in addition to virion proteins regulatory transacting proteins that are translated from multiple spliced messenger RNAs and fulfill important functions in the virus life cycle. All human retroviruses have such complex genomes. The transacting proteins of these pathogens are attractive targets for therapeutic intervention because they are viral specific, are essential for efficient virus replication and may be mediators of viral pathogenicity. In summarizing the current knowledge on the regulatory transacting proteins of human retroviruses this volume makes an important contribution toward the control of virus disease.

Download or read book Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies written by Bruce W. Chesebro and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In spite of a long history of intense investigation the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies remain a poorly understood family of neurodegenerative diseases. This group of diseases has been described in a wide variety of animal species and includes kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and Gerstmann-Straussler syndrome in humans, and scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and related syndromes in ruminants and rodents. In all cases spongiform degeneration and astrocytosis are seen in specimens of brain and a filterable transmissible agent is present in the brain and some other tissues of affected individuals. However, the precise nature of this agent remains unknown. Agent infectivity, which can so far only be assayed by serial transmission to new individuals, be remarkably resistant to inactivation has been shown to by heat, chemicals, and irradiation. These properties create significant biohazard possibilities during exposure to infected tissues. Transmission between humans was originally reco gnized in the unique epidemiology of kuru in New Guinea tribesmen, and concern about transmission from animals to humans has re-emerged as a result of the current epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in dairy cattle in Great Britain. Although interspecies transmission has often been achieved experimentally, its efficiency is highly variable. There fore, the possibility of spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy from cattle to humans or various animal populations cannot be accurately predicted at this time. This volume presents a comprehensive update of know ledge concerning the transmissible spongiform encephalo pathies.

Download or read book Retroviral Insertion and Oncogene Activation written by Hsing-Jien Kung and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An integrated retrovirus effectively becomes part of the cellular genome, but with the difference that the virus to a large extent retains control over its own expression through nontranslated sequences in the long terminal repeat (L TR). Some retroviruses also code for nonstructural proteins that further regulate proviral expression. Integration changes the cell genome; it adds viral genes, and in the case of transducing retroviruses also adds cell-derived oncogenes that have been incorporated into the viral genome. Integration can also have consequences for cellular genes. The transcriptional signals in a provirus can activate expression of neighboring cellular genes; the integration even can disrupt and thus inactivate cellular genes. These effects of retroviral genomes take place in cis; they are referred to as insertional mutagenesis and are the subject of this volume. Almost 10 years have passed since W. Hayward, S. Astrin, and their colleagues found that in B cell lymphomas of chickens, induced by avian leukosis virus, transcription of the cellular proto-oncogene myc was upregulated through the integration of a complete or partial provirus in its vicinity. This landmark discovery suggested a mechanism by which retro viruses that do not carry cellular oncogenes in their genome ("nonacute retroviruses") can cause cancer. It contributed the first evidence for the carcinogen potential of oncogenes that are not part of a viral genome.

Download or read book Genetic Diversity of RNA Viruses written by John J. Holland and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many RNA viruses have been known for decades to be genetically and biologically quite variable. Some well-known examples are influenza viruses, foot and mouth disease viruses, and Newcastle disease virus. During the past decade, it has become clear that most, it not all. , RNA viruses (riboviruses and retroviruses) are much more mutable than was recognized previously, and that this great mutability generates extremely complex populations consisting of indeterminate mixtures of related variants (Le. , "mutant swarms" or "quasispecies" populations). This is also true of DNA viruses (such as hepatitis DNA genomes via RNA transcripts B virus) which replicate their that are reverse-transcribed back to DNA. This hypermutability of RNA replicons provides great biological adaptability for RNA virus genomes. It also allows (but does not necessitate) RNA viruses, so that they can extremely rapid evolution of evolve over a million times more quickly than their eukaryotic DNA-based hosts. The genetics of RNA replicons is so unusual (and often counterintuitive) that it has many important biological conse quences which are neither readily apparent nor widely under stood. Failure to understand the distinctive aspects of RNA genetics frequently generates confusion and controversy and can adversely impact vaccine and antiviral drug programs and other applications of medical virology. The 14 chapters in this volume describe advances in a number of significant areas of RNA virus genetics and evolution.

Download or read book Human Pathogenic Papillomaviruses written by Harald Zur Hausen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The etiologic involvement of specific human papillomavirus (HPV) types in cancer of the cervix and their role in a substantial proportion of other anogenital cancers and cancers of the oropharynx (most prominently cancers of the tonsils and of the larynx) label HPV as a prime target for the analysis of mechanisms leading to the development of malignant tumors in humans. As in other viral infections linked to human cancers, HPV infection is not sufficient for the induction of malignant growth. It emerges, however, as the main factor, introducing new genes into the latently infected cells whose function as oncogenes have become clearly established during the past few years. The regulation of their expression by specific host cell proteins, stimulated by intra- and intercellular signals, seems to represent a primary defense mechanism against the induction of unrestricted growth. The failure of this host cell control system, on the other hand, by mutational changes affecting the host cell genome appears to predispose for malignant conversion. This volume summarizes various aspects of HPV research and its relationship to human cancers and provides an overview of current topics in an exciting research field.

Download or read book Hepadnaviruses written by William S. Mason and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pioneering work on hepatitis B virus and hepatitis delta virus, and the discovery of hepatitis B-like virus in animals during the 1970's has been followed, over the past ten years, by an explosion of interest in how these viruses replicate, maintain chronic infections, and cause liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. The purpose of this book is two-fold. First, the authors of each chapter provide a summary of their specialty that will not only serve as an introduction, but will also provide the newcomer to hepatitis B virology with up-to-date information and insights into the goals and accomplishments of each area of investigation. Second, since the diversification of interests and increased specialization of hepadnaviruses researchers has reached a level where it is no longer possible for any one individual to read all the primary literature, this book will help to refocus interest on what is, after all, the major objective: to understand and ultimately treat or prevent chronic liver disease and liver cancer. Accordingly, chapters are included which span a range of interests, from the management of hepatitis B patients to new approaches to antiviral therapy, from the role of hepadnavirus gene expression in DNA replication to the role of ribozymes in the delta virus life cycle, from liver cancer in naturally infected woodchucks to liver disease in HBV transgenic mice to the use of hepatitis virus vectors to treat inherited enzyme deficiencies.

Download or read book Bunyaviridae written by Daniel Kolakofsky and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There has been no literature up to now treating the Bunyaviridae in general as a family. The book demonstrates how they are maintained in nature and how they replicate and sometimes cause disease.

Download or read book Simian Immunodeficiency Virus written by Norman L. Letvin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interest in the lentivirus subfamily of retroviruses has greatly intensified due to the realization that HIV-1 and HIV-2 are members of this previously obscure group. Related lentiviruses have now been isolated from sheep, goats, horses, cattle, cats, monkeys, and humans. This issue of CTMI is devoted to the lentiviruses of nonhuman primates, referred to as simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs). The SIVs provide valuable tools for our quest to understand and control the HIVs, which are obviously important new human pathogens. Included in this volume are discussions of the distribution and molecular phylogeny of the SIVs and their use as animal models for the study of AIDS pathogenesis, and the chapters clearly illustrate how SIV models are contributing to our understanding of the ability of host immune responses to control infection at least temporarily and the ability of virus to evade these host immune defenses.

Download or read book The Role of Nitric Oxide in Physiology and Pathophysiology written by Hilary Koprowski and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nitric Oxide (NO) an endogenous free radical, has been shown recently to mediate several important biological effects. It plays a neuro-transmitter like role in vascular endothelium, a scond-messenger role in N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) responsive neurons in the central nervous system (CNS), a neurotoxic role after its release from these neurons, and a cytotoxic role after its release by macrophages. This volume reviews among other topics the basic chemistry and physical properties of S-nitrosothiols (RS-NO) and their biochemical mechanisms of action, NO synthase isozymes, NO synthase structure, mechanisms of NO synthesis, regulation of NOS expression and posttranslational modification, and mechanisms involving NO of CNS's damage in virus infections.

Download or read book Pathways for Cytolysis written by Gillian M. Griffiths and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At first glance the destruction of a target cell by a killer cell seems to be a simple endeavor. A closer look, however, reveals the complex mechanisms underlying this task. Killer cells are able to specifically recognize altered or infected cells. A transient contract with target cells has to be established to allow the delivery of lethal molecules or signals. The killer cell then disengages from the damaged cell and moves away to kill other target cells. After the eradication of the target cells, the number or activity of activated killer cells has to be reduced to avoid nonspecific killing of innocent cells. In 1992, Herman Eisen concluded, in his introductory remarks in the most recent volume on lymphocyte cytotoxicity (EISEN 1993): "Given the immense amount of effort made in the past decade to understand these (lytic) mechanisms, it seems surprising that a consensus about the principal mechanisms has not been reached." Since that time, advances made in the field of cell-mediated cytolysis are so significant that our knowledge regarding the lytic mechanisms has been considerably augmented. Much of this is due to studies with transfectants and mutants-either naturally occurring or generated by gene targeting. It is now clear that there are two predominant pathways which act hand in hand and lead to efficienttarget cell destruction.

Download or read book Gene Silencing in Higher Plants and Related Phenomena in Other Eukaryotes written by Peter Meyer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years several different gene silencing phenomena have been discovered in plants. The book summarizes the most recent data on gene silencing phenomena such as trans-, inactivation, paramutation and co-suppression. Plant researchers will find this edition a valuable help in differentiating between a number of puzzling and partly contradictory gene silencing events. Those not familiar with plant molecular biology are introduced into the relevant methods and scientific models. In addition examples and models of gene silencing in flamentous fungi, Drosophila and mammalian systems are presented. By providing a comparative update on gene silencing effects in different eukaryotes, this book should stimulate communication among scientists working in diverse areas of eukaryotic gene regulation.