New Book Announcement – Perspectives in Lung Cancer

Perspectives in Lung Cancer compiles basic and advanced topics on lung cancer pathology and treatment in a single volume. Chapters introduce the reader to chest and lung anatomy followed by the biology of lung cancer. Subsequent chapters delve into diagnostic methods for lung cancer while progressing into treatment options. The book culminates into an explanation of the concept of the Lung Cancer Centre, which is a representation of the editors’ vision for organizing a lung cancer treatment unit.

Key features:

1. -Organizes key topics covering both standard and avante-garde topics related to lung cancer
2. -All contributions are presented by experts in lung cancer treatment
3. -Addresses basic biology of lung cancer
4. -Provides information about 3D surgical planning, a relatively new concept in the field of thoracic surgery
5. -Addresses the standard method of resection, VATS and Mini VATS
6. -Covers the role of radiation and systemic anti-cancer therapies in lung cancer treatment
7. -Provides a glimpse of modern methods such as image guided surgery and therapy, laser therapy, and photodynamic therapy
8. -Covers the role of palliative care for lung cancer
9. -Presents information about a visionary organization of a lung cancer unit and treatment centre

The combination of carefully organised chapters covering a wide array of topics make this reference an essential reference for healthcare professionals interested in acquiring a broad perspective on lung cancer treatment with the goal of improving patient outcomes. Read out the full version here

New Book Announcement – Frontiers in Clinical Drug Research-Dementia

Frontiers in Clinical Drug Research – Dementia is a book series which presents comprehensive reviews about research on Dementia, – the loss of brain function associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other related medical conditions. The disease affects the parts of the brain that deal with memory, thought, and language. Chapters in each volume focus on drug research with special emphasis on clinical trials, research on drugs in advanced stages of development and cure for dementia and related disorders.

This volume includes the following reviews:

– Meeting the Challenges of Falls and Hip Fractures in People with Alzheimer’s Disease

– Cholesterol in Brain Health and Pathologies

– Advances in the Treatment of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Dementia

– Analytical Methods in Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Discovery

– Targeting Alzheimer’s Disease through Nanomedicine

– Current Challenges in Alzheimer’s Disease Research

– Metals Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease

Read out the full version here

New Book Announcement – Current Advances in Breast Cancer Research: A Molecular Approach

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Breast cancer is one of the life-threatening diseases in women worldwide, leading to the mortality of millions of people all around the world. The increased prevalence of breast cancer globally in recent years has increased challenges to clinicians and researchers as well. The availability of appropriate detection tools for early detection is the major part of the clinical management of breast cancer patients in the present scenarios. Together with the current imaging techniques, molecular biomarkers based research has gained huge momentum in disease management in recent years. Molecular biomarkers are considered to be the best candidates to evaluate prognosis and therapeutics efficacy. Several biomarkers derived from gene-based technology through invasive approaches have revealed their wide scope in risk assessment of this particular disease. This book, gives details about developments in genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics for the mining of novel biomarkers for breast cancer early detection. The first four chapters have emphasized to explore the basic understanding of breast cancer and management strategies of breast cancer. The molecular mechanism of carcinogenesis in breast cancer is more concerning to oncologists. The cardinal manifestation of cancer involves gene and protein modification to altering molecular pathways. Chapters 5 to 12 have delineated the basic mechanisms of cancer involved in the progression and metastasis. The role of mitochondrial-mediated energy associate and metabolic pathways has great significance in cancer, and separate chapters have given full emphasis to explore carcinogenic pathways. These chapters also deal with the heterogeneity of breast cancer and new development in diagnosing breast cancer in immunological prospective breast cancer biology. The last two chapters, it have dealt with the current therapeutics and the development of new therapy for breast cancer using natural bioactive compounds and nanotechnology-based approaches. Overall, 14 chapters have been included in this book, which dealwith the current perspectives of breast cancer progression. This book presents a compilation of basic and advanced research on breast cancer biology. This book outlines breast cancer research developments in contemporary years. We hope that the readers will be benefitted by understanding the advances in the biology of breast cancer research through this book. Read out the full version here.

Shankar Suman
Cancer Comprehensive Centre,
Biomedical Research Tower,
The Ohio State University
West 12th Avenue,
Columbus-43210,
Ohio
USA
Garima Suman
Department of Radiodiagnosis,
Tata memorial hospital,
Dr. E Borges Road,
Parel,
Mumbai-400012,
(Maharashtra) India
Sanjay Mishra
Department of Pathology,
The Ohio State University,
Columbus,
Ohio,
43210,
USA

New Book Announcement – Advances in Cancer Nanotheranostics for Experimental and Personalized Medicine

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Personalized medicine with novel therapeutic approaches provides direct targeting of macromolecules with contemporary drug delivery systems for treatment of severe diseases, including cancer. Nanotheranostic design offers increased bioavailability of the drugs through controlled release and distribution. Nanotheranostics also integrates diagnostic test with treatment of the disease. Recent advances in cancer studies revealed new genetic elements and factors that affect theranostic drug targeting approaches. Also, several tumors are challenging, and new treatment modalities are required. Molecular level mechanisms provide valuable information for therapy and innovative design for treatment. Several creative approaches have been proposed for theranostic therapy. For this reason, an updated approach over in vivo and translational properties of nanotheranostics with special emphasis on cancer will widen the scope of the readers/researchers with this e-book.

Chapter 1 despite significant advances in cancer therapy, many tumors are still challenging, and novel strategies are essential for treatment. Nanotheranostics use nanotechnology for diagnosis and therapy of cancer. Recent advancement in nanotechnology has provided novel types of nanomaterials composed of either organic- or polymer-based nanoparticles. Small alterations and modifications transform this carrier system with unique properties and optimize drug delivery and release. This chapter provides overview in cancer nanotheranostics field.

Chapter 2 overviews tumor microenvironment as prelude. This site regulates tumor progression and metastasis. Non-cellular components in this environment such as cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, inflammatory and matrix remodeling enzymes shape the progression of the disease by mediating the communication taking place between the tumor itself and its surrounding. This may prevent the benefits of therapeutical strategies. The chapter focuses on understanding the function and mechanism of these non-cellular components in the environment to elucidate obstacles in the treatment of cancer.

Chapter 3 covers immune system employment in fighting cancer cells to prevent tumor development. Immunotherapies are innovative cancer treatment. Nanomedical formulations modulate macrophages which can influence the tumor microenvironment, since macrophages target tumor environment. Macrophage may be used as trojan horse and its cargo may mediate gene and/or protein expression in the treatment regime. This section discusses improvements in cancer immunotherapies through this biological strategy.

Chapter 4 Gene and genome modification tools allow gene therapy through alteration of malignant genes and editing mutations for correction of errors. These innovative technologies deliver therapeutic nucleic acids to cells and tissues. Therefore, the success of gene therapy formulation is proportional to efficient delivery of the carrier and its nucleic acid cargo to a specific target and proper cellular uptake. The platforms have been developed for higher loading capacity, and low immunogenicity and toxicity. In chapter 4, the authors provide a review on different gene delivery vectors and platforms at the nanoscale.

Chapter 5 Oncology research applications may not yet fully suppress cancer-based mortalities and morbidities. Conventional therapeutic approaches have limitations as most research depends on coding genes. Human genome sequencing revealed that only 2-3 percent of the genome codes for genes and proteins however the rest is unknown. Further, heterogeneity among malignant tumors lead obstacles. Therefore, “precision medicine” in oncology and its extrapolation to “personalized treatment” for each cancer patient is essential. The chapter covers non-coding RNAs as biopharmaceutical tools in oncology. The new trend in drug design is covered in this section.

Chapter 6 Nanoparticles are convenient carrier systems based on their plasmonic and magnetic properties, active surface areas and various physicochemical properties. Development of therapeutic nanoparticles provides imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging, radionuclide-based imaging; positron emission tomography and single-photon emission computed tomography and X-ray-computed tomography. Methodology and applications of the techniques are explained thoroughly in this chapter.

Chapter 7 covers practical clinical applications in chemotherapy and nuclear medicine. The simultaneous yield of imaging in radiologic and nuclear medicine applications and therapeutic agents offers diagnosis and treatment effectiveness in real-time.

This book covers recent advancements both in applied and in clinical research. Since targeting small organic molecules are common, the book mainly focused on DNA, protein and immunotherapy on cancer. Different applications for cancer treatment are in progress but basic strategies are similar. We hope this book will help not only early career scientists but also will help experienced researchers to widen the scope of their projects. Read out the full version here.

Yusuf TUTAR
University of Health Sciences,
Istanbul
Turkey

New Book Announcement – Changing Landscapes in Urban British Churchyards

Changing Landscapes in Urban British Churchyards

Authors: “Sylvia E. Thornbush”, “Mary J. Thornbush”

This interdisciplinary reference work presents a linked consideration, to the reader, of physical-cultural (physicocultural) representations of headstones located in urban churchyards in England and Scotland. The geomorphology of landscapes relevant to these locations is explained with the help of detailed case studies from Oxford and Edinburgh. The integrated physicocultural approach addresses the conservation of the archaeological record and presents a cross-temporal perspective of landscape change – of the headstones as landforms in their landscape (as part of deathscapes). The physical record (of headstones) is examined in the context of both cultural representation and change. In this way, an integrated approach is employed that connects the physical (natural) and cultural (social) records kept by historians and archeologists over the years.

Changing Landscapes in Urban British Churchyards is of interest to geomorphologists, historians and scholars interested in understanding landscaping studies and cultural nuance of specific historical urban sites in England and Scotland. Read out the full version HERE

PREFACE:

The proposed book is a collaborative work between an archaeologist with research expertise in historical archaeology and a geomorphologist with research interests in applied (environmental) geomorphology and landscape change. As an interdisciplinary work, the book provides a linked consideration of physical-cultural (physicocultural) representations of headstones located in urban churchyards in England and Scotland, with detailed case studies from 13 urban churchyards located in six urban centres, including two coastal sites. The integrated physicocultural approach that becomes apparent by the end of the book addresses the conservation of the archaeological record and presents a cross-temporal perspective of headstones as part of deathscapes. The physical record (of headstones) is examined in the context of cultural representation and change. In this way, an integrated approach is employed that connects physical and cultural aspects of the material culture.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors confirm that the content of this book has no conflict of interest.

S. E. Thornbush

School of History, Classics and Archaeology
University of Edinburgh
Scotland
UK

&


Mary J. Thornbush

Oriel College
University of Oxford
England
UK

New eBook Announcement | Stress Response And Immunity: Links And Trade Offs

 

Editor: “Nadia Danilova”

 

All living organisms face two major challenges: to adjust to constantly changing environment and to protect themselves from pathogens. How organisms integrate responses to these challenges is the subject of this book. Cellular machinery can function properly only in a narrow range of condition. The same is true for multicellular organisms. When conditions deviate from the acceptable range, that creates stress and requires change. Physical stress can be caused by starvation, heat, cold, irradiation, and other factors. In addition, higher animals can experience mental stress caused by fear, neglect, isolation etc. Stress response is a set of measures that preserve homeostasis in the face of environmental changes. Pathogens are another challenge for most life forms. Viruses and mobile genetic elements infect all organisms. Multicellular organisms can also be infected by bacterial and eukaryotic pathogens. These subjects are presented in the first two chapters of the book.

The next section presents the elaborate mechanisms of stress and immune responses in bacteria and archaea. A common response to stress in prokaryotes includes, among other means, switching to an alternative transcriptional mode. Prokaryotic immunodefense mechanisms are built on two strategies that are also conserved in eukaryotes. One is innate immunity based on genetically encoded molecules/receptors. The other — adaptive immunity is based on unique molecules/receptors that are created de novo in response to infection.

Eukaryotic stress response is discussed next. Global inhibition of translation, called integrated stress response, is a common reaction to many stresses in eukaryotic cells. In multicellular organisms, most individual cells have autonomous immunodefense mechanisms which function in collaboration with stress response. Some stress responses can participate in immunodefense. A notable example is unfolded protein response. It cleanses the cell of misfolded proteins plus also targets viral proteins because of their difference from cellular proteins. In animals, cellular stress response can trigger cytokine production and systemic response, which includes inflammation and engagement of specialised immune systems. Even subtle changes in homeostasis can activate such a response. The incredible sensitivity of cellular machinery to changes has a dark side; stress and ensuing immune mechanisms such as inflammation and complement can be induced without infection or substantial injury and lead to pathology.

In complex organisms with specialised immune systems, discussed next, the relationship between stress and immunity becomes more complex and sometimes antagonistic. Mental stress can cause activation of immune mechanisms, which, in turn, can affect the brain’s functioning, and behavior. In the recent decade, science has discovered the paramount importance of interaction of all levels of stress response with immunity in the etiology of many human diseases from atherosclerosis to Alzheimer’s. Read out the full version here 

 

 

Nadia Danilova
Department of Molecular,
Cell & Developmental Biology,
University of California, Los Angeles CA,
USA

 

New eBook Announcement | Cutting Edge Techniques in Biophysics, Biochemistry and Cell Biology: From Principle to Applications

 

BY
ANUPAM JYOTI, NEETU MISHRA

Biomedical research is gaining prime attention as it is directly affecting human health. Biophysical, biochemical and cellular techniques are the backbone of biomedical sciences; a pre-requisite towards the understanding and treatment of human diseases. In the recent years, biomedical research has provided solutions for several problems faced by human beings. It is an integrated approach that includes various disciplines viz. biochemistry, microbiology, genetics and biochemical engineering. After some time, it has been integrated rapidly with new branches of science like molecular and cellular biology, genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and nanotechnology. Biomedical research involves fundamental scientific principles applied to preclinical understanding of problems to clinical solutions. This book titled ‘Cutting Edge Techniques in Biophysics, Biochemistry and Cell Biology: From Principle to Applications’, presents a broad overview regarding the basic applications of sophisticated and analytical techniques used in biophysics, biochemistry and cell biology. This book has covers the following areas: in vitro cell culture assay, real-time PCR, flow cytometry, and X-ray crystallography, discussed by authors who have quality publications in their proposed chapter area. Additionally each chapter includes application of techniques in specific areas like cells sorting by FACS, disease diagnosis by Real-time PCR, disease modeling under in vitro culture and many more. This will help students understand the importance of techniques in biophysics, biochemistry and cell biology research which will set a benchmark for further research.

As a biotechnology scientist, I am happy to recommend this book to the students of universities, both as a text and reference book. The section on technique will be used as textbook and the application section as reference. This book has been written in a way so that it is student-friendly with clean diagrams and protocols of specific techniques. I sincerely believe that the book has been prepared with the scientific skills and will serve as a useful document for the graduate and undergraduate students. Read out the full version here

 

Rajiv Kumar
ICAR-Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute
Avikanagar, Tonk, Rajasthan
India

New eBook Announcement | Classical Mechanics and Quantum Mechanics: An Historic-Axiomatic Approach

 

BY
PETER ENDERS

 

This is not just another textbook about quantum mechanics as it presents quite a novel, axiomatic path from classical to quantum physics. The novelty begins with the description of classical mechanics, which rests on Euler’s and Helmholtz’s rather than Newton’s or Hamilton’s representations. Special attention is paid to the commons rather than to the differences between classical and quantum mechanics. Schrödinger’s 1926 forgotten demands on quantization are taken seriously; therefore, his paradigm ‘quantization as eigenvalue problem’ is replaced with Einstein’s idea of ‘quantization as selection problem’. The Schrödinger equation is derived without any assumptions about the nature of quantum systems, such as interference and superposition, or the existence of a quantum of action, h. The use of the classical expressions for the potential and kinetic energies within quantum physics is justified.

A doubtless benefit of this textbook is its extensive reference to original texts. This includes many details that do not enter contemporary representations of classical mechanics, although these details are essential for understanding quantum physics.

Another benefit consists in that it addresses not only students and scientists, but also teachers and historians; it sheds new light on the history of ideas and notions. The level of mathematics is seldom higher than that of the common (Riemannian) integral. Basic notions and quantities are carefully introduced; steps like “It can be shown, that textellipsis…” or ‘It’s sink or swim’ are successfully avoided.

“From Newton to Planck and even more. The mix of exacting physics, biography and history exhibits its quite own charm and quickly fascinates the reader – in particular, when nowadays physical equations and the historical literature are so masterly interwoven as the paramount historical figures with their epochal works.” (Carsten Hansen, review on buchkatalog.de)

“I would like to express my thank to the author for this book. It contains an impressive and comprehensible derivation and representation of quantum physics. Due to his approach, I have eventually found an approach that is acceptable for me and not purely formal. The way from classical to quantum physics is impressively understood. Using a profound knowledge of the historical literature, including the original texts, the Schroedinger equation is derived through an extension of Euler’s and Helmholtz’s representations of classical mechanics to non-classical systems. It is the concentration on the commons rather than on the differences between classical and quantum systems that makes this approach reasonable. Moreover, this makes the interpretation and meaningfulness of the quantum-mechanical models and concepts clearly visible.” Read out the full version here

eBook | Advanced Calculus – Fundamentals of Mathematics

 

BY

CARLOS POLANCO

 

Vector calculus is an essential mathematical tool for physical and natural phenomena analysis; it is a very important subject for students in the Faculties of Science and Engineering. This ebook has been designed to cover two academic semesters for second-year students, as it contains the fundamentals related to Vector Calculus. Here, the reader will find a concise and clear study of this mathematical field, it provides many examples, exercises, and a case study in each chapter. The solutions to the exercises are also included at the end of the ebook. The reader will be able to understand it even without a rigorous mathematical knowledge and will be able to immediately practise the concepts. Its main purpose is to enable students to put into practise what they are learning about the subject

This ebook on Vector Calculus differs from others in the intensive use of affine transformations (or mapping), to modify the integration region of real-valued functions or vector-valued functions.

The first part of the ebook introduces the Vector Algebra over the real coordinate space Rⁿ, but cases and examples are displayed on the plane and space for a better understanding of the concepts. In this part is reviewed the dot and cross product operators, the orthogonal projection, various representations and conversions of the Cartesian and Polar coordinate systems on a plane, and the Cartesian, cylindrical, and spherical coordinate systems in a space are reviewed.

The second part is dedicated to real-valued functions, level surfaces, domain, image, graphic representations, properties of limits, continuity, differentiability, gradient, and polynomial approximation as well as the identification of critical points, the use of the Hessian matrix and Bordered Hessian matrix to characterise critical points, the implicit Function Theorem, and the inverse Function Theorem. The final chapter of this part introduces the vector-valued functions, graphic representations, and the rotational and divergence operators.

The third part presents the evaluation of integrals from mapping on a plane and in space. It separately reviews integrals of real-valued functions over bounded and unbounded regions, and curve and surface integrals of vector-valued functions over vector fields. The concept of mapping is carefully introduced, emphasising how adequate mapping simplifies integrals.

The fourth part reviews the Stokes, Gauss, and Green theorems applying mapping. It also includes examples with the complete resolution of both sides of the equalities that these theorems state.

The fifth part is a survey of exterior product and it is based on the books of Hermann Grassmann, Jerrold Marsden, and David Hestenes. We greatly appreciate the recommendation of Prof. Hestenes to include this material.

The last part covers the differential forms and the exterior product focused on line integral, surface integral, the Stokes, Gauss, and Green theorems.

The author hopes the reader interested in studying the fundamentals of calculus on several variables, finds useful the material presented here and that those who start studying this field find this information motivating. The author would like to acknowledge the Faculty of Sciences at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México for support. Read out the full version here.

eBook | Improved Indirect Power Control (IDPC) of Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECS)

 

BY

FAYSSAL AMRANE, AZEDDINE CHAIBA

 

During the past decade, the installed wind power capacity in the world has been increasing more than 30%. Wind energy conversion system (WECSs) based on the doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) dominated the wind power generations due to the outstanding advantages, including small converters rating around 30% of the generator rating, lower converter cost.

Due to the non-linearity of wind system, the DFIG power control presents a big challenge especially under wind-speed variation and parameter’s sensibility.

To overcome these major problems; an improved IDPC (Indirect Power Control); based on PID “Proportional-Integral-Derivative” controller, was proposed instead the conventional one (based on PI), in order to enhance the wind-system performances in terms; power error, tracking power and overshoot. Unfortunately using robustness tests (based on severe DFIG’s parameters changement); the wind-system offers non-satisfactory simulation results which were illustrated by the very bad power tracking and very big overshoot (> 50%).

In this context; adaptive, robust & intelligent controllers were proposed to control direct & quadrature currents (Ird & Irq) under MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) strategy to main the unity power factor (PF≈1) by keeping the reactive power at zero level. In this case, the new IDPC based on intelligent controllers offered an excellent wind-system performance especially using robustness tests, which offered a big improvement especially using Type-1 Fuzzy Logic Controller (T1-FLC), Type-2 Fuzzy Logic Control (T2-FLC; is the New class of fuzzy logic) & Neuro-Fuzzy Logic (NFC).

In this sense, I think that this edited book is an important contribution to help students already in mastery of the basis of power electronic circuits and control systems theory to achieve these pedagogical goals. The proposed book describes with easy manner the modeling & control of Wind-turbine DFIG in order to control the stator powers using different topologies of robust, adaptive and intelligent controllers.

The book present numerous intelligent control techniques that help in the control design of the DFIG wind-system (WT).

The textbook “Improved Indirect Power Control (IDPC) of Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECS)” proposes a collection of concepts, organized in a synergic manner such that to ease comprehension of the WT control design.

The book’s contribution goes towards completing the already existing literature by offering a useful integration of control techniques, worthy to be read, understood and employed in the various WT applications. Please enjoy reading this book. Read out the full version here.