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Emergence of lifestyle diseases, e.g., type II diabetes, cancers, obesity, cardiovascular disorders, liver cirrhosis, etc., are exponentially increasing day by day. Modern drifts toward the utilization of herbal medicines in different healthcare aspects necessitate (demand) the replacement of synthetic molecules with phytoconstituents because of their biocompatibility, biodegradability, economic extraction process, and ready availability from the natural source. This book provides a thorough insight into the comprehensive and up-to-date trends of phytomedicines in the management of lifestyle diseases and its mechanisms, modern methods of extraction and purification of phytoconstituents, and chemical characterization as well as standardization of phytoconstituents using modern equipments.

Medicinal plants and their derived products remain as an indispensable source of bioactive molecules that serve as either drug candidates or lead compounds for drug design and discovery. There are several advantages for plant-derived therapeutics including wide availability, diverse pharmacological actions and a generally good profile of safety and tolerability. Over the recent years, there have been numerous reports from clinical studies testifying to the efficacy and safety of medicinal plants and phytochemicals in ameliorating several human diseases. A plethora of basic studies has also unravelled molecular mechanisms underlying the health benefits of herbal medicines. Nevertheless, issues such as identification of bioactive ingredients, standardization of the products and drug interactions remain to be further studied. In this book, we aim to put together several chapters on the medicinal properties and pharmacological action of medicinal plants, plant species and phytochemicals. The goal is to present a comprehensive collection on most of the therapeutic aspects of plant-derived natural products and molecular mechanisms thereof.

This book reviews all important aspects of dietary research associated with cancer with the aim of shedding new light on these conditions through combined understanding of traditional and new paradigms. The book is divided into 17 chapters, the first portion reinterprets healthy diets for cancer based on up-to-date evidence from a network science perspective, examining the dietary patterns, outcome of diet related clinical trials, emerging framework of molecular mechanisms and interactions of dietary interventions and their applications in personalized diet, ground realities of benefits and regulatory frame work for functional foods, nutraceuticals and supplements in cancer prevention and upcoming future prospectus in diet-cancer research.. The later part of the book discusses recent advances in understanding of the elaborative discourse on cancer and fasting, covering, for example, calorie restriction and fasting mimicking diet. Finally, different Dietary research and approachesare considered in the context of novel intervention for cancer research. Dietary Research in Cancer will be of interest for all researchers, nutritionists, students and clinicians in the field.

Stem cells hold great promise for cell therapy, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications. This book highlights the potency of stem cells, their property of self-renewal and their ability to differentiate into different cell lineages. It further describes the different markers to identify stem cells, sources, methods of isolation, culture including 2D, 3D and beyond and their cryopreservation. This is among the first books to discuss glycosylation and sialylation in stem cells. Chapters describe application of stem cells in regenerative medicine and therapy, and highlight their application in cancer therapy and spinal cord injury. The book talks about the important patents on stem cells. The book also highlights the plant stem cells, discussing their pluoripotent nature, role in organ regeneration after injury, specific stem cell niches, that signals to block differentiation studied in plants shoot, root, and vascular meristems, differentiation of plant stem cell, transcriptional regulation and epigenetic modification of plant stem cells. This book is exciting and cutting edge. It will be of great interest to doctors, students and researchers in the field of regenerative medicine, cancer, biotechnology and plant sciences.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the recent trends in various Nanotechnology-based therapeutics and challenges associated with its development. Nanobiotechnology is an interdisciplinary research that has wide applications in the various fields of biomedical research. The book discusses the various facets of the application of Nanotechnology in drug delivery, clinical diagnostics, Nanomedicine and treatment of infectious and chronic diseases. The book also highlights the recent advancements on important devices and applications that are based on Nanotechnology in medicine and brief the regulatory and ethical issues related to nanomedical devices. It also reviews the toxicological profile of various nanomaterials and emphasizes the need for safe nanomaterials for clinical use. Finally, the book discusses the recent developments of potential commercial applications of Nanotechnology.

Early anthropological evidence for plant use as medicine is 60,000 years old as reported from the Neanderthal grave in Iraq. The importance of plants as medicine is further supported by archeological evidence from Asia and the Middle East. Today, around 1.4 billion people in South Asia alone have no access to modern health care, and rely instead on traditional medicine to alleviate various symptoms. On a global basis, approximately 50 to 80 thousand plant species are used either natively or as pharmaceutical derivatives for life-threatening conditions that include diabetes, hypertension and cancers. As the demand for plant-based medicine rises, there is an unmet need to investigate the quality, safety and efficacy of these herbals by the “scientific methods”. Current research on drug discovery from medicinal plants involves a multifaceted approach combining botanical, phytochemical, analytical, and molecular techniques. For instance, high throughput robotic screens have been developed by industry; it is now possible to carry out 50,000 tests per day in the search for compounds which act on a key enzyme or a subset of receptors. This and other bioassays thus offer hope that one may eventually identify compounds for treating a variety of diseases or conditions. However, drug development from natural products is not without its problems. Frequent challenges encountered include the procurement of raw materials, the selection and implementation of appropriate high-throughput bioassays, and the scaling-up of preparative procedures.Research scientists should therefore arm themselves with the right tools and knowledge in order to harness the vast potentials of plant-based therapeutics. The main objective of Plant and Human Health is to serve as a comprehensive guide for this endeavor. Volume 1 highlights how humans from specific areas or cultures use indigenous plants. Despite technological developments, herbal drugs still occupy a preferential place in a majority of the population in the third world and have slowly taken roots as alternative medicine in the West. The integration of modern science with traditional uses of herbal drugs is important for our understanding of this ethnobotanical relationship. Volume 2 deals with the phytochemical and molecular characterization of herbal medicine. Specifically, it will focus on the secondary metabolic compounds which afford protection against diseases. Lastly, Volume 3 focuses on the physiological mechanisms by which the active ingredients of medicinal plants serve to improve human health. Together this three-volume collection intends to bridge the gap for herbalists, traditional and modern medical practitioners, and students and researchers in botany and horticulture.

Much research has focused on the basic cellular and molecular biological aspects of stem cells. Much of this research has been fueled by their potential for use in regenerative medicine applications, which has in turn spurred growing numbers of translational and clinical studies. However, more work is needed if the potential is to be realized for improvement of the lives and well-being of patients with numerous diseases and conditions.This book series'Cell Biology and Translational Medicine (CBTMED)'as part of SpringerNature's longstanding and very successful Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology book series, has the goal to accelerate advances by timely information exchange. Emerging areas of regenerative medicine and translational aspects of stem cells are covered in each volume. Outstanding researchers are recruited to highlight developments and remaining challenges in both the basic research and clinical arenas. This current book is the fourth volume of a continuing series.