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Only recently have we begun to appreciate the role of microbiome in health and disease. Environmental factors and change of life style including diet significantly shape human microbiome that in turn appears to modify gut barrier function affecting nutrient & electrolyte absorption and inflammation. Approaches that can reverse the gut dysbiosis represent as reasonable and novel strategies for restoring the balance between host and microbes. In the book, we offer summary and discussion on the advances in understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms of microbial host interactions in human diseases. We will not only discuss intestinal bacterial community, but also viruses, fungi and oral microbiome. Microbiome studies will facilitate diagnosis, functional studies, drug development and personalized medicine. Thus, this book will further highlight the microbiome in the context of health and disease, focusing on mechanistic concepts that underlie the complex relationships between host and microbes.

The second edition of Neuroimmune Pharmacology bridges the disciplines of neuroscience, immunology and pharmacology from the molecular to clinical levels with particular thought made to engage new research directives and clinical modalities.Bringing together the foremost field authorities from around the world, Neuroimmune Pharmacology will serve as an invaluable resource for the basic and applied scientists of the current decade and beyond.

This volume is composed of chapters that review important fundamental aspects of HCV biology and disease pathogenesis including, for example, the discovery and identification of the HCV genome, early virus-cell interactions including identification of various cellular receptors, HCV gene expression studied using the HCV replicon system, identification and characterization of HCV structural- and non-structural HCV proteins, HCV replication in cultured cells, and host factors involved in viral replication. This volume also contains chapters dealing with immunity to HCV infection and pathogenesis. This is particularly important in understanding hepatitis C because HCV infection alone is not cell lytic. Mechanisms underlying the persistent nature of HCV infection are also discussed in these chapters. Many of the authors published articles that were listed among the “top 10 papers” published in the 24 years since HCV was discovered in 1989. Their citations are above 1,000 (Web of Science). The authors describe the background and significance of their contributions to the field in the context of findings from other research groups.

This second edition is a comprehensive study of the viruses that affect the brain and the central nervous system. Along with a focus on the viruses themselves, it addresses the diseases they cause, current treatments and preventive measures. Also discussed are the unique aspects of how viruses cause disease and why certain hosts are more susceptible (e.g., polymorphisms, age, co-morbidities). Because there are 29 cutting edge chapters, written by experts in the fields, Neurotropic Viral Infections has been divided into two separate volumes. Volume 1, Neurotropic RNA Viruses, includes 14 chapters on RNA viruses that cause human disease of the central nervous system ranging from Bornavirus to polio to West Nile. Volume 2, Neurotropic Retroviruses, DNA Viruses, Immunity and Transmission, includes 15 chapters divided into two parts. Part 1 includes 7 chapters on retroviruses and DNA viruses that cause human disease of the central nervous system ranging from HIV to varicella zoster virus. Part 2 includes chapters on transmission of these viruses by transplantation, bites by bats and insects, clinical management of the infections, and beneficial uses of attenuated viruses.Neurotropic Viral Infections is a unique resource, bridging basic, clinical, and translational approaches.​

This book, in Q&A format, addresses a wide range of clinically relevant topics and issues in Nonmalignant Hematology, or “Benign Hematology,” with a view to offering a robust, engaging tool that will assist every hematologist and oncologist (pediatric and adult equally) in making decisions during day-to-day practice. The entire spectrum of the specialty is covered in more than 60 exceptional chapters written by acknowledged authorities in the field. The content is organized into well-designed broad sections on red cell disorders, platelet and coagulation disorders, coagulopathy in systemic diseases, thromboembolic disease and its management (including surgical), immune system and related disorders, hemostasis and thrombosis during pregnancy and in the newborn and elderly, and Transfusion Medicine. A key aspect of the book is the opportunity it affords expert physicians to express well-reasoned opinions regarding complex issues in Nonmalignant Hematology. Readers willfind that it provides a practical and immediately applicable compendium of answers to often complex and vexing questions. It will appeal to residents, fellows, house officers and more experienced practitioners around the globe.

This second fully revised and extended edition of “Zoonoses - Infections Affecting Humans and Animals” covers the most important pathogens impacting both human and animal public health and debates current developments in this interdisciplinary field from a One Health perspective. Following a'setting'approach, the individual chapters each review zoonoses occurring in a specific group of animals, such as production animals, pets or wildlife, or in a defined ecosystem. A focus is put on zoonoses emerging along the food chain and on antibiotic resistance as an increasing challenge in infectious disease management. Special interest chapters debate non-resolved and currently hotly debated zoonoses, foremost COVID-19, influenza, Crohn/paratuberculosis and chronic botulism, also taking into account the economic and ecological aspects of zoonotic disease outbreaks. This second edition includes brand-new chapters on emerging pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2, chlamydia and helminths,it reviews historic zoonoses, provides additional insights into pathogens of reptiles and highlights significant neglected tropical diseases. This reference work is a must-read for researchers, health professionals and students in Microbiology and Veterinary Medicine. The book's ambition to spread knowledge on zoonoses and on strategies on how to tackle them complies with the United Nations Sustainable Goals, in particular Goal 3 – Good Health and Well-Being.

Fields Virology is the authoritative reference book for virology, providing definitive coverage of all aspects of virology, including thorough coverage of virus biology as well as replication and medical aspects of specific virus families. With the regular outbreaks of influenza, noroviruses as well as other emerging and re-emerging viruses it is essential to have the most up-to-date information available. With this Sixth Edition, all chapters have been completely updated, an important new emphasis has been placed on virus discovery and emerging viruses. Viruses associated with cancer, including the new human polyomaviruses, are highlighted in this Sixth Edition and new chapters have been added on circoviruses and mimiviruses. While the main focus of this edition continues to be on viruses, information on prions and the infectious spongiform encephalopathies are also included.

Although respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has been a high priority for vaccine development for over 50 years now, still no vaccine is available and none has yet demonstrated sufficient promise to move to licensure. The success of RSV immune prophylaxis and the availability of ever more powerful tools to study the immune response and pathogenesis of disease, combined with the ability to construct a wide variety of vaccines using different vaccine platforms, give us grounds to believe that an RSV vaccine is within reach. This book brings together in one source what is currently known about the virus: its clinical and epidemiologic features; the host response and pathogenesis of the disease; vaccines, vaccine platforms, and treatment; and animal and tissue culture models of RSV infection. It is designed to organize the critical information relevant to RSV vaccine development, facilitate the assimilation of data, and speed progress toward producing a safe and effective vaccine.

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.

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.

This book gives a synthesis of current knowledge on ret- rovirology. Each chapter deals with a different step in the virus life cycle, detailing the molecular aspects of virus replication. The comparison of different retroviruses exemplifies variations. Specific topics include the evolution of retrovirus genomes, integration of the provirus, viral DNA transcriptional and translational control of viral gene expression, processing of viral proteins, and packaging of virion RNA. Data on HIV and HTLV-1 are covered as well as research on animal retrovirus sys- tems.

BMA Book of the Year 2012 First prize in Basic and Clinical Sciences, BMA Book Awards 2012 Roitt's Essential Immunology - the textbook of choice for students and instructors of immunology worldwide Bringing you fully up-to-date with the latest knowledge and concepts about the workings of the immune system, the hallmark easy-reading style of Roitt's Essential Immunology clearly explains the key principles needed by medical and health sciences students, from the basis of immunity to clinical applications. Beautifully presented, with brand new illustrations, the pedagogy has been strengthened throughout, and includes “just to recap…” sections at the beginning of each chapter, reminding the reader of key findings and principles, and summary sections at the end of each chapter that are ideal for quick study and revision. Also available as a FREE enhanced Wiley Desktop Edition (upon purchase of the book), Roitt's Essential Immunology is supported by a suite of online resources at www.roitt.com including: Interactive MCQs and SBA questions for each chapter, with feedback on all answers selected Animations and videos showing key concepts Fully downloadable figures and illustrations, further reading and useful links Extracts from the Encyclopaedia of Life Science Podcasts to reinforce the key principles explained in the text: ideal for revision'on the go'This title is also available as a mobile App from MedHand Mobile Libraries. Buy it now from iTunes, Google Play or the MedHand Store.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH: Volume III: Intramural Research contains a broad overview of the research activity of the NIAID intramural scientists working in the Division of Intramural Research (DIR) and the Vaccine Research Center (VRC), both in the Bethesda campus, and the Rocky Mountains Research Laboratories. Each of these laboratories employs scientists internationally recognized as leaders in their fields of biomedical research. This volume focuses on individual research contributions by internationally known scientists doing research in the NIAID laboratories.

Latency is a fascinating property of herpesviruses which ensures the maintenance of their genetic information in their hosts for an extended period in the absence of productive virus replication. Focusing on human herpesviruses and animal models of herpesvirus-associated human diseases, this is the first book dealing with the intricate epigenetic mechanisms (DNA methylation, histone modification, alteration of chromatin structure) that regulate latency-associated transcription. Special attention is given to immune evasion'tricks'blocking immune responses to herpesvirus infected cells and viral RNAs and proteins involved in malignant transformation. Latency Strategies of Herpesviruses is an ideal book for researchers, scientists and graduate students in the fields of virology, immunology, microbiology, bacteriology, and veterinary medicine.

A comprehensive review of what is known about the role of cytokines and chemokines in a variety of human infectious diseases, including gram-negative and -positive infections, listeriosis, mycobacterial infections, lyme arthritis, pneumonia, fungal infections, HIV, leishmaniasis, and sepsis. The authors demonstrate the different cytokine and chemokine production profiles in response to a wide variety of pathogens and the importance of host genetic factors in determining the type and magnitude of responses to a given microorganism. They also critically evaluate the use of cytokines and anticytokines in the treatment of infectious diseases and show how knowledge of cytokine pleiotropic effects, redundancy, and the complexity of the cytokine network has led to better design and better outcomes in cytokine-based therapies for specific infections.

Xenotransplantation could have an impact on at least three aspects of medicine. The first is as a means of overcoming a severe shortage of human donor organs for the treatment of organ failure. The second aspect relates to the possibility that a xenogeneic organ would not be susceptible to infection by a'human'virus and thus the xenograft might resist injury caused by such viruses. The third and, as of yet, unexplored aspect relates to a means of delivering genes for therapeutic purposes thus overcoming some of the limitations of'conventional'gene therapy.

The aberrant replication pathway of foamy viruses distinguishes them from all other retroviruses. Many details have been accumulated over the past ten or so years. Most of the findings on foamy viruses were obtained by research on a single virus isolate previously called'human foamy virus', which appeared to be the first to be investigated on a molecular level. However, to the editor's knowledge, genuine human foamy viruses do not exist, but several trans-species transmissions of different simian foamy viruses from monkeys and apes to human hosts.

Tuberculosis has plagued mankind since prehistoric times and is still an important source of morbidity and mortality, with particularly devastating effects in developing and tropical countries. Tuberculosis results from an infection with Myeo­ baeterium tubereu/osis, and the World Health Organization estimates that perhaps as much as one-third of the world's population or approximately 1. 9 billion persons are or have been infected with M. tubereu/osis. Each year, there are 8-10 million new cases of tuberculosis and about 3 million deaths due to it. Indeed, tuberculosis is the leading cause of death in adults due to a single infectious agent and accounts for ap­ proximately 26% of all preventable adult deaths in the world. In addition, tuberculosis is an enormous social and economic problem because approximately 95% of new cases occur in developing countries and because about 80% of tuberculosis cases affect persons of child-bearing age and du ring their most economically productive years (ages 15-59). Tuberculosis has also re-emerged as an important public health problem in many developed countries. For example, between 1985 and 1992, the number of tuberculosis cases reported to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention increased by more than 20%. Similarly, Austria experienced a 5% increase in tuberculosis cases from 1987 to 1991, Ireland a 9% increase from 1988 to 1991, Denmark a 20% increase from 1987 to 1992, and Italy a 27% increase from 1988 to 1992.

Providing both historical background and recent advances, this series reviews in-depth the biologic, molecular, immunologic, and patholic features of this facinating virus family. The current volume focuses on the avian and murine species which have generated novel insights into cancer, and the evolution of the retroviridae.

The viruses of the family Rhabdoviridae have an exceedingly broad host range and are widely distributed throughout the animal and plant king­ doms. Animal rhabdoviruses infect and often cause disease in insects, fish, and mammals, including man. The prototype rhabdovirus, vesicular stomatitis virus!VSV), has been extensively studied and provides perhaps the best model system for studying negative-strand viruses. The popularity of VSV as a model system is to a considerable extent due to its relative simplicity and to its rapid growth, generally to high titer, in many cell types ranging from yeast to human. The nucleocapsids of these viruses also carry transcriptional and replicative functions that are expressed in cell-free systems. The first RNA-dependent RNA poly­ merase was described in VSV and its G protein provided an early model system for studying the synthesis, processing, and membrane insertion of mammalian glycoproteins. VSV is also highly cytopathogenic and has been studied quite extensively for its capacity to kill cells and to shut off cellular macromolecular synthesis. Even earlier, VSV was discovered to be highly susceptible to the action of interferons and has served ever since as a means for quantitating the activity of interferons. To my way of thinking, the spark that ignited the explosion of re­ search in this field was struck at the First International Colloquium on Rhabdoviruses, attended by 30 or so participants in Roscoff, France, in June 1972.

Although retroviruses have long been associated with a variety of animal diseases, active research in the field of human retroviruses dates from the discovery of human immunodefici­ ency virus (HIV) in association with acquired immunodefici­ ency syndrome (AIDS). The enormous research efforts in this field have been directed toward understanding the nature of the virus and toward its elimination through preventive vaccin­ ation and the cure of the disease. Human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV-l) was the first member of the human retrovirus family to be discovered. It was implicated as the cause of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) even before the association of HIV and AIDS was established. Research on HTL V -1 has, however, been lagging behind that of HIV because of the importance of AIDS. Today HTLV-1 and possibly closely related HTLV-2 are associated with a variety of human neurologic diseases, and research activities in this field may show that human retroviruses can cause a variety of human diseases in addition to those affecting the nervous system. Papers in this volume attempt to acquaint the reader with the present state of research into retrovirus infection and related diseases of the nervous system.