The first chapter of Advances in Medicine and Biology. Volume 147 reviews actions on bone longitudinal growth, muscle, kidney, calcium, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, body composition, carbohydrate metabolism, insulin, lipids, protein actions, coagulation and fibrinolysis, adipokines, cardiovascular effects, and retina. Next, the authors discuss the values and boundaries of various surgical approaches to achieve interbody fusion, and introduce a novel fusion technique named extraforaminal lumbar interbody fusion. Each indirect decompression procedure for the intervertebral foramen is introduced in detail, and their influence on intervertebral foramen parameters is discussed, including foraminal height and foraminal area. This provides detailed information on the quantitative decompression index, thus proving helpful for surgeons. Following this, prodrugs are examined, having been extensively studied in the field of drug development. Continuous research in developing prodrugs/drug conjugates has resulted in an improvement of the lipophilicy, aqueous solubility, oral bioavailability, chemical stability, prolongation of action, reduced toxicity and site-specific drug delivery of parent drugs. The susceptibility of germline stem cells to genetic damage induced by oxaliplatin and its mechanism of action is also discussed. Germ cells are responsible for the transmission of genetic information from males to their progeny. The authors evaluate parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease and how it encompasses a variety of diseases ranging from steatosis to fibrosis and cirrhosis. A systematic review of the literature is executed to pool data from all individually documented patients to evaluate the safety and efficacy of combined liver and inferior vena cava resection in patients with colorrectal liver metastases involving inferior vena cava. Research in subsequent chapter examines how the development of purkinje cells in the postnatal period in rats is accompanied by significant structural and metabolic changes, this being the basis for their growth, maturation, differentiation and functions. The authors evaluate the in vitro leishmanicidal activity of the Vanillosmopsis arborea essential oil and its major compound𝛼-bisabolol against Leishmania amazonensis in an effort to evaluate its role to treatdiseases caused by bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, such as leishmaniasis. Since there are still only few data available for the understanding of cellular and molecular functions of Neurensin genes in spite of the expected critical roles in human brain function, the authors present studies which will contribute to elucidating the mechanism of brain disorders at the molecular level. The concluding chapter focuses on the pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic properties of emtricitabine, dosing recommendations, and monitoring in the oral antiretroviral preexposure prophylaxis population.
