Li Li Ji – författare

Skeletal muscle is not an organ merely for locomotion with simple anatomical and metabolic features as has been viewed for a long time. The understanding that physical activity plays a vital role in health promotion and disease prevention under the slogan of “exercise is medicine” has dramatically increased the enthusiasm and demand for knowledge about the skeletal muscle. This book, "The Skeletal Muscle: Plasticity, Degeneration and Epigenetics", is a follow up of another book authored by the Editor, which provides the morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular biological foundations for organ’s response and adaptation to functional demand, and for the mechanisms and prevention for the organ’s pathogenesis and degeneration. Research in the past several decades has demonstrated that skeletal muscle has a tremendous ability to undergo internal changes in response to functional, environmental, nutritional and genetic challenges, through various neural, endocrine and autocrine pathways for signal transduction. Although the contractile proteins show a relatively slow turnover, many organelles and constituents in the myocyte exhibit considerable remodeling throughout the muscle’s life cycle. In this regard, mitochondrion plays a central role in the crosstalk of signaling not only in its own turnover and quality control, but also in exerting important influences on other vital cellular functions. On the opposite side, skeletal muscle is highly vulnerable to disuse and misuse that can cause injury, inflammation, degeneration and atrophy. The various chapters in this book, contributed by the experts in the field, will introduce and review the most concurrent knowledge to address important issues related to muscle plasticity, pathogenesis, disease and aging. Potential strategies to prevent and ameliorate the above problems in a whole-body perspective will be highlighted to provide the readers with the inspiration to learn and work with this important and intriguing organ.

Skeletal muscle has long been viewed as an organ primarily responsible for locomotion, characterized by seemingly simple anatomical and biochemical features. The growing recognition that exercise is medicine—and that physical activity plays a vital role in health and disease prevention—has greatly increased interest in, and demand for, a deeper understanding of skeletal muscle.This book describes the fundamental biological features of skeletal muscle, including its development, gross and fine structure, contractile mechanism, bioenergetics, metabolic regulation, gene regulation, redox homeostasis, and cell signaling. It provides an up to date, chapter-by-chapter overview of knowledge derived from both historical and contemporary research, offering sufficient detail on each aspect. In-depth scientific foundations at the genetic and molecular levels are presented to enable a comprehensive understanding of how this organ supports not only locomotion but also whole-body homeostasis.A distinctive feature of the book is its emphasis on signal transduction arising from various physiological demands, highlighting hormones, cytokines, transcription factors, and reactive oxygen and nitrogen species as key messengers. This field—known as redox biology or redox signaling—has expanded rapidly over the past two decades, driven by advancements in information technology and biotechnology.

Over the past two decades, international cooperation in higher education has become the norm in China and around the world. To exemplify these relationships, this edited volume devotes individual chapters to case studies of China-U.S. international higher education partnerships focused on 1) Collaborative graduate programs; 2) Research collaborations; 3) Student mobility; 4) Multi-institution collaborations; 5) Cultural exchanges; and 6) Branch campuses. These case studies will illuminate the strategies, challenges, and perceived benefits of cross-national collaboration. Case studies are bookended with introductory and concluding chapters that link cooperative activities to theory on diplomacy (including Western “soft diplomacy” and Chinese five principles of “peaceful coexistence” narratives); internationalization of higher education; and reflections on student and scholar mobility between Chinese and US institutions.