Naturvetenskaplig forskning

»… vi förstod båda att vi inte skulle vara i hamn förrän vi hade byggt en fullständig modell där samtliga stereokemiska bindningar var tillfredsställande. Dessutom kunde vetskapen om dess existens få så dramatiska följder att vi borde ligga lågt ett tag. Jag kände därför visst obehag när Francis på lunchen gled in på The Eagle för att låta alla inom höravstånd få veta att vi hade funnit livets hemlighet.«

När en ung James Watson träffar Francis Crick vid universitetet i Cambridge hösten 1951 är genombrottet som ska komma att revolutionera förståelsen av allt biologiskt liv bara ett par år bort – upptäckten av DNA-molekylens genetiska funktion och spiralformade struktur.

Dubbelspiralen är en av 1900-talets stora vetenskapliga berättelser. Med sin personliga banbrytande stil skildrar James Watson det forskningsarbete, de rivaliteter och vänskaper, som skulle leda fram till upptäckten av livets kod.

Vetenskapliga klassiker ges ut i samarbete med Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien.

The inside story of how Big Pharma’s relentless pursuit of ever-higher profits corrupts medical knowledge—misleading doctors, misdirecting American health care, and harming our health.

The United States spends an excess $1.5 trillion annually on health care compared to other wealthy countries—yet the amount of time that Americans live in good health ranks a lowly 68th in the world. At the heart of the problem is Big Pharma, which funds most clinical trials and therefore controls the research agenda, withholds the real data from those trials as corporate secrets, and shapes most of the information relied upon by health care professionals.

In this no-holds-barred exposé, Dr. John Abramson—one of the foremost experts on the drug industry’s deceptive tactics—combines patient stories with what he learned during many years of serving as an expert in national drug litigation to reveal the tangled web of financial interests at the heart of the dysfunction in our health-care system. For example, one of pharma’s best-kept secrets is that the peer reviewers charged with ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the clinical trial reports published in medical journals do not even have access to complete data and must rely on manufacturer-influenced summaries. Likewise for the experts who write the clinical practice guidelines that define our standards of care.

The result of years of research and privileged access to the inner workings of the U.S. medical-industrial complex, Sickening shines a light on the dark underbelly of American health care—and presents a path toward genuine reform.

Research in Medical and Biological Sciences covers the wide range of topics that a researcher must be familiar with in order to become a successful biomedical scientist. Perfect for aspiring as well as practicing professionals in the medical and biological sciences, this publication discusses a broad range of topics that are common yet not traditionally considered part of formal curricula, including philosophy of science, ethics, statistics, and grant applications. The information presented in this book also facilitates communication across conventional disciplinary boundaries, in line with the increasingly multidisciplinary nature of modern research projects.

Global Mobility of Research Scientists: The Economics of Who Goes Where and Why brings together information on how the localization and mobility of academic researchers contributes to the production of knowledge.

The text answers several questions, including "what characterizes nationally and internationally mobile researchers?" and "what are the individual and social implications of increased mobility of research scientists?"

Eight independent, but coordinated chapters address these and other questions, drawing on a set of newly developed databases covering 30 countries, including the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and China, among others.

Environmental Data Analysis with MatLab is a new edition that expands fundamentally on the original with an expanded tutorial approach, new crib sheets, and problem sets providing a clear learning path for students and researchers working to analyze real data sets in the environmental sciences. Since publication of the bestselling Environmental Data Analysis with MATLAB�, many advances have been made in environmental data analysis. One only has to consider the global warming debate to realize how critically important it is to be able to derive clear conclusions from often noisy data drawn from a broad range of sources. The work teaches the basics of the underlying theory of data analysis and then reinforces that knowledge with carefully chosen, realistic scenarios.

MATLAB�, a commercial data processing environment, is used in these scenarios. Significant content is devoted to teaching how it can be effectively used in an environmental data analysis setting. This new edition, though written in a self-contained way, is supplemented with data and MATLAB� scripts that can be used as a data analysis tutorial.

New features include boxed crib sheets to help identify major results and important formulas and give brief advice on how and when they should be used. Numerical derivatives and integrals are derived and illustrated. Includes log-log plots with further examples of their use. Discusses new datasets on precipitation and stream flow. Topical enhancement applies the chi-squared test to the results of the generalized least squares method. New coverage of cluster analysis and approximation techniques that are widely applied in data analysis, including Taylor Series and low-order polynomial approximations; non-linear least-squares with Newton's method; and pre-calculation and updating techniques applicable to real time data acquisition.

Signal Processing for Neuroscientists, Second Edition provides an introduction to signal processing and modeling for those with a modest understanding of algebra, trigonometry and calculus. With a robust modeling component, this book describes modeling from the fundamental level of differential equations all the way up to practical applications in neuronal modeling. It features nine new chapters and an exercise section developed by the author. Since the modeling of systems and signal analysis are closely related, integrated presentation of these topics using identical or similar mathematics presents a didactic advantage and a significant resource for neuroscientists with quantitative interest.

Although each of the topics introduced could fill several volumes, this book provides a fundamental and uncluttered background for the non-specialist scientist or engineer to not only get applications started, but also evaluate more advanced literature on signal processing and modeling.

Keys to Running Successful Research Projects: All the Things They Never Teach You provides a step-by-step guide for the management of a successful research project or program. Through the use of illustrative case studies, the book covers all aspects of management that should be included during researcher training, helping researchers overcome the many challenges they face in their day-to-day management of people, time and resources. Links throughout provide more detailed information from gold standard sources on every topic. It is a must-have reference for postdocs, research managers and administrators in colleges, universities, hospitals and research institutes.

In addition, it is an ideal resource for those working in grant and contract funding groups in the life sciences and medical fields.

Photobiomodulation in the Brain: Low-Level Laser (Light) Therapy in Neurology and Neuroscience presents the fundamentals of photobiomodulation and the diversity of applications in which light can be implemented in the brain. It will serve as a reference for future research in the area, providing the basic foundations readers need to understand photobiomodulation's science-based evidence, practical applications and related adaptations to specific therapeutic interventions. The book covers the mechanisms of action of photobiomodulation to the brain, and includes chapters describing the pre-clinical studies and clinical trials that have been undertaken for diverse brain disorders, including traumatic events, degenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders.

Alzheimer's Disease Theranostics discusses the latest information on recent theranostic avenues for both the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's patients. It presents the pros and cons of the probable mechanistic role of nanoparticles in crossing the blood-brain barrier and improving disease symptoms. Finally, it highlights the merits of existing maneuvers and suggests perspectives to aid in future developments. Despite the difficulty of drug delivery to the brain, there are some nanoparticulate platforms demonstrating promise in treating neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. Manifold theranostic maneuvers include antioxidants, natural bioactive compounds, gene therapy, and nanotechnological approaches, all of which are discussed in this important work.

The Neuromodulation Casebook is a case-based volume for practical, hands-on decision-making using realistic case examples from the field of neuromodulation. It encompasses a variety of techniques and therapies, ranging from deep brain stimulation for a multitude of disorders, to spinal cord stimulation, peripheral nerve stimulation, cortical stimulation and cranial nerve stimulation, as well as non-invasive therapies and other implanted types of devices that interface with the nervous system. Allowing readers to better learn via case-based examples, this practical volume depicts real examples of decisions neuroscientists and neurosurgeons need to make every day from leaders in the field.

This book serves as a companion text to the editor's previous titles Essential Neuromodulation and Innovative Neuromodulation for neuroscience, neural engineering and biomedical engineering courses.

Arithmetic disability stems from deficits in neurodevelopment, with great individual differences in development or function of an individual at neuroanatomical, neuropsychological, behavioral, and interactional levels. Heterogeneous Contributions to Numerical Cognition: Learning and Education in Mathematical Cognition examines research in mathematical education methods and their neurodevelopmental basis, focusing on the underlying neurodevelopmental features that must be taken into account when teaching and learning mathematics. Cognitive domains and functions such as executive functions, memory, attention, and language contribute to numerical cognition and are essential for its proper development. These lines of research and thinking in neuroscience are discussed in this book to further the understanding of the neurodevelopmental and cognitive basis of more complex forms of mathematics - and how to best teach them. By unravelling the basic building blocks of numerical thinking and the developmental basis of human capacity for arithmetic, this book and the discussions within are important for the achievement of a comprehensive understanding of numerical cognition, its brain basis, development, breakdown in brain-injured individuals, and failures to master mathematical skills.

Behavioral and Neural Genetics of Zebrafish assembles the state-of-the-art methodologies and current concepts pertinent to their neurobehavioral genetics. Discussing their natural behavior, motor function, learning and memory, this book focuses on the fry and adult zebrafish, featuring a comprehensive account of modern genetic and neural methods adapted to, or specifically developed for, Danio rerio. Numerous examples of how these behavioral methods may be utilized for disease models using the zebrafish are presented, as is a section on bioinformatics and "big-data" related questions.

Neurofeedback: The First Fifty Years features broadly recognized pioneers in the field sharing their views and contributions on the history of neurofeedback. With some of the pioneers of neurofeedback already passed on or aging, this book brings together the monumental contributions of renowned researchers and practitioners in an unprecedented, comprehensive volume. With the rapid and exciting advances in this dynamic field, this information is critical for neuroscientists, neurologists, neurophysiologists, cognitive and developmental psychologists and other practitioners, providing a clear presentation of the frontiers of this exciting and medically important area of physiology.

Intelligent Environmental Data Monitoring for Pollution Management discusses evolving novel intelligent algorithms and their applications in the area of environmental data-centric systems guided by batch process-oriented data. Thus, the book ushers in a new era as far as environmental pollution management is concerned. It reviews the fundamental concepts of gathering, processing and analyzing data from batch processes, followed by a review of intelligent tools and techniques which can be used in this direction. In addition, it discusses novel intelligent algorithms for effective environmental pollution data management that are on par with standards laid down by the World Health Organization.

Parkinson's Disease Therapeutics: Emphasis on Nanotechnological Advances presents the latest information on the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in the elderly. Despite remarkable progress in various PD therapeutics, such as microRNAs and brain drug delivery systems, a few limitations impede their success. This book sheds light on the pros and cons of recently developed novel therapeutics. Very few books have highlighted the protective efficacy of natural products, antioxidants, and biomaterial design for other diseases.