Molecular and Cell Biology of Human Diseases Series – serie

The rapid developments in molecular biology have been applied to a wide range to biological and medical disciplines. Their application to the mechanisms, development, control and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases is addressed in this volume, the first in the "Molecular and Cell Biology of Human Diseases" series. The book reviews the status of research on a range of sexually transmitted diseases whose incidence has paralleled the increase in HIV infection and examines the ways in which new methods are influencing current practice and are likely to shape future management. As diagnosis, control and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases is increasing worldwide, this book is timely in providing an assessment of current research and its practical and clinical implications. Written by an international team of experts, it is a reference source both for biomedical researchers and clinicians. This book should be of interest to researchers and graduate students in medical microbiology, clinical biochemistry, molecular medicine, venereal diseases, infectious diseases and dermatology and clinicians in similar areas.

Recent advances in molecular biological and associated cell biological technology have made skeletal muscle disease a particularly important and exciting area of research. "Molecular and Cell Biology of Muscular Dystrophy" gives a series of accounts on various aspects of the remarkable breakthrough which has been achieved in our understanding of the Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophies and of the consequences and ramifications of this breakthrough. A number of articles address the matter of how molecular biological technology can advance the cell biology of skeletal muscle and the possible applications of this knowledge of therapy. Current research literature describing the advances being made in molecular and cell biological research is quite incomprehensible to the majority of clinical neurologists, paediatricians and many basic scientists with marginal interests in muscle disease, being based on disciplines remote from their training and being heavily laden with acronyms and jargon.This book attempts to remedy this problem by presenting the prototype example of the "reverse genetic" approach as applied to Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy in a generally intelligible manner and by exploring its far-reaching practical consequences in both clinical diagnosis and in research. "Molecular and Cell Biology of Muscular Dystrophy" provides access to the topic for academics from a number of disciplines in which muscle function and malfunction is a major interest, eg neurologists, paediatricians, physiologists, biochemists and biologists. This book should be of interest to graduate students and researchers in clinical biochemistry, molecular medicine, neuroscience and clinicians in neurology.

Over the last five years a great deal has been discovered about the neurochemistry, biochemistry and molecular genetics of neuropsychiatric diseases. The significance of all three approaches is reviewed in this volume by an internationally recognized team of authors. Providing a valuable statement of the position of current research, this book should be of considerable interest to psychiatrists and neuroscientists. This book should be of interest to graduate researchers and students in clinical biochemistry, molecular biology and neurosciences.

Written to inform not only basic research scientists and students, but also practising physicians, this volume reviews the evolution of gene transfer as a therapeutic strategy. The latest developments in viral and non-viral vectors for gene therapy are explained. The book then moves on to describe gene therapy applications in a comprehensive range of disease situations including cancer, AIDS, arthritis, cardiovascular and neuromuscular disorders, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and genetic vaccination. This book should be of interest to clinicians, clinical researchers and basic scientists interested in the development of genetic therapies.

The study of carbohydrates in biology is one of the longest-established aspects of the subject. In consequence, it is treated in most text­ books of biology and biochemistry~at least at an elementary level. However, certain areas of carbohydrate biochemistry have expanded rapidly over the past few years as a result of intense research activity. Such advances make this an opportune time to draw together the newer ideas of carbohydrate functions and to present them within a framework of established knowledge. This book describes the role of carbohydrates in biology at a level which is suitable for undergraduate students in biochemistry, biology and the medical sciences. The subject is treated to the final-year level although, inevitably, advanced students will wish to expand their knowledge of particular topics by use of the reading list provided as an appendix. Two areas are particularly emphasized. The first is the metabolic reactions of carbohydrates and the functions of such reactions in the organism. Here the regulation of metabolism in response to different physiological requirements is stressed, and concepts of compartmentation and transport are explored. The second area is concerned with the metabolism and functions of carbohydrate polymers. Here there has been a rapid expansion of research, particularly into the role of specific interactions of carbohydrates which occur, for example, at cell surfaces.

advanced metastatic disease of solid tumors, dictates that each tumor mass, indeed each individual metastasis, will have a unique antigen and cytokine environment and hence unique response to immune modu­ lation. Most chemotherapeutic regimes require a complete response or a good partial response for cure or good palliation.

is"0l m 5-HT Ante-mortem (m = metabolite) . ". ~ Post-mortem m 0 Noradrenaline ,,-'-'-'-'0-J ,,-'-'-'-'-'-'- m Dopamine ~ . '-'-'-'-'- . " Somatostatin . '1 Plaques Tangles * . ". . ". . 'I Synapse loss * ChAT " ACh synthesis l"-,. '-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'- ,,-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'- * Neuronal loss ,,- ,,- . ". * o 0. 1 0. 2 0. 3 0. 4 0. 5 0. 6 0. 7 0. 8 0. 9 1. 0 Correlation coefficient with dementia rating Figure 2. 1 Various neurotransmitter and neuropathological measures on neocortex obtained either at diagnostic craniotomy (ante-mortem) or post-mortem and re- lationship to cognitive impairment (dementia rating). Asterisks identify significant correlations. Negative and positive correlations are not identified in this represen- tation of the data. Only the physiologically relevant measure of cholinergic neurones (acetylcholine synthesis) and indices of cortical pyramidal neurone degeneration (neuronal loss, synapse loss and tangles) correlate with severity of dementia. Note the lack of correlation with the structural marker of cholinergic neurones, ChAT activity. Loss of enzyme exceeded that of acetylcholine synthesis (Sims et al., 1983a), suggesting a compensatory increase in synthesis in the few remaining neurones. Data derived from Palmer (1987) and Terry et al. (1991). emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance, may some day pro- vide routine insight into differences in brain functioning. Success in developing rapid and reliable diagnostic procedures, perhaps based on changes in body fluid that reflect specific alterations in brain protein metabolism, should ultimately play an important role in the clinical development of new therapeutic agents.

Molecular and Cell Biology of Muscular Dystrophy gives a series of accounts of various aspects of the remarkable breakthrough which has been achieved in our understanding of the Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophies and of the consequences and ramifications of this breakthrough.

Human immunodeficiency virus and AIDS have received much attention in the last decade. As the major cause of death in young adults, this concern is merited. AIDS has also ushered onto the clinical agenda a number of unusual and interesting pathogens. These have had considerably less attention than the virus itself, but are arguably as important. This book attempts to put into one volume a state of the art review of the basic biology of these opportunistic organisms. When compiling this book, the perceived difficulty was deciding how to restrict the number of chapters, as there is a large number of opportunistic organisms. It soon became clear, however, that the chapters would select themselves, as the work on many of these organisms was still in its infancy. We can be criticized for including Salmonella, which is not thought to be an opportunistic infection, and excluding Cryptococcus. Our defence is that the former has an interesting relationship with HIV and the latter is one of those organisms for which the basic biology is still in its early stages. The authors are all active researchers in their respective fields and we are grateful that they managed to review their subjects in the short turn-around time required for a book such as this not to be needlessly outdated on publication. We hope that, if nothing else, this book stimulates interest and more research on these agents: perhaps, in future editions, there will be much more to describe on their molecular biology.