Search results for ""New York Academy of Sciences""

The need to protect biodiversity places great constraints on the use of natural spaces such as forests and preserves and often conflicts with the need for sustainable intensification of agricultural and animal production. Human, domestic animal, and wildlife habitats have increasingly overlapped and have resulted in modified patterns of interaction between wild and domestic animals and humans. In such an environmental context, we can expect to see changes in disease transmission between animals and humans. We have already seen an increase in incidence of previously identified zoonoses, but the recent epidemic crises associated with the emergence of new zoonotic diseases such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and avian influenza emphasize our need to understand and control disease emergence. The necessity for sustained development and growth of animals in the tropics requires that we identify and control factors that contribute to the emergence of these and other diseases. These factors have a direct effect on animal health and our ability to maintain it. We need to evaluate the risks of emergence at different levels including the optimization of diagnostic tools organization of control and prevention programs. Maintaining animal health in tropical Asian regions has a profound impact on tropical veterinary medicine and during a time of increased international trade and human mobility has implications for animal health worldwide. This volume explores the impact of these emerging zoonotic diseases on animal health in the tropics as well as all aspects of tropical veterinary medicine. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/nyas. ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to the Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member

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Published with the New York Academy of Sciences A timely, broad-ranging exploration of the neurobiological basis and molecular mechanisms of migraines Migraines impact the lives of a significant portion of the world's population, afflicting sufferers with severe pain, nausea, and often visual impairment. The WHO views migraines as an important public health issue, and ranks them in its top twenty most disabling illnesses. Neurobiological Basis of Migraine reviews the latest advances made in our understanding of the primary basic mechanisms of migraine headache and provides valuable insights into how these findings are being translated into novel treatment and prevention strategies around the world. Written for researchers and clinicians alike, the book features edited contributions from distinguished experts in the field, taking a focused, yet wide-ranging approach to the subject. It begins by exploring the pathways and networks mediating migraine headaches, their underlying physiological mechanisms, characteristics of visceral pain, and the concept of dural neurogenic inflammation. From there the authors delve into the mechanisms sustaining the head pain and photophobia associated with migraines, and they review the pharmacology of newly discovered migraine treatments. These basic chapters are followed by clinical and genetic studies linking to key issues, including cortical spreading depression, ion channels, transporters, and epilepsy. Reviews of the latest advances in our understanding of the neurobiological basis of migraine Translates important research findings from around the globe into novel treatments strategies currently being investigated Provides researchers and clinicians with a deep understanding of the primary mechanisms of migraine from migraine modeling to clinical applications Includes contributions by many of the most respected researchers in the field, world-wide Discusses exciting recent developments in migraine mutations and their role in CSD, as well as the role of CSD in aura and trigeminal activation Timely, comprehensive, and authoritative, Neurobiological Basis of Migraine is an indispensable working resource for clinicians and migraine, headache, and pain researchers, including neurobiologists, neuropharmacologists, neurologists, and vascular neurobiologists, as well as graduate students in those fields who are involved in researching migraine headaches.

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Rickettsial diseases have affected humanity since the dawn of civilization. Despite the advent of effective antibiotic therapy, humans continue to be afflicted by rickettsial diseases, which still often go undiagnosed because of their protean clinical manifestations. During the past decade, several major developments have occurred in rickettsiology. With the advent of the newly emerging infections caused by a number of rickettsias, the re-emerging of old pathogenic species of rickettsias that cause both old and new syndromes has helped redefine the level of rickettsial pathogenicity. The intracellular nature of most rickettsias remains a mystery although their genome size is close to that of the free-living neisserias. Advances in molecular techniques have also helped redefine and reclassify rickettsias by maintaining some in the order Rickettsiales and placing others in other bacterial orders. The latter are still included in rickettsial reviews because of historical precedence. These molecular advances also help us to refine our knowledge of rickettsial pathogenesis. This volume is the first of two volumes to result from the 4th International Conference on Rickettsiae and Rickettsial Diseases, in which an effort is made to address and clarify issues from clinical, diagnostic, epidemiologic, and molecular perspectives that have remained unsolved in the past. In this volume, several subdisciplines of rickettsiology are included: genomics and proteomics, a protocol for naming newly isolated rickettsiae; bioterrorism; the pathobiology of reckettsial infections including Q (query) fever, antibiotic resistance, and vaccines; the discovery of new ricketsiae; and the pathobiology of Ehrlichia and Anaplasma infections. This volume. along with Century of Rickettsiology, which will be published in 2006 as an Annals volume, will provide a complete picture of the world-wide range of work that is currently being carried out in the field of rickettsiology. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/nyas. ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to the Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member.

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An accurate, inexpensive, and noninvasive method for the early diagnosis of cancer has been something of a holy grail among cancer researchers, but until recently a method meeting all three criteria has been elusive. Nucleic acids were first discovered in circulation in 1948, but it was not until the 1960s and 70s that patients with autoimmune disease and cancer were discovered to have higher levels of circulating DNA than were detected in in healthy persons. The focus in this volume is on three major applications of the circulating nucleic acids detection method: cancer, fetal medicine, and diseases such as diabetes, stroke, and myocardial infarction. In addition, there are reports on the biology and origins of circulating DNA and RNA and on improved methods for the detection of nucleic acids in plasma and serum. The circulating DNA found in cancer patients has many characteristics in common with their tumors, which made it an attractive candidate for use in the diagnosis and management of patients with malignancies. This method can also be applied to the assessment of the sublinical tumor burden in cancer patients, thus reducing the risk of unnecessary chemotherapy. Detection of nucleic acids circulating in maternal serum means that fetal diagnosis may be possible without resorting to the more dangerous and invasive methods now used (e.g., amniotic fluid and chorionic villus sampling). Detection of problems in the pregnancy such as preeclampsia and intrauterine growth retardation may also become possible through maternal blood samples. In diabetic patients, circulating nucleic acids can be used for the early detection of developments such as retinopathy. The benefits of using circulating nucleic acids in the diagnosis and management of cancer and chronic disease will be realized through earlier detection by means of this less expensive and less invasive testing technique and through its potential for closer monitoring of the disease. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/nyas. ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to the Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member

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Stem cells have generated considerable interest recently in the scientific, clinical, and public arenas. It is essential that we gain a broader understanding of the factors that regulate the biology of stem cells: their ability for self-renewal, differentiation, and plasticity, as well as the differences between embryonic and adult stem cells. And to learn whether stem cells can be manipulated to replace cells in diseased tissues depends on better understanding their normal developmental properties. This volume offers contributions from numerous interdisciplinary areas bridging biotechnology and biomedical sciences. The ability to isolate and maintain pluripotent stem cells in culture offers exciting possibilities for replacing damaged or diseased organs and tissues. Moreover, stem cells will provide opportunities for major advances in our understanding of fundamental developmental processes. The study of pluripotent stem cells derived from early embryos or fetal tissues has shown that they are capable of replicating indefinitely in vitro and possess the ability to differentiate into many cell types. Biotechnological advances under which growth conditions and factors can be identified and characterized are needed to guide such cells to form organ-specific tissues. Biomedical researchers are also investigating approaches to isolate and manipulate adult-derived multipotential stem cells that appear to possess considerably broader differentiation capacity than originally imagined. Novel therapeutic strategies are being developed to take advantage of the ability of stem cells to proliferate in culture and to survive after transplantation into various tissues, where they may integrate and stably express foreign genes, or repopulate damaged or diseased organs such as the heart, brain, or pancreas. These presentations foster a broader understanding of the factors that regulate the biology and plasticity of stem cells through the picture they provide of the "state of the science" of stem cell biology and by framing the many questions that remain to be answered. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/nyas. ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to the Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member.

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Provides a highly visual, readily accessible introduction to the main events that occur during neural development and their mechanisms Building Brains: An Introduction to Neural Development, 2nd Edition describes how brains construct themselves, from simple beginnings in the early embryo to become the most complex living structures on the planet. It explains how cells first become neural, how their proliferation is controlled, what regulates the types of neural cells they become, how neurons connect to each other, how these connections are later refined under the influence of neural activity, and why some neurons normally die. This student-friendly guide stresses and justifies the generally-held belief that a greater knowledge of how nervous systems construct themselves will help us find new ways of treating diseases of the nervous system that are thought to originate from faulty development, such as autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, and schizophrenia. A concise, illustrated guide focusing on core elements and emphasizing common principles of developmental mechanisms, supplemented by suggestions for further reading Text boxes provide detail on major advances, issues of particular uncertainty or controversy, and examples of human diseases that result from abnormal development Introduces the methods for studying neural development, allowing the reader to understand the main evidence underlying research advances Offers a balanced mammalian/non-mammalian perspective (and emphasizes mechanisms that are conserved across species), drawing on examples from model organisms like the fruit fly, nematode worm, frog, zebrafish, chick, mouse and human Associated Website includes all the figures from the textbook and explanatory movies Filled with full-colorartwork that reinforces important concepts; an extensive glossary and definitions that help readers from different backgrounds; and chapter summaries that stress important points and aid revision, Building Brains: An Introduction to Neural Development, 2nd Edition is perfect for undergraduate students and postgraduates who may not have a background in neuroscience and/or molecular genetics. “This elegant book ranges with ease and authority over the vast field of developmental neuroscience. This excellent textbook should be on the shelf of every neuroscientist, as well as on the reading list of every neuroscience student.” —Sir Colin Blakemore, Oxford University “With an extensive use of clear and colorful illustrations, this book makes accessible to undergraduates the beauty and complexity of neural development. The book fills a void in undergraduate neuroscience curricula.”—Professor Mark Bear, Picower Institute, MIT. Highly Commended, British Medical Association Medical Book Awards 2012 Published with the New York Academy of Sciences

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This Annals volume presents three scholarly meeting reports: (1) biomarkers in nutrition: new frontiers in research and application; (2) the new revolution in toxicology: The good, the bad, and the ugly; and (3) neuroprotection after cerebral ischemia. Nutritional biomarkers—biochemical, functional, or clinical indices of nutrient intake, status, or functional effects—are needed to support evidence-based clinical guidance and effective health programs and policies related to food, nutrition, and health. Such indices can reveal information about biological or physiological responses to dietary behavior or pathogenic processes, and can be used to monitor responses to therapeutic interventions and to provide information on interindividual differences in response to diet and nutrition. Many nutritional biomarkers are available; yet there has been no formal mechanism to establish consensus regarding the optimal biomarkers for particular nutrients and applications. In 2007, the United States National Academy of Sciences issued a report entitled Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy. The report reviewed the state of the science and outlined a strategy for the future of toxicity testing. One of the more significant components of the vision established by the report was an emphasis on toxicity testing in human rather than animal systems. In the context of drug development, it is critical that the tools used to accomplish this strategy are maximally capable of evaluating human risk. Since 2007, many advances toward implementation of this vision have been achieved, particularly with regard to safety assessment of new chemical entities intended for pharmaceutical use. Cerebral ischemia, a focal or global insufficiency of blood flow to the brain, can arise through multiple mechanisms, including thrombosis and arterial hemorrhage. Ischemia is a major driver of stroke, one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. While the general etiology of cerebral ischemia and stroke has been known for some time, the conditions have only recently been considered treatable. This report describes current research in this field seeking to fully understand the pathomechanisms underlying stroke; to characterize the brain's intrinsic injury, survival, and repair mechanisms; to identify putative drug targets as well as cell-based therapies; and to optimize the delivery of therapeutic agents to the damaged cerebral tissue. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit http://ordering.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/subs.asp?ref=1749-6632&doi=10.1111/(ISSN)1749-6632. ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member.

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This Annals volume presents four scholarly meeting reports: (1) Application of combined omics platforms to accelerate biomedical discovery in diabesity; (2) Prioritizing health disparities in medical education to improve care; (3) The paradox of overnutrition in aging and cognition; and vitamin D: beyond bone. Diabesity has become a popular term to describe the specific form of diabetes that develops late in life and is associated with obesity. While there is a correlation between diabetes and obesity, the association is not universally predictive. Defining the metabolic characteristics of obesity that lead to diabetes, and how obese individuals who develop diabetes different from those who do not, are important goals. The use of large-scale omics analyses (e.g., metabolomic, proteomic, transcriptomic, and lipidomic) of diabetes and obesity may help to identify new targets to treat these conditions. This report discusses how various types of omics data can be integrated to shed light on the changes in metabolism that occur in obesity and diabetes. Despite yearly advances in life-saving and preventive medicine, as well as strategic approaches by governmental and social agencies and groups, significant disparities remain in health, health quality, and access to health care within the United States. The determinants of these disparities include baseline health status, race and ethnicity, culture, gender identity and expression, socioeconomic status, region or geography, sexual orientation, and age. In order to renew the commitment of the medical community to address health disparities, particularly at the medical school level, we must remind ourselves of the roles of doctors and medical schools as the gatekeepers and the value setters for medicine. Within those roles are responsibilities toward the social mission of working to eliminate health disparities. This effort will require partnerships with communities as well as with academic centers to actively develop and to implement diversity and inclusion strategies. Besides improving the diversity of trainees in the pipeline, access to health care can be improved, and awareness can be raised regarding population-based health inequalities. Populations of many countries are becoming increasingly overweight and obese, driven largely by excessive calorie intake and reduced physical activity; greater body mass is accompanied by epidemic levels of comorbid metabolic diseases. At the same time, individuals are living longer. The combination of aging and the increased prevalence of metabolic disease is associated with increases in aging-related comorbid diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, cerebrovascular dementia, and sarcopenia. Here, correlative and causal links between diseases of overnutrition and diseases of aging and cognition are explored. In recent years, vitamin D has been received increased attention due to the resurgence of vitamin D deficiency and rickets in developed countries and the identification of extraskeletal effects of vitamin D, suggesting unexpected benefits of vitamin D in health and disease, beyond bone health. The possibility of extraskeletal effects of vitamin D was first noted with the discovery of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) in tissues and cells that are not involved in maintaining mineral homeostasis and bone health, including skin, placenta, pancreas, breast, prostate and colon cancer cells, and activated T cells. However, the biological significance of the expression of the VDR in different tissues is not fully understood, and the role of vitamin D in extraskeletal health has been a matter of debate. This report summarizes recent research on the roles for vitamin D in cancer, immunity and autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular and respiratory health, pregnancy, obesity, erythropoiesis, diabetes, muscle function, and aging. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit http://ordering.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/subs.asp?ref=1749-6632&doi=10.1111/(ISSN)1749-6632. ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member.

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The Ivane Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine was established in 2010 on the basis of the well-known Ivane Beritashvili Institute of Physiology, the most prominent research centre of Georgia, where basic and applied research in different fields of neurophysiology has been conducted since its foundation. Professor Ivane Beritashvili was a famous Georgian scientist who gained international recognition during his lifetime. He was one of the founders and members of the Georgian Academy of Sciences and a member of three academies of sciences of the former Soviet Union. He was an honorary member of the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Society of Electroencephalography, the Royal Society of England, the American Society of Biological Psychiatry, and an honorary member of the International Brain Research Organization. He was an honoured scientist of Georgia, a laureate of the State Prize, and a recipient of many orders and medals. Ivane Beritashvili is remembered in history as a person who founded the Department of Physiology at the newly opened Tbilisi State University. He developed physiological terminology in Georgian, wrote a textbook of physiology in Georgian for the students of the university, raised successful scientists from the first generation of his students, and founded the Georgian School of Physiology. In 1935, he founded the Institute of Physiology in Tbilisi, which soon gained recognition and became well-respected by a wide range of foreign scientists who often visited Georgia. In 2010, three scientific institutions were merged with the Ivane Beritashvili Institute of Physiology -- the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, the Center of Radiobiology and Radiation Ecology and the Center of Experimental Neurology, the first two of which, for many years, were the departments of the Institute of Physiology. This edited book is the third such compilation containing chapters that represent the research priorities of the Ivane Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine, which covers the experimental study of fundamental issues in the functioning of physiological (mainly neurophysiological) mechanisms during normal and pathological conditions. The first and second books: "Systemic, Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Physiological Functions and Their Disorders" -- published by Nova Science Publishers Inc. in 2015 and 2018, were also devoted to the same general problems. In the present edited book, particular attention is drawn to the study of extremely important processes underlying the basic mechanisms and disorders of various phenomenon of integrative activity of the brain: general behaviIt has to be noted that each chapter, within the collection of works, represents the results of separate, independent studies implemented by different scientific departments of the centre. or, learning and memory, the sleep-wakefulness cycle, regulation of adequate blood supply, hormesis, epilepsy, depression, sleep disorders, pain and analgesia. All of the mentioned processes are studied on the molecular, cellular and systemic levels of their organization. Therefore, the chapters are not directly related to each other and have been arranged alphabetically based on the surname of the authors. The authors would like to take this opportunity to present to the reader the scientific and institutional infrastructure of the centre, which consists of departments and laboratories. Nowadays the center consists of seven departments: Neurophysiology, Membranology, Biochemistry, Blood Circulation and Metabolism, Neurotoxicology, Membranology, Biophysics and Radiobiology and nine laboratories: Neurobiology of Sleep-Wakefulness Cycle, Vision Physiology, Behavior and Cognitive Functions, Brain Ultra- and Nano-Architectonics, Experimental Neurology, Pain and Analgesia, Structure and Functions of Genomes, Bioinformatics, and the Problems of Radiation Safety. In addition to the bilateral scientific cooperation with famous European and U.S. scientific institutions, the centre is a member of the International Science Consortium "From Molecule to Cellular Events in Human Pathologies", the annual meeting of which was held in Tbilisi in 2015. The authors are confident that the readers are fully aware of the theoretical and practical importance of the research related to the problems of systemic, cellular and molecular mechanisms of physiological functions and their disorders. The presented collection of works contains the results of relevant research conducted over the last three years (2019-2021). The authors will be grateful for feedback, recommendations and suggestions regarding their research, in the implementation of which they have invested a lot of effort, knowledge and experience.

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