Methods in Physiology

• This contributed volume focuses on understanding the educational strengths and weaknesses of mediated content (including media as a learning supplement), in comparison to traditional face-to-face learning. Each chapter includes research on, and a broad-brush summary of, approaches to combining life sciences education with educational technologies.

• The chapters are organized into four main sections, each of which focuses on a key question regarding the consequences of incorporating media into education. In this regard, the authors highlight how educational technology is both a bridge and barrier to student access and inclusivity. Further, they address the ongoing discussion as to whether students need to be present for lectures, and on how having agency in their own learning can improve both retention and conceptual understanding. To link the content to current events, the authors also shed light on the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the continuity of educational programs and on the growing importance of educational technologies.
• Consequently, the book offers life science educators valuable guidance on the technologies already available, and an outlook on what is yet to come.
• Table of Contents (PDF)

• This book is a collection of principles and current practices in omics research, applied to skeletal muscle physiology and disorders. The various sections are categorized according to the level of biological organization, namely, genomics (DNA), transcriptomics (RNA), proteomics (protein), and metabolomics (metabolite). With skeletal muscle as the unifying theme, and featuring contributions from leading experts in this traditional field of research, it highlights the importance of skeletal muscle tissue in human development, health and successful ageing. It also discusses other fascinating topics like developmental biology, muscular dystrophies, exercise, insulin resistance and atrophy due to disuse, ageing or other muscle diseases, conveying the vast opportunities for generating new hypotheses as well as testing existing hypotheses by combining high-throughput techniques with proper experiment designs, bioinformatics and statistical analyses.

• Presenting the latest research techniques, this book is a valuable resource for the physiology community, particularly researchers and grad students who want to explore the new opportunities for omics technologies in basic physiology research.
• Table of Contents (PDF)

• The Multiple Inert Gas Elimination Technique (MIGET) is a complex methodology involving specialized gas chromatography and sophisticated mathematics developed in the early 1970’s. Essentially, nobody possesses knowledge of all its elements except for its original developers, and while some practical and theoretical aspects have been published over the years, none have included the level of detail that would be necessary for a potential user to adopt and understand the technique easily. This book is unique in providing a highly detailed, comprehensive technical description of the theory and practice underlying the MIGET to help potential users set up the method and solve problems they may encounter.
  
• But it is much more than a reference manual – it is a substantial physiological and mathematical treatise in its own right.
  
• It also has a wide applicability – there is extensive discussion of the common biological problem of quantitative inference. The authors took measured whole-lung gas exchange variables, and used mathematical procedures to infer the distribution of ventilation and blood flow from this data. In so doing, they developed novel approaches to answer the question: What are the limits to what can be concluded when inferring the inner workings from the “black box” behavior of a system? The book details the approaches developed, which can be generalized to other similar distributed functions within tissues and organs. They involve engineering approaches such as linear and quadratic programming, and uniquely use mathematical tools with biological constraints to obtain as much information as possible about a “black box” system.
  
• Lastly, the book summarizes the hundreds of research papers published by a number of groups over the decades in a way never before attempted in order to marshal the world’s literature on the topic and to provide in one place the wealth of important discoveries, both physiological and clinical, enabled by the technique.
  
  
• Table of Contents (PDF)

• Focuses on membrane protein structure
  
• The reviews presented here emphasize fundamental ideas and provide an entry to the diverse and complex literature
  
• The four major sections deal with the general nature of the membrane protein structure problem, biochemical and molecular biological approaches to protein topology, direct structural methods, and model and physicochemical approaches
  
• The work will be of interest to physiologists, cellular and molecular biologists, biophysicists, and biochemists

Studies of receptors, ion channels, and other membrane proteins require a solid understanding of the structural principles of these important biomolecules. Membrane protein structure is, however, a very challenging field. The structures of only three types of transmembrane proteins have been determined to moderate or high resolution during the last two decades, a period during which the amino acid sequences of hundreds, if not thousands, of membrane proteins have been reported. As a result, the creation of structural models to serve as guides for studies of receptors, channels, and other membrane proteins has become crucially important. This book has been assembled in order to share the experiences and findings of expert researchers in protein structure and structure-prediction methods as well as membrane biophysics and lipid physical chemistry, whose work establishes the basis for the development of suitable model structures. The reviews presented here emphasize fundamental ideas and provide an entry to the diverse and complex literature. The four major sections deal with the general nature of the membrane protein structure problem, biochemical and molecular biological approaches to protein topology, direct structural methods, and model and physicochemical approaches. The work will be of interest to physiologists, cellular and molecular biologists, biophysicists, and biochemists working on the function of membrane proteins such as receptors, ion channels, and transporters, as well as senior graduate students and independent investigators.

• Table of Contents (PDF)

• This volume delineates the use of fractal patterns and measures of fractal dimensions in describing and understanding general aspects of biology, particularly human physiology
• After describing the ubiquitous nature of fractal phenomena, the authors give examples of the properties of fractals in space and time
• Proceeding from mathematical definitions, they develop detailed practical methods for assessing the fractal characteristics of wave forms varying with time, tissue density variation, and surface irregularities
• Most importantly, the authors show how fractal variation defines internal spatial or temporal correlations within the fractal system or object

This volume delineates the use of fractal patterns and measures of fractal dimensions in describing and understanding general aspects of biology, particularly human physiology. After describing the ubiquitous nature of fractal phenomena, the authors give examples of the properties of fractals in space and time. Proceeding from mathematical definitions, they develop detailed practical methods for assessing the fractal characteristics of wave forms varying with time, tissue density variation, and surface irregularities. Most importantly, the authors show how fractal variation defines internal spatial or temporal correlations within the fractal system or object. Simple, recursively applied rules can give rise to complex biological structures by a variety of methods. This suggests that genetic rules govern the general structuring of an organism, while rules implied by interactions at the biochemical, cellular, and tissue levels govern ontogenic development and therefore play the major role in the growth of an organism. Chaos, or non-linear dynamics, is introduced as a stimulating way to examine biological behavior at the cellular and whole animal levels, even though proof of the chaotic nature of normal physiologic events is as yet meager. The later chapters give sets of examples of structural and behavioral fractal phenomena in nerve and muscle, in the cardiovascular and respiratory systems and in growth processes. Why molecular interactions and complex systems give rise to fractals is explored and related to the ideas of emergent properties of systems operating at high levels of complexity.

• Table of Contents (PDF)

• Covers the physiological process relevant to inflammation
• Addressed from a vascular perspective
• Intended to serve as an advanced textbook or reference for those studying the physiology of inflammation

This book covers the physiological processes relevant to inflammation. Although the problem is addressed from a vascular perspective, pathological aspects are also considered. The book centers on the recruitment of leukocytes to sites of injury and infection, their function in the tissue, and the eventual resolution of inflammation. It starts with the formation of leukocytes and the physiology of their transport to the sites of inflammation, considers endothelial activation, and covers all kinds of leukocyte activators including chemokines. Signal transduction pathways for chemoattractants and the activation of neutrophil functions are discussed. Several chapters review the various adhesion molecules and pertinent methods to study their function, including flow chambers, knockout mice, measurement of soluble adhesion molecules and intravital microscopy. The book is aimed at medical residents, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and physicians and scientists in physiology, pharmacology, biomedical engineering, pathology, immunology, infectious disease and related disciplines. It is intended to serve as an advanced textbook or reference for studying the physiology of inflammation.

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• Well illustrated book explains basic concepts and imaging procedures
  
• Authors descrube approaches to selecting epiflourescence microscopy, detectors, and image acquisition and processing software for different biological adaptations
  
• Written for graduate students and scientists

Advances in technology have revolutionized the development of light microscopy techniques in biomedical research, thus improving visualization of the microstructure of cells and tissues under physiological conditions. Fluorescence microscopy methods are non-contact and non-invasive and provide high spatial and temporal resolution that other laboratory techniques cannot. This well-illustrated book targets graduate students and scientists who are new to the state-of-the-art fluorescence microscopy techniques used in biological and clinical imaging. It explains basic concepts and imaging procedures for wide-field, confocal, multiphoton excitation, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), lifetime imaging (FLIM), spectral imaging, fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP), optical tweezers, total internal reflection, high spatial resolution atomic force microscopy (AFM), and bioluminescence imaging for gene expression. The usage of these techniques in various biological applications, including calcium, pH, membrane potential, mitochondrial signaling, protein-protein interactions under various physiological conditions, and deep tissue imaging, is clearly presented. The authors describe the approaches to selecting epifluorescence microscopy, the detectors, and the image acquisition and processing software for different biological applications. Step-by-step directions on preparing different digital formats for light microscopy images on websites are also provided.

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• Based on a 1985 symposium on animal stress
• Provides up-to-date discussion of the problems and methods of studying animal stress today
• Invaluable reference for those exploring complex responses in animals

Based on a recent symposium that brought together experts in behavior, nutrition, physiology, immunology, and human and animal medicine, this volume presents an up-to-date discussion of the problems and methods of studying animal stress today. Section one reviews the evolutionary and ontogenetic determinants of animal suffering and the assessment of well-being. The second section examines biological responses to stress and methods of monitoring stress in animals. Section three shows how stress can threaten animal health, disrupt normal reproduction, and influence growth and metabolism. The final section relates the importance of animal stress to developing guidelines on the use of animals in scientific research. This is an invaluable reference for exploring these complex responses.

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• Edited and authored by international experts on voltage and patch clamping
• Designed to help anyone undertaking experiments requiring the use of voltage and patch clamping techniques
• Deepens knowledge on voltage and patch clamping

Edited and authored by international experts on voltage and patch clamping, this volume is designed to help anyone undertaking experiments requiring the use of these techniques. The only book of its kind to bring together this wealth of information on theory as well as practical techniques, this is a volume that no one involved in voltage and patch clamping can afford to be without.

• Table of Contents (PDF)