Parasitoid viruses

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Serap Aksoy

Parasitic, bacterial and viral agents continue to challenge the welfare of humans, livestock, wild life and plants worldwide. The public health impact and financial consequences of these diseases are particularly hard on the already overburdened economies of developing countries especially in the tropics. Many of these disease agents utilize insect hosts (vectors) to achieve their transmission to mammals. In the past, these diseases were largely controlled by insecticide-based vector reduction strategies. Now, many of these diseases have reemerged in the tropics, recolonizing their previous range, and expanding into new territories previously not considered to be endemic. Habitat change, irrigation practices, atmospheric and climate change, insecticide and drug resistance as well as increases in global tourism, human traffic and commercial activities, have driven the reemergence and spread of vector borne diseases. While these diseases can be controlled through interventions.

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Tamás Székely, Allen J. Moore, Jan Komdeur

"Humans live in large and extensive societies and spend much of their time interacting socially. Likewise, most other animals also interact socially. Social behaviour is of constant fascination to biologists and psychologists of many disciplines, from behavioural ecology to comparative biology and sociobiology. The two major approaches used to study social behaviour involve either the mechanism of behaviour - where it has come from and how it has evolved, or the function of the behaviour studied. With guest articles from leaders in the field, theoretical foundations along with recent advances are presented to give a truly multidisciplinary overview of social behaviour, for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Topics include aggression, communication, group living, sexual behaviour and co-operative breeding. With examples ranging from bacteria to social mammals and humans, a variety of research tools are used, including candidate gene approaches, quantitative genetics, neuro-endocrine studies, cost-benefit and phylogenetic analyses and evolutionary game theory"--Provided by publisher.

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Sverre Heim, Felix Mitelman

Over the past decade, cancer cytogenetics has become widely recognized both as a basic research tool for investigations of tumor biology and a clinical methodology providing vital insights into cancer development and progression. Written by two leading experts, Cancer Cytogenetics, Second Edition provides an authoritative description of neoplastic processes at the chromosomal level of genomic organization. The book opens with a summary of cytogenetic methods and terminology, then reviews the key aspects of chromosomal abnormalities in cancer. The remainder of the book is devoted to the karyotypic and molecular genetic characteristics of specific neoplastic disorders and their clinical implications. Included in these sections are eleven entirely new chapters focusing on different types of non-hematologic neoplasms. This extensive expansion from the single-chapter coverage of the first edition was necessitated by a veritable explosion of knowledge in the field of solid tumor cytogenetics. . Specific topics in the Second Edition include: acute and chronic myeloproliferative disorders; myelodysplastic syndromes; acute and chronic lymphoproliferative disorders; malignant lymphomas; and solid tumors of the respiratory, digestive, and urinary tracts; breast, genital, endocrine, and nervous systems; eye, skin, and bone; and soft tissue. This Second Edition of Cancer Cytogenetics is a valuable resource for researchers in a wide range of fields, including cytogenetics, medical and molecular genetics, cellular and molecular biology, oncology, and hematology. With its complete coverage of the cytogenetic mechanisms underlying neoplasia, this text will also be an indispensable reference for all clinicians involved in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients.

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Pierre Baldi and G. Wesley Hatfield

Massive data acquisition technologies--such as genome sequencing, high-throughput drug screening, and DNA arrays--are in the process of revolutionizing biology and medicine. This concise, user-friendly and interdisciplinary guide to DNA microarray technology is an introduction and a reference for both biologists and computational scientists. The authors describe the underlying technologies and offer an awareness of the "noise" and pitfalls present in the data generated. They also provide an idea of the different data mining techniques and algorithms that are available to interpret data, and the advantages and disadvantages of each in differing situations.