Blood Cells has been written with both the practisinghaematologist and the trainee in mind. It aims to provide a guidefor use in the diagnostic haematology laboratory, covering methodsof collection of blood specimens, blood film preparation andstaining, the principles of manual and automated blood counts andthe assessment of the morphological features of blood cells. Thepractising haematologist should find this book sufficientlycomprehensive to be a reference source while, at the same time, thetrainee haematologist and biomedical scientist should find it astraightforward and practical bench manual. Enables both the haematologist and laboratory scientist toidentify blood cell features, from the most common to the moreobscure Provides essential information on methods of collection, bloodfilm preparation and staining, together with the principles ofmanual and automated blood counts Completely revised and updated, incorporating much newlypublished information: now includes advice on further tests when aspecific diagnosis is suspected Four hundred high quality photographs to aid with blood cellidentification Highlights the purpose and clinical relevance of haematologylaboratory tests throughout

Mast Cells and Basophils will be essential reading for immunologists, biochemists and medical researchers. Detailed chapters cover all aspects of mast cell and basophil research, from cell development, proteases, histamine, cysteinyl leukotrienes, physiology and pathology to the role of these cells in health and disease. Chapters also discuss the clinical implications of histamine receptor antagonists.

“Infogest” (Improving Health Properties of Food by Sharing our Knowledge on the Digestive Process) is an EU COST action/network in the domain of Food and Agriculture that will last for 4 years from April 4, 2011. Infogest aims at building an open international network of institutes undertaking multidisciplinary basic research on food digestion gathering scientists from different origins (food scientists, gut physiologists, nutritionists...). The network gathers 70 partners from academia, corresponding to a total of 29 countries. The three main scientific goals are: Identify the beneficial food components released in the gut during digestion; Support the effect of beneficial food components on human health; Promote harmonization of currently used digestion models Infogest meetings highlighted the need for a publication that would provide researchers with an insight into the advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of respective in vitro and ex vivo assays to evaluate the effects of foods and food bioactives on health. Such assays are particularly important in situations where a large number of foods/bioactives need to be screened rapidly and in a cost effective manner in order to ultimately identify lead foods/bioactives that can be the subject of in vivo assays. The book is an asset to researchers wishing to study the health benefits of their foods and food bioactives of interest and highlights which in vitro/ex vivo assays are of greatest relevance to their goals, what sort of outputs/data can be generated and, as noted above, highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the various assays. It is also an important resource for undergraduate students in the ‘food and health’ arena.