Gazing into crystal balls is beyond the expertise of most scientists. Yet, as we look further into the 21st century, one does not have to be Nostradamus to predict that the current genomics and proteomics "revolution" will have an immense impact on medical bacteriology. This impact is already being re- ized in many academic departments, and although encroachment on routine diagnostic bacteriology, particularly in the hospital setting, is likely to occur at a slower pace, it remains nonetheless inevitable. Therefore, it is important that no one working in bacteriology should find themselves distanced from these fundamental developments. The involvement of all clinical bacteriologists is essential if the significant achievements of genome sequencing and analysis are to be turned into tangible advances, with resulting benefits for patient care and m- agement. It is our hope that Genomics, Proteomics, and Clinical Bacteriology: Methods and Reviews will play a part in bringing such a development to fruition. The advances in genomics and proteomics have already given us frequent opportunities to reassess our knowledge and understanding of established b- terial adversaries, and have provided us with the means to identify new foes. The new knowledge gained is enabling us to reconsider, for example, our c- cepts of bacterial pathogenicity, phylogeny and novel targets for antibacterial chemotherapy. These topics, and others, are considered in Genomics, Proteomics, and Clinical Bacteriology: Methods and Reviews.

Gazing into crystal balls is beyond the expertise of most scientists. Yet, as we look further into the 21st century, one does not have to be Nostradamus to predict that the current genomics and proteomics "revolution" will have an immense impact on medical bacteriology. This impact is already being re- ized in many academic departments, and although encroachment on routine diagnostic bacteriology, particularly in the hospital setting, is likely to occur at a slower pace, it remains nonetheless inevitable. Therefore, it is important that no one working in bacteriology should find themselves distanced from these fundamental developments. The involvement of all clinical bacteriologists is essential if the significant achievements of genome sequencing and analysis are to be turned into tangible advances, with resulting benefits for patient care and m- agement. It is our hope that Genomics, Proteomics, and Clinical Bacteriology: Methods and Reviews will play a part in bringing such a development to fruition. The advances in genomics and proteomics have already given us frequent opportunities to reassess our knowledge and understanding of established b- terial adversaries, and have provided us with the means to identify new foes. The new knowledge gained is enabling us to reconsider, for example, our c- cepts of bacterial pathogenicity, phylogeny and novel targets for antibacterial chemotherapy. These topics, and others, are considered in Genomics, Proteomics, and Clinical Bacteriology: Methods and Reviews.

This book highlights the triumph of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry over the past decade and provides insight into new and expanding technologies through a comprehensive range of short chapters that enable the reader to gauge their current status and how they may progress over the next decade. This book serves as a platform to consolidate current strengths of the technology and highlight new frontiers in tandem MS/MS that are likely to eventually supersede MALDI-TOF MS. Chapters discuss: Challenges of Identifying Mycobacterium to the Species level Identification of Bacteroides and Other Clinically Relevant Anaerobes Identification of Species in Mixed Microbial Populations Detection of Resistance Mechanisms Proteomics as a biomarker discovery and validation platform Determination of Antimicrobial Resistance using Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Parasitic diseases remain a major health problem throughout the world, for both humans and animals. For many of us, our technologically advanced lifestyle has decreased the prevalence and transmission of parasitic diseases, but for the majority of the world’s population, they are ever present in homes, domestic animals, food, or the environment. The study of parasites and parasitic disease has a long and distinguished history. In some cases, it has been driven by the great importance of the presence of the parasite to the community, for example, those that affect our livestock. In other cases, it is clear that applied research has suffered for lack of funding because the parasite affects people with few resources, such as the rural poor in resource-poor countries. These instances include the so-called “neglected diseases,” as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO). Parasites have complicated life cycles, and a thorough understanding of the unique characteristics of a particular parasite species is vital in attempts to avoid, prevent, or cure infection or to alleviate symptoms. Of course, the biological characteristics that each parasite has developed to aid survival and transmission, to avoid destruction by the immune system, and to adapt to a changing environment are of lasting fascination to basic biologists as well. The elegance of these biological systems has ensured that the study of protozoan and metazoan parasites also remains an active field of research in countries where the diseases are not a threat to the population.

Public Health Microbiology: Methods and Protocols is focused on microorganisms that can present a hazard to human health in the course of everyday life. There are chapters dealing with organisms that are directly pathogenic to humans, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi; on organisms that produce toxins during growth in their natural habitats; on the use of bacteriocins produced by such organisms as lactobacilli and bifidobacteria; as well as several chapters on hazard analysis, the use of disinfectants, microbiological analysis of cosmetics, and microbiological tests for sanitation equipment in food factories. Additional chapters look at the use of animals (mice) in the study of the various characteristics of milk and their relationships with lactic acid bacteria in particular. Other chapters focus on special methods for determining particular components of milk. In particular, in Parts I and II, on bacterial and viral pathogens, special attention is given to methods for PCR detection of genes with resistance to tetracycline, as well as to Salmonella enterica; for identification and typing of Campylobacter coli; for detection of the abundance of enteric viruses, hepatitis A virus, and rotaviruses in sewage, and of bacteriophages infecting the O157:H7 strain of Escherichia coli. Part III offers methods for computerized analysis and typing of fungal isolates, for isolation and enumeration of fungi in foods, and for the determination of aflatoxin and zearalenone.

This timely book discusses antimicrobial drug resistance, specifically, the resistance against the beta-lactam class of antibiotics by Gram-Negative bacteria. The book is broadly divided into five sections. The first section describes the underlying mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in Gram-negative bacteria. It gives an insight into the beta-lactamases, their types, classification, inhibitors, etc. The second section delves deep into the genetic basis of resistance. It talks about transposons, integrons, insertion sequences associated with antibiotic-resistant genes. The next section describes phenotypic and molecular methods to detect beta-lactam resistance. The fourth section talks about the epidemiology and prevalence of beta-lactamases in the environment. The last section of the book describes the various therapeutic options to combat this growing public threat of antimicrobial resistance. It talks about the current reserve drugs, as well as the newer antibiotic agents that are in the pipeline. This book is essential for clinical practitioners, students, and researchers in basic and medical microbiology.

Several developmental and historical threads are woven and displayed in these two volumes of Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes, the first on Library Construction, Physical Mapping, and Sequencing, and the second on Fu- tional Studies. The use of large-insert clone libraries is the unifying feature, with many diverse contributions. The editors have had quite distinct roles. Shaying Zhao has managed several BAC end-sequencing projects. Marvin Stodolsky during 1970–1980 contributed to the elucidation of the natural b- teriophage/prophage P1 vector system. Later, he became a member of the Genome Task Group of the Department of Energy (DOE), through which s- port flowed for most clone library resources of the Human Genome Program (HGP). Some important historical contributions are not represented in this volume. This preface in part serves to mention these contributions and also briefly surveys historical developments. Leon Rosner (deceased) contributed substantially in developing a PAC library for drosophila that utilized a PI virion-based encapsidation and tra- fection process. This library served prominently in the Drosophila Genome Project collaboration. PACs proved easy to purify so that they substantially replaced the YACs used earlier. Much of the early automation for massive clone picking and processing was developed at the collaborating Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. However, the P1 virion encapsidation system itself was too fastidious, and P1 virion-based methods did not gain popularity in other genome projects.