The book provides an overview on how the microbiome contributes to human health and disease. The microbiome has also become a burgeoning field of research in medicine, agriculture & environment. The readers will obtain profound knowledge on the connection between intestinal microbiota and immune defense systems, medicine, agriculture & environment. The book may address several researchers, clinicians and scholars working in biomedicine, microbiology and immunology. The application of new technologies has no doubt revolutionized the research initiatives providing new insights into the dynamics of these complex microbial communities and their role in medicine, agriculture & environment shall be more emphasized. Drawing on broad range concepts of disciplines and model systems, this book primarily provides a conceptual framework for understanding these human-microbe, animal-microbe & plant-microbe, interactions while shedding critical light on the scientific challenges that lie ahead. Furthermore this book explains why microbiome research demands a creative and interdisciplinary thinking—the capacity to combine microbiology with human, animal and plant physiology, ecological theory with immunology, and evolutionary perspectives with metabolic science.This book provides an accessible and authoritative guide to the fundamental principles of microbiome science, an exciting and fast-emerging new discipline that is reshaping many aspects of the life sciences. These microbial partners can also drive ecologically important traits, from thermal tolerance to diet in a typical immune system, and have contributed to animal and plant diversification over long evolutionary timescales. Also this book explains why microbiome research presents a more complete picture of the biology of humans and other animals, and how it can deliver novel therapies for human health and new strategies.

Natural Autoantibodies provides an in-depth analysis of all aspects of natural antibodies. The book examines the advantages and pitfalls of every type of technique that is widely used for detecting autoantibodies. It also covers the sequencing of human autoantibody genes, discussing how sequencing is undertaken and the genetic clues available to elucidate the genetic origins of autoimmunity. Animal models of autoimmunity are also covered, and the up-to-date account provided in this book explains how natural autoantibodies have important regulatory functions and also occasionally serve as templates for autoimmunity. Other topics examined in Natural Autoantibodies: Their Physiological Role and Regulatory Significance include idiotypes of natural autoantibodies; the pathogenic role of natural autoantibodies; and methods to measure the effects of genetic and sex hormones, as well as aging, on natural autoantibodies. The book will be an excellent research tool and reference for immunologists, rheumatologists, and others interested in the topic.

The book provides an overview on how the gut microbiome contributes to human health. The readers will get profound knowledge on the connection between intestinal microbiota and immune defense systems. The tools of choice to study the ecology of these highly-specialized microorganism communities such as high-throughput sequencing and metagenomic mining will be presented. In addition the most common diseases associated to the composition of the gut flora are discussed in detail. The book will address researchers, clinicians and advanced students working in biomedicine, microbiology and immunology.

This book provides a comprehensive and complete overview of biomarkers in clinical practice for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) bringing together the literature in a clear and concise manner. The book bridges the gap between growing knowledge at the bench and current and future applications of biomarkers in clinical practice. The central structure of the book focuses on prognostic and predictive biomarkers in IBD with an emphasis on the fields of research and scientific techniques (genomics, proteomics and metabonomics) that have led to biomarker discovery and places these biomarkers within a clinical context to help understand their utility in clinical practice. This book will be of use to clinicians who have an interest in using biomarkers in clinical practice as well as clinician researchers and scientists involved in the biomarker research pipeline. The author team comprises experts from around the world in order to bring together the literature in an effort to inform clinicians and researchers about the current state-of-the art in biomarker discovery. It is intended to assist future research efforts and indicate how biomarkers might be best applied to clinical practice both at present and in the future.

This is the first comprehensive volume to look at the importance of short-chain fatty acids in digestion, the function of the large intestine and their role in human health. Short-chain fatty acids are the major product of bacterial fermentation of dietary carbohydrates in the human and animal large intestine. They represent the major end products of digestive processes occurring in the caecum and large intestine. As such, they form an important dietary component and it is increasingly recognised that they may have a significant role in protecting against large bowel cancer and in metabolism. Prepared by an international team of contributors who are at the forefront of this area of research, this volume will be an essential source of reference for gastroenterologists, nutritionists and others active in this area.

As our understanding of immune mediated chronic inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) grows, it becomes more and more clear that these conditions result from the convergence of a multitude of pathogenic mechanisms whose relative individual contribution is different in different patient subsets. Promising new technologies have been conceived that address the hypotheses that targeting multiple pathways simultaneously, selectively delivering therapeutics to areas of inflammation and/or resetting the immune system, could take efficacy to new levels. However, we have long waited for the arrival of some of these technologies to the bedside, or even far enough in the drug development process in spite of the initial enthusiasm. Some of the examples covered in this book include bispecific antibodies and genomic medicines, microparticles and targeted delivery of drugs to inflamed vasculature. Most published reviews and book chapters on novel therapies for inflammatory diseases describe positive attributes of molecules or technologies under investigation and the rationale for developing them into therapeutics. The originality and potential value of this book is not in the description of these targets or technologies from the point of view of their structure or mechanism of action exclusively, but rather, in making an effort to critically address the question of what is needed to move these technologies into the clinic. Has the technology not made it past the preclinical stage and why? Has it already been tested in humans and failed? What are the potential reasons behind those failures? What do experts in each field believe can be done better to increase the probabilities of success? In addition, the authors address the competitive landscape and summarize clinical studies that have failed in the respective area. They talk about the patient populations that would be required for the successful conduction of a clinical trial to test certain molecules, and they proactively share their views regarding both the potential and the drawbacks of targets or methodologies.

Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics: Bioactive Foods in Health Promotion reviews and presents new hypotheses and conclusions on the effects of different bioactive components of probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics to prevent disease and improve the health of various populations. Experts define and support the actions of bacteria; bacteria modified bioflavonoids and prebiotic fibrous materials and vegetable compounds. A major emphasis is placed on the health-promoting activities and bioactive components of probiotic bacteria. - Offers a novel focus on synbiotics, carefully designed prebiotics probiotics combinations to help design functional food and nutraceutical products - Discusses how prebiotics and probiotics are complementary and can be incorporated into food products and used as alternative medicines - Defines the variety of applications of probiotics in health and disease resistance and provides key insights into how gut flora are modified by specific food materials - Includes valuable information on how prebiotics are important sources of micro-and macronutrients that modify body functions