This volume contains the proceedings of the third in a series of conferences entitled, The International Symposium on Biological Reactive Intermediates. The first was held at the University of Turku in Finland, in 1975, the second at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, in 1980 and the most recent at the University of Maryland in the United States, in 1985. The significance of these conferences has been emphasized by the rapid growth of mechanistic toxicology over the last decade. These conferences were initially stimulated by the attempt to uncover the significance behind the observations that the toxicity of carcinogenic responses produced by many chemicals was associated with the observation that their metabolism led to the formation of chemcially reactive electrophiles which covalently bound to nucleophilic sites in cells such as proteins, nucleic acid or fats. Recently, newer concepts have arisen which have necessitated the expansion of subjects covered by the conference. For example, the application of newer knowledge of the role of active oxygen species in reactive metabolite formation, the concept of suicide substrates, examination of the function of glutathione in cells, application of immunological techniques and molecular biological probes to the solution of toxicological problems all had an impact on the study of the biological reactive intermediates.

This book contains 20 chapters, which are divided into 5 sections. Section 1 covers different aspects of insecticide resistance of selected economically important plant insect pests, whereas section 2 includes chapters about the importance, development and insecticide resistance management in controlling malaria vectors. Section 3 is dedicated to some general questions in insecticide resistance, while the main topic of section 4 is biochemical approaches of insecticide resistance mechanisms. Section 5 covers ecologically acceptable approaches for overcoming insecticide resistance, such are the use of mycoinsecticides, and understanding the role of some plant chemical compounds, which are important in interactions between plants, their pests and biological control agents.

Focuses on particular aspects of the so-called Phase II of drug detoxication, which has important ramifications for endogenous metabolism and nutrition. This volume on glutathione transferases and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidases serves to bring together methods and concepts in a rapidly developing field of cell and systems biology.

This report considers the biological and behavioral mechanisms that may underlie the pathogenicity of tobacco smoke. Many Surgeon General's reports have considered research findings on mechanisms in assessing the biological plausibility of associations observed in epidemiologic studies. Mechanisms of disease are important because they may provide plausibility, which is one of the guideline criteria for assessing evidence on causation. This report specifically reviews the evidence on the potential mechanisms by which smoking causes diseases and considers whether a mechanism is likely to be operative in the production of human disease by tobacco smoke. This evidence is relevant to understanding how smoking causes disease, to identifying those who may be particularly susceptible, and to assessing the potential risks of tobacco products.

Amino Acid - New Insights and Roles in Plant and Animal provides useful information on new aspects of amino acid structure, synthesis reactions, dietary application in animals, and metabolism in plants. Section 1 includes chapters that describe the therapeutic uses, antiallergic effects, new aspects in the D-amino acid structure, historical background of desmosines, and stereoselective synthesis of ?-aminophosphonic acids. Section 2 presents the role of amino acids in plants, which includes new insights and aspects of D-amino acids, metabolism and transport in soybean, changes during energy storage compound accumulation of microalgae, and determination of amino acids from natural compounds. Section 3 describes the chapters on methodologies and requirement of dietary amino acids for Japanese quails, laying hens, and finishing pigs. The final chapter identifies potential importance of glutathione S-transferase activity for generating resistance to triclabendazole in Fasciola hepatica.

This is the only book of its kind to provide an overview of the science of flavonoids in plants.