Recent years have witnessed striking advances in research on axons at a cellular level that substantially impact our current understanding of axonal biology. Newer findings and their ramifications are critically reviewed in the 16 chapters of this volume by authors highly qualified by virtue of their scientific contributions to research areas they know and write about.
Five basic areas (I to V) germane to axonal biology are highlighted, beginning with (I) signaling interactions mediating myelination, and differentiation of axonal membrane domains; (IIa) issues surrounding...
Recent years have witnessed striking advances in research on axons at a cellular level that substantially impact our current understanding of axona...
The concept of hormonal regulation using intercellular peptide messengers dates back to the discovery of secretin in 1902. The concept was simple: A peptide is released from specific hormone producing cells, endocrine cells, into circulation upon stimulation of the cells. The peptide hormone travels via blood to its target, the cells of which are equipped with specific receptors for high-affinity binding of the particular peptide hormone. Receptor binding subsequently elicits action of the target cells. This concept has been seriously challenged by modern biochemistry and cell biology. Thus,...
The concept of hormonal regulation using intercellular peptide messengers dates back to the discovery of secretin in 1902. The concept was simple: A p...
Bidirectional traffic of macromolecules across the nuclear envelope is an active and essential transport process in all eukaryotic cells. Work on various model systems has led to a tremendous increase in our understanding of nuclear transport in recent years. This volume summarizes our current knowledge of protein and RNA transport into and out of the nucleus. It contains nine up-to-date reviews which cover various aspects of nucleocytoplasmic transport, including the structure and function of the nuclear pore complex, the role of soluble transport factors in protein and RNA transport, and...
Bidirectional traffic of macromolecules across the nuclear envelope is an active and essential transport process in all eukaryotic cells. Work on vari...
In the last decade there has been a great expansion in our knowledge of the existence, nature and functions of mammalian carbohydrate binding proteins. This book covers the structures and postulated functions for the major classes of mammalian carbohydrate binding proteins. These include intracellular lectins involved in diverse functions such as protein synthesis quality control, targetting of lysosomal enzymes and in the secretory pathway. In addition, several chapters are devoted to other major families of lectins that are found at the cell surface or in extracellular fluids which are...
In the last decade there has been a great expansion in our knowledge of the existence, nature and functions of mammalian carbohydrate binding proteins...
Our understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in mammalian brain development remains limited. However, the last few years have wit nessed a quantum leap in our knowledge, due to technological improve ments, particularly in molecular genetics. Despite this progress, the available body of data remains mostly phenomenological and reveals very little about the grammar that organizes the molecular dictionary to articulate a pheno type. Nevertheless, the recent progress in genetics will allow us to contem plate, for the first time, the integration of observation into a coherent view of...
Our understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in mammalian brain development remains limited. However, the last few years have wit nessed a q...
During the last two decades, the prevalence of obesity has dramatically increased in western and westernized societies. Its devastating health consequences include hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, or diabetes and make obesity the second leading cause of unnecessary deaths in the USA. As a consequence, obesity has a strong negative impact on the public health care systems. Recently emerging scienti?c insight has helped understanding obesity as a complex chronic disease with multiple causes. A multileveled gene-environment interaction appears to involve a substantial number of...
During the last two decades, the prevalence of obesity has dramatically increased in western and westernized societies. Its devastating health consequ...
This collection of reviews contains contributions by internationally recognized immunologists and molecular and cellular neurobiologists. Uniquely, it puts side by side cellular communication devices and signaling mechanisms in the immune and nervous systems and discusses mechanisms of interaction between the two systems, the significance of which has only recently been fully appreciated.
This collection of reviews contains contributions by internationally recognized immunologists and molecular and cellular neurobiologists. Uniquely,...
What makes an ideal model system to study embryonic development? The answer to this question has varied in the course of scientific quest, depending on the available experimental approaches. Yet, at the beginning of the new millennium, most of the mainstream model organisms have one feature in common, they are amenable to genetic analysis. Indeed, the genetic approach has proven remarkably effective in the dissection of complex biological phenomena, starting with the regulation of the lactose operon in Escherichia coli, the decision between the lysogenic and lytic cycles of the lambda phage...
What makes an ideal model system to study embryonic development? The answer to this question has varied in the course of scientific quest, depending o...
This book focuses on the intersection between cell cycle regulation and embryo development. Specific modifications of the canonical cell cycle occur throughout the whole period of development and are adapted to fulfil functions coded by the developmental program. Deciphering these adaptations is essential to comprehending how living organisms develop. The aim of this book is to review the best-known modifications and adaptations of the cell cycle during development. The first chapters cover the general problems of how the cell cycle evolves, while consecutive chapters guide readers through...
This book focuses on the intersection between cell cycle regulation and embryo development. Specific modifications of the canonical cell cycle occur t...
The Galton-Watson branching process has its roots in the problem of extinction of family names which was given a precise formulation by F. Galton as problem 4001 in the Educational Times (17, 1873). In 1875, an attempt to solve this problem was made by H. W. Watson but as it turned out, his conclusion was incorrect. Half a century later, R. A. Fisher made use of the Galton-Watson process to determine the extinction probability of the progeny of a mutant gene. However, it was J. B. S. Haldane who finally gave the first sketch of the correct conclusion. J. B. S. Haldane also predicted that...
The Galton-Watson branching process has its roots in the problem of extinction of family names which was given a precise formulation by F. Galton as p...
