Building on the existing titles in the "Airways Smooth Muscle" sub-series, the sixth volume explores physiological and pharmacological processes in the lung in vivo. The various animal models available for studying the bronchospasm and inflammation associated with human asthma are thoroughly reviewed by internationally recognised scientists. Specific chapters focus on the problems of administering drugs to animal airways, the mechanics of assessing lung function in the models, and describe in detail the species used, from rodents to primates. The use of genetically altered animals, an area of...

1. 1. Invasive versus Non-Invasive Clinical Measurements in Medicine Clinical measurement has become an essential complement to traditional physical diagnosis. An ideal clinical measurement should be quantitative, have a high level of reliability and accuracy, be safe, acceptable to the patient, easy to perform and non-invasive. The latter demands that the technique should not break the skin or the lining epithelium and should be devoid of effects on the tissues of the body by the dissipation of energy or the introduction of infection 1]. It is therefore logical that for a given measurement,...