Bentham Science Publishers

Natural compounds continue to play a key role in drug development. Many clinically approved drugs are either unmodified natural products or their semi-synthetic derivatives. This book series presents reviews of exciting new bioactive natural products that have huge potential as drugs. Each volume presents comprehensive chapters contributed by eminent scientists. The volumes focus on drug candidates which are in the later stages of drug development and are being evaluated in clinical trials. The series, therefore, highlights the importance of natural products in our lives.

The second volume covers the following topics:

- A review of recent patents and natural products in clinical trials to treat schistosomiasis

- Natural products: the new intervention regimen for metabolic disorders

- Fluorine-containing drugs and drug candidates derived from natural products

- Natural products for the management of cardiovascular diseases

- Implication of natural compounds for the prevention of ocular diseases

Navigating the Fintech Frontier Transformative Innovations and Risk Factors in Financial Services explores the transformative impact of financial technology on banking and financial services. It examines key opportunities and challenges in fintech adoption, including AI-driven banking, blockchain innovations, big data analytics, and the role of IoT in financial services. The book also addresses the risks associated with fintech adoption, addressing security, regulatory concerns, and customer trust.

Key Features:

- Explores fintech adoption, risks, and regulatory challenges.

- Analyzes AI, blockchain, big data, and IoT in banking.

- Examines the impact of machine learning on financial services.

- Offers insights into customer behavior and risk management.

- Provides a theoretical and practical perspective on fintech innovation.

In this handbook, the authors provide a practical, easily accessible guide of necropsy techniques for examining wildlife. Chapters introduce the reader to the value of necropsy in studying wildlife in general, sample collection methods, cadaveric phenomena and necropsy techniques for a variety of organisms ranging from invertebrates to mammals. The book addresses some of the peculiar characteristics of veterinary autopsy specific to different types of specimens. The goal of this book is to equip the reader with the information necessary to conduct a forensic examination in order to reach a conclusive diagnosis of an animal’s death, while also understanding it in an ecological context.

Necropsy Techniques for Examining Wildlife Samples is intended as an essential handbook for students and professionals of biology, zoology and veterinary medicine as well as professionals, who work in natural parks, wildlife rehabilitation centers and biological or zoological parks as conservationists, researchers or animal handlers.

Clinical chemistry is a science that requires specific knowledge and teaching. The e-book covers several topics in clinical nephrology. Patients suffering from severe chronic kidney disease may be quasi asymptomatic. This lack of overt symptomatology suggests that clinical laboratory tests are of the highest importance. Clinicians treating patients and clinical biologists operating in laboratories are often far apart from each other. They have a lot of things to share and to learn from each other. This e-book bridges the gap between these two groups of health professionals.

This book dives into the heart of how to design distributed control architectures for heterogeneous teams of humans, robots, and automated systems, enabling them to achieve greater cooperation and autonomy through the use of network technologies. It provides a wide range of practical, proven strategies for pervasive communication and collaborative problem solving abilities of humans, robots, and their environments. Each chapter consists of a presentation of findings from the latest research in networked robots and ambient intelligence. The chapters also detail how to allow robots to achieve universal access to the extended functionality of the environment that brings various cost effective services to those in need. Readers can envision a realistic view of what can be expected from a networked human robot cooperative environment in the next decade.

This reference is the definitive guide to common neurodegenerative diseases that affect humans. The book covers mechanisms of some of the most well-known neurodegenerative diseases, their biomarkers, neuropharmacology, and emerging treatment strategies.

The book introduces the subject of neurodegeneration by outlining the biochemistry, pathophysiology and multifactorial neurological mechanisms (the role of genetics, environmental factors and mitochondrial damage, for example). Next, it explains some of the most studied diseases, namely, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, Huntington's Disease, and Multiple Sclerosis. Subsequent chapters delve into current knowledge about diagnostic and immunological biomarkers, followed by a summary of novel therapeutic strategies.

Special attention has been given to the role of medicinal plants in attempting to treat neurodegenerative diseases, as well as the public health burden posed by these conditions.

Key Features - give readers an overview of multifactorial disease mechanisms in neurodegeneration

- covers some major neurodegenerative diseases in detail

- covers diagnostic and immunological biomarkers

- explores current therapeutic strategies and drug targets in common neurodegenerative diseases

- offers a simple presentation with references for advanced readers

The book is a suitable reference for all readers, including students, research scholars, and physicians who are interested in the mechanisms and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Host defense to intracellular pathogens depends upon both innate and adaptive cell-mediated immune responses. Polymorphonuclear neutrophil leukocytes which belong to the innate immune system are the first cells that are recruited massively within hours of microbial infection. The importance of neutrophils in the development of an immune response is only emerging as they have long been considered by immunologists as short lived, non-dividing cells, of poor interest. Now, neutrophils are emerging as key components of the inflammatory response, and are shown to have immunoregulatory roles in microbial infections. The impact of neutrophils on cells present at the site of infection is only beginning to be studied and deserves more attention. This e-book provides an overview of the recent advances made in the field of neutrophil biology and motions towards some of the exciting new directions in which neutrophil research is moving.

The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is a hormonal system that is responsible for regulating plasma sodium ion concentration and arterial blood pressure in the body. The system involves several peptides such as angiotensin I and II as well as angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) to enable the constriction of arterial blood vessels in the lung. Angiotensin II also stimulates the production of the hormone aldosterone in the kidneys which brings sodium ions into the bloodstream in exchange for potassium ions. Malfunctions of the RAS can lead to hypertension, heart failure, diabetes and renal complications. Thus the biochemical components of this system serve as important targets for therapeutic drugs.

This monograph is a compilation of updated reviews on the RAS. The monograph covers describes the components of the system to explaining its physiological and clinical features in the cardiovascular system and the kidneys. This is followed by sections explaining the biochemistry of the RAS system in cardiovascular and renal disease and the pharmacology of relevant therapeutic drugs. Additional information on the effect of exercise states and methods to quantify angiotensins for molecular diagnosis is also presented in the concluding sections.

Information in the monograph will be of interest to physiologists and endocrinologists involved in medical studies or clinical practice. Readers will be able to understand the RAS with a holistic frame of reference.

This volume presents a summary of recent research and debates on old and new aspects in stroke medicine. The volume covers topics such as causative factors of stroke such as hypertension, the immune system, genetic factors and the neurovegetative system, to the role of new imaging techniques in improving diagnosis and treatment, from preventive therapy and recanalization to the important and intriguing effects of neuroprotection, neuroregeneration and post stroke rehabilitation. Readers will be able to understand perspectives from stroke medicine researchers about the relationship between the nervous system and other physiological systems in the body and their role in the onset and treatment of stroke. The volume is intended as a resource for neurologists and medical professionals involved in other specialties such as cardiology, internal medicine, rehabilitation and physiology.

New Findings from Natural Substances present the state-of-the-art and future prospects for the application of biomolecules in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, food and industrial sectors. The book presents eight reviews contributed by more than twenty experts on interesting natural substances, and plant sources, that serve as sources of natural remedies for a variety of ailments.

The reviews in the book cover the use of herbs like Heliotropium and Astragalus. Additional health benefits of extracts from essential oils, Caenorhabditis elegans, and olive oil, as well as the medicinal use of rosmarinic acid and hydrolates. The contributions highlight a range of pharmacological agents from natural sources that have anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective and neuroprotective effects.

The contents are presented in a simple and organized style. The book will broaden the knowledge about biological products for a variety of readers - generalists, students and researchers, alike.