High pressure biology is an old, fascinating and stimulating field of research. One of the major reasons for the interest in studying high pressure is that this environmental factor also plays an important role in thermodynamics and consequently in biology. Pressure, from a biological perspective, has a bearing on all living creatures. The book pre
Advances in Comparative and Environmental Physiology helps biologists, physiologists, and biochemists keep track of the extensive literature in the field. Providing comprehensive, integrated reviews and sound, critical, and provocative summaries, this series is a must for all active researchers in environmental and comparative physiology.
Red blood cells in humans—and most other mammals—have a tendency to form aggregates with a characteristic face-to-face morphology, similar to a stack of coins. Known as rouleaux, these aggregates are a normally occurring phenomenon and have a major impact on blood rheology. What is the underlying mechanism that produces this pattern? Does this really happen in blood circulation? And do these rouleaux formations have a useful function? The first book to offer a comprehensive review of the subject, Red Blood Cell Aggregation tackles these and other questions related to red blood cell (RBC) aggregates. The book covers basic, clinical, and physiological aspects of this important biophysical phenomenon and integrates these areas with concepts in bioengineering. It brings together state-of-the-art research on the determinants, mechanisms, and measurement and effects of RBC aggregation as well as on variations and comparative aspects. After an introductory overview, the book outlines factors and conditions that affect RBC aggregation. It presents the two hypotheses—the bridging model and the depletion model—that provide potential mechanisms for the adhesive forces that lead to the regular packing of the cells in rouleaux formations. The book also reviews the methods used to quantify RBC aggregation in vitro, focusing on their importance in clinical practice. Chapters discuss the effect of RBC aggregation on the in vitro rheology of blood as well as on tube flow. The book also looks at what happens in the circulation when red blood cells aggregate and examines variations due to physiological and pathophysiological challenges. The concluding chapter explores the formation of red blood cell aggregates in other mammals. Written by leading researchers in the field, this is an invaluable resource for basic science, medical, and clinical researchers; graduate students; and clinicians interested in mammalian red blood cells.
High altitude physiology and medicine has again become important. The excep tional achievements of mountaineers who have climbed nearly all peaks over 8,000 m without breathing equipment raise the question of maximal adaptation ca pacity of man to low oxygen pressures. More importantly, the increase in tourism in the Andes and the Himalayas brings over 10,000 people to sites at altitudes above 4,000 and 5,000 m each year. At such heights several kinds of high alti tude diseases are likely to occur, and these complications require detailed medical investigations. Medical authorities need to inform both mountaineers and tourists as to how great a physical burden can be taken in the mountain environment without risk to health. Physicians need to know what kind of prophylaxis is to be employed at high altitudes to prevent the development of diseases and what therapeutic measures should be used once high altitude diseases have occurred. Moreover, the physical condition of the indigenous population living at higher altitudes such as the Andes and the Himalayas, who are exposed continuously to the stress of high altitude, requires our attention. We have become familiar with symptoms characteristic of chronic high-altitude disease: under special conditions this popu lation has a tendency to develop pulmonary hypertension, which is associated with pulmonary edema, pulmonary congestion, and right heart failure.
