Advances in Medicine and Biology - Volume 140 (Hardcover)

Volume 140 opens by discussing vascular endothelial growth factor, an attractive target for antiangiogenic therapy for glioblastoma. Although bevacizumab, a humanized anti-vascular endothelial growth factor antibody, improves the progression-free survival of patients with glioblastoma, prolonged overall survival has been attained only in few patients with a proneural type of glioblastoma. As such, bevacizumab is increasingly used to treat newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastoma. Bevacizumab selectively inhibits glioblastoma growth by targeting membrane-bound vascular endothelial growth factor, inhibiting angiogenesis and thus halting tumor growth. Vascular endothelial growth factor plays a major role in wound healing, with upregulation starting on day three and levels remaining high up to 24 weeks after wound creation. The authors discuss how, to avoid postoperative wound complications following neurosurgical procedures, perioperative management is indispensable. As perioperative preparation, shaving or minimal hair removal should be avoided to prevent minor trauma to the scalp and surgical-site infection. Excess electrocautery coagulation and metal skin clips are efficacious during skin incision for preventing blood loss, but might cause skin edge necrosis and alopecia. Next, the authors briefly summarize the actions of melatonin in a broad range of effects with a significant regulatory influence over many of the protection processes against Fe overload effects. Melatonin is a ubiquitous compound present in bacteria and eukaryotes, which in vertebrates, is released at night from the pineal gland to induce sleep. Quantitative foundations of continuous non-invasive prenatal screening are explored in the following chapter. The mosaicism interval and the interval-based estimate of the degree ofmosaicism are introduced, and the uncertainty of the estimation of the degree of mosaicismcan be quantified by the width of the mosaicism interval. Continuing, the authors emphasize the implication of SRY-related box factors in male sex determination and differentiation, leading to fertility. The production of spermatozoa in adulthood requires a coordination in the regulation of gene expression by a multitude of SRY-related box transcription factors within the testis. The authors perform an overview of the mechanisms of action of SRY-related box transcription factors throughout male development contributing to fertility. The objective of the penultimate study is to evaluate, in vitro, the coagulating, cytotoxic, oxidizing and antioxidant effects caused by the Bothrops jararacussu and B. moojeni crude venoms. The crude venoms protein profiles are characterized, and the biological effects are evaluated and compared between the species. Among the activities triggered by Crotalus durissus terrificus snake venom, coagulation is both intriguing and contradictory since the venom contains in its composition both coagulant and anticoagulant precursor proteins. The concluding work describes the in vitro effects of crude venom and purified proteins from Crotalus durissus terrificus snake venom as they affect coagulation factors of the extrinsic, intrinsic, and common clotting pathways in citrated human plasma.