Humana Handbook of Bacterial Adhesion: Principles, Methods, and Applications

Research on bacterial adhesion and its significance is a major field involving many different aspects of nature and human life, such as marine science, soil and plant ecology, most importantly, the biomedical field. The adhesion ofbacteria to the food industry, and human tissue surfaces and implanted biomaterial surfaces is an important step in the patho genesis of infection. Handbook 0/ Bacterial Adhesion: Principles, Methods, and Applications is an outgrowth of the editors' own quest for information on laboratory techniques for studying bacte rial adhesion to biomaterials, bone, and other tissues and, more importantly, a response to significant needs in the research community. This book is designed to be an experimental guide for biomedical scientists, biomaterials scientists, students, laboratory technicians, or anyone who plans to conduct bacterial adhesion studies. More specifically, it is intended for all those researchers facing the chal lenge of implant infections in such devices as orthopedic prostheses, cardiovascular devices or catheters, cerebrospinal fluid shunts or extradural catheters, thoracic or abdominal catheters, portosystemic shunts or bile stents, urological catheters or stents, plastic surgical implants, oral or maxillofacial implants, contraceptive implants, or even contact lenses. It also covers research methods for the study of bacterial adhesion to tis sues such as teeth, respiratory mucosa, intestinal mucosa, and the urinary tract. In short, it constitutes a handbook for biomechanical and bioengineering researchers and students at all levels. Review "Techniques used to study adhesion of microbes to a wide variety of different surfaces of medical significance are presented. . .The diversity of different microbe-surface interactions covered is probably the most unique aspect of the text. . .This book is a broad survey of techniques and approaches used to study bacterial adhesion, with a heavy emphasis on topics of medical significance. The emphasis on approaches and techniques to study adhesion distinguishes this book from others that deal with the mechanisms of bacterial adhesion. . . the text will provide a useful resource for researchers studying bacterial adhesion."-Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal From the Back Cover In the Handbook of Bacterial Adhesion: Principles, Methods, and Applications, Yuehuei An, MD, and Richard Friedman, MD, assemble the first comprehensive treatment of bacterial adhesion, with major concentration on the powerful experimental methods for its study in biomaterials and host tissues. Written by acknowledged experts in the field, these detailed techniques facilitate the study of implant infections in a wide range of devices, including orthopedic prostheses, cardiovascular devices, cerebrospinal fluid shunts and extradural catheters, urological catheters and stents, oral and maxillofacial implants, and even contact lenses. Methods for the study of microbial adhesion to such tissues as respiratory and intestinal mucosa, the urinary tract, and teeth are also included, as are numerous diagrams, tables, line drawings, and photographs to illuminate and clarify the text. Comprehensive and eminently practical, the Handbook of Bacterial Adhesion: Principles, Methods, and Applications offers biomedical scientists and bioengineering researchers an all-in-one experimental guide to today's best techniques for understanding the nature, mechanisms, and prevention of bacterial adhesion.