Main description:

Acute lung injury (ALI) impacts patient care in every ICU in the world. Our collective understanding of this condition has grown immensely over the past decade but morbidity and mortality remain unacceptably high. To enhance the understanding of clinicians and researchers, this book addresses the pathophysiology of acute lung injury from a molecular and cellular standpoint; includes animal models of acute lung injury and points to potential therapeutic advances based on scientific findings. It is a concise compendium of the multiple pathways, mechanisms and molecules involved in the pathophysiology of acute lung injury and is intended to help caregivers understand the process and thus care for patients more effectively.

Contents:

List of Contributors. Preface. Acknowledgements. 1. Signal Transduction Pathways in Acute Lung Injury: NF-kappaB and AP-1; T.P. Shanley, H.R. Wong. 2. Innate Immune Mechanisms Triggering Lung Injury; R.M. Strieter, et al. 3. The Role of Chemokines in the Recruitment of Leukocytes During Lung Inflammation; R.M. Strieter, et al. 4. Regulation of Lung Immunity: Significance of the Cytokine Environment; N.W. Lukacs, et al. 5. Role of Complement in Acute Lung Injury; M.S. Huber-Lang, P.A. Ward. 6. Oxidant Stress in Acute Lung Injury; J.J. Zimmerman. 7. Endogenous Nitric Oxide in Acute Lung Injury; N.W. Kooy. 8. Heme Oxygenase-1 in Acute Lung Injury; J.M. Sethi, A.M.K. Choi. 9. Pulmonary Endothelial Surface Redox Activity: Roles in Propagation of and Protection from Injury; M.P. Merker, et al. 10. Mechanisms of Lung Epithelial Cell Injury by Pseudomonas Aeruginosa; J.P. Wiener-Kronish, et al. 11. Alveolar Epithelial Repair in Acute Lung Injury; T.K. Geiser, M.A. Matthay. 12. Molecular Basis for Surfactant Function in ARDS; L. Zhang, J.A. Whitsett. 13. Pulmonary Collectins and Defensins; A.M. LeVine. 14. Lung Repair, Remodeling, and Fibrosis; S. Guharoy, S.H. Phan. 15. Apoptosis in Acute Lung Injury; K. Faure, et al. 16. Corticosteroid Treatment in Unresolving ARDS; G.U. Meduri. 17. Anti-inflammatory Cytokines: Role in Regulation of Acute Lung Injury; T.P. Shanley. 18. The Heat Shock Response and Heat Shock Protein 70: Cytoprotection in Acute Lung Injury; H.R. Wong. 19. Biotrauma: Signal Transduction and Gene Expression in the Lung; C.C. dos Santos, et al. Index.