Main description:

MILS-13 provides an up-to-date review on the relationships between essential metals and human diseases, covering 13 metals and 3 metalloids: The bulk metals sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium, plus the trace elements manganese, iron, cobalt, copper, zinc, molybdenum, and selenium, all of which are essential for life. Also covered are chromium, vanadium, nickel, silicon, and arsenic, which have been proposed as being essential for humans in the 2nd half of the last century. However, if at all, they are needed only in ultra-trace amounts, and because of their prevalence in the environment, it has been difficult to prove whether or not they are required. In any case, all these elements are toxic in higher concentrations and therefore, transport and cellular concentrations of at least the essential ones, are tightly controlled; hence, their homeostasis and role for life, including deficiency or overload, and their links to illnesses, including cancer and neurological disorders, are thoroughly discussed. Indeed, it is an old wisdom that metals are indispensable for life. Therefore, Volume 13 provides in an authoritative and timely manner in 16 stimulating chapters, written by 29 internationally recognized experts from 7 nations, and supported by more than 2750 references, and over 20 tables and 80 illustrations, many in color, a most up-to-date view on the vibrant research area of the Interrelations between Essential Metal Ions and Human Diseases.

Contents:

1. Metal Ions and Infectious Diseases. An Overview from the Clinic by Peggy L. Carver

2. Sodium and Potassium in Health and Disease by Hana R. Pohl, John Wheeler, and H. Edward Murray

3. Magnesium in Health and Disease by Andrea M. P. Romani

4. Calcium in Health and Disease by Marisa Brini, Denis Ottolini, Tito Cali, and Ernesto Carafoli

5. Vanadium. Its Role for Humans by Dieter Rehder

6. Chromium: Is It Essential, Pharmacologically Relevant or Toxic? by John B. Vincent

7. Manganese in Health and Disease by Daiana Silva Avila, Robson Luiz Puntel, and Michael Aschner

8. Iron: Effect of Deficiency and Overload by Robert C. Hider and Xiaole Kong

9. Cobalt: Its Role in Health and Disease by Kazuhiro Yamada

10. Nickel and Human Health by Barbara Zambelli and Stefano Ciurli

11. Copper: Effects of Deficiency and Overload by Ivo Scheiber, Ralf Dringen, and Julian F. B. Mercer

12. Zinc and Human Disease by Wolfgang Maret

13. Molybdenum in Human Health and Disease by Guenter Schwarz and Abdel A. Belaidi

14. Silicon: The Health Benefits of a Metalloid by Keith R. Martin

15. Arsenic. Can this Toxic Metalloid Sustain Life? by Dean E. Wilcox

16. Selenium. Role of the Essential Metalloid in Health by Suguru Kurokawa and Marla J. Berry