The Nature of Biological Systems as Revealed by Thermal Methods

Af ter a kind mo ti va tion by Judit Si mon (Ed i tor-in-Chief of the Jour nal of Ther mal Anal y s is and Cal o ri m e t r y , Kluwe r Ac a dem ic Pub lis her) and ne go ti a tions with po- si ble con tri bu tors lasting for m ore than one year it was de cided to write a book about the ap pli ca tion of ther mal meth ods in bi ol ogy. Its aim was to be a guide how to per form ex per i ments and what kind of in for mation m ight be gained by them. We tried to col lect in for mation tha t could be achieved only dur ing a long per sonal pra- tice. In this way sci en tists from bi ol ogy and med i cine , e. g. , who are not so skilled in phys ics and math e mat ics may re al ize very soon the beauty and power of this tool at one hand. On the other hand, those sci en tists with better back ground in nat u ral sc- ences can be more sensitive to find out exciting biological problems.

From the reviews:

"This book is a guide for experiments using thermal methods. The Editor has used his many years of experience to create a unique resource . This book will help beginners in the field of thermal analysis or calorimetry . The book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in thermodynamics, including practising professionals applying thermal methods to biological problems; researchers and graduate students . In addition, this book will be a useful resource for libraries and institutes ." (Food Trade Review, Vol. 75, July, 2005)

Résumé
Helps beginners in the field of thermal analysis or calorimetry understand the principles of thermodynamics being applied to biological systems. This is a guide for experiments using thermal methods. It enables others with a less mathematical background, to realize the power of this tool and to gain a better understanding of biological problems.

Contenu
Order-disorder conformational transitions of carbohydrate polymers.- Thermal analyses and combined techniques in food physical chemistry.- Recrystallisation of starch studied with MDSC.- Calorimetric information about food and food constituents.- Using DSC for monitoring protein conformation stability and effects on fat droplets crystallinity in complex food emulsions.- Structural and functional studies of muscle proteins by using differential scanning calorimetry.- Effect of nucleotides and environmental factors on the intermediate states of ATP hydrolysis cycle in skeletal muscle fibres.- Thermal investigation on whole plants and plant tissues.- Thermobiochemical studies of animal cell systems in vitro.- Thermal investigations on social insects.- DSC examination of the musculosceletal system.- Quantitative thermal analysis of carbohydrate-water systems.- Statistical mechanical analysis of protein heat capacity accompanied with thermal transition.