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Only recently have we begun to appreciate the role of microbiome in health and disease. Environmental factors and change of life style including diet significantly shape human microbiome that in turn appears to modify gut barrier function affecting nutrient & electrolyte absorption and inflammation. Approaches that can reverse the gut dysbiosis represent as reasonable and novel strategies for restoring the balance between host and microbes.

In the book, we offer summary and discussion on the advances in understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms of microbial host interactions in human diseases. We will not only discuss intestinal bacterial community, but also viruses, fungi and oral microbiome. Microbiome studies will facilitate diagnosis, functional studies, drug development and personalized medicine. Thus, this book will further highlight the microbiome in the context of health and disease, focusing on mechanistic concepts that underlie the complex relationships between host and microbes.

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Introduction/General role of microbiome in health and disease 1. Impact of microbes on the intestinal development of the preterm infant 2. Microbiome: Allergic Diseases of Childhood 3. Pathogenesis, immunity and the role of microbiome/probiotics in enteric virus infections in humans and animal models 4. Enteric bacterial regulation of the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling 5. Mechanism underlying beneficial role of probiotics in diarrheal diseases: host-microbe interactions 6. The influence of microbiota on gastrointestinal motility 7. Altered microbiota and their metabolism in host metabolic diseases 8. The influence of the microbiota on the etiology of colorectal cancer 9. Oral microbiome: Potential link to systemic disease and cancer 10. Candida albicans commensalism and human diseases 11. Fecal microbiota transplants: current knowledge and future directions 12. Statistical Models and Analysis of Microbiome Data from mice and human

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"This is a stellar contribution to the medical field. It addresses the rapidly expanding and evolving understanding in an area of human physiology that is currently of intense medical interest. Each chapter clearly shows that work in this field has the potential of producing watershed advances in human medicine. ... This book is especially valuable to pediatricians, but should be read by all practicing physicians, medical students, and researchers working in GI physiology and disease." (David R. Bell, Doody´s Book Reviews, July, 2018)

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