Books published by Mdpi AG

Cardiovascular occlusive diseases, such as myocardial infarction or stroke, are still the major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and are, particularly during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, drastically increasing. Arteriogenesis, which describes the process of natural arterial bypass growth, is a tissue- and life-saving process, which is given to us by mother nature to compensate for the function of a stenosed coronary or peripheral artery non-invasively. Since our first investigations on the mechanisms of collateral artery growth, more than 20 years ago, a lot of progress has been made, which we aim to make accessible in the current book. We present the available animal models and share information on the used state of the art techniques. We describe how fluid shear stress, the trigger for arteriogenesis, is translated into biochemical signal transduction cascades, and we also highlight the functional role of extracellular RNA and Il10. We address the problematic features of arteriogenesis in patients suffering from diabetes mellitus, and provide an overview of currently available or potentially therapeutic approaches to promote arteriogenesis in patients. We focus on the combination of ultrasound and microbubbles, the permanent occlusion of the internal mammary arteries, and simple exercise training. We believe that we have come much closer to achieving our goal of understanding the mechanisms of arteriogenesis, enabling clinicians to promote collateral artery growth in patients and cure vascular occlusive diseases.

Studies on the populations of luminous stars in nearby resolved galaxies have revealed a complex distribution in the luminosity-temperature plane (the HR diagram). The fundamentals of massive star evolution are mostly understood, but the roles of mass loss, episodic mass loss, rotation, and binarity are still in question. Moreover, the final stages of these stars of different masses and their possible relation to each other are not understood. The purpose of this volume is to provide a current review of the different populations of evolved massive stars. The emphasis is on massive stars in the Local Group, the Magellanic Clouds, and the nearby spirals M31 and M33.

Disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones, floods, heat waves, nuclear accidents, and large scale pollution incidents take lives and cause exceptionally large health problems. The majority of large-scale disasters affect the most vulnerable populations, which are often comprised of people of extreme ages, in remote living areas, with endemic poverty, and with low literacy. Health-related emergency disaster risk management (Health-EDRM) [1] refers to the systematic analysis and management of health risks surrounding emergencies and disasters; it plays an important role in reducing hazards and vulnerability along with extending preparedness, response, and recovery measures. This concept encompasses risk analyses and interventions, such as accessible early warning systems, timely deployment of relief workers, and the provision of suitable drugs and medical equipment, to decrease the impact of disaster on people before, during, and after disaster events. Disaster risk profiling and interventions can be at the personal/household, community, and system/political levels; they can be targeted at specific health risks including respiratory issues caused by indoor burning, re-emergence of infectious disease due to low vaccination coverage, and gastrointestinal problems resulting from unregulated waste management. Unfortunately, there has been a major gap in the scientific literature regarding Health-EDRM. The aim of this Special Issue of IJERPH was to present papers describing/reporting the latest disaster and health risk analyses, as well as interventions for health-related disaster risk management, in an effort to address this gap and facilitate major global policies and initiatives for disaster risk reduction.

Thin film processes are significantly incorporated in manufacturing display panels, secondary batteries, fuel/solar cells, catalytic films, membranes, adhesives, and other commodity films. This Special Issue on "Thin Film Processes" of Processes listed recent progress on thin-film processes, covering theoretical considerations, experimental observations, and computational techniques. Articles in this Issue consider comprehensive studies on thin film processes and related materials.