Books published by Mdpi AG

During the last decade, a high volume of work has been published on the health-promoting effects of berries (e.g., blueberries, cranberries, blackberries, etc.) that are rich in antioxidant phytochemicals, polyphenols. Consuming a diet rich in polyphenols has been documented to attenuate the risk of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, diabetes mellitus, and neurodegenerative disorders. Recent evidence also reveals that the biological effects of polyphenols extend beyond their traditional antioxidant role.This Special Issue includes 10 peer-reviewed papers, including original research papers and reviews. They present the most recent advances in the role of berry antioxidants, not only in maintaining health but also in preventing and/or reversing disease both in cell culture, animal models and in humans. Additionally, the molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways modulated by berry antioxidants are presented. Chapters include the role of berry antioxidants in whole fruit and leaves on the metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes and glucose intolerance, cancer, inflammation, oxidative stress and neuroprotection as well as cardiovascular disease. As a guest editor, I would like to acknowledge the authors of all chapters for their valuable contributions and reviewers for their thoughtful and constructive suggestions and time. Special thanks to the publishing team of the Antioxidants Journal for their professionalism, attention to detail and timely completion of this volume.

In a new era of global awareness and globalization, what’s happening around the world in real-time such as hurricanes, volcanic eruption, fires, drought, pollution, and other environmental and climate challenges are becoming increasingly more important and affect people’s lives. To meet these challenges, Earth observations from a new generation of satellites have now become available giving us unprecedented capabilities to monitor and study our planet. With global coverage twice daily for the next several decades, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometers on polar orbiting satellites provide rich and publically available data sets for a large number of land, atmosphere, and ocean applications, including the monitoring of aerosols, cloud properties, radiation budget, sea surface temperature, ocean color, active fire, albedo, snow and ice, vegetation, land use/land cover, night-lights from human activities, and natural disasters. Calibration and validation of these satellite observations are essential to ensure the quality, accuracy, precision, and stability of the data for the applications. This book will review recent advances in satellite optical sensor calibration and validation methodologies, algorithms, and techniques. Example calibration and validation of environmental data products are also discussed. It aims to serve all professionals, researchers, students, scientists alike in academics, industries, government, and beyond.

As the fields of organometallic and coordination chemistry of the transition metals has grown more mature, the under-explored chemistry of the rare-earths and actinides has drawn the attention of research groups from across the globe looking for new fundamental discoveries and access to compounds with unique properties. The rare-earths—the group 3 metals and the 4f lanthanide series—have long shown many interesting properties in the solid state which exploit their unique electronic configurations. However, it is the molecular chemistry of these metals that has expanded dramatically in recent years as researchers identify the differences between—and unique features of—their molecular compounds. Recent highlights include the identification of new oxidation states and patterns of reactivity as well as applications in medical imaging and health care which represent new and exciting areas of research. The actinides show a wide range of different properties as a consequence of their radioactivity and radiochemistry, but this has not stopped recent rapid progress into the exploration of their unique chemistry. Uranium, in particular, shows huge potential with its transition metal-like range of oxidation states (+2 to +6), and in specialised laboratories, the heavier actinides are also beginning to show their unique chemistry. This Special Issue aims to bring together these strands of research in an openly-accessible way to allow better communication of these advances to a wider audience. This is necessary as, despite these exciting advances, the rare-earths and actinides are still much neglected topics in both school and undergraduate curriculums. Contributions in the above-mentioned areas will allow new research in the rare-earths and actinides to inform and influence the next generation of scientists and keep the field as vibrant as it is today.

Bee or wasp venom therapy is the therapeutic application of honeybee venom or wasp venom to the treatment of various diseases. Venoms from either honeybees or wasps are known to possess a wide variety of pharmaceutical properties. Recent studies using these venoms have demonstrated diverse mechanisms on a range of conditions. However, identification of a single constituent out of the venom, the possible mechanisms, and a justification of the route of application and formulation are essential in the future. Understanding the signalling pathways associated with the compound-mediated in vivo dynamics and further communication between cells at the molecular level will facilitate the development of new therapeutics.

Natural and chemical compounds, often used as both dietary supplements and alternative medicines, are characterized by specific chemical properties, allowing their passage across the blood brain barrier with consequent specific effects on neurotransmission. In particular, several natural compounds have shown beneficial properties in the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, especially cognitive impairment and mood disorders, contributing to the maintenance of the physiological brain functioning by interacting with different receptors, transcription factors and signal transduction pathways. Neuroinflammation and oxidative stress have also been proposed as crucial contributors to brain dysfunction development, thus recent investigations have focused on novel therapeutic approaches based on the use of phytoderivates with neuroprotective properties. Thus, this Special Issue includes a collection of 11 papers, describing key findings for the identification of molecular mechanisms required for the development of potential and promising natural therapeutics for the treatment of psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.

The synthesis of inorganic compounds embraces an immense range of techniques and approaches. New organometallic molecules, for example, might demand multi-step organic reactions in the successful production of ligands followed by precision handling and manipulation to form the desired complexes under anaerobic conditions. By contrast, preparation of solid state compounds can demand extreme conditions of temperature and pressure to overcome the formidable thermodynamic and kinetic barriers to their formation. It is the target of many inorganic chemists, both by experiment and computation, to prepare or predict new compounds and materials, to discover the most appropriate conditions under which such substances can be made and to design the experiments that will realise them. New inorganic compounds remain attractive, for example, for their inherent complexity and beauty, for their chemical behaviour, their chemical or biological activity or for their physical properties.The need and desire for new compounds often demands increasingly sophisticated and imaginative synthesis strategies. Equally, the modern societal pressures of cost, safety and environmental protection require new attitudes to the synthesis of high value chemical products. Time and energy efficiency, use of earth-abundant resources and many other green chemistry principles become key parameters in the design of new synthetic processes. I would like to dedicate this inaugural issue of “Inorganics” therefore, to the concept of “innovative synthesis” – from the intricacy of constructing extended molecular solids on the basis of weak supramolecular forces through the appealing simplicity of “one-pot” methods to make cluster and hybrid materials and soft chemical means to produce solid state materials to the adaptation of inefficient lab techniques towards streamlined flow processes for the preparation of fine chemicals. 

Frontiers in Sustainability (FinS) is an edited book series by MDPI. It serves as a transdisciplinary and multistakeholder platform for regional and global sustainability issues. Here, we understand transdisciplinarity as a collaboration between researchers from different disciplines to conceptualize, study, and derive solutions to sustainability-relevant problems that may be relevant to stakeholder practices and outcomes beyond academia. FinS promotes debates within and between academic disciplines, especially the natural sciences, engineering and technology, and the social sciences, and it seeks to publish academically relevant exchanges between academia, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, politics, and business.