Book Description

Selected Topics in Environmental Biology covers the proceedings of the 26th International Congress of Physiological Sciences on Environmental Biology, held in New Delhi, India on October 20-26, 1974. The symposium is arranged in the subjects of high altitude and under water physiology and the physiological effects of cold, heat, and accelerations. This book is organized into 13 sections encompassing 74 chapters. The opening part deals with the principles and mechanisms of thermoregulation, with emphasis on the role of neurotransmitters in temperature regulation. The succeeding parts examine metabolic aspects and adaptive mechanisms to cold and heat stress. These parts also survey the thyroid function, resistance, acclimatization, and nerve impulse effects of these conditions. Other parts discuss the hypothalamic control and susceptibility to hypothermia and thermal injury; the capacity of short-term and prolonged exposure to hypoxia; the pathogenesis of pulmonary edema; and the constitution and body functions in different ethnic groups. These topics are followed by reviews on the body adaptive changes under hypogravic state, biochemical changes induced by environmental pollution, and physiological behavior under noise, hyperbaric, and emotional stress. The last part describes the effect of environmental stress on diurnal variations in body functions. This book will prove useful to environmental biologists, physiologists, biochemists, and researchers.