Southeast Asia has been the breeding ground for many emerging diseases in the past decade, e.g. the avian flu (H5N1) in Hong Kong in 1997, Nipah virus encephalitis in Malaysia in 1998, and, above all, the SARS outbreak in Southern China in 2002. Risk factors contributing to this situation include being economically disadvantaged, sub-standard...

This volume collects the papers accepted for presentation at MIRAGE 2009. The MIRAGE conference is continuing to receive international recognition, with this year’s presentations coming from 25 countries despite the large worldwide financial crisis. This time Asia submitted far fewer papers than previously and fewer than Europe. France...

Molecular Beacons explains working principle of molecular beacons, discusses their design, synthesis, purification and characterization, explores their thermodynamic and kinetic properties, and more importantly, reviews their in vivo and in vitro applications with the emphasis on the design and modification of molecular beacons for in...

While one may not find ancient studies that substantiate the pomegranate's curative and preventive qualities, the exalted status of this fruit goes back as far as the history of agriculture itself. Allusions to the pomegranate are readily found in the oldest cultures of the Indus Valley, ancient China, and classical Greece, as well as in...