Free Radical Biomedicine: Principles, Clinical ... - Bentham Science

PREFACE
The last two to three decades have witnessed the remarkable advances in our knowledge about
free radicals and related reactive species, especially reactive oxygen and nitrogen species
(ROS/RNS) in biomedicine. It has been increasingly recognized that ROS/RNS play an important
role in the pathophysiology of diverse diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and
metabolic syndrome, neurological disorders, and cancer among many others. In agreement with
this notion, substantial studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of various antioxidant-based
modalities in disease intervention. New knowledge in free radical biomedicine will certainly
further increase our ability to develop more effective mechanistically-based strategies to combat
human diseases that involve a free radical-mediated pathophysiological component.
This book integrates knowledge in free radical biomedicine from essentials to advances, and from
basic research to clinical correlations. It also covers basic and advanced methodologies in free
radical research. It is hoped that the book will provide the reader a unique approach to
understanding the rapidly evolving field of free radical biomedicine.
This book would not have been possible without the assistance of my son Jason Z. Li who drew
all the chemical structures for the whole book, and my wife H. Zhu, MD for her critical review of
the entire book manuscript. I am grateful to those (over 100 scientists worldwide) who provided
me reprints of their publications and/or expertly reviewed part of the book manuscript. I am
thankful for the time and effort made by the editorial personnel, especially Ms. Sarah Khan at
Bentham Science Publishers, and the constructive suggestions resulting from the outside peerreview
of the entire book manuscript sponsored by Bentham Science Publishers.
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Y. Robert Li, MD, MPH, PhD
Blacksburg, Virginia
December 2011