**Meet the editors**

Fernanda Lasakosvitsch has a degree in Biological Sciences and a PhD in Sciences from the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology with emphasis in Molecular Biology at the Universidade Federal de São Paulo. She has a postdoctoral degree in Molecular Biology from the Universidade de São Paulo. Nowadays she is a researcher and scientific producer of

the Funzionali nutrology group, developing studies in enteral nutrition, parenteral nutrition and metabolism in critically ill hospitalized patients.

Sergio dos Anjos Garnes graduated in Medicine from the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, post graduate in Clinical Nutrition, specialist in Nutrology expertise in Parenteral and Enteral nutrition. He is the coordinator of the multi-professional therapy group at the German hospital Oswaldo Cruz in São Paulo and medical director of Funzionali nutrology group, Brazil.

Contents

**Preface VII**

Chapter 1 **Introductory Chapter: Homeostasis 3** Fernanda Lasakosvitsch

**Energy State 9**

**Section 3 Integrated Systems 49**

Murakami

**Disease Development 51**

Chapter 5 **Platelets: From Formation to Function 71**

Custaud and Ronan P. Murphy

**Section 2 Physiological Mechanisms of Homeostasis 7**

Chapter 3 **Sex and Sex Hormones in Tissue Homeostasis 29** Judith Lechner and Gerhard Gstraunthaler

Chapter 2 **Circadian Body Temperature Rhythm and the Interaction with**

Chapter 4 **Gateway Reflex: A Neuro-Immune Crosstalk for Organ-Specific**

Daisuke Kamimura, Yuki Tanaka, Takuto Ohki and Masaaki

Laura Twomey, Robert G. Wallace, Philip M. Cummins, Bernard Degryse, Sinead Sheridan, Michael Harrison, Niall Moyna,

Gerardene Meade-Murphy, Nastassia Navasiolava, Marc-Antoine

Kei Nagashima, Ken Tokizawa, Shuri Marui and Yuki Uchida

**Section 1 Introduction 1**

## Contents

#### **Preface XI**



Chapter 6 **Platelets: Functional Biomarkers of Epigenetic Drift 93** Laura Twomey, Robert G. Wallace, Marco Mangone, Bernard Degryse, Sinead Sheridan, Michael Harrison, Niall Moyna, Gerardene Meade-Murphy, Nastassia Navasiolava, Marc-Antoine Custaud and Ronan P. Murphy

Preface

common: the disturbance of homeostasis.

from their natural state.

In the evolutionary process, physiological mechanisms are developed as a response to the demands of the environment and are in accordance with the ecological factors in which the organisms exist. Diseases such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, autoimmunity, allergy, atheroscle‐ rosis, psychic disorder and obesity are a reflection of the mismatch between the environ‐ ment and human evolutionary history. These diseases have at least one characteristic in

The earliest records of an organism having the ability to adjust to maintain its stability are from Hippocrates. He believed that diseases were healed by natural powers, that is, within organisms, there would be mechanisms that would tend to adjust functions when deviated

Most physiological processes operate under a narrow range of conditions, which are main‐ tained by specialized homeostatic mechanisms in response to variations in the environment and are adjusted for changes in functional demands and biological priorities. All types of adaptation are based on homeostatic mechanisms. An organism functioning as an open sys‐ tem may seem extremely susceptible to environmental fluctuations and become unstable but in living beings, the concepts of stability and change assume a prominent role that is essential for the maintenance of life. If there was no stability, there would be no evolution since there would also be no guarantee of maintaining the biochemical characteristics essential to life. Organisms stay alive because of their ability to stabilize their internal organization, prevent‐ ing disintegration into an increasingly disorganized state. Maintaining "stability" in the midst of an ever-changing environment requires efficient mechanisms to overcome difficul‐ ties, so the living being is an organization in which each disruptive influence induces, per se,

This book aims to provide the reader an up-to-date view of the self-regulatory mechanisms that are activated to achieve homeostasis, the pathways that are altered during the disease

> **Fernanda Lasakosvitsch, PhD** Funzionali Serviços Médicos Ltda

Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo

Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo

São Paulo, Brazil

São Paulo, Brazil

São Paulo, Brazil

**Sergio Dos Anjos Garnes**

the increment of a compensatory activity to neutralize the disturbance.

process, and how medicine can intervene to restore balance in critical patients.

#### **Section 4 Homeostasis and Disease 121**

Chapter 7 **Reactive Oxygen Species, Cellular Redox Homeostasis and Cancer 123** Rabiatul Basria S.M.N. Mydin and Simon I. Okekpa

#### Chapter 8 **S6 Kinase: A Compelling Prospect for Therapeutic Interventions 143** Sheikh Tahir Majeed, Rabiya Majeed, Ghazia Shah and Khurshid I Andrabi

## Preface

Chapter 6 **Platelets: Functional Biomarkers of Epigenetic Drift 93**

Chapter 7 **Reactive Oxygen Species, Cellular Redox Homeostasis**

Chapter 8 **S6 Kinase: A Compelling Prospect for Therapeutic**

Rabiatul Basria S.M.N. Mydin and Simon I. Okekpa

Custaud and Ronan P. Murphy

**Section 4 Homeostasis and Disease 121**

**and Cancer 123**

**Interventions 143**

Andrabi

**VI** Contents

Laura Twomey, Robert G. Wallace, Marco Mangone, Bernard Degryse, Sinead Sheridan, Michael Harrison, Niall Moyna,

Gerardene Meade-Murphy, Nastassia Navasiolava, Marc-Antoine

Sheikh Tahir Majeed, Rabiya Majeed, Ghazia Shah and Khurshid I

In the evolutionary process, physiological mechanisms are developed as a response to the demands of the environment and are in accordance with the ecological factors in which the organisms exist. Diseases such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, autoimmunity, allergy, atheroscle‐ rosis, psychic disorder and obesity are a reflection of the mismatch between the environ‐ ment and human evolutionary history. These diseases have at least one characteristic in common: the disturbance of homeostasis.

The earliest records of an organism having the ability to adjust to maintain its stability are from Hippocrates. He believed that diseases were healed by natural powers, that is, within organisms, there would be mechanisms that would tend to adjust functions when deviated from their natural state.

Most physiological processes operate under a narrow range of conditions, which are main‐ tained by specialized homeostatic mechanisms in response to variations in the environment and are adjusted for changes in functional demands and biological priorities. All types of adaptation are based on homeostatic mechanisms. An organism functioning as an open sys‐ tem may seem extremely susceptible to environmental fluctuations and become unstable but in living beings, the concepts of stability and change assume a prominent role that is essential for the maintenance of life. If there was no stability, there would be no evolution since there would also be no guarantee of maintaining the biochemical characteristics essential to life.

Organisms stay alive because of their ability to stabilize their internal organization, prevent‐ ing disintegration into an increasingly disorganized state. Maintaining "stability" in the midst of an ever-changing environment requires efficient mechanisms to overcome difficul‐ ties, so the living being is an organization in which each disruptive influence induces, per se, the increment of a compensatory activity to neutralize the disturbance.

This book aims to provide the reader an up-to-date view of the self-regulatory mechanisms that are activated to achieve homeostasis, the pathways that are altered during the disease process, and how medicine can intervene to restore balance in critical patients.

> **Fernanda Lasakosvitsch, PhD** Funzionali Serviços Médicos Ltda São Paulo, Brazil

Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo São Paulo, Brazil

**Sergio Dos Anjos Garnes** Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo São Paulo, Brazil

**Section 1**

**Introduction**

**Section 1**
