Introduction
Physiology and Maintenance is a component of Encyclopedia of Biological, Physiological and Health Sciences in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias.
The Theme on Physiology and Maintenance with contributions from distinguished experts in the field, discusses the functions of our body and their regulations which are some of the most fascinating areas of science. The content of the theme is organized with state-of-the-art presentations covering the following aspects of the subject: General Physiology; Enzymes: The Biological Catalysts of Life; Nutrition and Digestion; Renal Excretion; Endocrinology; Respiration; Blood Circulation: Its Dynamics And Physiological Control; Locomotion in Sedentary Societies; Neurophysiology; Plant Physiology and Environment : A Synopsis, which are then expanded into multiple subtopics, each as a chapter. These five volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.
Editor(s) Biography
Osmo Otto Päiviö Hänninen, DMS, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology, Chairman of the Department, University of Kuopio, Finland was born in 1939, in Lahti, Finland. He studied at the University of Helsinki and the University of Turku, Finland, where he received his Master of Sciences (Biochemistry) in 1962, Licentiate of Medicine (MD) in 1964, Doctor of Medical Sciences (DMS) in 1966, and passed his dissertation in biochemistry for his Ph.D. in 1968. He has also studied genetics. He has been a specialist in sports medicine since 1986. He served as the Research Assistant of Professor K. Hartiala, 1962–4; Assistant of Physiology, 1964–5; Laborator of Physiology, 1966–7; Docent of Physiology, from 1967, and Associate Professor of Biochemistry, 1969–71, at the University of Turku; Acting Professor in the Planning Office, 1971–2; and from 1972, Professor of Physiology and Chairman of the Department of Physiology, University of Kuopio; Vice-President of the University of Kuopio, 1972–9; and President, University of Kuopio, 1981–4. Furthermore, he served as Visiting Professor of Physiology at Shanghai Medical University, China, 1991–2, and at Sun Yat Sen Medical University, Guangzhou, China, 1998–9; as Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, from 1994; and as Secretary General, International Council for Laboratory Animal Science, 1988–95. He was the President of Societas Physiologica Finlandiae, 1990–9, and has been President of the International Society for Pathophysiology and a Member of the Executive Committee since 1994, and the Treasurer of the International Union of Biological Sciences since 1997.
His special interests in research are biotransformation and adaptation to chemical loading, biomonitoring of toxicants, and comparative biochemical toxicology; muscle metabolism and function; and ergonomics. He has contributed 266 papers in refereed journals and seventy-two in proceedings, and written fifty-five reviews, and thirty books or book chapters. He serves on the editorial board of four international journals and is at present the European Journal Editor of Pathophysiology. Of his post-graduate students (thirty-two in biotransformation, twenty-seven in muscle metabolism and physiology, and five others), twelve serve as professors in China, Finland, Greece, Sweden, and the United States.
Mustafa Atalay was born in 1963 in Ankara, Turkey, and received his M.D. degree in the University of Ankara School of Medicine in 1986. He specialized in family practice in the State Hospital of Ankara in 1992, and continued his postgraduate studies on exercise physiology and sports medicine in Kuopio, Finland, from the beginning of 1993. In 1995 he received a Master of Public Health degree from the Department of Public Health, University of Kuopio. In 1998 he defended his Ph.D. thesis on “Tissue Antioxidant Responses to Physical Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress” in the department of Physiology, University of Kuopio, and he received the degree of “Docent of Sports Medicine” from the National Board of High Education of Turkey in 1999. He was selected as a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine same year. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Ohio State University Medical Center and Laboratory of Molecular Medicine between 2000 and 2001. In 2003 he received the degree of “Docent of Exercise Physiology” from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kuopio. His research interest is in exercise-induced oxidative stress and antioxidant defenses. Currently he is working in the University of Kuopio, Finland, as a senior lecturer and researcher
