T-Follicular Helper Cells
The volume provides a comprehensive overview of methods that have been developed for the study of Tfh and Tfr biology in mice, and in different human diseases. The chapters detail methods to investigate the function of Tfh cells in vivo and in vitro, including the use of mathematical models to study GC dynamics. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, T-Follicular Helper Cells: Methods and Protocols aims to be a useful practical guide to researchers to help further their study in this field.
Health Information Science
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th International Conference onHealth Information Science, HIS 2022, held in Virtual Event during October 28-30, 2022.The 20 full papers and 9 short papers included in this book were carefully reviewed andselected from 54 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: ​applications of health and medical data; health and medical data processing; health and medical data mining via graph-based approaches; and health and medical data classification.
Statistical Analysis of Microbiome Data
Microbiome research has focused on microorganisms that live within the human body and their effects on health. During the last few years, the quantification of microbiome composition in different environments has been facilitated by the advent of high throughput sequencing technologies. The statistical challenges include computational difficulties due to the high volume of data; normalization and quantification of metabolic abundances, relative taxa and bacterial genes; high-dimensionality; multivariate analysis; the inherently compositional nature of the data; and the proper utilization of complementary phylogenetic information. This has resulted in an explosion of statistical approaches aimed at tackling the unique opportunities and challenges presented by microbiome data. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the art in statistical and informatics technologies for microbiome research. In addition to reviewing demonstrably successful cutting-edge methods, particular emphasis is placed on examples in R that rely on available statistical packages for microbiome data. With its wide-ranging approach, the book benefits not only trained statisticians in academia and industry involved in microbiome research, but also other scientists working in microbiomics and in related fields.
Statistics and the Language of Global Health
Yi-Tang Lin presents the historical process by which statistics became the language of global health for local and international health organizations. Drawing on archival material from three continents, this study investigates efforts by public health schools, philanthropic foundations, and international organizations to turn numbers into an international language for public health. Lin shows how these initiatives produced an international network of public health experts who, across various socioeconomic and political contexts, opted for different strategies when it came to setting global standards and translating local realities into numbers. Focusing on China and Taiwan between 1917 and 1960, Lin examines the reception, adaptation, and appropriation of international health statistics. She presents the dynamic interplay between numbers, experts, and policy-making in international health organizations and administrations in China and Taiwan. This title is also available as Open Access.
The Social Brain
This book introduces the idea of the social brain networked in the world. The author's foundational thesis is that humans appear in evolution always, already, and everywhere social. We have social selves, social brains, and social genes.
Bacterial Persistence
This volume presents a collection of methods that have contributed to the current understanding of bacterial persisters. Chapters in the book detail general guidelines for measuring persister levels in bacterial cultures, strategies to enrich and resuscitate persister subpopulations, single-cell approaches for visualizing and characterizing persisters, omics techniques and cellular and animal models for studying persistence. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Bacterial Persistence: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition aims to be a useful practical guide to researchers to help further their study in this field.
Antibody Glycosylation
This book summarizes recent advances in antibody glycosylation research. Covering major topics relevant for immunoglobulin glycosylation - analytical methods, biosynthesis and regulation, modulation of effector functions - it provides new perspectives for research and development in the field of therapeutic antibodies, biomarkers, vaccinations, and immunotherapy.Glycans attached to both variable and constant regions of antibodies are known to affect the antibody conformation, stability, and effector functions. Although it focuses on immunoglobulin G (IgG), the most explored antibody in this context, and unravels the natural phenomena resulting from the mixture of IgG glycovariants present in the human body, the book also discusses other classes of human immunoglobulins, as well as immunoglobulins produced in other species and production systems. Further, it reviews the glycoanalytical methods applied to antibodies and addresses a range of less commonly explored topics, such as automatization and bioinformatics aspects of high-throughput antibody glycosylation analysis. Lastly, the book highlights application areas ranging from the ones already benefitting from antibody glycoengineering (such as monoclonal antibody production), to those still in the research stages (such as exploration of antibody glycosylation as a clinical or biological age biomarker), and the potential use of antibody glycosylation in the optimization of vaccine production and immunization protocols. Summarizing the current knowledge on the broad topic of antibody glycosylation and its therapeutic and biomarker potential, this book will appeal to a wide biomedical readership in academia and industry alike.Chapter 4 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Health, Illness, and Society
Health, Illness, and Society, Updated Second Edition provides a comprehensive yet concise introduction to medical sociology. In his accessible style, Steven Barkan covers health and illness behaviors, the social determinants of health problems, the health professions and health care system in the U.S., and how the U.S. system compares to that of other countries. The updated second edition adds a new chapter, "The COVID-19 Pandemic," which highlights several ways in which the pandemic exhibits health and health behavior disparities resulting from social inequalities and the deficiencies of the U.S. health system. The book also critically examines the achievements and limitations of the Affordable Care Act and discusses efforts of the Trump administration to weaken the ACA. Each chapter opens with learning questions to guide the student and "Health and Illness in the News" stories that apply each chapter's contents to contemporary events. Chapter summaries reinforce key ideas and "Give it Some Thought" boxes emphasize critical thinking. New to the Updated Second EditionNew Chapter 14, "The COVID-19 Pandemic," discusses several ways in which the pandemic reveals health and health behavior disparities New data on medical students and faculty, sexual harassment in medical school, and medical school debt provide students with a deeper understanding of the issues facing doctors New health care data on peer nations and discussion of health and health care rankings of U.S. women provide a critical examination of the quality and cost of health care in the U.S. versus its peer nations Enhanced examination of health insurance status and surprise medical billing, updated survey data on health care costs, and a discussion of high deductibles emphasize the patient financial burden created by a private system of medicine
Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells
This book provides a systematic review of the development, function, and patho-physiologic role of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) in humans. The chapters of the book discuss the origin and discovery, hematopoietic development as well as molecular regulation of pDCs in the context of immune activation as well as immune tolerance. It also discusses the role of pDCs in human diseases, including infections, autoimmune/inflammatory diseases, cancers and metabolic disorders, and opportunities for pDC‐targeting therapies in these varied clinical contexts.
The Integrative Action of the Autonomic Nervous System
Almost all bodily functions are dependent on activity of the autonomic nervous system - from the cardiovascular system, the gastrointestinal tract, the evacuative and sexual organs, to the regulation of temperature, metabolism and tissue defence. Balanced functioning of each aspect of this system is an important basis of our life and well-being. In this long-awaited second edition, the author, a leading figure in this field, provides an up-to-date and detailed description of the cellular and integrative organization of the autonomic nervous system, covering both peripheral and central aspects. The book exposes modern neurobiological concepts that allow us to understand why this system normally runs so smoothly and why its deterioration has such disastrous consequences. This broad overview will appeal to researchers and advanced undergraduate students of the various biological and medical sciences studying how the autonomic nervous system works and to clinicians and physical therapists whose practice involves systems dependent on autonomic functions.
Mouse Genetics
This fully updated edition provides selected mouse genetic techniques and their application in modeling varieties of human diseases. The chapters are mainly focused on the generation of different transgenic mice to accomplish the manipulation of genes of interest, tracing cell lineages, and modeling human diseases. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and up-to-date, Mouse Genetics: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition delivers fundamental techniques and protocols to geneticists, molecular biologists, cell and developmental biologists, students, and postdoctoral fellows working in the various disciplines of genetics, developmental biology, mouse genetics, and modeling human diseases.
Animal Models of Allergic Disease
This volume provides protocols for mouse models of allergic diseases and guidelines for choosing a particular strains, allergen, adjuvant, and route of sensitization. Chapters detail types of allergic disease, methods that are frequently employed to analyze pathophysiology of allergic diseases, manipulation of intestinal microbiota, and desensitization of immure responses in animal models. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Animal Models of Allergic Disease: Methods and Protocols aims to offer a comprehensive collection of protocols and experience-derived instructions to further allergic disease research.
Alcohol, Psychiatry and Society
The medicalisation of alcohol use has become a prominent discourse that guides policy makers and impacts public perceptions of alcohol and drinking. This book maps the historical and cultural dimensions of the phenomenon. Emphasising medical attitudes and theories regarding alcohol and the changing perception of alcohol consumption in psychiatry and mental health, it explores the shift from the use of alcohol in clinical treatment and as part of dietary regimens to the emergence of alcoholism as a disease category that requires medical intervention and is considered a threat to public health. An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.
44 Years on the Frontline of Medicine
Have you ever had a gunny sack with a mad rattlesnake dumped at your feet? I have, and this and many other stories of the emergency room and primary medical practice are in my book 44 Years on the Frontlines of Medicine. The book describes the practice of primary care medicine both in the office and in the emergency room and largely consists of the stories doctors tell each other over dinner when our spouses let us get away with it. It also references the huge changes in medicine over the same time period.
Hydroxychloroquine & Ivermectin -- Much Maligned Super Drugs
Does Hydroxychloroquine work? Does Ivermectin work? It seems that from 2020 and now with the variants, we are suffering from a world-wide nightmare that only Joe Biden thinks has ended. So far, when it seems like it is over, the end point gets stretched out-often past the point of human tolerance. The FDA has flip flopped on both Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin for COVID but both are approved for Malaria. Hydroxychloroquine is also marketed as Plaquenil for Lupus and Ivermectin is marketed as Stromectol for intestinal strongyloidiasis due to the nematode parasite. The FDA has approved the antiviral drug remdesivir (Veklury) to treat COVID-19 in hospitalized adults and children who are age 12 and older in the hospital. The FDA has granted an emergency use authorization for the rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib (Olumiant) to treat COVID-19 in some cases. Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are two medications that have been used for many decades to treat malaria and autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The official word is that based on the available medical data at this time, hydroxy-chloroquine and chloroquine are not effective for treating or preventing COVID-19. The same goes for Ivermectin. Many doctors swear by it but it still has not made it to an official recommended list. Even New Yorkers and others from big cities who thought they could find solace in their lakeside or mountain retreats to escape the contagion of the big city, have had to go underground in their cabins as their new small-town neighbors are being interviewed on local radio & TV complaining of them bringing the big city virus to their small burgs. Now, what? It is called novel, meaning new, and because of its newness, there are no cookbook cures for this plague. And so, death is often a result of a long illness with this virus. Too many deaths! So what to do? In this book we tell you about how this virus got its start and how it made its way across the world in record time. We talk about the measures the world has taken to keep us all safe and we tell you about some promising therapeutics that in some cases are reported to cure the virus and in other cases, they are reported to serve as a prophylaxis to prevent people from contracting the potentially deadly virus. Nobody knows for sure whether anything will work. But some doctors swear by some of the old stand-bys. We wrap this book up by offering a very simple way to be OK--sooner, not later. In this book, your author gives us all a few tips that in his opinion can get us rolling & relieve the frustration safely. You won't know about what is being said about if it can work until you read about it here. You'll find I think some people ought to go to jail for killing Americans. In all cases before you take anything. See your own doctor first.
The Wonder Within
The Wonder Within is a book that will help you navigate your way through the confusion, self-doubt and overwhelm that accompanies anxiety, stress and burnout.Dr Michelle Woolhouse takes you on a journey through the body to understand the interconnections of health and healing. She maps out the internal and external systems that support us in learning from negative experiences, growing from our challenges and enhancing our understanding of what it means to be well, whole and healthy.The Wonder Within offers you a powerful antidote to your strain and shows you a new way to relate to your fears and find the source of wellness within yourself.Through evidence-based practical exercises, self-reflections, meaningful stories and audio downloads, readers will discover a new way of reframing their experiences to access fresh perspectives on their mental health and what it means to be wholly alive.
Emotions and Surgery in Britain, 1793-1912
In this innovative analytical account of the place of emotion and embodiment in nineteenth-century British surgery, Michael Brown examines the changing emotional dynamics of surgical culture for both surgeons and patients from the pre-anaesthetic era through the introduction of anaesthesia and antisepsis techniques. Drawing on diverse archival and published sources, Brown explores how an emotional regime of Romantic sensibility, in which emotions played a central role in the practice and experience of surgery, was superseded by one of scientific modernity, in which the emotions of both patient and practitioner were increasingly marginalised. Demonstrating that the cultures of contemporary surgery and the emotional identities of its practitioners have their origins in the cultural and conceptual upheavals of the later nineteenth century, this book challenges us to question our perception of the pre-anaesthetic period as an era of bloody brutality and casual cruelty. This title is also available as open access.
The Letters of Oscar Hammerstein II
A collection of the letters from and to American musical theater's greatest innovator that provides an entertaining look behind the scenes of Broadway Oscar Hammerstein II virtually invented the modern American musical, first with Show Boat and then in his celebrated collaborations with composer Richard Rodgers on Broadway classics like Oklahoma!, Carousel, and The King and I that continue to fascinate audiences today. A brilliant lyricist and playwright, Hammerstein innovated the American musical with his sophisticated storytelling that single-handedly elevated musical theater to a serious art form. But there were many more sides to Hammerstein: He was also a canny businessman, a successful producer, a mentor to Stephen Sondheim, and a social activist. This rich collection edited by Mark Eden Horowitz features hundreds of previously unpublished letters that show off all facets of Hammerstein's many engagements and his personality. Hammerstein's correspondence with major Broadway figures like Richard Rodgers, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Kern, and Josh Logan tells the history of twentieth-century American show business while his exchanges with politicians and activists shed light on social issues of the period. What unites these letters across their vast range of themes is Hammerstein's compelling voice that reveals a man who was sharp, opinionated, and funny but also cared deeply about addressing the social ills that his musicals explored beyond the stage.
Me vs. Us
How can we care so much about health care yet so little about public health?Before Covid-19, public health programs constituted only 2.5 percent of all US health spending, with the other 97.5 percent going towards the larger health care system. In fact, the United States spends on average $11,000 per citizen per year on health care, but only $286 per person on public health. It seems that Americans value health care, the medical care of individuals, over public health, the well-being of collections of people. In Me vs. Us, primary care doctor and public health advocate Michael Stein takes a hard, insightful look at the larger questions behind American health and health care. He offers eight reasons why our interest in the technologies and delivery of health care supersedes our interest in public health and its focus on the core social, economic, and environmental forces that shape health. Stein documents how public health has continually "lost out" to medicine--from a loss in funding and resources to how we view our personal priorities--and suggests how public health may hold the solutions to our most concerning crises, from pandemics to obesity to climate change. Me vs. Us concludes that individual and public health are inseparable. In the end, Stein argues, we need to recover and sharpen our sense of health based on a reverent appreciation of both perspectives.
The Yellow Flag
Until the middle of the nineteenth century, quarantine laws in all Western European nations mandated the detention of every inbound trader, traveller, soldier, sailor, merchant, missionary, letter, and trade good arriving from the Ottoman Empire and North Africa. Most of these quarantines occurred in large, ominous fortresses in Mediterranean port cities. Alex Chase-Levenson examines Britain's engagement with this Mediterranean border regime from multiple angles. He explores how quarantine practice laid the foundations for the state provision of public health and constituted an early example of European integration. Situated at the intersection of political, cultural, diplomatic, and medical history, The Yellow Flag captures the texture of quarantine as an experience, its power as an administrative precedent, and its novelty as an example of a continental border built from the ground up by low-level bureaucrats.
Manual of Oocyte Retrieval and Preparation in Human Assisted Reproduction
Obtaining good quality oocytes and preparing them for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is a key stage in assisted reproduction. This is a complex process with many pitfalls, making good clinical preparation and laboratory technique essential for success. Illustrated throughout, this book will be valuable to clinical embryologists, laboratory personnel wishing to redefine or develop technique and improve outcomes, IVF quality managers, and gynecologists performing oocyte retrieval. Featuring descriptions of the underlying science along with practical advice on methods and trouble-shooting, this comprehensive manual will aid all those involved in this complex process of oocyte retrieval and preparation in navigating towards optimal outcomes.
Fungal Biofilms 2020
Fungal infections are an important and increasing global threat, carrying not only high morbidity and mortality rates, but also high healthcare costs. Without an effective response, it is predicted that 10 million people will die per year as a result of multi-drug-resistant pathogens. A high percentage of the mortalities caused by fungi are known to be biofilm-related.This Special Issue, "Fungal Biofilms 2020", is intended to cover the state of fungal biofilm research, from virulence and pathogenicity, to new compounds with antibiofilm and antifungal activity. We welcome reviews and original research articles covering the development/evaluation/validation of recent studies, especially those regarding multidrug resistance.
The Colonial Life of Pharmaceuticals
Situated at the crossroads between the history of colonialism, of modern Southeast Asia, and of medical pluralism, this history of medicine and health traces the life of pharmaceuticals in Vietnam under French rule. Laurence Monnais examines the globalization of the pharmaceutical industry, looking at both circulation and consumption, considering access to drugs and the existence of multiple therapeutic options in a colonial context. She argues that colonialism was crucial to the worldwide diffusion of modern medicines and speaks to contemporary concerns regarding over-reliance on pharmaceuticals, drug toxicity, self-medication, and the accessibility of effective medicines. Retracing the steps by which pharmaceuticals were produced and distributed, readers meet the many players in the process, from colonial doctors to private pharmacists, from consumers to various drug traders and healers. Yet this is not primarily a history of medicines as objects of colonial science, but rather a history of medicines as tools of social change.
Case Studies in Systems Biology
This book provides case studies that can be used in Systems Biology related classes. Each case study has the same structure which answers the following questions: What is the biological problem and why is it interesting? What are the relevant details with regard to cell physiology and molecular mechanisms? How are the details put together into a mathematical model? How is the model analyzed and simulated? What are the results of the model? How do they compare to the known facts of the cell physiology? Does the model make predictions? What can be done to extend the model? The book presents a summary of results and references to more relevant sources.The volume contains the classic collection of topics and studies that are well established yet novel in the systems biology field.
Surgery in London and the Royal College of Surgeons of England
Surgery in London and The Royal College of Surgeons of England'Opportunities and Pitfalls'The Royal Commission on Medical Education (the Todd Report) in 1968 supported by the Flowers Report in 1980 recommended major changes to undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. London was considered separately because of the disproportionate number of teaching hospitals, medical schools, specialist hospitals and research institutes. After the Second World War, extraordinary advances in the medical sciences, engineering, high technology and surgical techniques dramatically expanded the spectrum of disease amenable to surgical treatment. The UK remained non-compliant with EU directives on the 'harmonisation' of specialist training until the 1990s and this revolutionary era which culminated in a transformation of surgical training and practice, is described. An increasing number of elderly patients, and others with comorbidities, are now candidates for complex procedures and at higher risk of complications and death. The ongoing controversy regarding the optimal organisation of operative and postoperative care for these patients is discussed.An overview, currently lacking, of more than 700 years of recorded surgical history provides requisite historical context including details of commissioned reports and some of the most consequential post-war innovations. The sometimes adversarial relationship of diplomates with the Royal College of Surgeons of England and its predecessors is examined.In the summer of 2020, Professor Neil Mortensen the newly elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England invited Baroness Helena Kennedy, QC to produce a 'Diversity and Inclusion Review' that was published on 18 March 2021. Sadly, the report concluded that the college and the profession are systemically "sexist, racist and homophobic". The college responded with its 'Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan' (DEI) dated 16 September 2021 and the subject is considered.The purpose of this mini-monograph is to provide a concise account of the evolution of surgical training and practice as it affected London and the r繫le of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and its predecessors.
New Biomolecules and Drug Delivery Systems as Alternatives to Conventional Antibiotics
New approaches to deal with the growing concern associated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria are in great demand. For many years, antibiotics have widely been employed to treat infections. However, their excessive consumption and misuse have accelerated the rise of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, which constitute a major challenge to global health. The antibiotic crisis is now a general concern; therefore, alternative biomolecules or drug delivery systems to treat infections are urgently needed. From natural extracts to traditional medicine remedies, to newly engineered nanocapsules and nanoparticles, to bio-based, biodegradable delivery platforms, many systems to fight infections are explored in this book.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Covid-19
The book examines the role of artificial intelligence during the COVID-19 pandemic, including its application in i) early warnings and alerts, ii) tracking and prediction, iii) data dashboards, iv) diagnosis and prognosis, v) treatments, and cures, and vi) social control. It explores the use of artificial intelligence in the context of population screening and assessing infection risks, and presents mathematical models for epidemic prediction of COVID-19. Furthermore, the book discusses artificial intelligence-mediated diagnosis, and how machine learning can help in the development of drugs to treat the disease. Lastly, it analyzes various artificial intelligence-based models to improve the critical care of COVID-19 patients.
Humane Professions
In this compelling history of the co-ordinated, transnational defence of medical experimentation in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Rob Boddice explores the experience of vivisection as humanitarian practice. He captures the rise of the professional and specialist medical scientist, whose m矇tier was animal experimentation, and whose guiding principle was 'humanity' or the reduction of the aggregate of suffering in the world. He also highlights the rhetorical rehearsal of scientific practices as humane and humanitarian, and connects these often defensive professions to meaningful changes in the experience of doing science. Humane Professions examines the strategies employed by the medical establishment to try to cement an idea in the public consciousness: that the blood spilt in medical laboratories served a far-reaching human good.
Anticancer Inhibitors
The word "cancer" is associated with at least 100 different pathologies, depending on the organ involved and the type of tumor developed. Cancer is a complex disease involving multiple pathogenetic mechanisms. Characterization of different types of cancers, which distinguishes them from healthy cells and other cancers, allows for the identification of specific targets for each individual tumor. The principle of chemotherapy is based on interference with the mechanisms that regulate the life and proliferation of cancer cells, causing their death. In recent years, there has been continuous progress in the development of therapeutic agents against cancer, which is ongoing.The Anticancer Inhibitors Special Issue focuses on new target-based anticancer agents that inhibit a specific target involved in the suppression of various types of cancer and the control of their chemoresistance.There is a collection of research and review articles on advances in drug discovery, design, and development of new inhibitor compounds with potency against various cancer types.
Covid Thru Eyes of Essential Worker
Throughout history there have been many deadly viruses. But only one that has shaken and continues to have an everlasting affect on modern day history! CORONAVIRUS! Also know as Covid-19. Some will neglect its impact on everyday life! But the reality is so far from the truth. We felt the lost! Seen the deceit. Touched rock bottom. Here is where my most relatable story is told through the eyes of a writer! A remarkable true to life story! Of how he goes from Essential Worker to accomplished Author Reid Skillset!!!
Power and Regionalism in Latin America
In Power and Regionalism in Latin America: The Politics of MERCOSUR, Laura G籀mez-Mera examines the erratic patterns of regional economic cooperation in the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), a political-economic agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and, recently, Venezuela that comprises the world's fourth-largest regional trade bloc. Despite a promising start in the early 1990s, MERCOSUR has had a tumultuous and conflict-ridden history. Yet it has survived, expanding in membership and institutional scope. What explains its survival, given a seemingly contradictory mix of conflict and cooperation? Through detailed empirical analyses of several key trade disputes between the bloc's two main partners, Argentina and Brazil, G籀mez-Mera proposes an explanation that emphasizes the tension between and interplay of two sets of factors: power asymmetries within and beyond the region, and domestic-level politics. Member states share a common interest in preserving MERCOSUR as a vehicle for increasing the region's leverage in external negotiations. G籀mez-Mera argues that while external vulnerability and overlapping power asymmetries have provided strong and consistent incentives for regional cooperation in the Southern Cone, the impact of these systemic forces on regional outcomes also has been crucially mediated by domestic political dynamics in the bloc's two main partners, Argentina and Brazil. Contrary to conventional wisdom, however, the unequal distribution of power within the bloc has had a positive effect on the sustainability of cooperation. Despite Brazil's reluctance to adopt a more active leadership role in the process of integration, its offensive strategic interests in the region have contributed to the durability of institutionalized collaboration. However, as G籀mez-Mera demonstrates, the tension between Brazil's global and regional power aspirations has also added significantly to the bloc's ineffectiveness.
Image Processing and Analysis for Preclinical and Clinical Applications
Radiomics is one of the most successful branches of research in the field of image processing and analysis, as it provides valuable quantitative information for the personalized medicine. It has the potential to discover features of the disease that cannot be appreciated with the naked eye in both preclinical and clinical studies. In general, all quantitative approaches based on biomedical images, such as positron emission tomography (PET), computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), have a positive clinical impact in the detection of biological processes and diseases as well as in predicting response to treatment. This Special Issue, "Image Processing and Analysis for Preclinical and Clinical Applications", addresses some gaps in this field to improve the quality of research in the clinical and preclinical environment. It consists of fourteen peer-reviewed papers covering a range of topics and applications related to biomedical image processing and analysis.
Habit Forming
Habitual drug use in the United States is at least as old as the nation itself. Habit Forming traces the history of unregulated drug use and dependency before 1914, when the Harrison Narcotic Tax Act limited sales of opiates and cocaine under US law. Many Americans used opiates and other drugs medically and became addicted. Some tried Hasheesh Candy, injected morphine, or visited opium dens, but neither use nor addiction was linked to crime, due to the dearth of restrictive laws. After the Civil War, American presses published extensively about domestic addiction. Later in the nineteenth century, many used cocaine and heroin as medicine. As addiction became a major public health issue, commentators typically sympathized with white, middle-class drug users, while criticizing such use by poor or working-class people and people of color. When habituation was associated with middle-class morphine users, few advocated for restricted drug access. By the 1910s, as use was increasingly associated with poor young men, support for regulations increased. In outlawing users' access to habit-forming drugs at the national level, a public health problem became a larger legal and social problem, one with an enduring influence on American drug laws and their enforcement.
The Coronavirus. An infection prevention and control case study
Case Study from the year 2020 in the subject Medicine - Epidemiology, grade: Pass, James Cook University, language: English, abstract: This work describes possible control measures and actions to control and prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. A novel virus broke out in a city in southern China last year and developed to a major public health threat within a few months. The pandemic began with an outbreak of pneumonia with unknown origin because of an infection of the lower respiratory tract. Soon, the novel pathogen was identified as a novel coronavirus, described as novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) by the Chinese government.
Asthma and Copd Overlap: An Update, an Issue of Immunology and Allergy Clinics of North America
In this issue, guest editors bring their considerable expertise to this important topic. Provides in-depth reviews on the latest updates in the field, providing actionable insights for clinical practice. Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the field. Authors synthesize and distill the latest research and practice guidelines to create these timely topic-based reviews.
Epidemics
This book is designed to be a practical study in infectious disease dynamics. It offers an easy-to-follow implementation and analysis of mathematical epidemiology. It focuses on recent case studies in order to explore various conceptual, mathematical, and statistical issues. The dynamics of infectious diseases shows a wide diversity of pattern. Some have locally persistent chains-of-transmission, others persist spatially in consumer-resource metapopulations. Some infections are prevalent among the young, some among the old and some are age-invariant. Temporally, some diseases have little variation in prevalence, some have predictable seasonal shifts and others exhibit violent epidemics that may be regular or irregular in their timing.Models and 'models-with-data' have proved invaluable for understanding and predicting this diversity, and thence help improve intervention and control. Using mathematical models to understand infectious disease, dynamics has a very richhistory in epidemiology. The field has seen broad expansions of theories as well as a surge in real-life application of mathematics to dynamics and control of infectious disease. The chapters of Epidemics: Models and Data Using R have been organized as follows: chapters 1-10 is a mix and match of models, data and statistics pertaining to local disease dynamics; chapters 11-13 pertains to spatial and spatiotemporal dynamics; chapter 14 highlights similarities between the dynamics of infectious disease and parasitoid-host dynamics; Finally, chapters 15 and 16 overview additional statistical methodology useful in studies of infectious disease dynamics.This book can be used as a guide for working with data, models and 'models-and-data' to understand epidemics and infectious disease dynamics in space and time. All the code and data sets are distributed in the epimdr2 R package to facilitate the hands-on philosophy of the text.
Neural Progenitor Cells
1. Culturing Mouse Fetal Neural Precursor Cells in a Free-Floating Serum-Free Condition Hassan Azari 2. Isolation and Culture of Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells from the Postnatal Periventricular Region Alessandra Ricca, Federica Cascino, and Angela Gritti 3. Isolation and Culture of Adult Hippocampal Precursor Cells as Free-Floating Neurospheres Ruslan Rust and Tara L. Walker 4. Isolate and Culture Neural Stem Cells from the Mouse Adult Spinal Cord Jean-Philippe Hugnot 5. Culturing and Expansion of "Clinical Grade" Neural Stem Cells from the Fetal Human Central Nervous System Maurizio Gelati, Daniela Celeste Profico, Daniela Ferrari, and Angelo Luigi Vescovi 6. Microglia Isolation from Neural Stem Cell-Enriched Regions Gregory P. Marshall II 7. Microglial FACS Sorting for Robust RNA Recovery for Next Generation Sequencing Andria L. Doty and Aline Oliveria 8. Method for Isolating Extracellular Vesicles from Human Neural Stem Cells Expanded under Neurosphere Culture Nasser Nassiri Koopaei, Thomas D. Schmittgen, Brent A. Reynolds, and Hassan Azari 9. Isolating and Culturing of Precursor Cells from the Adult Human Brain Florian A. Siebzehnrubl 10. Isolation and Culture of Precursor Cells from the Adult Human Spinal Cord Luc Bauchet, Nicolas Lonjon, Florence Vachiery-Lahaye, Alain Boularan, Alain Privat, and Jean-Philippe Hugnot 11. Isolation and Enrichment of Defined Neural Cell Populations from Heterogeneous Neural Stem Cell Progeny Hassan Azari 12. Identifying Neural Progenitor Cells in the Adult Human Brain Thomas I.H. Park, Henry J. Waldvogel, Johanna M. Montgomery, Edward W. Mee, Peter S. Bergin, Richard L.M. Faull, Mike Dragunow, and Maurice A. Curtis 13. Neonatal Transplant in Hypoxic Injury Tong Zheng and Michael D. Weiss 14. Isolation and Purification of Self Renewable Human Neural Stem Cells from iPSCs for Cell Therapy in Experimental Model of Ischemic Stroke Marcel M. Daadi 15. Generating Cerebral Organoids from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Leon Chew, Adam A簽onuevo, and Erin Knock 16. Advancing Our Understanding of Brain Disorders: Research Using Postmortem Brain Tissue Maurice Curtis and Vinata Vedam-Mai 17. Biovalue in Human Brain Banking: Applications and Challenges for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases &nbs
End Medical Debt
-END MEDICAL DEBTCuring America's Healthcare CrisisUpdated and Expanded Covid Recovery EditionJerry Ashton - Robert E. Goff - Craig Antico - Founders of the charity, RIP Medical Debt Introduction by Allison Sesso Edited by Judah FreedPrior Edition: #1 Bestseller in Health Policy - Top 100 in Personal Finance Three healthcare management and debt collections insiders expose the hardships of personal and family medical debt in America. They explore our options for fixing the broken healthcare system producing $140 billion in unpayable medical bills.Book FeaturesPaints the Big Picture for the causes and consequences of the current $140 billion in U.S. medical debt.Offers practical tools and insights for individuals and families facing the pain of unpayable medical bills.Explains the structure and financing of medical care. Lays bare how it works, and why it works that way.Exposes medical costs and debt inequities for the poor, for veterans and for the underinsured middle class.Shows how early hospitals and insurance evolved to became trapped into putting profits before health.Weighs proposed national solutions from the authors' progressive, moderate and conservative viewpoints.Explores the balance between personal responsibility and social responsibility in generating good health. Tells the origin story of RIP Medical Debt. Gives an inside look at buying and abolishing hardship debt.The authors and publisher donate 85 percent of all revenues to RIP Medical Debt, a charity using donations to buy old medical debt for pennies on the dollar and then forgive it. Each book sold abolishes about $500 in hardship healthcare debt.Reviews"End Medical Debt is one of the best books I've read that explains how our healthcare system became a vorac-ious monster, and the steps we can take, individually and collectively, to keep it from devouring us." Wendell Potter, Center for Health and Democracy"The Covid recovery edition of End Medical Debt breaks down critical issues in a way that's easy to understand. " Marlene Wust-Smith MD, Physician Outlook Magazine "End Medical Debt is special because it advocates for systemic change while providing tactical solutions for Americans now facing the devastating burden of medical debt. Rohan Pavluri, Upsolve"End Medical Debt does more than describe the unsustainable structure of our current healthcare system. The book demonstrates what was always the solution: People helping people, voluntarily and without coercion."Ernest Hancock, FreedomsPhoenix"End Medical Debt is exactly what's needed to jumpstart the national discussion about our dysfunctional healthcare system, and what to do about it."Joel R. Segal, Former senior assistant, U.S. Congress. Co-author of the "Medicare For All" bill.
Smellosophy
An NRC Handelsblad Book of the Year "Offers rich discussions of olfactory perception, the conscious and subconscious impacts of smell on behavior and emotion."--Science Decades of cognition research have shown that external stimuli "spark" neural patterns in particular regions of the brain. We think of the brain as a space we can map: here it responds to faces, there it perceives a sensation. But the sense of smell--only recently attracting broader attention in neuroscience--doesn't work this way. So what does the nose tell the brain, and how does the brain understand it? A. S. Barwich turned to experts in neuroscience, psychology, chemistry, and perfumery in an effort to understand the mechanics and meaning of odors. She discovered that scents are often fickle, and do not line up with well-defined neural regions. Upending existing theories of perception, Smellosophy offers a new model for understanding how the brain senses and processes odors. "A beguiling analysis of olfactory experience that is fast becoming a core reference work in the field."--Irish Times "Lively, authoritative...Aims to rehabilitate smell's neglected and marginalized status."--Wall Street Journal "This is a special book...It teaches readers a lot about olfaction. It teaches us even more about what philosophy can be."--Times Literary Supplement
Fundamentals of Computational Neuroscience
Computational neuroscience is the theoretical study of the brain to uncover the principles and mechanisms that guide the development, organization, information processing, and mental functions of the nervous system. Although not a new area, it is only recently that enough knowledge has been gathered to establish computational neuroscience as a scientific discipline in its own right. Given the complexity of the field, and its increasing importance in progressing our understanding of how the brain works, there has long been a need for an introductory text on what is often assumed to be an impenetrable topic. The new edition of Fundamentals of Computational Neuroscience build on the success and strengths of the previous editions. It introduces the theoretical foundations of neuroscience with a focus on the nature of information processing in the brain. The book covers the introduction and motivation of simplified models of neurons that are suitable for exploring information processing in large brain-like networks. Additionally, it introduces several fundamental network architectures and discusses their relevance for information processing in the brain, giving some examples of models of higher-order cognitive functions to demonstrate the advanced insight that can be gained with such studies. Each chapter starts by introducing its topic with experimental facts and conceptual questions related to the study of brain function. An additional feature is the inclusion of simple Matlab programs that can be used to explore many of the mechanisms explained in the book. An accompanying webpage includes programs for download. The book will be the essential text for anyone in the brain sciences who wants to get to grips with this topic.
Personalized Diagnosis and Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis
We all agree that people with MS need to be cared in a profoundly personalized way. The care of the patient with MS is still based on the presence of relapses, so their successful diagnosis and treatment is fundamental and will condition the therapeutic strategies to follow with the patient. The treatment strategies are a highly controversial topic of debate that is increasingly supported by robust objective biological markers of response and that also increasingly take into account the dynamics and predictors of cognitive impairment along the disease course, which includes the adoption of new trends in the field of machine learning techniques. However, we all know that patient care goes beyond being treated with drugs and we cannot overlook reminding patients of the importance of their lifestyle behaviors that vary according to the MS biological markers, in order to improve their quality of life. Teleconsultation is a new care strategy proved to be feasible and well-received by patients with MS that will undoubtedly become reinforced because it will allow a closer follow-up of the patient without the need for displacement.
Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies, BIOSTEC 2021, held virtually due to the COVID-19 crisis, in February 2021. The conference was held virtually due to the COVID-19 crisis.The 13 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 265 submissions. The papers selected to be included in this book contribute to the understanding of relevant trends of current research on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies, including: Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning, Application of Health Informatics in Clinical Cases, Evaluation and Use of Healthcare IT, Medical Signal Acquisition, Analysis and Processing, Data Mining and Data Analysis, Decision Support Systems, e-Health, e-Health Applications, Mobile Technologies for Healthcare Applications and Medical Devices design.
State-of-Art in Innate Immunity
The innate immune system is the first line of defense against bacterial and viral infections and sterile inflammation through the recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) by pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs) resulting in the production of proinflammatory and antiviral cytokines and chemokines. Several damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), which were released by passive or active mechanisms under sterile conditions, are additionally recognized by PRRs and can cause or even aggravate the inflammatory response.In this special issue many aspects of innate immunity are summarized. Mechanisms of different DAMPs to induce pro- and anti-inflammatory activities, functions of different immune cells, as well as the crosstalk between coagulation and innate immunity were described. Furthermore, aspects of autoinflammatory diseases, types of programmed cell death pathways, and insect immunity are covered. Finally, therapeutic options for the treatment of diseases related to autoimmunity or infections are suggested. Overall, this special issue presents a broad overview of activities related to sterile inflammation and defense mechanisms of innate immunity.
Methods for Preclinical Research in Addiction
This volume presents a wide array of animal models that are used in the study of the individual and environmental factors involved in the development of addiction, the consequences of chronic drug exposure, and recently developed behavioral and biological procedures for the treatment of addictive disorders. The chapters in this book are organized into three sections that cover the aforementioned aspects in relation to different drugs of abuse and pathological gambling. The first section of the book focuses on the individual variables that affect vulnerability to addiction to nicotine, alcohol, cocaine, psychostimulants, and gambling. Section Two looks at the environmental variables that contribute to the vulnerability to addiction. Section Three explores the consequences of chronic drug consumption and new approaches to the treatment of addiction. In the Neuromethods series style, chapters include the kind of detail and key advice from the specialists needed to get successfulresults in your laboratory. Cutting-edge and comprehensive, Methods for Preclinical Research in Addiction is a valuable resource that helps researchers and scientists understand the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie the influence of individual and environmental variables on the risk for addiction, and assists them in developing new behavioral and pharmacological strategies to prevent and treat addictive disorders.
Aging
Aging can bring life changes. You can be looking into retirement, welcoming grandchildren into this world, or moving to a senior community. There are a number of challenges that can occur as you age, too, like health issues or a decline in mobility. There is positive and negative transitions that come with aging, which can be overwhelming, especially if you're like me who's trying resist change. It's stressful to feel like you're losing the things that bring you joy. It's possible to maintain your health and quality of life at any age, though. That's where this book can help you finding healthy ways to cope and even embrace aging is the key to enjoying your older years. Fortunately, there are plenty of strategies you can use to stay happy throughout the aging process. Take a look inside to live your best LIFE..
Hidden Histories of the Dead
In this discipline-redefining book, Elizabeth T. Hurren maps the post-mortem journeys of bodies, body-parts, organs, and brains, inside the secretive culture of modern British medical research after WWII as the bodies of the deceased were harvested as bio-commons. Often the human stories behind these bodies were dissected, discarded, or destroyed in death. Hidden Histories of the Dead recovers human faces and supply-lines in the archives that medical science neglected to acknowledge. It investigates the medical ethics of organ donation, the legal ambiguities of a lack of fully-informed consent and the shifting boundaries of life and re-defining of medical death in a biotechnological era. Hurren reveals the implicit, explicit and missed body disputes that took second-place to the economics of the national and international commodification of human material in global medical sciences of the Genome era. This title is also available as Open Access.
