At present, human society is facing a health care crisis that is affecting patients worldwide. In the United States, it is generally believed that the major problem is lack of affordable access to health care (i.e. health insurance). This book takes an unprecedented approach to address this issue by proposing that the major problem is not lack of affordable access to health care per se, but lack of access to better, safer, and more affordable medicines. The latter problem is present not only in the United States and the developing world but also in countries with socialized health care systems, such as Europe and the rest of the industrialized world. This book provides a comparative analysis of the health care systems throughout the world and also examines the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

Examines the health care structure of the United States, Europe, and the third world, both separately and comparativelyOffers primary source insight through in-depth interviews with pharmaceutical and health care industry leaders from around the worldCarefully explains, in clear terms, the intricacies of the health care and pharmaceutical system and how these intricacies have led to the current crisisOffers concrete, comprehensive solutions to the health care crisis

Molecular Tools and Infectious Disease Epidemiology examines the opportunities and methodologic challenges in the application of modern molecular genetic and biologic techniques to infectious disease epidemiology. The application of these techniques dramatically improves the measurement of disease and putative risk factors, increasing our ability to detect and track outbreaks, identify risk factors and detect new infectious agents. However, integration of these techniques into epidemiologic studies also poses new challenges in the design, conduct, and analysis. This book presents the key points of consideration when integrating molecular biology and epidemiology; discusses how using molecular tools in epidemiologic research affects program design and conduct; considers the ethical concerns that arise in molecular epidemiologic studies; and provides a context for understanding and interpreting scientific literature as a foundation for subsequent practical experience in the laboratory and in the field. The book is recommended for graduate and advanced undergraduate students studying infectious disease epidemiology and molecular epidemiology; and for the epidemiologist wishing to integrate molecular techniques into his or her studies.

The field of gender-specific medicine examines how normal human biology and physiology differs between men and women and how the diagnosis and treatment of disease differs as a function of gender. This revealing research covers various conditions that predominantly occur in men as well conditions that predominantly occur in women. Among the areas of greatest difference are cardiovascular disease, mood disorders, the immune system, lung cancer as a consequence of smoking, osteoporosis, diabetes, obesity, and infectious diseases.
The Second Edition of Principles of Gender-Specific Medicine will decrease in size from two to one volume and focus on the essentials of gender-specific medicine. In response to the market as well as many of the reviewers suggestions, the Editor has eliminated approximately 55 chapters from the first edition to make the book more compact and more focused on the essentials of gender-specific medicine. The content will be completely updated, redundant sections and chapters will be merged with others that are more relevant to the current study of sex and gender differences in human physiology and pathophysiology.
Editor has eliminated approximately 55 chapters from the first edition to make the book more compact and more focused on the essentials of gender-specific medicine.

Longer bibliographies and suggested reviews/papers of particular relevance and importance will be added at the end of each section.

Each author will be asked to include recent meta-analysis of data

Each chapter will progress translationally from the basic science to the clinical applications of gender-specific therapies, drugs, or treatments

Section on drug metabolism will be eliminated but the subject will be incorporated into each relevant chapter

Section on aging will be eliminated but age will be considered as a variable in each of the separate chapters "

The major objective of this book is to review in detail health problems occurring with significant frequency in aging adults which are proposed to be treated or ameliorated using nutriceuticals as foods and dietary supplements as well as other complementary and alternative therapies. Chapters primarily focusing on nutrients have been excluded to maintain a focus on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).
Overview of the Book: The book is divided into three general sections as follows: I. Nutriceuticals and Botanicals in Health Promotion; (A) Specific Nutriceuticals Used in Treating Aged, (B) General Nutraceutical Approaches to Therapy with emphasis on cancer. II. Non-nutritional CAM Therapies. (A) Mind-mediated Therapies, (B) Physically Applied CAM Therapies

I. Non-Nutritional Components in Diet and Supplements, Nutriceuticals and their Role in Health Promotion in the Mature Adult.
Nutrient requirements for optimum health and function of aging physiological systems often are quite distinct from young ones. Nutriceuticals, without nutrients as foods or dietary supplements benefit the aged by both protecting nutrients from oxidative damage as well as through their direct biological activity. Recognition and understanding of the role of CAM nutriceuticals in health of the aged is being intensively researched and tested, especially due to the increases in the elderly in the general population. In developed countries, economic restrictions and physical inactivity during aging can significantly reduce food intakes, contributing to nutritional stresses and needs. Many disease entities and cancers are found with higher frequency in the aged. Cancer, trauma, or infectiousdisease can alter intakes of nutriceutical containing foods and/or requirements for various nutrients. Nutriceuticals, especially those of botanical origins have thousands of biologically active chemicals. Thus specific foods and nutriceutical supplementation may be helpful in treatment of aged adults including cancer patients. Many adults and elderly are using foods and nutriceutical supplements above the recommended daily allowance, which may not always be needed for optimal health. To some extent, treatment of these conditions with diet or nutriceutical supplements is a unique problem in the aged. In summary, increasing numbers of older adults and elderly in the population require detailed study and directed research to understand their health problems, using novel nutriceutical and CAM therapies.
II. Nutriceuticals in Disease and Cancer Therapy in Seniors.
Research continues to show that non-nutritional materials in the diet or as supplements can have important health promotion benefits. Those that are antioxidants act, in part, by protecting antioxidant vitamins. However much needs to be learned about benefits and risks of nutriceuticals which have a variety of biological activities in their own right. Therefore botanical extracts and components will be reviewed for their benefits to seniors.
III. Non-dietary Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Use and Benefits to the Elderly in Health.
The elderly are frequently using various non-traditional and often unproven CAM therapies, beyond nutritional and nutraceutical supplements. Therefore a variety of physical and psychosocial treatments will be evaluated by experts in CAM research for their benefits/risks andthe extent of scientific testing.
*Identifies the important nutritional requirements of the aging population, and how nutraceuticals and other CAM options affect those
* Addresses the many disease entities and cancers are found with higher frequency in the aged, including cancer, trauma, or infectious disease that can alter intakes of nutraceutical containing foods and/or requirements for various nutrients.
* Explores the nutritional materials botanical extracts and components that can have important health promotion benefits and risks, to ensure safe consumption
* Reviews the frequently used non-traditional and often unproven CAM therapies, beyond nutritional and nutraceutical supplements, including a variety of physical and psychosocial treatments.

Molecular Endocrinology, Third Edition summarizes the area and provides an in-depth discussion of the molecular aspects of hormone action, including hormone-receptor interactions, second messenger generation, gene induction, and post-transcriptional control. Thoroughly revised and updated, the Third Edition includes new information on growth factors hematopoietic-immune factors, nonclassical hormones, receptors, transduction, transcriptional regulation, as well as other relevant topics. Incorporating an abundance of new information, this text retains the self-contained, focused, and easily readable style of the Second Edition.
*Includes discussion of recently characterized hormones
*Recent advances in understanding chromatin remodeling are highlighted in this edition
*Incorporates over 80 tables and 140 figures to beautifully illustrate recent biomedical advances

Structured to be a companion to the recently published Handbook of Transfusion Medicine, the Handbook of Pediatric Transfusion Medicine is dedicated to pediatric hematology-oncology and transfusion medicine, a field which remains ambiguous and which has generated few comprehensive texts. This book stands alone as one of the few texts that addresses transfusion issues specific to pediatric medicine. Written in an eminently readable style, this authoritative handbook is a requirement for any pediatric physician or caregiver.
* Neonatal and fetal immune response and in utero development issues
* Blood compatability and pre-transfusion testing issues specific to pediatric and neonatal transfusion
* Therapeutic apheresis including red blood cell exchange and prophylactic chronic erythrocytapheresis for sickle cell patients
* Also includes a section that concentrates on the consent, quality and legal issues of blood transfusion and donation

Fertilization provides in-depth reviews of individual research topics, while emphasizing key concepts and the significance of findings within other fields. The author identifies essential questions to be answered by future research. Fertilization broadly covers the many molecular and cellular events of animal fertilization and includes a section on unique problems and potential applications of fertilization research.
Key Features
* Provides in-depth reviews of individual research topics
* Emphasizes key concepts and significance of findings to other fields
* Broadly covers the many molecular and cellular events of animal fertilization
* Includes a section on unique problems and potential applications of fertilization research
* Identifies essential questions to be answered by future research

Written by experts in the field, Handbook of Endocrine Research Techniques is currently the only single source of up-to-date methods and strategies particularly useful in endocrinological research. As a resource for both the novice and experienced investigator, the book includes chapters which provide an introduction to the area, general concepts, detailed protocols, and extensive references.

Fertility, Biology, and Behavior: An Analysis of the Proximate Determinants presents the proximate determinants of natural fertility. This book discusses the biological and behavioral dimensions of human fertility that are linked to intermediate fertility variables. Organized into nine chapters, this book begins with an overview of the mechanisms through which socioeconomic variables influence fertility. This text then examines the absolute and relative age-specific marital fertility rates of selected populations. Other chapters consider the trends in total fertility rates of selected countries, including Colombia, Kenya, Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, France, and United States. This book discusses as well the effects of deliberate marital fertility control through contraception and induced abortion. The final chapter deals with the management of sex composition and implications for birth spacing. This book is a valuable resource for reproductive physiologists, social scientists, demographers, statisticians, biologists, and graduate students with an interest in the biological and behavioral control of human fertility.

Nutritional oncology is an increasingly active interdisciplinary field where cancer is investigated as both a systemic and local disease originating with the changes in the genome and progressing through a multi-step process which may be influenced at many points in its natural history by nutritional factors that could impact the prevention of cancer, the quality of life of cancer patients, and the risk of cancer recurrence in the rapidly increasing population of cancer survivors.
Since the first edition of this book was published in 1999, the idea that there is a single gene pathway or single drug will provide a cure for cancer has given way to the general view that dietary/environmental factors impact the progression of genetic and cellular changes in common forms of cancer. This broad concept can now be investigated within a basic and clinical research context for specific types of cancer. This book attempts to cover the current available knowledge in this new field of nutritional oncology written by invited experts. This book attempts to provide not only the theoretical and research basis for nutritional oncology, but will offer the medical oncologist and other members of multidisciplinary groups treating cancer patients practical information on nutrition assessment and nutritional regimens, including micronutrient and phytochemical supplementation. The editors hope that this volume will stimulate increased research, education and patient application of the principles of nutritional oncology.
NEW TO THIS EDITION:
* Covers hot new topics of nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics in cancer cell growth
* Includes new chapters on metabolic networks in cancer cell growth, nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics
* Presents substantially revised chapters on breast cancer and nutrition, prostate cancer and nutrition, and colon cancer and nutrition
* Includes new illustrations throughout the text, especially in the breast cancer chapter
* Includes integrated insights into the unanswered questions and clearly defined objectives of research in nutritional oncology
* Offers practical guidelines for clinicians advising malnourished cancer patients and cancer survivors on diet, nutrition, and lifestyle
* Provides information on the role of bioactive substances, dietary supplements, phytochemicals and botanicals in cancer prevention and treatment