A unique study of how syphilis, better known as the French disease in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, became so widespread and embedded in the society, culture and institutions of early modern Venice due to the pattern of sexual relations that developed from restrictive marital customs, widespread migration and male privilege.

"Electrical Disease of the Heart, 2nd Edition, volume 2, " covers the diagnostic and treatment options available in the management of electrical diseases and with its companion volume provides the latest developments in the field of experimental and clinical cardiac electrophysiology, genetics, pharmacology and interventional therapies of various clinical arrhythmogenic entities. This bookis highly relevant to a broad audience, ranging from medical and graduate students, to clinicians and scientists."

This book on Infectious Disease Informatics (IDI) and biosurveillance is intended to provide an integrated view of the current state of the art, identify technical and policy challenges and opportunities, and promote cross-disciplinary research that takes advantage of novel methodology and what we have learned from innovative applications. This book also fills a systemic gap in the literature by emphasizing informatics driven perspectives (e.g., information system design, data standards, computational aspects of biosurveillance algorithms, and system evaluation). Finally, this book attempts to reach policy makers and practitioners through the clear and effective communication of recent research findings in the context of case studies in IDI and biosurveillance, providing "hands-on" in-depth opportunities to practitioners to increase their understanding of value, applicability, and limitations of technical solutions. This book collects the state of the art research and modern perspectives of distinguished individuals and research groups on cutting-edge IDI technical and policy research and its application in biosurveillance. The contributed chapters are grouped into three units. Unit I provides an overview of recent biosurveillance research while highlighting the relevant legal and policy structures in the context of IDI and biosurveillance ongoing activities. It also identifies IDI data sources while addressing information collection, sharing, and dissemination issues as well as ethical considerations. Unit II contains survey chapters on the types of surveillance methods used to analyze IDI data in the context of public health and bioterrorism. Specific computational techniques covered include: text mining, time series analysis, multiple data streams methods, ensembles of surveillance methods, spatial analysis and visualization, social network analysis, and agent-based simulation. Unit III examines IT and decision support for public health event response and bio-defense. Practical lessons learned in developing public health and biosurveillance systems, technology adoption, and syndromic surveillance for large events are discussed. The goal of this book is to provide an understandable interdisciplinary IDI and biosurveillance reference either used as a standalone textbook or reference for students, researchers, and practitioners in public health, veterinary medicine, biostatistics, information systems, computer science, and public administration and policy.

Epidemiology and Demography provides practical guidance on planning and implementing surveillance and investigation of disease and disease outbreaks. Exploring contributing factors to the dynamics of disease transmission and the identification of population risks, it also includes a discussion of ehtics in epidemiology and demography including important issues of privacy vs. public safety. With a chapter on H1N1 and Bird flu, this book will be important for students and professionals in public health and epidemiology.

Focuses on the techniques of surveillance and investigation of disease

Includes biostatistics and analysis techniques

Explores the ethics of disease studies

Includes chapter discussing H1N1 and Bird Flu

Insect-transmitted rickettsiales diseases are significant sources of morbidity and mortality all over the world. Their incidence has been increasing in recent years in large part due to climate change and the movement of animals carrying the insect vectors. Currently there are no effective vaccines against diseases caused by members of the order Rickettsiales. Rickettsiales diseases are often misdiagnosed; this book is intended to serve as a tool for their understanding and diagnosis. Rickettsiales covers the seven main genera: Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Midichloria, Neorickettsia, Orientia, Rickettsia and Wolbachia. Discussion of each genus includes immunology and molecular biology of host-pathogen interactions, epidemiology and diagnosis, and vaccination strategies and therapies.

This book describes the molecular biology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, and potential strategies for control of chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection. It offers insight into the structure and functions of CHIKV proteins as they relate to host response, interaction with the arthropod vector, and vaccination. A detailed account of both the epidemiological outlook and the clinical syndrome of CHIKV infection is provided. The complex host-virus interaction and the signaling pathways that mediate such interactions are also covered. Throughout the book, graphics and charts are used to provide stimulating discussion on important findings in the field of chikungunyalogy. The chapters are written with a global perspective by experts of CHIKV from around the world. This project is especially significant given that CHIKV is a pathogen of worldwide public health concern. Although the presence of CHIKV infection is not global yet, worldwide dissemination is predicted in the future due largely to the lack of effective treatment/therapy, efficient control of transmission, and knowledge about mechanisms of pathogenesis. Additionally, globalization of CHIKV is predicated on its mode of dissemination (mosquito vector) and cross border travel and migration.

This edited volume concerns a group of devastating neurological disorders that share a common pathological mechanism, namely the aggregation and deposition of insoluble, proteinaceous lesions, termed 'amyloid'. Examples of cerebral amyloid disorders include common neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease-related dementia and Parkinson's disease, as well as other less prevalent conditions like Huntington's disease, cerebral amyloid angiopathy and the transmissible prion disorders. A disease-modifying therapeutic agent is still lacking for all these diseases, and there are no approved therapies that target amyloid formation directly. Nevertheless, a large and complex group of natural aromatic compounds known as polyphenols are rapidly emerging as potentially potent anti-amyloidogenic agents. This book collectively presents a considerable body of experimental and epidemiological evidence from peer-reviewed scientific publications that support a role for natural compounds and herbal extracts in the chemoprevention and therapy of amyloidogenic disorders. Each contribution is written by scientific experts in the relevant field; chapters are devoted to Mediterranean diet and olive oil phenols, traditional Chinese medicine, herbal extracts, polyphenols (with a particular emphasis on epigallocatechin-3-gallate) and bi-flavonoids, amongst others. The topic of this book is relevant to a wide audience, from academia and university students in the biological and chemical sciences, to physicians and allied health professionals, as well as people working in the nutraceutical industry.

This edited collection shows how the spread of HIV infection has been followed, represented, and managed in nine countries between 1982 and 1988. The countries cited in this study have been chosen to emphasize contrasts in the social and epidemiological profiles of AIDS, and to suggest the diversity of the problems constituted by HIV/AIDS in different national contexts. The juxtaposition of sequences of national response will raise questions about the range of policy options actually available to political and social policy-makers in a given context, and will invite further examination of the factors determining the acceptance or rejection of specific measures. Following the introduction, which outlines the choices that national governments confront in formulating AIDS policies, the successive chapters cover the reactions to HIV/AIDS in the United States, Brazil, France, Belgium, West Germany, Italy, Poland, Australia, and Africa. The final chapter compares the patterns of national response, identifies their common and divergent features, and points out tensions in policy-making caused by current changes in the spread of infection and in the understanding of the virus. This book makes informative reading for those who want to learn more about international variation in the political, social, and economic aspects of the AIDS epidemic.

Population growth and global health disparities for many reproductive and perinatal outcomes are but a few of the pressing issues facing public health today. Despite growing interest in the field, formal training in reproductive and perinatal epidemiology remains limited, with few available textbooks aimed at providing an overview of the field. In response to this need, faculty from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) and CIHR's Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health (IHDCYH) developed an intensive, competitive, Summer Institute in Reproductive and Perinatal Epidemiology. The curriculum of this Summer Institute has been developed into a textbook to provide students and researchers with a working knowledge of the substantive and methodologic issues underlying reproductive and perinatal epidemiology.
Reproductive and Perinatal Epidemiology offers a core curriculum that addresses the epidemiology of major reproductive and perinatal outcomes. From human fecundity to birth and neonatal outcomes, the subject is approached from as international a perspective as possible, and the unique methodologic issues underlying each outcome are discussed. Developed by leading researchers in collaboration with their students in response to their needs and concerns, this is the definitive textbook on the subject.

Traces the historical development of statistics in medical research, and profiles important figures in the field. Subjects include statistics as a distinct discipline, development in the US, and clinical trials in the US. Includes b&w photos. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

This book gives an up-to-date analysis of the epidemiology of asthma i n children and adults, the role of steroids in asthma management and n ew and novel asthma therapies. Specific chapters deal with the epidem iology of asthma mortality and of childhood asthma, others discuss the advantages and drawbacks of the use of b2-adenoreceptor agonists, cor ticosteroids, theophylline and new generation phosphodiesterase inhibi tors in the treatment of asthma. A new non-invasive method to assess a irway inflammation is also presented as well as steroid-sparing therap ies in asthma. The book addresses clinicians and basic scientists wit h an interest in asthma epidemiology, steroids and future therapies. I t is also of interest to clinical and no-clinical teachers in academic disciplines relating to respiratory disease.

Teaches Students How to Perform Spatio-Temporal Analyses within Epidemiological Studies Spatio-Temporal Methods in Environmental Epidemiology is the first book of its kind to specifically address the interface between environmental epidemiology and spatio-temporal modeling. In response to the growing need for collaboration between statisticians and environmental epidemiologists, the book links recent developments in spatio-temporal methodology with epidemiological applications. Drawing on real-life problems, it provides the necessary tools to exploit advances in methodology when assessing the health risks associated with environmental hazards. The book's clear guidelines enable the implementation of the methodology and estimation of risks in practice. Designed for graduate students in both epidemiology and statistics, the text covers a wide range of topics, from an introduction to epidemiological principles and the foundations of spatio-temporal modeling to new research directions. It describes traditional and Bayesian approaches and presents the theory of spatial, temporal, and spatio-temporal modeling in the context of its application to environmental epidemiology. The text includes practical examples together with embedded R code, details of specific R packages, and the use of other software, such as WinBUGS/OpenBUGS and integrated nested Laplace approximations (INLA). A supplementary website provides additional code, data, examples, exercises, lab projects, and more. Representing a major new direction in environmental epidemiology, this book-in full color throughout-underscores the increasing need to consider dependencies in both space and time when modeling epidemiological data. Students will learn how to identify and model patterns in spatio-temporal data as well as exploit dependencies over space and time to reduce bias and inefficiency.

The purpose of this book is to examine the etiology of cancer in large human populations using mathematical models developed from an inter-disciplinary perspective of the population epidemiological, biodemographic, genetic and physiological basis of the mechanisms of cancer initiation and progression. In addition an investigation of how the basic mechanism of tumor initiation relates to general processes of senescence and to other major chronic diseases (e.g., heart disease and stroke) will be conducted.

This volume contains refereed papers submitted by participants of the third week of a six week workshop on Statistics in the Health Sciences held by the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications in Minneapolis, Minnesota during July of 1997. This week was devoted to the closely related topics of Diagnosis and Prediction. Theoretical and applied statisticians from universities, medical and public health schools, government and private research institutions, and pharmaceutical companies involved in prediction problems in the life and social sciences and in diagnostic and screening tests were brought together to discuss and exchange new results and information on these important issues. A number of papers with applications were presented and especially lively discussions ensued involving the critical issues and difficulties in using and interpreting diagnostic tests and implementing mass screening programs. Both frequentist and Bayesian approaches were employed. The importance of predicting or controlling future events such as survival, comparative survival and survival post intervention for a disease or even for certain biological or natural events is growing rapidly. This area of concern was also represented by participants who presented work that devised predictive methodology for a variety of problems mainly from a Bayesian perspective.

The terrorist use of diseases as bioweapons has been one of the major security concerns in recent years, particularly after the anthrax letter attacks in the USA in 2001. This uncertain threat of intentional outbreaks of diseases exists side by side with the constantly changing very real threat from diseases, epidemics and pandemics as recently illustrated by the H1N1 influenza pandemic, SARS, and H5N1 bird influenza events. This publication contains case studies on the public health planning for (un)usual disease outbreaks for 11 large and small countries with a focus on South Eastern Europe. In many countries, military entities traditionally play an important role in emergency response to disease outbreaks. In smaller countries, very little exists, however, in terms of specific biopreparedness efforts (in both the military and civilian area), which is at least partly due to a relatively low bioterrorism threat perception, and serious resource constraints. The uncertainty associated with the bioterrorism threat makes public health preparedness planning for such events politically and financially very difficult. The similarity of responding to bioterrorism events and natural disease outbreaks from a public health point of view suggests the merit of looking at biopreparedness as a part of overall health emergency planning, not as a separate effort.

This book presents statistical processes for health care delivery and covers new ideas, methods and technologies used to improve health care organizations. It gathers the proceedings of the Third International Conference on Health Care Systems Engineering (HCSE 2017), which took place in Florence, Italy from May 29 to 31, 2017. The Conference provided a timely opportunity to address operations research and operations management issues in health care delivery systems. Scientists and practitioners discussed new ideas, methods and technologies for improving the operations of health care systems, developed in close collaborations with clinicians. The topics cover a broad spectrum of concrete problems that pose challenges for researchers and practitioners alike: hospital drug logistics, operating theatre management, home care services, modeling, simulation, process mining and data mining in patient care and health care organizations.

This volume provides an overview of recent advances in our understanding of the biology of marburg- and ebolaviruses. It focuses on four essential areas: 1) ecology, outbreaks and clinical management, 2) disease, pathogenesis and protection, 3) virus replication inside the cell, and 4) molecular tools for virus study and taxonomy. For 50 years, these viruses have spilled over sporadically and without warning from their wildlife reservoirs, often causing major outbreaks and high fatalities. The consequences can be devastating, with a clear potential for global reach, as demonstrated by the 2013 West African outbreak of Ebola virus, which led to over 28,000 reported cases across three continents and more than 11,000 deaths. Given the international threat posed by these viruses, the pace and scope of basic research have also greatly intensified, ranging from studies of virus emergence, epidemiology, antiviral countermeasures and human disease to detailed mechanistic studies of virus entry, replication, virion assembly and protein structure. Written by internationally respected experts, this book will appeal to a wide audience and be a valuable resource for basic researchers, clinicians and advanced students alike.

Contemporary research on genetic control of disease-transmitting insects knows two kinds of scientists: those that work in the laboratory and those known as a ~field peoplea (TM). Over the last decade, both groups seem to have developed differing research priorities, addressed fundamentally different aspects within the overall discipline of infectious-disease control, and worse, have developed a scientific a ~languagea (TM) that is no longer understood by the a ~othera (TM) party. This gap widens every day, between the North and the South, between ecologists and molecular biologists, geneticists and behaviourists, etc. The need to develop a common research agenda that bridges this gap has been identified as a top priority by all parties involved. Only then shall the goal of developing appropriate genetic-control strategies for vectors of disease become reality.

This book is the reflection of a workshop, held in Nairobi (Kenya) in July 2004, that addressed the above issues. It brought together a good representation of both the molecular and ecological research disciplines and, for the first time, included a significant number of researchers from disease-endemic countries. The research agenda presented here will serve the research and science-policy communities alike, and guide sponsoring organizations with the selection of priority areas for research funding.

Mathematical epidemiology of infectious diseases usually involves describing the flow of individuals between mutually exclusive infection states. One of the key parameters describing the transition from the susceptible to the infected class is the hazard of infection, often referred to as the force of infection. The force of infection reflects the degree of contact with potential for transmission between infected and susceptible individuals. The mathematical relation between the force of infection and effective contact patterns is generally assumed to be subjected to the mass action principle, which yields the necessary information to estimate the basic reproduction number, another key parameter in infectious disease epidemiology. It is within this context that the Center for Statistics (CenStat, I-Biostat, Hasselt University) and the Centre for the Evaluation of Vaccination and the Centre for Health Economic Research and Modelling Infectious Diseases (CEV, CHERMID, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute, University of Antwerp) have collaborated over the past 15 years. This book demonstrates the past and current research activities of these institutes and can be considered to be a milestone in this collaboration. This book is focused on the application of modern statistical methods and models to estimate infectious disease parameters. We want to provide the readers with software guidance, such as R packages, and with data, as far as they can be made publicly available.

This highly practical resource brings new dimensions to the utility of qualitative data in health research by focusing on naturally occurring data. It examines how naturally occurring data complement interviews and other sources of researcher-generated health data, and takes readers through the steps of identifying, collecting, analyzing, and disseminating these findings in ethical research with real-world relevance. The authors acknowledge the critical importance of evidence-based practice in today's healthcare landscape and argue for naturally occurring data as a form of practice-based evidence making valued contributions to the field. And chapters evaluate frequently overlooked avenues for naturally occurring data, including media and social media sources, health policy and forensic health contexts, and digital communications. Included in the coverage:* Exploring the benefits and limitations of using naturally occurring data in health research * Considering qualitative approaches that may benefit from using naturally occurring data * Utilizing computer-mediated communications and social media in health * Using naturally occurring data to research vulnerable groups * Reviewing empirical examples of health research using naturally occurring data Using Naturally Occurring Data in Qualitative Health Research makes concepts, methods, and rationales accessible and applicable for readers in the health and mental health fields, among them health administrators, professionals in research methodology, psychology researchers, and practicing and trainee clinicians.

Fighting an Invisible Enemy narrates the founding and growth of the internationally. renowned National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa, from its foundations in the early twentieth century as the South African Institute for Medical Research to, later, the National Institute for Virology. It started humbly, as did many of its sister public health institutions around the world, and faced daunting obstacles: financial restrictions, bureaucratic straitjacketing, international isolation during the apartheid era and, in later years, the calumny of governmental AIDS denial. Following the triumph of the eradication of the once dreaded smallpox, the NICD plays a crucial role in the ongoing global effort to eradicate polio. While South Africa carries the misfortune of the largest HIV/AIDS pandemic in the world, the institute's HIV research unit has become a world leader.

More remote from public notice are the laboratories and epidemiologists supporting the constant surveillance of communicable diseases and the alerts they provide for impending outbreaks or pandemics, such as Ebola or the Covid-19 pandemic.

The NICD is a flagship organisation in public health in South Africa and this book, by its first executive director and internationally recognised virologist Dr Barry Schoub, paints a vivid portrait of its accomplishments. Enhanced by a collection of images of its projects and facilities, the bookwill be of interest to public health specialists and activists, as well as a more general audience.

An 1865 report on public health in New York painted a grim picture of "high brick blocks and closely-packed houses . . . literally hives of sickness" propagating epidemics of cholera, smallpox, typhoid, typhus, and yellow fever, which swept through the whole city. In this stimulating collection of essays, nine historians of American medicine explore New York's responses to its public health crises from colonial times to the present. The essays illustrate the relationship between the disease environment of New York and changes in housing, population, social conditions, and the success of medical science, linking such factors to New York's experiences with smallpox, polio, and AIDS. The volume is essential reading for anyone interested in American public health and the social history of New York. The volume is essential reading for anyone interested in American public health and the social history of New York. The contributors are Ronald Bayer, Elizabeth Blackmar, Gretchen A. Condran, Elizabeth Fee, Daniel M. Fox, Evelynn M. Hammonds, Alan M. Kraut, Judith Walzer Leavitt, and Naomi Rogers. David Rosner is a professor of history at Baruch College and The Graduate School of the City University of New York. Robert R. Macdonald is the director of the Museum of the City of New York.

In recent years many introductory textbooks on clinical trial methodology have been published, some of which are excellent, in addition to a very extensive specialist literature. Nevertheless, here is a new book on methods and issues in clinical research. The objectives can be summarized in three points. 1. Integrate medical and statistical components of clinical research. 2. Do justice to the operational and practical requirements of clinical research. 3. Give space to the ethical implications of methodological issues in clinical research.

The scope of clinical research is to evaluate the effect of a treatment on the evolution of a disease in the human species. The treatment can be pharmacological, surgical, psychological/behavioral or organizational/logistic. The disease, intended as an impairment of a state of well-being or a condition capable of provoking such impairment over time, can be universally accepted as such (e.g. a cancer or a bone fracture) or perceived as such only by limited groups of individuals in a given cultural context (e.g. hair loss or weight gain). The course of the disease that ones wishes to change can be the one with no intervention or, more frequently, the one observed with the available treatment. The evaluation of the effect of a treatment on the course of a disease is a lengthy process, which progresses in increasingly complex stages.

A detailed coverage of the logistic, administrative and legal aspects of clinical research is outside the scope of this book. However, throughout the book we keep reminding the reader of these aspects because, as already mentioned, we firmly believe they have a crucial role in determining the success of a study. The history of clinical research is paved with relics of studies started with great pomp, riding great ideas and great hopes, which drowned miserably because of inadequate logistical preparation. In our experience, the excessive complexity of a clinical trial is the single most frequent cause of failure: the study is perfect on paper, but impossible to implement by patients and staff alike. The distance between the principal investigators and the reality of clinical research in its day-to-day practice is often the main cause of such disasters. We warmly encourage everyone involved in clinical research to get involved in the logistics of a study, learning from colleagues responsible for its practical conduct (clinical research associates, data managers, etc.) and to take part, in person, in the practical implementation of a trial before attempting to design a study protocol.

The book ends with a brief description of the drug development process and to the phases of clinical development.

This comprehensive, up-to-date volume defines the issues and offers potential solutions to the challenges of antimicrobial resistance. The chapter authors are leading international experts on antimicrobial resistance among a variety of bacteria, viruses including HIV and herpes, parasites and fungi. The chapters explore the molecular mechanisms of drug resistance, the immunology and epidemiology of resistance strains, clinical implications and implications on research and lack thereof, and prevention and future directions.

The Vital and Health Statistics Series, or what documents and medical librarians call The Rainbow Series, includes four series published by the U.S. National Health Survey between 1958 and 1963, and eighteen series published by the National Center for Health Statistics since 1963. Sixteen of these series are still active. In this volume, Jim Walsh and A. James Bothmer list, annotate, and index all of the reports published in the Rainbow Series, a total of 853 reports. Each entry contains standard bibliographical information and cataloging, publisher, and index/abstract access information. The body of the book arranges the reports first by series and then by report number within each series. Each series begins with a series cover sheet, which provides general information about the series. The work concludes with author, title, and subject indexes. The subject index uses the Library of Congress Subject Headings and the National Library of Medicine Subject Headings. This useful volume is the only source that lists, annotates, and indexes all of the reports and that provides supplemental information that will enhance reference, interlibrary loan, cataloging, and acquisition information, and that will enhance the use of these valuable reports.