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Books > Medicine > General issues
Eugenic thought and practice swept the world from the late
nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century in a remarkable
transnational phenomenon that informed social and scientific policy
across the political spectrum, from liberal welfare measures in
emerging social-democratic states, to feminist ambitions for birth
control, to public health campaigns, to totalitarian dreams of the
"perfectibility of man." This book dispels for uninitiated readers
the automatic and apparently exclusive link between eugenics and
the Holocaust: the popularity of eugenics in Japan, for example,
comes as a surprise. It is the first world history of eugenics and
an indispensable core text for both teaching and research in what
has become a sprawling but ever more important field. Eugenics has
accumulated generations of interest as part of the question of how
experts think about the connections between biology, human capacity
and policy. In the past and the present, eugenics speaks to
questions of race, class, gender and sex, evolution, governance,
nationalism, disability, and the social implications of science. In
the current climate, where the human genome project, stem cell
research, and new reproductive technologies have proven so
controversial, the history of eugenics has much to teach us about
the relationship between scientific research, technology, and human
ethical decision-making. This volume offers both a
nineteenth-century context for understanding the emergence of
eugenics and a consideration of contemporary manifestations of, and
relationships to eugenics. It is the definitive text for students
and researchers to consult for careful and up-to-date summaries,
new substantive fields where very little work is currently
available (e.g. eugenics in Iran, South Africa, and South East
Asia); transnational thematic lines of inquiry; the integration of
literature on colonialism; and connections to contemporary issues.
Proper nutrition is crucial for maintaining one s general health
and well-being; with that in mind, you ll discover a wealth of
nutritional information within this newly updated and expanded
version of our best-selling Nutrition study guide. Each aspect of
nutrition from carbohydrates to vitamins is comprehensively
examined, with key definitions, examples, charts, and full-color
illustrations provided for additional clarity.
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This book is an account of a study which provided unique
information on trends in growth and respiratory health in British
children over 25 years, with methodological discussion and other
major findings including risk factors for impaired growth, obesity,
respiratory disease and the distribution of coronary heart disease
factors. The book provides information on trends in growth, height
weight for height and subcutaneous arm tissue, and in respiratory
health, asthma attacks and related symptoms, in children aged 5 to
11 years, from 1972 to 1994. It provides information on risk
factors for impaired growth, obesity and respiratory disease, and
on the distribution of risk factors for coronary heart disease in
children. The contribution of the National Health and Growth Study
extended to topics such as the effects of changes in welfare
policy, under-diagnosis and under-treatment of asthma, nocturnal
enuresis, disturbed sleep, the impact of passive smoking on the
health of children, and the relation of lung function to the
child's intra-uterine environment and to passive smoking. The
methodological issues in relation to the conduct of the study and
analysis of the data are discussed in non-technical language. Each
contribution of the study is discussed in relation to current
literature, which is fully referenced throughout.
"In Caring for Our Own, Sandra Levitsky has written a moving and
perceptive account of the dilemma facing those who provide care for
frail family members. Based on in-depth interviews and participant
observation with family caregivers and the social workers that
attempt to ameliorate their burden, this book uncovers the complex
ideological and political factors that have made long term care the
neglected stepchild of the welfare state in the United
States."-Jill Quadagno, Mildred and Claude Pepper Eminent Scholar
in Social Gerontology, Florida State University Aging populations
and dramatic changes in health care provision, household structure,
and women's labor force participation over the last half century
have created what many observers have dubbed a "crisis in care":
demand for care of the old and infirm is rapidly growing, while the
supply of private care within the family is substantially
contracting. And yet, despite the well-documented adverse effects
of contemporary care dilemmas on the economic security of families,
the physical and mental health of family care providers, the bottom
line of businesses, and the financial health of existing social
welfare programs, American families have demonstrated little
inclination for translating their private care problems into
political demands for social policy reform. Caring for Our Own
inverts an enduring question of social welfare politics. Rather
than asking why the American state hasn't responded to unmet social
welfare needs by expanding social entitlements, this book asks: Why
don't American families view unmet social welfare needs as the
basis for demands for new state entitlements? How do traditional
beliefs in family responsibility for social welfare persist even in
the face of well-documented unmet need? The answer, this book
argues, lies in a better understanding of how individuals imagine
solutions to the social welfare problems they confront and what
prevents new understandings of social welfare provision from
developing into political demand for alternative social
arrangements. Caring for Our Own considers the powerful ways in
which existing social policies shape the political imagination,
reinforcing longstanding values about family responsibility,
subverting grievances grounded in notions of social responsibility,
and in some rare cases, constructing new models of social provision
that would transcend existing ideological divisions in American
social politics.
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