This uniquely accessible volume challenges professionals to understand-and help correct-health disparities, both at the patient level and in their larger social contexts. Dedicated to eradicating this ongoing injustice, contributors focus on marginalized populations, the role of healthcare systems in perpetuating inequities, the need for deeper engagement and listening by professionals, and the need for advocacy within professional education and the political/policy arena. The compelling case narratives at the core of the book illustrate the interrelated biopsychosocial components of patients' health problems and the gradations of learning needed for practitioners to address them effectively. The book's tools for developing a health disparities curriculum include a selection of workshop exercises, facilitator resources, and a brief guide to writing effective case narratives. A sampling of the narratives: "Finding the Person in Patient-Centered Health Care" (race/ethnicity/culture). "The Annual Big Girl / Big Boy Exchange" (gender). "Just Give Me Narcan and Let Me Go" (poverty/addiction). "Everyone Called Him Crazy" (immigration). "Adrift in the System" (disability). "Aging out of Pediatrics" (mental illness and stigma). "Time to Leave" (LGBT) A work of profound compassion, Health Disparities will be of considerable interest to researchers and practitioners interested in public health, population health, health disparities, and related fields such as sociology, social work, and narrative medicine. Its wealth of educational features also makes it a quality training text. "I was impressed when I read Health Disparities: Weaving a New Understanding through Case Narratives. As a patient who has experienced unpleasant situations in health care, I was moved to see that it was emotional and personal for the writers. The book confirms for me that the time is now for change to take place in our health care systems. I see this book as a light that can shine bright in the darkest places of health care. The editors have assembled a powerful book that provides all health professionals with specific steps they can take towards addressing and then eventually eliminating health disparities. A few steps that I really connected with were improving critical awareness, delivering quality care, listening and empathizing with patients and families, and advocating for changes. I recommend that anyone interested in working to improve health care obtain a copy of this book-it's filled with useful information that every medical professional should know. The book reminds me of a quote by Wayne Dyer, 'When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.'" -Delores Collins, Founder and Executive Director, A Vision of Change Incorporated, Certified Community Health Worker. Founder of The Greater Cleveland Community Health Workers Association.

The book presents, in a unified manner, various crystallization design methods. It discusses in detail the geometric framework for representing complex phase behavior involving multiple solutes, enantiomers, hydrates, compounds, polymorphs, and solid solutions through visualization of high-dimensional phase diagrams. It also describes how the impact of transport processes is accounted for using kinetically controlled process paths.

Literature and Medicine: A Practical and Pedagogical Guide is designed to introduce narrative medicine in medical humanities courses aimed at pre-medicine undergraduates and medical and healthcare students. With excerpts from short stories, novels, memoirs, and poems, the book guides students on the basic methods and concepts of the study of narrative. The book helps healthcare professionals to build a set of skills and knowledge central to the practice of medicine including an understanding of professionalism, building the patient-physician relationship, ethics of medical practice, the logic of diagnosis, recognizing mistakes in medical practice, and diversity of experience. In addition to analyzing and considering the literary texts, each chapter includes a vignette taken from clinical situations to help define and illustrate the chapter's theme. Literature and Medicine illustrates the ways that engagement with the humanities in general, and literature in particular, can create better and more fulfilled physicians and caretakers.

Innovations in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology summarizes the state of the art in nano-sized materials. The authors focus on innovation aspects and highlight potentials for future developments and applications in health care, including pharmaceutics, dentistry, and cosmetics; information and communications; energy; and chemical engineering. The chapters are written by leading researchers in nanoscience, chemistry, pharmacy, biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, medicine, and social science. The authors come from a range of backgrounds including academia, industry, and national and international laboratories around the world. This book is ideally suited for researchers and students in chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, materials science, and medicine and is a useful guide for industrialists. It aims to provide inspiration for scientists, new ideas for developers and innovators in industry, and guidelines for toxicologists. It also provides guidelines for agencies and government authorities to establish safe working conditions.

SAVE when you buy these essential companions for your first two years of medical school From Tao Le, author of First Aid for the USMLE Step 1-the world's most popular medical review book! THE PACKAGE INCLUDES THESE TWO BOOKS THAT EVERY MEDICAL STUDENT SHOULD OWN: First Aid for the Basic Sciences, General Principles, Third Edition * Delivers comprehensive single-source coverage of the entire first year of medical school * Includes important background material most other reviews leave out * Covers the high-yield topics and facts tested on the USMLE * Offers full-color images, learning aids, tables, and concise text to streamline your study and help you excel in coursework and on the USMLE * Provides a framework for understanding anatomy and histology, embryology, behavioral science, biochemistry, microbiology, immunology, pathology, and pharmacology * Mirrors the table of content of First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 to facilitate study * Written BY students who aced the USMLE and reviewed by top faculty PLUS... First Aid for the Basic Sciences Organ Systems, Third Edition * Delivers comprehensive single-source coverage of the entire second year of medical school * Includes important background material most other reviews leave out * Covers the high-yield topics and facts tested on the USMLE * Offers full-color images, learning aids, tables, and concise text to streamline your study and help you excel in coursework and on the USMLE * Provides a practical framework for understanding the anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, and pharmacology of each human organ system * Mirrors the table of content of First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 to facilitate study * Written by students who aced the USMLE and reviewed by top faculty

This detailed volume includes a rich variety of applications using various instrumentations, probes, disease models, and targets in order to account for the multidisciplinary nature of the use of in vivo fluorescence imagine. The book also includes chapters on the emerging fields of cell tracking, image-guided treatment, and fluorescence imaging in the second NIR window, as well as protocols for evaluation methods before and after in vivo imaging. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include brief 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 practical, In Vivo Fluorescence Imaging: Methods and Protocols serves as a valuable reference for researchers from numerous fields who wish to become more familiar with in vivo fluorescence imaging techniques.

This book provides a concise yet comprehensive source of information on the classification, evaluation, diagnosis, and management of vascular lesions of the orbit and face. It highlights recent technological innovations and new treatments that have significantly improved the ability to accurately evaluate and successfully treat these lesions with reduced complications. Some of these advances include new imaging modalities, intravascular and intralesional treatment approaches, photodynamic therapy, and additional medical therapies. Many of these advances have led to paradigm shifts in the understanding and management of vascular lesions of the orbit and face. This book, written by experts in the fields of ophthalmology, dermatology, diagnostic and interventional radiology, and oculoplastic surgery, features structured, in-depth chapters that can also be quickly consulted as a reference guide. It is an excellent resource for those in training as well as seasoned practitioners wishing to acquaint themselves with the newest diagnostic and treatment techniques for orbital vascular lesions.

The Computational Biomechanics for Medicine titles provide an opportunity for specialists in computational biomechanics to present their latest methodologies and advancements. This volume comprises eighteen of the newest approaches and applications of computational biomechanics, from researchers in Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK, Switzerland, Scotland, France and Russia. Some of the interesting topics discussed are: tailored computational models; traumatic brain injury; soft-tissue mechanics; medical image analysis; and clinically-relevant simulations. One of the greatest challenges facing the computational engineering community is to extend the success of computational mechanics to fields outside traditional engineering, in particular to biology, the biomedical sciences, and medicine. We hope the research presented within this book series will contribute to overcoming this grand challenge.

This book offers a thorough review of the scientific research that links the consumption of grapes to better health. The book starts with a basic review of grape biology, including the key families of phytochemicals found in grapes, and where they are found. An overview of the rationale for and subsequent creation of a standardized grape powder for use in basic and clinical research provides insight and understanding regarding its widespread use in grape-specific research today. The remaining chapters each thoroughly examine a key area of health, demonstrating a significant scope of impact on well-being. The book examines the role of grapes in supporting heart health under multiple angles: general cardiovascular effects, as well as specific effects directly linked to atherosclerosis and hypertension. Other emerging and important areas of health are examined, ranging from grapes and cancer, where grape consumption has been shown to protect healthy colon tissue; grapes and inflammation, where grapes have been shown to block inflammatory activity in immune cells of fat tissue; to brain health, where a grape-enriched diet has been shown to protect against neuronal damage due to loss of oxygen in the brain, as well as against oxidative stress-related anxiety and resulting memory loss; to grapes and eye health where grape consumption has been shown to protect the retina from damage.

The series Topics in Current Chemistry Collections presents critical reviews from the journal Topics in Current Chemistry organized in topical volumes. The scope of coverage is all areas of chemical science including the interfaces with related disciplines such as biology, medicine and materials science. The goal of each thematic volume is to give the non-specialist reader, whether in academia or industry, a comprehensive insight into an area where new research is emerging which is of interest to a larger scientific audience. Each review within the volume critically surveys one aspect of that topic and places it within the context of the volume as a whole. The most significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years are presented using selected examples to illustrate the principles discussed. The coverage is not intended to be an exhaustive summary of the field or include large quantities of data, but should rather be conceptual, concentrating on the methodological thinking that will allow the non-specialist reader to understand the information presented. Contributions also offer an outlook on potential future developments in the field.

Systems-level neuronal mechanisms that coordinate the temporally, anatomically, and functionally distributed neuronal activity into coherent cognitive operations in the human brain have remained poorly understood. In humans, neuronal oscillations and synchronization can be recorded non-invasively with electro- and magnetoencephalography (EEG and MEG) that have excellent temporal resolution and an adequate spatial resolution when combined with source-reconstruction methods. In this book, leading authors in the field describe how recent methodological advances have paved the way to several major breakthroughs in the observations of large-scale synchrony from human non-invasive MEG data. This volume also presents the caveats influencing analyses of synchronization. These include the non-homogeneous sensitivity of MEG to superficial cortical sources, and, most importantly, the multitude of consequences of linear mixing. Linear mixing is an immense confounder in the sensor-level analyses of synchronization, but is also present at the source level. Approaches that can be used to avoid or compensate for these issues are then discussed. Thereafter, several authors take up a number of the functional roles that large-scale synchronization has in cognition. The authors assess how the spatio-temporal and -spectral organization and strength of both local and large-scale synchronized networks are associated with conscious sensory perception, visual working memory functions, and attention. These chapters summarize several lines of research showing how the strength of local and inter-areal oscillations in both cortical and subcortical brain structures is correlated with cognitive functions. Together these data suggest that synchronized neuronal oscillations may be a systems-level neuronal mechanism underlying the coordination of distributed processing in human cognition. In line with this argument, other authors go on to describe how oscillations and synchronization are altered in clinical populations, complementing the data presented on healthy subjects. Importantly, this book includes chapters from authors using many different approaches to the analyses of neuronal oscillations, ranging from local oscillatory activities to the usage of graph theoretical tools in the analyses of synchronization. In this way the present volume provides a comprehensive view on the analyses and functional significance of neuronal oscillations in humans. This book is aimed at doctoral and post-doctoral students as well as research scientists in the fields of cognitive neuroscience, psychology, medicine, and neurosciences.

Medicinal chemistry is both science and art. The science of medicinal chemistry offers mankind one of its best hopes for improving the quality of life. The art of medicinal chemistry continues to challenge its practitioners with the need for both intuition and experience to discover new drugs. Hence sharing the experience of drug research is uniquely beneficial to the field of medicinal chemistry. Drug research requires interdisciplinary team-work at the interface between chemistry, biology and medicine. Therefore, the topic-related series Topics in Medicinal Chemistry covers all relevant aspects of drug research, e.g. pathobiochemistry of diseases, identification and validation of (emerging) drug targets, structural biology, drugability of targets, drug design approaches, chemogenomics, synthetic chemistry including combinatorial methods, bioorganic chemistry, natural compounds, high-throughput screening, pharmacological in vitro and in vivo investigations, drug-receptor interactions on the molecular level, structure-activity relationships, drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, toxicology and pharmacogenomics. In general, special volumes are edited by well known guest editors.

Medicinal chemistry is both science and art. The science of medicinal chemistry offers mankind one of its best hopes for improving the quality of life. The art of medicinal chemistry continues to challenge its practitioners with the need for both intuition and experience to discover new drugs. Hence sharing the experience of drug research is uniquely beneficial to the field of medicinal chemistry. Drug research requires interdisciplinary team-work at the interface between chemistry, biology and medicine. Therefore, the topic-related series Topics in Medicinal Chemistry covers all relevant aspects of drug research, e.g. pathobiochemistry of diseases, identification and validation of (emerging) drug targets, structural biology, drugability of targets, drug design approaches, chemogenomics, synthetic chemistry including combinatorial methods, bioorganic chemistry, natural compounds, high-throughput screening, pharmacological in vitro and in vivo investigations, drug-receptor interactions on the molecular level, structure-activity relationships, drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, toxicology and pharmacogenomics. In general, special volumes are edited by well known guest editors.

Artificial organs may be considered as small-scale process plants, in which heat, mass and momentum transfer operations and, possibly, chemical transformations are carried out. This book proposes a novel analysis of artificial organs based on the typical bottom-up approach used in process engineering. Starting from a description of the fundamental physico-chemical phenomena involved in the process, the whole system is rebuilt as an interconnected ensemble of elemental unit operations. Each artificial organ is presented with a short introduction provided by expert clinicians. Devices commonly used in clinical practice are reviewed and their performance is assessed and compared by using a mathematical model based approach. Whilst mathematical modelling is a fundamental tool for quantitative descriptions of clinical devices, models are kept simple to remain focused on the essential features of each process. Postgraduate students and researchers in the field of chemical and biomedical engineering will find that this book provides a novel and useful tool for the analysis of existing devices and, possibly, the design of new ones. This approach will also be useful for medical researchers who want to get a deeper insight into the basic working principles of artificial organs.

This volume covers state-of-the-art applications of solid-state and solution nuclear magnetic resonance( NMR) spectroscopy to study protein structure, dynamics and interactions. Chapters detail various aspects of data acquisition and processing, determination of the structure, multi-timescale dynamics of entities ranging from individual proteins to large macromolecular complexes to intact viral assemblies. The final two chapters will highlight the promise of NMR beyond field strengths of 1 GHz to study the structure, dynamics and interactions of a larger class of proteins and protein complexes of extraordinary biological interest. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters provide detailed laboratory protocols and troubleshooting tips that would be of great practical help to NMR spectroscopists with different levels of expertise. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Protein NMR: Methods and Protocol aims to ensure successful results in the further study of this vital field.

This book begins with the basic terms and definitions and takes a student, step by step, through all areas of medical physics. The book covers radiation therapy, diagnostic radiology, dosimetry, radiation shielding, and nuclear medicine, all at a level suitable for undergraduates. This title not only describes the basics concepts of the field, but also emphasizes numerical and mathematical problems and examples. Students will find An Introduction to Medical Physics to be an indispensible resource in preparations for further graduate studies in the field.

This thesis offers readers a comprehensive introduction to amyloid proteins and the computational methods used with them. Katrine Skeby critically assesses and compares both the literature and the experiments performed by other researchers, which further elevates the quality and relevance of her own work. Amyloid proteins are highly complex, and this research provides unparalleled insights, especially with regard to the origin of cytotoxicity and to developing technologies for early detection, revealing in detail the molecular mechanisms behind hIAPP behavior. Several studies within the thesis answer difficult questions which promote future research into the properties of amyloid proteins.

The series Topics in Heterocyclic Chemistry presents critical reviews on present and future trends in the research of heterocyclic compounds. Overall the scope is to cover topics dealing with all areas within heterocyclic chemistry, both experimental and theoretical, of interest to the general heterocyclic chemistry community. The series consists of topic related volumes edited by renowned editors with contributions of experts in the field. All chapters from Topics in Heterocyclic Chemistry are published Online First with an individual DOI. In references, Topics in Heterocyclic Chemistry is abbreviated as Top Heterocycl Chem and cited as a journal.

This volume presents current advanced technologies and methods used in super-resolution microscopy. The chapters in this book cover a wide range of topics such as introducing super-resolution microscopy into a core facility; two-photon STED microscopy for nanoscale imaging of neural morphology in vivo; correlative SIM-STORM microscopy; two-color single-molecule tracking in live cells; and correlative single molecule localization microscopy and confocal microscopy. 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. Cutting-edge and comprehensive, Super-Resolution Microscopy: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for both established and novel researchers and users in this field.

This book is written for researchers, undergraduate students and postgraduate students, physicians and traditional medicine practitioners who develop research in the field of neurosciences, phytochemistry and ethnopharmacology or can be useful for their practice. Topics discussed include the description of depression, its biochemical causes, the targets of antidepressant drugs, animal and cell models commonly used in the research of this pathology, medicinal plants and bioactive compounds with antidepressant activity used in traditional medicine, advances in nanotechnology for drug delivery to the brain and finally the future challenges for researchers studying this pathology.

Authored by world renowned scientists, this book expertly reviews all the imaging techniques and exciting new methods for the analysis of the pain, including novel tracers, biomarker, metabolomic and gene-array profiling, together with cellular, genetic, and molecular approaches. Recent advances in human brain imaging techniques have allowed a better understand of the functional connectivity in pain pathways, as well as the functional and anatomical alterations that occur in chronic pain patients. Modern imaging techniques have permitted rapid progress in the understanding of networks in the brain related to pain processing and those related to different types of pain modulation. Neuroimaging of Pain is designed to be a valuable resource for radiologists, neuroradiologists, neurologists and neuroscientists, working in hospitals and universities from junior trainees to consultants.

The first contribution presents coumarins, the largest group of 1-benzopyran derivatives found in plants. Coumarin chemistry remains one of the major interest areas of phytochemists, especially because of their structural diversity and medicinal properties, along with the wide-ranging bioactivities of these compounds, inclusive of analgesic, anticoagulant anti-HIV, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antineoplastic, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory effects. The second contribution presents a comprehensive survey of the many aspects of PAD biochemistry and physiology. The third contribution gives a comprehensive overview of secondary metabolites from higher fungi, with more than 700 references highlighting the isolation, structure elucidation, biological activities, chemical synthesis, and biosynthesis of pigments, nitrogen-containing compounds, and terpenoids from mushrooms.

This book explores the non-interventional aspects of interventional pulmonology, focusing on diseases of the central airways. As the field of bronchology and interventional pulmonology expands, newer conditions involving the central airways are being recognized with increasing frequency. Current literature has mainly focused on technical aspects of the subspecialty, but this book illuminates what else interventional pulmonology has to offer the pulmonologist, including diagnosis and alternate therapeutic options. Diseases of the Central Airways: A Clinical Guide presents techniques for the diagnoses, management and treatment of patients with intriguing central airway conditions such as: black bronchoscopy, tracheobronchomalacia, endobronchial tuberculosis, and tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica. In-depth chapters are written by international experts and are up-to-date and comprehensive reviews. This important new book will contribute significantly to the welfare of patients with lung ailments of the central airways.

This thesis focuses on the development of gold- and non-classical platinum-based anti-cancer agents that display distinctively different anti-cancer mechanisms compared to the commonly used cisplatin. These metal complexes contain N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands which are able to form strong M-C(NHC) bonds, conferring high stability and favorable lipophilicity, reactivity and binding specificity of metal complexes on biomolecules. The author demonstrates significant advances made in anti-cancer gold(III), gold(I) and platinum(II) complexes. Detailed chemical synthesis, in vitro and/or in vivo anti-cancer activities are clearly presented including: (i) a class of Au(III) complexes containing a highly fluorescent N^N^N ligand and NHC ligand that simultaneously act as fluorescent thiol "switch-on" probes and anti-cancer agents; (ii) a dinuclear gold(I) complex with a mixed diphosphine and bis(NHC) ligand displaying favorable stability and showing significant inhibition of tumor growth in two independent mice models with no observable side effects; and (iii) a panel of stable luminescent cyclometalated platinum(II) complexes exhibiting high specificity to localize to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) domain, inducing ER stress and cell apoptosis. These works highlight the clinical potential that gold and platinum complexes offer for cancer treatment.

This book offers an overview of our current understanding of host defense peptides and their potential for clinical applications as well as some of the obstacles to this. The chapters, written by leading experts in the field, detail the number and diversity of host defense peptides, and discuss the therapeutic potential not only of antibacterial, but also of antifungal, antiviral, plant antimicrobial and anticancer host defense peptides. The authors provide new insights into their mechanisms of action and their immunomodulatory properties, and review recent advances in the design of novel therapeutic molecules. Lastly, their potential to prevent preterm births and Staphylococcus aureus infections is highlighted. The book is of interest to researchers, industry and clinicians alike.