This book provides an introduction to decision analytic cost-effectiveness modelling, giving the theoretical and practical knowledge required to design and implement analyses that meet the methodological standards of health technology assessment organisations. The book guides you through building a decision tree and Markov model and, importantly, shows how the results of cost-effectiveness analyses are interpreted. Given the complex nature of cost-effectiveness modelling and the often unfamiliar language that runs alongside it, we wanted to make this book as accessible as possible whilst still providing a comprehensive, in-depth, practical guide that reflects the state of the art - that includes the most recent developments in cost-effectiveness modelling. Although the nature of cost effectiveness modelling means that some parts are inevitably quite technical, across the 13 chapters we have broken down explanations of theory and methods into bite-sized pieces that you can work through at your own pace; we have provided explanations of terms and methods as we use them. Importantly, the exercises and online workbooks allow you to test your skills and understanding as you go along.

With a DVD of color figures, Clustering in Bioinformatics and Drug Discovery provides an expert guide on extracting the most pertinent information from pharmaceutical and biomedical data. It offers a concise overview of common and recent clustering methods used in bioinformatics and drug discovery. Setting the stage for subsequent material, the first three chapters of the book introduce statistical learning theory, exploratory data analysis, clustering algorithms, different types of data, graph theory, and various clustering forms. In the following chapters on partitional, cluster sampling, and hierarchical algorithms, the book provides readers with enough detail to obtain a basic understanding of cluster analysis for bioinformatics and drug discovery. The remaining chapters cover more advanced methods, such as hybrid and parallel algorithms, as well as details related to specific types of data, including asymmetry, ambiguity, validation measures, and visualization. This book explores the application of cluster analysis in the areas of bioinformatics and cheminformatics as they relate to drug discovery. Clarifying the use and misuse of clustering methods, it helps readers understand the relative merits of these methods and evaluate results so that useful hypotheses can be developed and tested.

Medical decision support systems (MDSS) are computer-based programs that analyse data within a patient's healthcare records to provide questions, prompts, or reminders to assist clinicians at the point of care. Inputting a patient's data, symptoms, or current treatment regimens into an MDSS, clinicians are assisted with the identification or elimination of the most likely potential medical causes, which can enable faster discovery of a set of appropriate diagnoses or treatment plans. Explainable AI (XAI) is a "white box" model of artificial intelligence in which the results of the solution can be understood by the users, who can see an estimate of the weighted importance of each feature on the model's predictions, and understand how the different features interact to arrive at a specific decision. This book discusses XAI-based analytics for patient-specific MDSS as well as related security and privacy issues associated with processing patient data. It provides insights into real-world scenarios of the deployment, application, management, and associated benefits of XAI in MDSS. The book outlines the frameworks for MDSS and explores the applicability, prospects, and legal implications of XAI for MDSS. Applications of XAI in MDSS such as XAI for robot-assisted surgeries, medical image segmentation, cancer diagnostics, and diabetes mellitus and heart disease prediction are explored.

Vascular diseases, particularly atherosclerosis, are the most frequent and critical underlying fatal disorders in the industrialized world. Cardiovascular deaths are the leading cause of death in the Western world. Although cancer or malignant neoplasms recently have topped the list of causes of deaths in Japan, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases bring about more deaths than cancer if they are reclassified into a unified category of diseases of the vascular system. The National Cardiovascular Center was established by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan to combat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Since the Center was opened, we have continued to support basic and clinical sturlies of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases within as weil as outside the Center. Clinical studies that we have supported in modern diagnostic and therapeutic measures against cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases have made remarkable advances in recent years, especially in medical imaging technology including CT and MRI, and in interventional measures including balloon angioplasty and other catheter-based treatments. We are proud of the significant improvement in the overall survival rate and the quality of life of patients suffering from vascular disorders. However, there are still many essential difficulties remaining in the diagnosis and treatment of vascular disorders. Such difficulties necessitate further fundamental studies not only from the practical aspect but also from the integrated perspectives of medicine, biology, and engineering.

The demand for hemocompatibility is one of the fundamental requirements for a safe and sufficient application of artificial surfaces in contact with blood. Thrombus formation and infarctions of the capillary vascular system after blood-biomaterial interaction, as well as the activation of the complement system and the phenomenon of biodegradation, remain problematic areas. However, medical devices where large areas of artificial surfaces contact the blood of patients are applied in enormous quantities. In spite of the significance of this branch of modern medicine and some spectacular successes in therapy, organ support and organ replacement, clearly specified criteria and instructions for the design of devices and artificial blood-contacting surfaces do not yet exist. Standardized and generally-accepted test procedures for the precise quantification and validation of events at the blood-biomaterial interface are urgently needed: their absence limits safe medical therapy and the development of more efficient hemocompatible materials. This volume addresses the need for hemocompatibility standards by presenting the results of tests performed on the surfaces of the Reference Materials of the European Communities. Promoted by the EUROBIOMAT Research program of the European Communities in cooperation with the International Standards organization, this is a major contribution to the development of internationally accepted hemocompatibility test standards.

Integrated Biomaterials Science provides an intriguing insight into the world of biomaterials. It explores the materials and technology which have brought advances in new biomaterials, highlighting the way in which modern biology and medicine are synergistically linked to other key scientific disciplines-physics, chemistry, and engineering. In doing so, Integrated Biomaterials Science contains chapters on tissue engineering and gene therapy, standards and parameters of biomaterials, applications and interactions within the industrial world, as well as potential aspects of patent regulations.
Integrated Biomaterials Science serves as a comprehensive guide to understanding this dynamic field, yet is designed so that chapters may be read and understood independently, depending on the needs of the reader. Integrated Biomaterials Science is attractive to a broad audience interested in a deeper understanding of this evolving field, and serves as a key resource for researchers and students of biomaterials courses, providing all with an opportunity to probe further.

No longer confined to medical devices, medical software has become a pervasive technology giving healthcare operators access to clinical information stored in electronic health records and clinical decision support systems, supporting robot-assisted telesurgery, and providing the technology behind ambient assisted living. These systems and software must be designed, built and maintained according to strict regulations and standards to ensure that they are safe, reliable and secure. Engineering High Quality Medical Software illustrates how to exploit techniques, methodologies, development processes and existing standards to realize high-confidence medical software. After an introductory survey of the topic the book covers global regulations and standards (including EU MDD 93/42/EEC, FDA Title 21 of US CFR, ISO 13485, ISO 14971, IEC 52304, IEEE 1012 and ISO/IEC 29119), verification and validation techniques and techniques, and methodologies and engineering tasks for the development, configuration and maintenance of medical software.

There is by now no question among informed people that the Earth is undergoing severe climate change - soon to become catastrophic, if humans don't take drastic measures to stop it. Heroically into the fray steps the biofuel industry, announcing to millions of anxious consumers that this eco-crisis can be averted if only they turn away from fossil fuels, to the saving power of synthetic bioproducts. But, although eliminating fossil fuels is essential, the manufacture of biofuels has far more to do with sating profit-hungry corporations than with saving the Earth. Combining meticulous scientific narrative with devastating economic analysis, The Biofuels Deception argues that the seemingly innovative, hopeful campaign for "green energy" is actually driven by bio-technology industries and global grain-trading corporations. These corporate players are motivated by a late-capitalist need to cope with a crisis of accumulation; they have no real interest in mitigating climate-change, alleviating poverty, or even creating "clean" energy. In fact, the manufacture of biochemical, bioplastics, and biomaterials, writes Okbazghi Yohannes, portends horrific contradictions and disastrous consequences for nature and society. Actually confronting climate change and the rampant inequality it engenders, Yohannes says, requires two steps. The first is to understand the driving socioeconomic forces behind the biofuels industry. The second is to unravel the tapestry of deceit itself. This book is a necessity for any scholar or environmental activist interested in seeing beyond corporate chimeras to actual environmental solutions.

Biologists find computing bewildering; yet they are expected to be able to process the voluminous data available from the machines they buy and the datasets that has accumulated in genomic databanks worldwide. It is now increasingly difficult for them to avoid dealing with large volumes of data, that goes beyond just doing manual programming.Most books in this realm are full of equations and complex code but this book gives a much gentler entry point particularly for biologists, with code snippets users can use to cut and paste, and run on their Linux or MacOSX operating system or cloud instance. It also provides a step by step installation instructions which they can easily follow. Those who are in the field of genome sequencing and already familiar with the procedures of analysis, may also find this book useful in closing some knowledge gaps.High throughput sequencing requires high throughput and high performance computing. This book provides a gentle entry to high throughput sequencing by dealing with simple skills which the average biologist is increasingly required to master. You will find this book a breeze to read, and some suggestions in this book maybe new to you, something you might want to try out.

Biologists find computing bewildering; yet they are expected to be able to process the voluminous data available from the machines they buy and the datasets that has accumulated in genomic databanks worldwide. It is now increasingly difficult for them to avoid dealing with large volumes of data, that goes beyond just doing manual programming.Most books in this realm are full of equations and complex code but this book gives a much gentler entry point particularly for biologists, with code snippets users can use to cut and paste, and run on their Linux or MacOSX operating system or cloud instance. It also provides a step by step installation instructions which they can easily follow. Those who are in the field of genome sequencing and already familiar with the procedures of analysis, may also find this book useful in closing some knowledge gaps.High throughput sequencing requires high throughput and high performance computing. This book provides a gentle entry to high throughput sequencing by dealing with simple skills which the average biologist is increasingly required to master. You will find this book a breeze to read, and some suggestions in this book maybe new to you, something you might want to try out.

Since the publication of the first edition of Cardiac Pacing for the Clinician, the use of implantable cardiac devices has expanded rapidly. Certain classes of devices such as implantable loop recorders and cardiac resynchronization pacing systems were not commonly used when the first edition was published, and recent studies have shown that implantable cardioverter defibrillators are beneficial in large, previously unrecognized patient populations at risk for sudden death. In order to meet this demand, cardiologists without special training in electrophysiology or pacing are implanting an increasing number of cardiac devices. It is in this rapidly evolving setting that Cardiac Pacing for the Clinician, Second Edition is being undertaken.

The main focus of this volume will be to provide a practical discussion of the a oenuts and boltsa of implantable cardiac devices. The target audience will be cardiologists in practice and in training as well as nurses, technologists and industry. In addition, it will benefit physicians preparing for certification.

Additions to the new edition will include: Chapters discussing new cardiac devices; Implantation of Left Ventricular Leads for Cardiac Resynchronization Pacing Systems; Identification of Candidates for Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy; Follow-Up Issues in Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy; Implantable Loop Recorders.

Updates to the existing chapters will include: New Trial Information & Follow-Up of the Newest Generation of Defibrillators; Use of Defibrillators in Patients at Increased Risk for Sudden Cardiac Death due to Long QT Syndrome, Brugada Syndrome and Congenital Heart Disease; Updates to Lead Extraction a" NewTechniques and Tools; Cardiac Pacing chapter will shift focus to Cardiac Devices.

This new edition of Cardiac Pacing for the Clinician, Second Edition will become a valuable resource to the general cardiologist and cardiology fellow by providing practical information for managing patients with complex cardiac devices.

In The Practice of Electrocardiography, a master practitioner offers an organized approach to the art of EKG interpretation. Moving beyond the traditional approaches of many books that stress technical skill and pattern recognition, Dr. Blake shows how the four measurements needed to examine a tracing (orientation, duration, amplitude, and contour of each component) may be used with consistency and medical rigor for distinguishing normal and abnormal EKG patterns.
A unique worksheet guides the analytic process item by item and clarifies the logic of each stage of interpretation, in the same way that a dissection manual leads the student in an anatomy course. The result is a method for interpreting the electrocardiogram that reveals the anatomy and physiology behind each waveform and illuminates the gray areas between normal and abnormal.
The Practice of Electrocardiography provides a firm foundation in the diagnostic methods and clinical application of electrocardiography, as well as an entry into the literature through an outstanding bibliography. It will enable medical and nursing students to analyze the tracings they encounter in day-to-day practice with confidence and real understanding. Practicing clinicians will also find fresh insights here, and there are sections for technicians and their supervisors, as well as for administrators and others charged with assessing competence in the field.
After a lifetime of teaching and practicing EKG production and interpretation, after seeing more than a million EKG tracings over the years, Dr. Blake has distilled in The Practice of Electrocardiography the essence of his art and understanding for all those who must recordtracings, interpret them, or judge an interpretation written by someone else.

Medical Device Safety: The Regulation of Medical Devices for Public Health and Safety examines the prospects for achieving global harmonization in medical device regulation and describes a possible future global system. Unresolved difficulties are discussed while solutions are proposed. An essential book for all those involved in health physics, engineering, and medical regulatory affairs.

Cross-sectoral interaction and cooperation in the communication of nutritional health risks represents a strategic research area among national governments and international health authorities. The key research question this book addresses is whether and how different industrial sectors interact with each other in the communication and industrial utilisation of health research findings. Through the introduction and exploration of large-scale industry news and digital media resources, this book systematically analyses a range of digital news genres and identifies new and growing trends of inter-sectoral interaction around the communication of nutritional health in the Chinese language at both international and national levels. This book argues that cross-sectoral interaction can be explored to identify areas that require policy intervention to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of current health communication and promotion. Inter-sectoral interaction can also provide incentives to develop new social programmes and business models to innovate and transform traditional industrial sectors.

Medical Instruments and Devices: Principles and Practices originates from the medical instruments and devices section of The Biomedical Engineering Handbook, Fourth Edition. Top experts in the field provide material that spans this wide field. The text examines how biopotential amplifiers help regulate the quality and content of measured signals. It includes instruments and devices that span a range of physiological systems and the physiological scale: molecular, cellular, organ, and system. The book chronicles the evolution of pacemakers and their system operation and discusses oscillometry, cardiac output measurement, and the direct and indirect methods of measuring cardiac output. The authors also expound on the mechanics and safety of defibrillators and cover implantable stimulators, respiration, and the structure and function of mechanical ventilators. In addition, this text covers in depth: Anesthesia Delivery Electrosurgical Units and Devices Biomedical Lasers Measuring Cellular Traction Forces Blood Glucose Monitoring Atomic Force Microscopy Parenteral Infusion Devices Clinical Laboratory: Separation and Spectral Methods Clinical Laboratory: Nonspectral Methods and Automation Noninvasive Optical Monitoring An offshoot from the definitive "bible" of biomedical engineering, Medical Instruments and Devices: Principles and Practices offers you state-of-the-art information on biomedical instruments and devices. This text serves practicing professionals working in the areas of medical devices and instrumentation as well as graduate students studying bioengineering, instrumentation, and medical devices, and it provides readers with a practical foundation and a wealth of resources from well-known experts in the field.

Patienthood and Communication is an engagingly personal narrative detailing the author's experience living with, and adapting to, a degenerative and incurable eye disease (MacTel). Beyond the personal, this poignant story more broadly illustrates the ways in which communication enables individuals to adjust to serious health threats. Author and subject Peter Kellett highlights his important interactions with health care providers, family members, friends, colleagues, students, and others that provide shape to his journey. Kellett displays a compelling capacity for self-reflection in his descriptions of the life changes his vision loss imposes upon him, among them changes to his identity, in relationships and life plans. Adaptation and flexibility reveal themselves as central tenets of his learning to become a self-empowered patient. Perhaps the most crucial element to his adjustment is, however, positive communication, which is depicted throughout the book as the driving force in Kellett's journey into patienthood.

Patienthood and Communication is an engagingly personal narrative detailing the author's experience living with, and adapting to, a degenerative and incurable eye disease (MacTel). Beyond the personal, this poignant story more broadly illustrates the ways in which communication enables individuals to adjust to serious health threats. Author and subject Peter Kellett highlights his important interactions with health care providers, family members, friends, colleagues, students, and others that provide shape to his journey. Kellett displays a compelling capacity for self-reflection in his descriptions of the life changes his vision loss imposes upon him, among them changes to his identity, in relationships and life plans. Adaptation and flexibility reveal themselves as central tenets of his learning to become a self-empowered patient. Perhaps the most crucial element to his adjustment is, however, positive communication, which is depicted throughout the book as the driving force in Kellett's journey into patienthood.

Rapid technological developments have led to increasingly efficient sequencing approaches. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) is increasingly common and has become cost-effective, generating an explosion of sequenced data that need to be analyzed. The skills required to apply computational analysis to target research on a wide range of applications that include identifying causes of cancer, vaccine design, new antibiotics, drug development, personalized medicine and higher crop yields in agriculture are highly sought after.This invaluable book provides step-by-step guides to complex topics that make it easy for readers to perform essential analyses from raw sequenced data to answering important biological questions. It is an excellent hands-on material for teachers who conduct courses in bioinformatics and as a reference material for professionals. The chapters are written to be standalone recipes making it suitable for readers who wish to self-learn selected topics. Readers will gain skills necessary to work on sequenced data from NGS platforms and hence making themselves more attractive to employers who need skilled bioinformaticians to handle the deluge of data.

This compendium contains 10 chapters written by world renowned researchers with expertise in semantic computing, genome sequence analysis, biomolecular interaction, time-series microarray analysis, and machine learning algorithms.The salient feature of this book is that it highlights eight types of computational techniques to tackle different biomedical applications. These techniques include unsupervised learning algorithms, principal component analysis, fuzzy integral, graph-based ensemble clustering method, semantic analysis, interolog approach, molecular simulations and enzyme kinetics.The unique volume will be a useful reference material and an inspirational read for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, computer scientists, computational biologists, bioinformatics and biomedical professionals.

This book demonstrates the power of mathematical thinking in understanding the biological complexity that exists within the brain. It looks at the latest research on modelling of biochemical pathways within synapses, and provides a clear background for the study of mathematical models related to systems biology. Discussion then focusses on developments in computational models based on networks linked to synaptic plasticity. The models are used to understand memory formation and impairment and they provide a mathematical basis for memory research.Computational Systems Biology of Synaptic Plasticity is a valuable source of knowledge to postgraduate students and researchers in computational systems biology, and as a reference book for various techniques that are needed in modelling biological processes.

The development of modern civilization leads to us having to solve new problems which did not exist before. The contemporary world faces a great challenge of aging societies, where the increasing number of citizens requires constant medical attention. To ensure safety and wellbeing of elderly people, patients in hospitals and disabled persons, advanced technologies can be implemented. These include both sophisticated data acquisition systems and data processing algorithms, aiming at the constant and discreet monitoring of persons whilst raising alarm if immediate attention is required. Computer Systems for Healthcare and Medicine presents a novel look at the introduced problems, including proposed solutions in the form of automated data acquisition and processing systems, which were tested in various environments. Characteristic features include a wide range of sensors used to monitor the situation of the person, and accurate decision making algorithms, often based on the computational intelligence domain. Technical topics discussed in the book include application for the healthcare of the following: * Infrared sensors * MEMS * Ultra wideband radars * Deep learning * Decision trees * Artificial neural networks * Gabor filters * Decision support systems

This book highlights all aspects of laboratory informatics, with a focus on information management and the corresponding hardware and technical processes involved. In addition to a comprehensive introduction on laboratory informatics, the book emphasizes the importance of information and resource management as opposed to simply covering the role of computers that support the information system. As a Professor of Pathology and the Director of Laboratory Information Services at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Dr. Cowan has witnessed the shift in focus in the laboratory from the information generation to information management, and increasing resource limitations demand a higher level of management precision than can be gained from manual methods. The American Board of Pathology now requires an increasing sophistication in information management from candidates for certification. Thus, this book is intended for pathologists and residents in pathology, clinical laboratory scientists, and laboratory and information managers. Following the broad-based introduction on laboratory informatics, the book's topics include: computer basics; development and validation of the laboratory information system; computer networks; security and confidentiality on computer systems and networks; total cost of ownership; essential software; interfaces; process modeling; artificial intelligence and expert systems; bar coding in the laboratory; image analysis and computer-assisted quantitation; and telepathology.

HIMSS' Certified Associate in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CAHIMS) certification offers a pathway to careers in health information technology (health IT) for associate-level, emerging professionals, or those who would like to transition to health IT from other industries. The CAHIMS Review Guide, 2nd Edition is the ideal resource for those preparing for the CAHIMS certification exam-or looking for a comprehensive "health IT 101" guide. Content in this updated and revised CAHIMS review guide reflects the new CAHIMS exam content outline. Content is divided into three topic categories: organizational and technology environments; systems analysis, design, selection, implementation, support, maintenance, testing, evaluation, privacy, and security; and leadership and management support. Each chapter includes learning objectives for tracking progress in understanding and articulating the content. Practice exam questions at the end of the book reinforce key concepts explored throughout the book. This book is a comprehensive and timely introduction to healthcare information and management systems. It's also an invaluable resource for staying current in all aspects of the industry. In addition to sample exam questions, this book includes an overview of the eligibility requirements, testing procedures, and the CAHIMS examination itself.

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Read the Preface.

"Covers its subject well, provides useful context, and makes lively reading for anyone interested in the history of technology, the social context of electricity and radioactive materials, or the history of alernative medicine."--"Technology and Culture"

"Not only provides a richly detailed and suprising account of long-forgotten artifacts, but also fleshes out the longer history of some still-familiar attitudes toward health and vitality."
--"Journal of Social History"

"De la Pena's fascinating study melds social history with material culture and the history of science and technology to explain Americans' enthusiastic embrace of modern mechanization and emergent industrial culture."
--"CHOICE"

"In this engaging and well-written study Carolyn Thomas de la Pena offers a detailed cultural history of the medical-technological interface in the period 1850-1940, and in so doing tells us a great deal about how the body and its relation to modernity were conceived."
--"American Historical Review"

"Exellent. Carolyn de la Pena's superbly researched project examines how Americans in the period between 1870 and 1935 sought to supplement their physical energy through engagement with a variety of popular health technologies, including muscle-building machines: electrical invigorators, such as belts and collars: and radioactive elixirs."
--"American Quarterly"

"It's an irresistible account of fads and fascinating foibles, including electric belts and radioactive tonics."
--"Christian Science Monitor"

"Transforming archival research into sparkling prose, "The Body Electric" explains how Americans learned to usemachines to seek health, sexual rejuvenation, and physical transformation. This innovative book is both an entertaining history of fads and foibles and a groundbreaking cultural critique of the continuing obsession with achieving physical perfection."
--David E. Nye, author of "Electrifying America and America as Second Creation"

""The Body Electric" is the so-far missing puzzle piece in our nineteenth-twentieth century knowledge of the social history of the human body and technology a richly illustrated study showing two centuries of technologizing the human body against fears of weakness, enervation, sexual depletion."
--Cecelia Tichi, author of "Shifting Gears: Technology, Literature, Culture in Modernist America"

Between the years 1850 and 1950, Americans became the leading energy consumers on the planet, expending tremendous physical resources on energy exploration, mental resources on energy exploitation, and monetary resources on energy acquisition. A unique combination of pseudoscientific theories of health and the public's rudimentary understanding of energy created an age in which sources of industrial power seemed capable of curing the physical limitations and ill health that plagued Victorian bodies. Licensed and "quack" physicians alike promoted machines, electricity, and radium as invigorating cures, veritable "fountains of youth" that would infuse the body with energy and push out disease and death.

The Body Electric is the first book to place changing ideas about fitness and gender in dialogue with the popular culture of technology. Whether through wearing electric belts, drinking radium water, or lifting mechanized weights, many Americans came to believethat by embracing the nation's rapid march to industrialization, electrification, and "radiomania," their bodies would emerge fully powered. Only by uncovering this belief's passions and products, Thomas de la PeAa argues, can we fully understand our culture's twentieth-century energy enthusiasm.