This collection of essays examines obesity not as an objective medical or psychological problem, but as a subjective social and cultural phenomenon. The contributors take a cross-cultural perspective, examining both the negative casting of obesity in developed countries and the traditional view of obesity as a positive characteristic in subsistence societies which is threatened by the dominance of Western culture.

Treatment for the chronically ill has traditionally focused on physical factors and symptoms, despite the fact that chronic illness also affects life in an emotional and spiritual way. The approach toward treatment described in this volume addresses all aspects of a patient's life, including their interpersonal experiences and relationships, presenting family therapists and family physicians as part of the same treatment team. This volume thus provides a foundation for understanding the role illness plays in family systems. The meaning an individual gives to an illness is profoundly influenced by and influences that person's social world. In turn, social culture and social networks both shape and are shaped by the individual's experiences. Exploring how the meaning of chronic illness is defined tells us much about the individual's interpersonal relations and the resultant meaning given to the person's illness. As a consequence, family therapy must be an integral part of the treatment plan for chronically ill patients . Family Therapy and Chronic Illness approaches chronic illness from a leading-edge perspective. This approach enables therapists to listen attentively to complicated narratives. Because these stories, feelings, and emotions are difficult to describe, the clients have demanding "telling" tasks while therapists have demanding "listening" tasks. This book sends an important message not just about the chronically ill, but also about their families, therapists, and doctors, and how they can work together to develop the best treatment plan possible.

Emphasizing the clinical problems surrounding urogenital tract dysfunction, this up-to-date reference details the basic science, differential diagnosis, and treatment of a wide range of neurourological conditions.
Covering recent advances in the neurobiology of the pelvic organs, the Handbook of Neuro-Urology
reviews the neural control processes that govern pelvic organs
discusses the pathogenic mechanisms behind neurological and smooth muscle disorders that produce bladder dysfunction
describes the management of impaired bladder, bowel, and sexual function after brain damage and spinal cord injury
examines various conditions that affect the autonomic nervous system and specifically result in bladder and sexual dysfunction
investigates lower urinary tract function in the elderly
suggests practical measures to manage urinary incontinence such as the use of pads, underpants, and appliances
and more!

This book provides a comprehensive compilation of the evidence available regarding the role of genetic differences in the etiology of human obesities and their health and metabolic implications. It also identifies the most promising research areas, methods, and strategies for use in future efforts to understand the genetic basis of obesities and their consequences on human health. Leading researchers in their respective fields present contributed chapters on such topics as etiology and the prevalence of obesities, nongenetic determinants of obesity and fat topography, and animal models and molecular biological technology used to delineate the genetic basis of human obesities. A major portion of the book is devoted to human genetic research and clinical observations encompassing adoption studies, twin studies, family studies, single gene effects, temporal trends and etiology heterogeneity, energy intake and food preference, energy expenditure, and susceptibility to metabolic derangements in the obese state. Future directions of research in the field are covered in the book as well.

How do men react to diagnosis of male infertility and how, if at all, are all their lives affected by it? Male infertility is commonplace yet the male experience of it has been woefully neglected. "Male Infertility - Men Talking" explores these issues by gathering together men's stories and seeing what common strands, if any, exist between them. Mary-Claire Mason explores the past and present medical management of male infertility as this forms an essential backdrop to the men's stories but the main emphasis is on how men's lives are affected. In the first half of this book, the discovery of sperm and the man's role in reproduction is considered together with a review of how the past affects the present medical management of male infertility and the problems that bedevil it. The male voice predominates in the second half, speaking of painful events and relationships with families and friends, their feeling of isolation, their medical experiences, the importance of biological fatherhood, and their hopes for the future.

This study discusses cultural change among the Ainu, Japan's indigenous people, its specificity and the circumstances which have led to it. The book focuses on strategies in response to change, laying bare the multiple nature of agency that characterizes the interaction between the Ainu, the larger society and the state. The stress is on cultural aspects of Ainu's contemporary activities and how they have been incorporated into the larger society. The Japanese pursue a policy of assimilating the Ainu but this policy has not been successful, resulting in a resurgence among the Ainu. This is characterized by its emphasis on ethnic features, distinguishing them from the majority of the population who do not recognize the existence of ethnic groups but view them instead as social classes or casts. For the Ainu this strategy serves to firmly define their own position in the larger system, challenging the pre-established social and cultural context of Japanese society.

This volume is a first of its kind, addressed principally to the professional reader. While it is not intended to be exhaustive, its aim is to sketch a broad picture of some of the nondrug and nonsurgical treatment strategies with a demonstrated basis in conventional scientific method. Likewise, though it does not include all those who have contributed to the emergence of this exciting new field, it assembles those authors whose seminal work has earned them international reputations.
This volume's declared purpose is to provide a state-of-the-art guide to methods and techniques in the behavioral treatment of epilepsy and to their basis in theory. The editors hope that it will catalyze the evolution of their acceptance as standard elements, where appropriate, in the clinical activities of independent practitioners, clinics, and agencies that service those with convulsive disorders.

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic condition that has a number of long-term complications and creates certain short-term problems for the sufferer. Michael Kelly, himself a sufferer, describes the experience of ulcerative colitis from the perspective of men and women who have had the disease and examines the social and psychological issues surrounding the condition. This book should be of interest to professionals in training and practice in the fields of medicine, nursing, medical sociology and social medicine.

Reversibility of Chronic Disease and Hypersensitivity, Volume 4: The Environmental Aspects of Chemical Sensitivity is the fourth of an encyclopedic five-volume set describing the basic physiology, chemical sensitivity, diagnosis, and treatment of chronic degenerative disease studied in a 5x less polluted controlled environment. This text focuses on treatment techniques, strategies, protocols, prescriptions, and technologies. Distinguishing itself from previous works on chemical sensitivity, it explains newly understood mechanisms of chronic disease and hypersensitivity, involving core molecular function. The authors discuss new information on ground regulation system, genetics, the autonomic nervous system, and immune and non-immune functions. The book also includes the latest technology and cutting-edge techniques, numerous figures, and supporting research.

Chronic diseases have become predominant in Western societies and in many developing countries. They affect quality of life and daily activities and require regular medical care. This unique monograph will bring readers up to date with chronic disease research, with a focus on health-related quality of life and patient perception of the impact of the diseases and health intervention, as well as psychological adaptation to the disease. It considers the application of concepts and measures in medical and psychological clinical practice and in public health policies. Informed by theory, philosophy, history and empirical research, chapters will indicate how readers might advance their own thinking, learning, practice and research. The book is intended to be provocative and challenging to enhance discussion about theory as a key component of research and practice. Perceived Health and Adaptation in Chronic Disease will be of interest to researchers and academics alike. It boasts a wide range of contributions from leading international specialists from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the USA. This has also allowed the book to provide readers with a multidisciplinary approach.

For many women breast cancer is one of the most distressing of all diseases. This guide focuses on experiences of the disease from the woman's perspective. Drawing on 1000 in-depth interviews, the book makes extensive use of verbatim accounts by women of their own experiences during different stages - from the discovery of the lump, through to diagnosis, treatment, and possible recurrence and death. These extracts illustrate the meaning that a diagnosis of breast cancer and its treatment has for different women. A practical, introductory chapter fully describes the medical aspects of the disease. The women's perceptions and insights are interspersed with relevant findings and theories from recent scientific literature. The authors are well-known for their contributions to cancer research and especially for their work on the psychosocial aspects of breast cancer and their effect on the quality of life.

Following the boom in population databases in recent years there has been sustained and intense international debate about political processes and legal and ethical issues surrounding the protection and use of genetic data. As a result, several national and international organizations and committees have published widely differing guidelines and statements concerning genetic databases and biobanks. Ethical Issues of Human Genetic Databases compares the new area of biobanking with the tradition of ethically accepted classical research and highlights the distinctive features of existing databases and guidelines. The volume identifies areas of consensus and controversy while investigating the challenges posed to classical health research ethics by the existence of genetic databases, analyzing the reasons for such varying guidelines. The book will be essential to academics, biobankers, policy-makers and researchers in the field of medical ethics.

Microbes are in our midst soon after birth. Thankfully, the number of harmless (and often beneficial) microbes far out number those that would do us harm. Our ability to ward-off pathogens in our environment, including those that can colonize our exterior and/or interior surfaces, depends on the integrative action of the innate and adaptive immunity systems. This volume of CTMI, entitled Antimicrobial Peptides and Human Disease, is dedicated to the role of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in the innate host defense system of homo sapiens.

This book is the result of a "State-of-the-Art-Conference" held at the University of Georgia dedicated to the evidence-based treatment of stuttering. An international group of prominent fluency researchers and clinicians were invited to present and discuss current data and issues related to the treatment of stuttering. The topic was defined to include evidence about stuttering, evidence about stuttering treatment, and discussions of how that evidence should guide the continuing research and practice. The explicit link between empirical evidence and suggestions for clinical practice is the goal of the book. The book begins by addressing the notion of "evidence-based practice" and considers its implications for stuttering treatment. Part II presents the intersection of the nature of stuttering; the theories of stuttering; and the implications of nature, theory, and other knowledge for stuttering treatment decisions. Part III provides two of the many measurement issues facing stuttering treatment followed by Part IV, which is devoted to the quality of treatment research evidence, for specific treatments and in terms of some more general methodological and professional issues. The final part summarizes the clinical recommendations made throughout the book and discusses evidence-based, outcomes-focused clinical decisions for stuttering. These chapters are intended to provide "state-of-the-art" information to researchers, clinicians, and students who are interested in developing, identifying, or using the best possible evidence-based treatments for stuttering.

Mitochondrial Medicine is a relatively new area where several disciplines from basic science to clinical medicine converge. Mitochondrial medicine deals with diseases that are related to mitochondrial dysfunction due to a number of causes from free radical damage to genetic mutation. A primary feature of mitochondrial dysfunction is impaired cellular bioenergetics.

This book is based upon extensive data gathered over 30 years of clinical and experimental research. Internationally recognized authors share their experience and state-of-the-art knowledge in various fields of their expertise such as mitochondrial cardiology, neurology, diabetology, nephrology, immunology, rheumatology, reproductive medicine, sports medicine, and chronobiology, and guide readers through the disease process, from basic biochemical mechanisms to diagnosis to therapeutic aspects.

Laboratory evaluation plays a very important role in the diagnosis of mitochondrial diseases, in addition to clinical assessment. This includes analysis of plasma/mitochondrial coenzyme Q10 content, mitochondrial respiratory chain function and oxidative phosphorylation in isolated mitochondria and biopsy material, and nuclear magnetic resonance methods.

In addition to standard medical therapy to treat cardiac, CNS, and other involvements in the mitochondrial disease patients, adjunctive nutritional therapy is indicated primarily to improve mitochondrial function. Therapy include coenzyme Q10, a -lipoic acid, carnitine, w -3- and w -6-PUFA, vitamins and polarized light.

Mitochondrial Medicine is dedicated to Dr. Frederick L. Crane, discoverer of Coenzyme Q10 in 1957, and to the Celebration of 50th year of Coenzyme Q10discovery.

This book is intended for general medical practitioners, for specialists specialists such as cardiologists, neurologists, and diabetologists, biochemists, nutritionists, pharmacists, and also for graduate students.

Section I. Basic Bacteriology of H. pylori.- 1. In vivo models of gastric Helicobacter infections.- 2 H. pylori species heterogenicity.- 3 H. pylori urease.- 4 Basic bacteriology of H. pylori: H. pylori colonization factors.- Section II. Prevalence and Mechanisms of Spread of H. pylori.- 5 Epidemiology of H. pylori in Western countries.- 6 H. pylori in developing countries.- 7 Prevalence/disease correlates of H. pylori.- 8 Reinfection with H. pylori.- Section III. Mechanisms of H. pylori Induced Damage.- 9 Breakdown of the mucus layer by H. pylori.- 10 Decreased hydrophobicity of gastroduodenal mucosa due to H. pylori infection in man.- 11 Adherence and internalization of H. pylori by epithelial cells.- 12 Mechanisms of ammonia-induced gastric mucosal injury: role of glutathione and cysteine proteases.- 13 Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-related damage by H. pylori.- 14 The cpn60 heat shock protein homologue of H. pylori.- 15 Gastric mucosal injury: interactions of mast cells, cytokines and nitric oxide.- 16 H. pylori supernatant contains a novel chemotactic factor for monocytes different from FMLP.- 17 H. pylori-induced neutrophil activation and production of toxic oxygen radicals.- 18 Polymorphonuclear leukocytes traffic into the gastric mucosa and through the gastric mucosal barrier in H. pylori infection: is that bad?.- 19 H. pylori vacuolating toxin.- 20 H. pylori alcohol dehydrogenase.- Section IV. Hormonal Disturbances in H. pylori Infection.- 21 Effect of H. pylori infection on gastrin and gastric acid secretion.- 22 H. pylori, gastrin and somatostatin.- 23 Parietal cell responsiveness in H. pylori infections.- 24 Role of bacterial amines in H. pylori-associated hypergastrinaemia.- 25 Do gastric mucosal nerves remodel in H. pylori gastritis?.- Section V. Immunological Response to H. pylori.- 26 Overview of the immune response to H. pylori.- 27 Specific H. pylori immune response.- 28 B cell responses in H. pylori infection.- 29 T cell subsets in H. pylori-associated gastritis.- 30 Down-regulation of the immune response to H. pylori.- 31 The clinical value of a saliva diagnostic assay for antibody to H. pylori.- Section VI. Gastroduodenal Inflammation in H. pylori Infection.- 32 Spectrum and implications of inflammation with H. pylori.- 33 'Hypertrophic' gastritis in H. pylori infection.- 34 Long-term consequences of H. pylori infection: time trends in H. pylori gastritis, gastric cancer and peptic ulcer disease.- 35 Determinants of gastritis phenotype in H. pylori infection.- 36 The ulcer-associated cell lineage (UACL): a newly-recognised pathway of gastrointestinal differentiation of importance in the natural healing of peptic ulcer disease.- Section VII. Determinants of Clinical Outcome of H. pylori Infection.- 37 Acute infection with H. pylori.- 38 H. pylori in asymptomatic people.- 39 Determinants of clinical outcome of H. pylori infection: duodenal ulcer.- 40 H. pylori and gastric ulcer disease.- 41 Functional dyspepsia and H. pylori: a controversial link.- 42 H. pylori and NSAIDs: a meta-analysis on interactions of acute gastroduodenal injury, gastric and duodenal ulcers and upper gastrointestinal symptoms.- Section VIII. Relationship of H. pylori Gastric Carcinogenesis and Lymphoma.- 43 H. pylori and gastric cancer: the significance of the problem.- 44 The ascorbic acid story.- 45 Role of bacterial overgrowth in gastric carcinogenesis.- 46 The role of PCR techniques in the epidemiology of H. pylori infections.- 47 Role of H. pylori in atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia.- 48 H. pylori-associated gastric lymphoma.- 49 Animal models for Helicobacter-induced gastric and hepatic cancer.- 50 Flaws in H. pylori-related carcinogenesis hypothesis.- Section IX. Therapy of H. pylori Infection.- 51 Determinants of antimicrobial effectiveness in H. pylori gastritis.- 52 Mucosal antibiotic levels.- 53 H. pylori eradication.- 54 H. pylori resistance to antibiotics.- 55 The role of acid suppression in the treatment of H. p...

First published in 1931, this book is the second of a three volume set which focuses on medical work, and in particular, public administration in relation to the prevention of disease. This volume focuses on the medical circumstances of Belgium, France, Italy, Jugo-Slavia, Hungary, Poland and Czecho-Slovakia. It shows that many of these countries have gone beyond most other countries in their in the socialization of medicine in several ways.

When this title was first published in 1971, there were about 300, 000 people with epilepsy in England and Wales. Nearly one-third of them were children. This book is an integrated review of how epileptic children behaved, and of how they were regarded by parents, teachers and peers at the time. Written by a sociologist with a training in psychology, human biology and education, the book draws on several disciplines - sociology, psychology, biology - in seeking to understand the complex determinants of deviant behaviour in children with epilepsy. The author considers in detail the lives of 118 epileptic children, bringing together and analysing a wide range of measurements of behaviour, social relations and abnormalities of brain function. He discusses how the children fare in school, and how epilepsy affects both the teacher's perception of the child and the child's scholastic performance. The dearth of medical centres which could diagnose and treat epilepsy at the time is examined, and hospital use according to parents' social class is analysed. The author looks at the role of parents of epileptic children and shows that their attitude to epilepsy is of major importance for the child's adjustment. The prejudice to which epileptic children and adolescents were subjected by the world at large is chronicled in detail. Finally the author considers how his empirical material makes a contribution to the theoretical problem of integrating sociology, psychology and biology into a single discipline concerned with the explanation of human social behaviour.

First published in 1931, this book is the third of a three volume set which focuses on medical work, and in particular, public administration in relation to the prevention of disease. This volume provides the most in depth account of the countries it surveys: England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

First published in 1931, this book is the first of three volumes that describe the circumstances of medical work in several European countries at that time. Together, the three books look at public administration, local and national, in relation to the prevention of disease. This first volume focuses on the Dutch, Scandinavian and German speaking countries, as well as Switzerland. It shows that many of these countries have gone beyond most other countries in their in the socialization of medicine in several ways.

Defects in Secretion of Cystic Fibrosis presents an overview on current research from leading experts in North America and Europe. This update on cystic fibrosis provides in depth original work as well as review material on many of the relevant physiological and molecular topics in the field. Subjects covered include the interplay of the various epithelial ion channels, the underlying intracellular signal transduction, mucus secretion, and novel approaches to develop drugs against cystic fibrosis. This book brings together physicians, physiologists, and other scientists involved in basic research, from molecular biology to drug design and introduces novel investigative and therapeutic aspects of secretion disorders relevant in cystic fibrosis and related diseases.

This book will be of interest to Molecular biologists, physiologists, scientists working in pharmaceutical research and drug developement, physicians and researchers in Cystic fibrosis and related diseases.

Encyclopedic in scope, Reversibility of Chronic Degenerative Disease and Hypersensitivity, Volume 2: The Effects of Environmental Pollutants on the Organ System draws deeply from clinical histories of thousands of patients. It focuses on clinical syndromes within the musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal, and respiratory systems. The book explores mechanisms of chemical sensitivity and chronic degenerative disease as well as the triggering agents of musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal, and sino-respiratory diseases. It then discusses triggering agents such as natural gas, pesticides, solvents, and micotoxins. The authors include new data for indoor and outdoor air pollution that harms the chemically sensitive and chronic degenerative diseased patient as well as new data for breath analysis. They also describe the physiology of chemical sensitivity and chronic degenerative diseases, their manifestations, diagnosis, and approaches to reverse dysfunction. The second volume of a five-volume set, the book provides an essential resource for health care providers diagnosing and treating chemical sensitivity and chronic degenerative disease.

This publication is derived from the proceedings of the Third Canadian Conference on Research in the Rheumatic Diseases, sponsored jointly by the Canadian Rheumatism Association (the professional organization) and The Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatism Society (the voluntary association). Like the previous conferences on Research in Rheumatic Diseases held in 1955 and 1960, this gathering served as a meeting ground for the exchange of information and the re-examination of the correlations suggested by the observations gathered and arranged by investigators using differing tools and hypothetical methods.