Endometriosis is a chronic health complaint that is experienced by up to 10% of women of reproductive age. Endometriosis results in significant psychological and financial burden. Surgical and pharmacological management can alleviate symptoms, but recurrence of endometriosis within one year is common. Many women use complementary and alternative therapies when the response to conventional medical treatments is inadequate.The latest book in the Evidence-based Clinical Chinese Medicine series uses a 'whole evidence' approach to summarise the management of endometriosis with Chinese medicine treatments. The current understanding of endometriosis - including symptoms, diagnosis and treatment - is summarised from conventional medicine and Chinese medicine perspectives. Next, a systematic approach is used to understand how endometriosis was treated with Chinese medicine in past eras.Internationally recognised scientific methods are used to identify and evaluate the clinical evidence for Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture and related therapies. The potential mechanisms of herbal medicines are identified from experimental studies. The final chapter synthesises the evidence from the different literature sources and offers suggestions for contemporary clinical practice and future research.This book is a handy desktop reference for both clinicians and students of Chinese and integrative medicine. It provides a comprehensive synthesis of both traditional and contemporary knowledge that can inform clinical decision-making.

Endometriosis is a chronic health complaint that is experienced by up to 10% of women of reproductive age. Endometriosis results in significant psychological and financial burden. Surgical and pharmacological management can alleviate symptoms, but recurrence of endometriosis within one year is common. Many women use complementary and alternative therapies when the response to conventional medical treatments is inadequate.The latest book in the Evidence-based Clinical Chinese Medicine series uses a 'whole evidence' approach to summarise the management of endometriosis with Chinese medicine treatments. The current understanding of endometriosis - including symptoms, diagnosis and treatment - is summarised from conventional medicine and Chinese medicine perspectives. Next, a systematic approach is used to understand how endometriosis was treated with Chinese medicine in past eras.Internationally recognised scientific methods are used to identify and evaluate the clinical evidence for Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture and related therapies. The potential mechanisms of herbal medicines are identified from experimental studies. The final chapter synthesises the evidence from the different literature sources and offers suggestions for contemporary clinical practice and future research.This book is a handy desktop reference for both clinicians and students of Chinese and integrative medicine. It provides a comprehensive synthesis of both traditional and contemporary knowledge that can inform clinical decision-making.

Complications during and after pregnancy and birth result in hundreds of thousands of deaths each year and can lead to lifelong health problems. Even with these complications, however, early detection and prenatal care can further reduce risk to the mother and baby. However, inadequate medical services, shortage of medical resources, and lack of or misinformation can hinder a woman's ability to successfully manage her pregnancy. This not only affects the health of the people immediately concerned and their families, but also has implications for global stability and the balance between population and resources. Evaluation and Management of High-Risk Pregnancies: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on safeguarding mothers and babies through the availability of medical knowledge, cost-effective interventions, and the availability of widespread obstetric services. While highlighting topics such as labor complications, maternal mortality, and reproductive health, this publication explores exposure to sexually transmitted diseases as well as the methods of physical and mental healthcare. This book is ideally designed for obstetricians, gynecologists, world health organizations, policymakers, hospitals, health professionals, reproduction researchers, and physicians.

This book highlights both conventional and nanomaterials-based biosensors for the detection of cervical cancers. It describes developments in the selective and sensitive electrochemical biosensors based on DNA for the early diagnosis of cervical cancer. Further, this book covers other nano-biosensing systems such as nano-thermometry-based sensing platforms, mechanical sensing platforms encompassing piezoelectric-based sensors, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy based on PEGylated arginine functionalized magnetic nanoparticles, and field-effect transistor-based platforms for the early detection of cervical cancer. Also, it presents conventional platforms such as vibrational spectroscopy and polymerase chain reaction techniques for the diagnosis of cervical cancer. Finally, it reviews currently available biomarkers for the early diagnosis of cervical cancer and presents strategies for developing novel biomarkers based on cellular and molecular approaches. As such, this book is a comprehensive resource for researchers and clinicians working in cervical cancer diagnostics.

Across time and place, pregnancy and childbirth rank among the most transformative physical and psychological events in women's lives. Women's childbearing experiences depend not only on their own biology and psyche but also on the nature and quality of care they receive. The nature of the prevailing obstetric care model in the early 21st-century United States has been described as "high-tech, low touch," highlighting its emphasis on using medical technology, as opposed to non-technological care and support, to control unproblematic physical processes on the argument that this approach improves maternal safety and comfort. However, it should be noted that reasonably reliable national data fail to show significant maternal or newborn health gains corresponding to recent, dramatic rises in hospital obstetric procedures such as labor induction, labor acceleration, and cesarean delivery. In this context where medical intervention, necessary or not, assumes an increasingly central role in the childbearing equation, questions of what mothers expect to happen in labor and delivery and how their subsequent birth experiences meet those expectations become paramount. Global numeric indicators cannot capture the quality of women's reactions to childbirth itself, particularly as maternal care shifts in response to consumer interests it presupposes, offering options for comfort, care, and even the possibility of foregoing the labor process altogether. This work reflects the critical need to document early 21st-century U.S. mothers' own words on what they expected to happen in childbirth and later, how labor and delivery went and how it met their expectations. Among this book's most important contributions is its inclusion of extensive interview material drawn from 75 diverse women who spoke freely on their childbirth expectations and subsequent experiences. By itself, the interview material lends an important, though at times unsettling, insider perspective on how labor and delivery can unfold. The narratives also provide a maternal view on how those charged with their care respond during this physically and emotionally demanding transition. In addition, the book provides a timely analysis of scientific data on contemporary maternal care procedures, making plain why so many refer to 21st-century mainstream obstetric care as "technocratic." The scientific data serve as an excellent backdrop for more extensive coverage of the maternal interviews, organized around the distinctions mothers made related to the childbirth pathway on which they anticipated traveling such as natural childbirth in a hospital, planned cesarean delivery, or planned vaginal birth after cesarean. The pathways are in turn discussed in terms of their relationship to an underlying technocratic, humanistic, or holistic maternal care philosophy. The book is targeted towards an academic readership, including scholars and medical professionals with interest in women's health, women's and maternal mental health, women's reproductive health, reproductive technology, medical humanities, medical anthropology, narrative studies, pregnancy, and childbirth.

This book offers valuable insights into the latest concepts and findings from epidemiologic, clinical and basic studies in the burgeoning area of early-life environmental exposure and diseases. The book is divided into five parts, starting with an overview of environmental exposure measurement and evaluation, followed by a review of the effects of exposure to various substances like tobacco smoke, pesticides and metals as well as stress on offspring's health. It then discusses the developmental origins of a range of childhood diseases that affect growth, neural development and the immune system, and highlights the importance of longitudinal studies that measure exposure at potentially sensitive time points during childhood. It also provides up-to-date evidence of the intergenerational/transgenerational effects of early-life environmental exposure, especially via genetic and epigenetic pathways. Allowing readers to gain a thorough understanding of the predominating aspects of early-life environmental exposure and diseases, the book also provides a basis for developing environmental and health policies that could have wide and long-term impacts on human health.

The subspecialty of Obstetric Medicine sits in a unique intersection of the disciplines of Internal Medicine and Obstetrics. Its focus is in the skilled management of medical problems in pregnancy: from pre-pregnancy optimization to the management of acute and chronic conditions in pregnancy, and in the postpartum period to ensure resolution and safe transition back to the primary care provider. This book will provide novel insights into the management of pregnant women. Clinical pearls will be emphasized, such as illustrating atypical aspects of a presenting symptom/finding, and when a subspecialty referral (or transfer to a high risk centre) must occur for patient safety. This book will combine basic science principles, build on existing guidelines, and provide crucial tips on how to safely manage acute and chronic medical conditions in pregnancy. It is THE book for sub-specialists in Obstetric Medicine.