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Books > Medicine > Pre-clinical medicine: basic sciences > Human reproduction, growth & development
With the conclusion of adolescence, a child develops into a
teenager that may experiment with dating, smoking and drinking, and
they may make important decisions without parental knowledge or
guidance. These teenagers may also engage in risky behaviour, which
may pose as a threat to their well-being and successful transition
into adulthood. With this in mind, how can we can prevent
adolescent risk behaviour? Traditionally, prevention scientists
propose three forms of prevention. Primarily, attempts to reduce
the harmful consequences of risk behaviour, such as treatment of
risk behaviour (ie: mental disorders or substance abuse) are ideal.
For some problematic behaviour which has already occurred, a better
approach is to identify those who are at-risk as early as possible
(ie: secondary prevention). For example, youth workers may identify
those who have suicidal ideation and intervene as early as possible
so that they will not harm themselves. In this book, the authors
assess whether a community-based program in Hong Kong was effective
in promoting adolescent development and explore what factors were
associated with the program effects. The authors hope that the
studies included in this book can help to reveal the successful
experience of the project and provide some pointers for the
development of programs for adolescents with greater psychosocial
needs.
The U.S. population is getting older, and Americans are living
longer, on average, than they ever have before. As they age, people
are healthier and more active than the generations before them and
have fewer functional limitations such as difficulty walking or
blindness. Studies show that people are happier on average as they
advance into their later decades and enjoy high levels of
accumulated knowledge and experience. Getting older is a time of
social, emotional, mental, and physical change. Retirement might
change how a person interacts socially every day, affecting a
persons mood and well-being. Cognitive aging--the normal process of
cognitive change as a person gets older--can begin, or a permanent
change in physical function may arise. Technology offers a path for
people who are navigating these changes potentially to prevent or
minimise the risks associated with them and to enhance peoples
ability to live their lives fully. The Presidents Council of
Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), seeks to identify
technologies and policies that will maximise the independence,
productivity, and engagement of Americans in their later years.
This book focuses on four key changes older Americans often
experience: hearing loss; loss of social engagement and
connectivity; cognitive change; and physical change.
Brown Bodies, White Babies focuses on the practice of cross-racial
gestational surrogacy, in which a woman - through in-vitro
fertilization using the sperm and egg of intended parents or donors
- carries a pregnancy for intended parents of a different race.
Focusing on the racial differences between parents and surrogates,
this book is interested in how reproductive technologies intersect
with race, particularly when brown bodies produce white babies.
While the potential of reproductive technologies is far from
pre-determined, the ways in which these technologies are currently
deployed often serve the interests of dominant groups, through the
creation of white, middle-class, heteronormative families. Laura
Harrison, providing an important understanding of the work of women
of color as surrogates, connects this labor to the history of
racialized reproduction in the United States. Cross-racial
surrogacy is one end of a continuum in which dominant groups rely
on the reproductive potential of nonwhite women, whose own
reproductive desires have been historically thwarted and even
demonized. Brown Bodies, White Babies provides am interdisciplinary
analysis that includes legal cases of contested surrogacy,
historical examples of surrogacy as a form of racialized
reproductive labor, the role of genetics in the assisted
reproduction industry, and the recent turn toward reproductive
tourism. Joining the ongoing feminist debates surrounding
reproduction, motherhood, race, and the body, Brown Bodies, White
Babies ultimately critiques the new potentials for parenthood that
put the very contours of kinship into question.
A critical analysis of white, working class North Americans'
motivations and experiences when traveling to Central Europe for
donor egg IVF Each year, more and more Americans travel out of the
country seeking low cost medical treatments abroad, including
fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF). As the
lower middle classes of the United States have been priced out of
an expensive privatized "baby business," the Czech Republic has
emerged as a central hub of fertility tourism, offering a
plentitude of blonde-haired, blue-eyed egg donors at a fraction of
the price. Fertility Holidays presents a critical analysis of
white, working class North Americans' motivations and experiences
when traveling to Central Europe for donor egg IVF. Within this
diaspora, patients become consumers, urged on by the representation
of a white Europe and an empathetic health care system, which seems
nonexistent at home. As the volume traces these American fertility
journeys halfway around the world, it uncovers layers of
contradiction embedded in global reproductive medicine. Speier
reveals the extent to which reproductive travel heightens the hope
ingrained in reproductive technologies, especially when the
procedures are framed as "holidays." The pitch of combining a
vacation with their treatment promises couples a stress-free IVF
cycle; yet, in truth, they may become tangled in fraught situations
as they endure an emotionally wrought cycle of IVF in a strange
place. Offering an intimate, first-hand account of North Americans'
journeys to the Czech Republic for IVF, Fertility Holidays exposes
reproductive travel as a form of consumption which is motivated by
complex layers of desire for white babies, a European vacation,
better health care, and technological success.
'What would it mean to name this place I'm in, to map it? To say:
this is the landscape. It looks like this, smells like this, at
night these are the sounds that carry on the wind.
Almost-motherhood . . .' When Miranda Ward and her husband decided
to have a baby, they were young and optimistic. But five years,
three miscarriages and one ectopic pregnancy later, she is still
dealing with the ongoing aftermath of that decision, and the shadow
it's cast over her relationship to her partner, her body and her
future. In this searing, lyrical and radically honest memoir, Ward
charts her journey through the uncertain landscape of
almost-motherhood, asking questions of geography on the most
intimate scale. How can we learn to be at home in our own bodies,
even when we feel adrift from them? What language do we have for
the spaces in between, the periods of wanting and waiting? And how
do we maintain hope as we navigate towards an unknown future?
'This book is totally brilliant - informative, sensitive, funny and
wise. Reading it is like talking to a fairy godmother who also
happens to be a gynaecologist and expert on all things fertility'
Sophia Money-Coutts Big Fat Negative (BFN) - a term commonly used
on internet forums to refer to a negative pregnancy test.
Infertility can be a lonely journey. One in every six couples will
struggle to conceive but, despite this, many don't feel comfortable
talking openly about their experiences and sharing what they are
going through. As a result, they feel isolated and alone. It
doesn't have to be this way. By talking, laughing and shouting
about our experiences we can start to lift the cloak of shame that
so often engulfs those going through it. Big Fat Negative does just
that. This no-nonsense, honest guide to infertility from the hosts
of the Big Fat Negative podcast smashes the taboo around this
isolating and heartbreaking illness, offering first-hand
experience, an understanding voice when friends don't get it,
expert advice, reassurance for when you feel alone and - most
importantly - humour when it you need it the most. Using first-hand
accounts of the various hurdles of infertility, from work to
diagnoses and IVF, coupled with advice from leading experts, Big
Fat Negative will hold your hand on the not-so simple journey to
motherhood - helping you to face and defeat the trials of trying
for a baby.
The purpose of this book is to help those who are struggling to
become pregnant for whatever reason. Starting a family is a big
decision and most of us expect it to happen pretty quickly. But
what if it doesn't? What should we do next when we have tried for a
year and nothing has happened? Many people assume the next step is
IVF but this is only one option in a vast line of options available
and is certainly not right for everyone. Many of you who were
labelled "infertile" will be able to become pregnant naturally by
following a few simple steps outlined in this book. Jessica will
take you through a logical process of understanding your own body
and reproductive system. It is amazing how little we were taught at
school about our reproductive health and our body's normal
fertility signals. This book will cover male and female fertility
separately- how to optimise naturally fertility in both men and
women, how to read the body's fertile signals, tests which may be
required, and if there is a problem, the appropriate solutions
which are available. This book will also cover the psychology of
trying to get pregnant, the truth about ageing and fertility,
miscarriages and dealing with loss, and assisted reproductive
technologies. There is progress all the time in the world of
fertility and conception and it is important you understand what
these options are and when they are right for you. This will allow
you to assist your medical team in getting a solution that you all
want- a healthy baby. One of the most stressful things about
entering the world of infertility is the feeling of lack of
control, feeling like you are on a treadmill of tests and
procedures and feeling more and more resentment towards all your
friends who are announcing their pregnancies. There is a lot of
information out there- some of it is confusing, some of it is
contradictory and some of it is misleading. This book pulls
together the latest research in one place in a logical way that you
can understand so you know what you need to do next to get a
successful pregnancy. Some of you will be able to become pregnant
naturally without any intervention by making a few very simple
changes. Others may need some assistance but you will know much
more clearly what you need and the logical steps to follow. Trying
to get pregnant can be overwhelming; knowledge is power- grab this
book and take back control of your life
This new edition of a groundbreaking book is now in two volumes, on
'Fundamentals, Symptoms, and Conditions' on 'Reconstructive and
Fertility Preserving Surgery and Procedures. From a distinguished
editorial team and internationally recognized contributors the text
educates surgeons on the techniques and procedures now needed in
gynecology, with a special focus on reconstructive vaginal,
hysteroscopic, laparoscopic, and laparotomic surgery, including
that designed to preserve or enhance fertility. The reader can now
more readily understand pathogenesis, appropriate investigation,
and application of both surgical and nonsurgical strategies and
techniques. The two volumes contain over 20 new chapters and in the
integral ebook, over 140 instructional videos; each chapter has Key
Points summarized.
This new book reviews the latest advances in the embryology,
genetics, diagnosis, imaging, and therapy of congenital heart
disease. The international cast of authors has combined its talents
to produce a unique, expert perspective. This publication arrives
at a very exciting time when new genetic, imaging, and therapeutic
developments are changing the field. It is relevant to
pediatricians, internal medicine specialists, medical geneticists,
both pediatric and adult cardiologists, embryologists, imaging
physicians, and cardiac surgeons. The reader is taken on a journey
that begins with a historical overview of congenital cardiovascular
anomalies and ends with developments in stem cell and tissue
engineering. In between are chapters on cardiac embryogenesis;
epidemiology; genetic syndromes associated with cardiovascular
anomalies; single gene disorders; cardiac imaging; surgical and
interventional therapies; and ethical considerations. 'Congenital
Heart Disease' is an invaluable reference. In short, it provides
essential information to create a comprehensive resource for all
physicians involved with the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac
malformations.
Bestselling author and counselor Michael Gurian offers a
comprehensive look at the emotional, spiritual, and cognitive
dimensions of aging--and how to celebrate life after fifty.
Called "the people's philosopher" for his ability to apply
scientific ideas to our ordinary lives, Michael Gurian, bestselling
author of "The Wonder of Boys," sees life after fifty as an
enormously fruitful, exciting, and fulfilling time. Drawing on
scientific research as well as anecdotes that respond to the needs
of his many clients, he goes beyond the physical-centered view of
aging and presents a new, holistic paradigm embracing opportunities
that come with life after fifty.
"The Wonder of Aging" focuses on the physical, mental,
relational, and spiritual aspects of aging, discussing topics such
as sex, how men and women age differently, the effects of aging on
the brain, and what to expect in the last chapter of life. The book
divides life after fifty into three stages: the Age of
Transformation, from our late forties to sixty; the Age of
Distinction, from sixty to seventy-five; and the Age of Completion,
which involves completing one's life journey. In addition, this
essential guide provides meditations and exercises to help you map
out the aging process and is rich with case histories from Gurian's
research and experience as a therapist.
Written with Gurian's contagiously optimistic outlook on life,
"The Wonder of Aging" provides a full, constructive, and comforting
roadmap to what to expect--and how to celebrate--the second half of
your life.
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