Useful in many areas of medicine and biology, Bayesian methods are particularly attractive tools for the design of clinical trials and diagnostic tests, which are based on established information, usually from related previous studies. Advanced Bayesian Methods for Medical Test Accuracy begins with a review of the usual measures such as specificity, sensitivity, positive and negative predictive value, and the area under the ROC curve. Then the scope expands to cover the more advanced topics of verification bias, diagnostic tests with imperfect gold standards, and those for which no gold standard is available.

Promoting accuracy and efficiency of clinical trials, tests, and the diagnostic process, this book:

• Enables the user to efficiently apply prior information via a WinBUGS package
• Presents many ideas for the first time and goes far beyond the two standard references
• Integrates reader agreement with different modalities X-ray, CT Scanners, and more to study their effect on medical test accuracy
• Provides practical chapter-end problems

Useful for graduate students and consulting statisticians working in the various areas of diagnostic medicine and study design, this practical resource introduces the fundamentals of programming and executing BUGS, giving readers the tools and experience to successfully analyze studies for medical test accuracy.

Diagnosing Dental and Orofacial Pain: A Clinical Manual approaches a complex topic in a uniquely practical way. This text offers valuable advice on ways to observe and communicate effectively with patients in pain, how to analyze a patients pain descriptions, and how to provide a proper diagnosis of orofacial pain problems that can arise from a myriad of sources anywhere from teeth, joint and muscle pain, and paranasal sinuses to cluster headaches, neuralgias, neuropathic pain and viral infections. * Helps the student and practitioner understand the diagnostic process by addressing the exact questions that need to be asked and then analyzing verbal and non-verbal responses to these * Edited by experts with decades of clinical and teaching experience, and with contributions from international specialists * Companion website provides additional learning materials including videos, case studies and further practical tips for examination and diagnosis * Includes numerous color photographs and illustrations throughout to enhance text clarity

Shaped by Quantum Theory, Technology, and the Genomics Revolution The integration of photonics, electronics, biomaterials, and nanotechnology holds great promise for the future of medicine. This topic has recently experienced an explosive growth due to the noninvasive or minimally invasive nature and the cost-effectiveness of photonic modalities in medical diagnostics and therapy. The second edition of the Biomedical Photonics Handbook presents fundamental developments as well as important applications of biomedical photonics of interest to scientists, engineers, manufacturers, teachers, students, and clinical providers. The second volume, Biomedical Diagnostics, focuses on biomedical diagnostic technologies and their applications from the bench to the bedside. Represents the Collective Work of over 150 Scientists, Engineers, and Clinicians Designed to display the most recent advances in instrumentation and methods, as well as clinical applications in important areas of biomedical photonics to a broad audience, this three-volume handbook provides an inclusive forum that serves as an authoritative reference source for a broad audience involved in the research, teaching, learning, and practice of medical technologies. What's New in This Edition: A wide variety of photonic biochemical sensing technologies have already been developed for clinical monitoring of physiological parameters, such as blood pressure, blood chemistry, pH, temperature, and the presence of pathological organisms or biochemical species of clinical importance. Advanced photonic detection technologies integrating the latest knowledge of genomics, proteomics and metabolomics allow sensing of early disease state biomarkers, thus revolutionizing the medicine of the future. Nanobiotechnology has opened new possibilities for detection of biomarkers of disease, imaging single molecules and in situ diagnostics at the single cell level. In addition to these state-of-the art advancements, the second edition contains new topics and chapters including: * Fiber Optic Probe Design * Laser and Optical Radiation Safety * Photothermal Detection * Multidimensional Fluorescence Imaging * Surface Plasmon Resonance Imaging * Molecular Contrast Optical Coherence Tomography * Multiscale Photoacoustics * Polarized Light for Medical Diagnostics * Quantitative Diffuse Reflectance Imaging * Interferometric Light Scattering * Nonlinear Interferometric Vibrational Imaging * Multimodality Theranostics Nanoplatforms * Nanoscintillator-Based Therapy * SERS Molecular Sentinel Nanoprobes * Plasmonic Coupling Interference Nanoprobes Comprised of three books: Volume I: Fundamentals, Devices, and Techniques; Volume II: Biomedical Diagnostics; and Volume III: Therapeutics and Advanced Biophotonics, this second edition contains eight sections, and provides introductory material in each chapter. It also includes an overview of the topic, an extensive collection of spectroscopic data, and lists of references for further reading.

The Hands-on Guide to Clinical Reasoning in Medicine is the perfect companion to your time on clinical placements, providing an easy-to-read, highly visual guide to help develop your clinical decision making skills, and transfer your knowledge into practice. Packed full of useful tips, key boxes, exercises and summaries that are designed to help you apply the knowledge gained in clinical practice. Divided into the common clinical placements that you would find yourself in: Respiratory, Cardiovascular, Neurology, Geriatrics, Gastroenterology, Nephrology, Endocrinology and Rheumatology, each chapter covers the diagnosis of common clinical conditions, as well as decision-making in their investigation and management. Written for medical students in their clinical years, as well as new doctors and advanced nurse practitioners, The Hands-on Guide to Clinical Reasoning in Medicine provides students with an accessible resource for honing their clinical reasoning skills. Take the stress out of clinical decision making with The Hands-on Guide!

As the population ages, technology improves, intensive care medicine expands and neurocritical care advances, the use of EEG monitoring in the critically ill is becoming increasingly important.

This atlas is a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the uses of EEG monitoring in the critical care setting. It includes basic EEG patterns seen in encephalopathy, both specific and non-specific, nonconvulsive seizures, periodic EEG patterns, and controversial patterns on the ictal-interictal continuum. Confusing artefacts, including ones that mimic seizures, are shown and explained, and the new standardized nomenclature for these patterns is included.

The "Atlas of EEG in Critical Care" explains the principles of technique and interpretation of recordings and discusses the techniques of data management, and 'trending' central to long-term monitoring. It demonstrates applications in multi-modal monitoring, correlating with new techniques such as microdialysis, and features superb illustrations of commonly observed neurologic events, including seizures, hemorrhagic stroke and ischaemia.

This atlas is written for practitioners, fellows and residents in critical care medicine, neurology, epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology, and is essential reading for anyone getting involved in EEG monitoring in the intensive care unit.

Comprehensive and up to date, the Second Edition of Diagnostic Pathology: Infectious Disease, by Dr. Richard Kradin, is an invaluable tool for the accurate diagnosis of any infectious disease?from the common to the most challenging. The organ-based format makes it an especially useful tool for surgical pathologists' daily diagnostic and management issues. High-quality, full-color illustrations and differential diagnosis tables accompany each lesion, clearly depicting how to recognize the morphology of organisms and the spectrum of histological responses that they may cause. Addresses the most difficult diagnostic issues that practicing or trainee surgical pathologists face when handling infectious disease tissue specimens. Highlights morphological characteristics and landmarks of tissue samples for easy access to information necessary for signing out a specimen. Emphasizes the host responses critical in differential diagnosis to serve as a second opinion when non-infectious diagnoses mimic and confound the diagnosis of infection. Completely revised with the latest diagnostic support and hot topics in the field: A new chapter on novel techniques in microbiology A new chapter on eye infections New coverage of immunohistochemical staining and other molecular diagnostic techniques New discussions of human papillomavirus, a critical tool in predictive cancer screening New information on infections in the immunocompromised host and related special considerations Expert Consult eBook version included with purchase. This enhanced eBook experience allows you to search all of the text, figures, images, videos (including video updates), glossary, and references from the book on a variety of devices.

Hematology is difficult to teach at the medical school level. The curriculum is necessarily fragmented across different years of study, and often separated considerably in time. Understanding hematology requires insight into several distinct aspects: applied physiology (generally taught early), an understanding of the essential pathological processes involving the blood are taught somewhat later (if at all), and the (necessarily) strong laboratory aspect is generally taught more or less concurrently with other clinical pathology topics, such as clinical chemistry and immunology. By the time the student is faced with blood diseases in the wards, the laboratory/pathological bias is well entrenched. It is thus difficult for the student to get an integrated view of the subject. The unspoken assumption, often reinforced by clinical tutors trained in the traditional perspective, is that blood tests are all that are required for a diagnosis in blood diseases.

The result has been that clinical expertise in blood diseases is generally poor. This is reflected in the importance given to the examination of the hematological system in most student primers. The hematological system, by and large, is almost completely neglected. Such relevant features such as pallor, jaundice, bleeding, splenomegaly and so on are dealt with either in passing or in relation first to another system or the general examination . It is almost as though it is taken for granted that the haematological system cannot be assessed clinically and yet, as demonstrated later in the book, it is in very many cases impossible to reach a complete haematological diagnosis without clinical assessment.

Effective, patient-centred care of hematological patients requires, as with all other patients, a comprehensive clinical insight into these disease processes, i.e. an integrated clinical and pathological approach. Added to these problems is the fact that the number of laboratory tests has increased explosively, and the laboratory simply does not have the time to attempt more than a brief, generalized, and increasingly, an automated interpretation of the results. Thus the onus of clinical interpretation necessarily falls more and more on the attending clinician, whose grounding in clinical haematology is too often inadequate, for the reasons mentioned.

Hematology is emerging as a clinical specialty in its own right. The training of hematology physicians today includes extensive clinical exposure (indeed they are expected to handle the clinical aspects themselves), while training of medical registrars requires considerable knowledge of haematology and its reports. Achieving an integrated approach would be made immeasurably easier by a book presenting the subject in a fully integrated, clinical way. This then has been the motivation for this book.

There is no shortage of hematological texts, some of them very good, and it would be presumptuous and self-indulgent to add to them without clear justification. However, practically all of the student-orientated texts tend still to teach hematology from a formal and largely static laboratory perspective, and the reports emanating from the laboratory tend to reinforce this. Many of the Crash Course types of hematology book on the market have (at least) two major weaknesses: they considerably oversimplify the subject, contributing to the very mechanistic and almost anti-intellectual approach to blood diseases and especially to the FBC and Hemostatic Screen; and they tend to concentrate on primary blood diseases, whereas in practice most abnormalities of the blood and in the FBC are secondary to disease outside the system that is to say, they work primarily from a pathological and not from a clinical viewpoint. The FBC is one of the most common and valuable tests in use; it is a relatively expensive test and generally speaking is poorly interpreted, and the potential wealth of information that can be gleaned is missed.

The approach described in this book is different from that in most student texts, and has been very successful in practice, starting almost from scratch, but omitting many of the basics such as the details of hematopoiesis, laboratory technology, and so on, which are hardly relevant to the practising clinician and student in the wards, and are primarily of interest to the hematologist and sometimes to the clinical specialist. Considerable emphasis is given to the clinical history and examination, and the interpretation of the clinical patterns thus exposed. Hopefully it will overcome many of the traditional problems experienced in practical diagnostic haematology.

All the practical essentials are covered, and effectively this book contains all the information the student will ever need, apart from details of therapy (until and unless they enter certain specialties).

The book is restricted to adult haematology, for practical reasons. While there are considerable areas of similarity between adult and paediatric haematology, there are also very significant differences. Thus, the only congenital diseases discussed in this book are those that can present after childhood and occasionally those that pose a significant problem in adult practice. Generally these are discussed only briefly. Often with these the assistance of a haematologist would have to be sought anyway. Sometimes even the haematologist may have to further consult someone sub-specializing in paediatric haematology."

Increasing demands on acute hospital resources, together with a reduction in the number of available beds, has placed a greater emphasis on the need for rapid and effective assessment of patients in order to determine their need for hospital adsmission. This has led to the widespread emergence of the specialist Medical Assessment Unit (MAU). This timely book provides an up- to-date guide to the assessment and immediate management of patients with acute medical conditions. It presents a structured approach based on common presenting features and focuses on the first twenty four hours of the patient's stay in hospital. In writing this book, the editors have been able to draw on their own clinical experiences as a charge nurse in Accident and Emergency nursing and a sister in acute cardiology and respectively.

Practicing physical medicine and rehabilitation physician Grant Cooper, MD, provides a concise step-by-step approach to confidently establishing a working clinical diagnosis and finding appropriate treatment options for the most common musculoskeletal ailments. Organized by body region and written with superb clarity, this guide details the important questions to ask in history taking, the physical examination maneuvers appropriate for each pathology, the possible explanations and additional tests needed to diagnose the condition, and the most up-to-date treatment options available. The author offers clear explanations why each step in the history and physical examination is performed and discusses the basic pathophysiological processes involved. The ailments covered include neck and shooting arm pain; shoulder pain; elbow pain; wrist and hand pain; low back, hip, and shooting leg pain; knee pain, ankle pain, and foot pain. Numerous photographs demonstrate the correct hands-on methods for physical examination of the patient. A value-added CD-ROM version of book is included for downloading and use in the reader's PC or PDA.

The manifestations of dermatologic disease in the geriatric population are often subtly different to those in the younger age groups and there is a need to produce a practical and clinical reference for dermatology fellows and residents, geriatricians and related clinicians to identify dermatoses and their differential diagnosis specific to the aging population. Diagnosis of Aging Skin Diseases will provide the clinician with a visual encyclopedia of geriatric dermatoses that can be used on rounds or in a reference environment. It also provides a structured review of the differential diagnosis of the lesions illustrated within the book, which will make this a priceless reference resource for all physicians dealing with older skin.

Biomedical imaging is a fascinating research area to applied mathematicians. Challenging imaging problems arise and they often trigger the investigation of fundamental problems in various branches of mathematics.

This is the first book to highlight the most recent mathematical developments in emerging biomedical imaging techniques. The main focus is on emerging multi-physics and multi-scales imaging approaches. For such promising techniques, it provides the basic mathematical concepts and tools for image reconstruction. Further improvements in these exciting imaging techniques require continued research in the mathematical sciences, a field that has contributed greatly to biomedical imaging and will continue to do so.

The volume is suitable for a graduate-level course in applied mathematics and helps prepare the reader for a deeper understanding of research areas in biomedical imaging.

In spite of years of tuition and examination, newly qualified doctors are often left inadequately prepared for real-world clinical practice. The major concern is that 'book knowledge' gleaned at medical school does not always translate to safe and effective practical knowhow.Based on the author's many years of expertise as an educator globally, this book helps final-year students make the difficult transition to first-year doctors. Drawing on the latest evidence-based information, it focuses on aspects important to clinical practice in the areas of gastroenterology, cardiology and respiratory medicine such as differentials, investigations and management with full references provided throughout. Also detailed are examination skills; although not the routine form of how to examine but what to be thinking when asked to examine: what conditions should be prevalent in a doctor's mind? And how can these conclusions be reached before even seeing the patient? Practical knowledge like this defines an effective clinician.Clear, concise and rigorous in its approach, this comprehensive volume is indispensable companions to any new doctor in the above fields.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on Medical Biometrics, ICMB 2008, held in Hong Kong, China, in January 2008.

The 17 revised full papers and 23 revised poster papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions for inclusion in the book. Medical biometrics is emerging as a very promising and reliable method for automated medical diagnosis. It integrates multidisciplinary technologies in biology, medicine, electronics, computing, and statistics. The papers are organized in topical sections on feature extraction and classification, health care, medical diagnosis, as well as medical image processing and registration.

EMG Lesion Localization and Characterization: A Case Studies Approach takes a unique approach to electrodiagnostic (EDX) medicine, using case studies and exercises to teach clinical reasoning and build technical skills. The first section presents basic principles, reviewing pertinent nerve and muscle anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology along with study techniques, measurements, and pitfalls. The second section emphasizes how to most effectively utilize the book's featured case studies, followed by 60 cases covering the range of disorders encountered in the EMG lab and organized by regional and multiregional disorders of the upper and lower extremities, brachial plexopathies, generalized disorders, and challenging cases. Through the EDX case studies, lesion localization and characterization are demonstrated and discussed step-by-step using a floating text box that tracks the findings for each case. Each case begins with the clinical features, which dictate the initial EDX studies performed. The results of those studies drive the next round of testing, which continues until the abnormality has been localized and characterized and a diagnosis is made. In this manner the dynamic nature of electrodiagnostic testing and process of sequential study analysis is reinforced in the cases, just as it would be in the EMG laboratory. Authored by two leading experts in neurology and electrodiagnostic medicine, all aspects of lesion localization and characterization are extensively covered, including calculations of lesion severity for demyelinating conduction block and axon loss lesions and calculations of various types of motor unit action potential recruitment frequencies. The book features a large number of anatomical drawings, charts, and EDX images in order to illustrate the skills of lesion localization and characterization comprehensively. By conveying the "cognitive approach" to EDX medicine, EMG Lesion Localization and Characterization merges clinical knowledge with real-life cases to better instruct residents, fellows, technicians, and neuromuscular providers in the field of electrodiagnostic medicine. Key Features: Includes 60 cases covering all major neuromuscular disorders Presents basic and advanced anatomic, physiologic, pathophysiologic, and temporal principles and concepts pertinent to EDX medicine EDX studies are evaluated as they are collected, providing insight into the principles underlying electrodiagnostic medicine Through sequential step-by-step analysis of findings, the decision-making process required in the EMG laboratory is simulated Purchase includes access to the ebook for use on most mobile devices or computers

Clearly written, colorfully designed, and updated with the most current, evidence-based nursing considerations, Health Assessment in Nursing, 7th Edition helps students develop the comprehensive knowledge base and expert nursing assessment skills to confidently perform accurate, timely health assessments in a variety of healthcare settings. This popular, student-friendly text is known for its innovative 2- and 3-column design and intuitive organization, presenting in-depth assessment information alongside dynamic visuals to make concepts easy to understand. Powerful learning tools in the text and available online further hone students' data collection capabilities and cultivate the critical thinking skills students need to analyze data and detect client problems. Reflecting the latest trends and topical issues facing today's practicing nurses - including opioid use and human trafficking - this 7th Edition equips students with the assessment, documentation, and analytical skills to meet the clinical challenges ahead and ensure successful client outcomes throughout their nursing careers.

'...approaches the consultation intuitively ... The book oozes with patience for the patient and for the reader. What better prescription for the clinic could the practitioner need?' Glycosmedia (of the Fifth Edition) '... this is a book worth having available at the point of care for health professionals, including doctors, nurses, undergraduates and postgraduates, to help them make sense of common symptoms. With the help of the authors' opinions in combination with our own experience we should then be able to make better clinical decisions.' Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal (of the Fourth Edition) Across its six editions, Symptom Sorter has excelled in redressing the balance between symptoms and diagnoses to become the essential handbook to accompany the consultation in primary care. Presenting a multitude of symptoms commonly encountered in primary care, these are meticulously explored using the red flags, top tips and ready reckoner format for sorting symptoms that have made previous editions so popular and respected. This revised and updated sixth edition includes several new chapters and features expanded coverage of paediatric symptoms. Key features: * Fully updated, with 'investigations' sections amended in line with latest guidelines and significant revisions throughout * Brand new chapters on acute abdominal pain in childhood, hand and wrist swellings, diarrhoea in children, loin pain, rectal bleeding in children, vomiting in babies, skinfold rash and dysuria * Consistent and logical presentation enables speedy access * Replicates accurately the experience in the consultation or clinic An invaluable reference for all general practitioners, especially GP trainers and registrars, this new edition of Symptom Sorter is also highly recommended for advanced nurse practitioners, A&E nurses and pharmacists requiring a concise, easy-to-use guide. The authors: Keith Hopcroft is a GP in Basildon, Essex, UK, an associate trainer, an editorial adviser to Pulse, and a medical writer and columnist. Vincent Forte is a former GP based in Norfolk, UK

Written to help identify major gaps in our knowledge of how gender and age affect psychiatric diagnoses and to stimulate much-needed research to fill these gaps, Age and Gender Considerations in Psychiatric Diagnosis serves as both a valuable short-term source for the DSM-V Task Force and its disorder-specific workgroups, and a long-term guide for future studies that will contribute to revised psychiatric classifications in these three areas.

Here, 47 experts present findings in three areas of psychiatric research that historically have been neglected but rightfully have received increasing attention in recent years and thus are worthy of investigation into their clinical features, etiology, and course:

1. Significant gender differences in prevalence, symptom profiles, and risk factors for mental disorders, including neurodevelopmental, neurophysiological, and environmental factors for men and women that cut across diagnostic categories-for example, the critical importance of gender in how psychiatric illness develops and presents; DSM's approach to gender to date; and relevant research findings and gaps in the epidemiology, etiology, and pathophysiology of disorders and the gender-related expression of psychopathology, including the controversial and complex question of whether DSM should have different diagnostic criteria for men and women.

2. Mental disorders in infancy and early childhood, including diagnosis and measurement of psychopathology; PTSD and social and cognitive factors related to the experience of stress; reactive attachment disorder (unique in part because of its specificity to early childhood); mood and anxiety disorders and difficulties in diagnosis; sleep disorders, including two new disorders, Night-Waking Dysomnia and Sleep-Onset Dysomnia; feeding disorders, including the need to address overeating and overfeeding (especially given the alleged U.S. epidemic of obesity); early childhood manifestations of behavior disorders; and early symptoms and diagnosis of autism.

3. Mental disorders in the elderly, such as dementia and depression, once considered normal consequences of aging but now understood to represent mental disorders, including the need to identify specific brain structure abnormalities, biomarkers, and the many contributing biological, psychosocial, and environmental factors of mental illness in late life and to understand their roles in the elderly to better diagnose and monitor disease progression.

Written for clinicians and researchers alike, this thought-provoking compendium contributes critical information that helps enhance our understanding of the causes of mental disorders, develop effective preventive and treatment interventions, and inform future editions of DSM and ICD.

This concise pocket guide to urological investigative procedures reviews the indications and pitfalls of tests before they are requested and suggests which investigations should be performed in individual urological conditions.

Part I describes principles, methodology, advantages and disadvantages of each investigation and covers all urological investigations/tests from simple X-ray of the abdomen (KUB) to PET scanning. Part II offers advice on the choice of investigations for individual urological conditions. For each investigation in Part I and urological condition in Part II, important bullet points are highlighted in a a ~boxa (TM) - useful during a busy ward round, out-patient clinic, or for last-minute consultation prior a viva examination.

This comprehensive yet easy-to-read hadbook is aimed at urological trainees, urology nurse specialists, recently qualified junior urologists as well as practicing urologists as part of review and audit of practices.

Rapid technical advances in medical imaging, including its growing application to drug/gene therapy and invasive/interventional procedures, have attracted significant interest in close integration of research in life sciences, medicine, physical sciences and engineering. This is motivated by the clinical and basic science research requi- ment of obtaining more detailed physiological and pathological information about the body for establishing localized genesis and progression of diseases. Current research is also motivated by the fact that medical imaging is increasingly moving from a primarily diagnostic modality towards a therapeutic and interventional aid, driven by recent advances in minimal-access and robotic-assisted surgery. It was our great pleasure to welcome the attendees to MIAR 2004, the 2nd Int- national Workshop on Medical Imaging and Augmented Reality, held at the Xia- shan (Fragrant Hills) Hotel, Beijing, during August 19 20, 2004. The goal of MIAR 2004 was to bring together researchers in computer vision, graphics, robotics, and medical imaging to present the state-of-the-art developments in this ever-growing research area. The meeting consisted of a single track of oral/poster presentations, with each session led by an invited lecture from our distinguished international f- ulty members. For MIAR 2004, we received 93 full submissions, which were sub- quently reviewed by up to 5 reviewers, resulting in the acceptance of the 41 full - pers included in this volume."

The 7th International Conference on Medical Imaging and Computer Assisted Intervention, MICCAI 2004, was held in Saint-Malo, Brittany, France at the "Palais du Grand Large" conference center, September 26-29, 2004. The p- posaltohostMICCAI2004wasstronglyencouragedandsupportedbyIRISA, Rennes. IRISA is a publicly funded national research laboratory with a sta? of 370,including150full-timeresearchscientistsorteachingresearchscientistsand 115 postgraduate students. INRIA, the CNRS, and the University of Rennes 1 are all partners in this mixed research unit, and all three organizations were helpful in supporting MICCAI. MICCAI has become a premier international conference with in-depth - pers on the multidisciplinary ?elds of medical image computing, comput- assisted intervention and medical robotics. The conference brings together cl- icians, biological scientists, computer scientists, engineers, physicists and other researchers and o?ers them a forum to exchange ideas in these exciting and rapidly growing ?elds. The impact of MICCAI increases each year and the quality and quantity of submitted papers this year was very impressive. We received a record 516 full submissions (8 pages in length) and 101 short communications (2 pages) from 36 di?erent countries and 5 continents (see ?gures below). All submissions were reviewed by up to 4 external reviewers from the Scienti?c Review C- mittee and a primary reviewer from the Program Committee. All reviews were then considered by the MICCAI 2004 Program Committee, resulting in the acceptance of 235 full papers and 33 short communications.

This book provides medical students at the first clinical stage with comprehensive knowledge for the examination subject of clinical chemistry, laboratory diagnostics, hematology, also with regard to exam preparation. A unique feature are the diagrams of cardinal symptoms (19 cardinal symptoms in all, such as pain, temperature, high blood pressure, etc.) which provide a guide from symptom to diagnosis using decision trees. Such overviews are also useful for practicing physicians. The most important methods and techniques are defined in the glossary.

Despite diagnosis being the key feature of a physician's clinical performance, this is the first book that deals specifically with the topic. In recent years, however, considerable interest has been shown in this area and significant developments have occurred in two main areas: a) an awareness and increasing understanding of the critical role of clinical decision making in the process of diagnosis, and of the multiple factors that impact it, and b) a similar appreciation of the role of the healthcare system in supporting clinicians in their efforts to make accurate diagnoses. Although medicine has seen major gains in knowledge and technology over the last few decades, there is a consensus that the diagnostic failure rate remains in the order of 10-15%. This book provides an overview of the major issues in this area, in particular focusing on where the diagnostic process fails, and where improvements might be made.

This text will be of enormous value to anyone involved in the monitoring and investigation of adverse medical events occurring during the clinical trials, or during the post marketing period of a drug. The book reviews the biochemical and physiological abnormalities in each of the bodys organ systems and helps the investigator decide if the problem is of drug-induced origin. Most of the information is presented as a series of observations with accompanying questions which should be addressed in order to make an accurate diagnosis. Easy-to-read with useful flow charts for the management of adverse drug events and examples of specific report forms, this text will be of interest to all those involved in drug monitoring in clinical medicine, pharmaceutical companies, contract research organisations or regulatory authorities.

Molecular Diagnostics: 12 Tests That Changed Everything focuses on specific laboratory tests and emphasizes how the availability of these tests has altered how clinicians treat their patients. Presented as a standard outline, each chapter focuses on a specific molecular test and provides background on the test and its clinical applications. Continuing with some discussion on how the test is done, interpreted, and used clinically, each chapter then concludes with a discussion of how that test has changed the way medicine is practiced with respect to the disease or condition in question. Authored by renowned experts in the field, Molecular Diagnostics: 12 Tests That Changed Everything is a valuable resource for pathologists, pathology residents, laboratory directors, development personnel, lab medicine fellows and those working in the broad area of oncology, infectious disease and genetics.