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Books > Medicine > General issues > Medical equipment & techniques > Medical research
The philosopher Henry Richardson's short book is a defense of a
position on a neglected topic in medical research ethics. Clinical
research ethics has been a longstanding area of study, dating back
to the aftermath of the Nazi death-camp doctors and the Tuskegee
syphilis study. Most ethical regulations and institutions (such as
Institutional Review Boards) have developed in response to those
past abuses, including the stress on obtaining informed consent
from the subject. Richardson points out that that these ethical
regulations do not address one of the key dilemmas faced by medical
researchers - whether or not they have obligations towards subjects
who need care not directly related to the purpose of the study,
termed 'ancillary care obligations'. Does a researcher testing an
HIV vaccine in Africa have an obligation to provide
anti-retrovirals to those who become HIV positive during the trial?
Should a researcher studying a volunteer's brain scan, who sees a
possible tumor, do more than simply refer him or her to a
specialist? While most would agree that some special obligation
does exist in these cases, what is the basis of this obligation,
and what are its limits? Richardson's analysis of those key
questions and the development of his own position are at the heart
of this book, which will appeal to bioethicists studying research
ethics, to policy makers, and to political and moral philosophers
interested in the obligations of beneficence, one of the key issues
in moral theory.
Behavioral medicine emerged in the 1970s as the interdisciplinary
field concerned with the integration of behavioral, psychosocial,
and biomedical science knowledge relevant to the understanding of
health and illness, and the application of this knowledge to
prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation. Recent years
have witnessed an enormous diversification of behavioral medicine,
with new sciences (such as genetics, life course epidemiology) and
new technologies (such as neuroimaging) coming into play. This book
brings together such new developments by providing an up-to-date
compendium of methods and applications drawn from the broad range
of behavioral medicine research and practice. The book is divided
into 10 sections that address key fields in behavioral medicine.
Each section begins with one or two methodological or conceptual
chapters, followed by contributions that address substantive topics
within that field. Major health problems such as cardiovascular
disease, cancer, HIV/AIDs, and obesity are explored from multiple
perspectives. The aim is to present behavioral medicine as an
integrative discipline, involving diverse methodologies and
paradigms that converge on health and well being."
The authors of this book argue that there is a great divide between
species that makes extrapolation of biochemical research from one
group to another utterly invalid. In their previous book, "Sacred
Cows and Golden Geese: The Human Cost of Experiments on Animals",
the Greeks showed how an amorphous but insidious network of drug
manufacturers, researchers dependent on government grants to earn
their living, even cage-manufacurers - among others benefiting from
"white-coat welfare" - have perpetuated animal research in spite of
its total unpredictability when applied to humans. (Cancer in mice,
for example, has long been cured. Chimps live long and relatively
healthy lives with AIDS. There is no animal form of Alzheimer's
disease.) In doing so, the Greeks aimed to blow the lid off the
"specious science" we have been culturally conditioned to accept.
Taking these revelations one step further, this book uses
accessible language to provide the scientific underpinning for the
Greeks' philosophy of "do no harm to any animal, human or not," by
examining paediatrics, diseases of the brain, new surgical
techniques, in vitro research, the Human Genome and Proteome
Projects, an array of scien
Despite extensive physiological, biochemical, and structural
studies, the mechanisms of muscle contraction operating in living
muscle fibres are still not clearly understood. This book aims to
describe and assess various experimental methods currently used in
the field of muscle research. For
each method discussed, there is a comprehensive description of its
advantages, problems, and limitations. Each chapter also contains a
summary of the central results to have been obtained using each
method. Comprehensively written by experts in their respective
fields, this book will be of interest
to all investigators in muscle physiology.
For all its costs, flaws, and inequities, American health care is
fundamentally rooted in a belief that treatment should be based on
solid scientific research. To this end, between 2003 and 2010,
three different federal laws were enacted, the most recent being
the Affordable Care Act of 2010, that mandated new federal
investments in a type of clinical research called comparative
effectiveness research (CER) - research into what works best in
medical care. Comparative Effectiveness Research: Evidence,
Medicine, and Policy provides the first complete account of how -
and why - the federal government decided to make CER an important
feature of health reform. Despite earlier legislative uptake of
policy proposals on CER, support for federal mandates took dramatic
twists and turns, with eventual compromises forged amid failing
bipartisan alliances, special interests, and mobilized public
opinion. Based on exhaustive research and first-hand interviews,
the authors examine where CER fits in the production of scientific
evidence about the benefits and harms of treatments for human
diseases and conditions. Their work offers sobering confirmation
that contemporary American medical care falls, not surprisingly,
well short of the evidence-based ideal. Comparative Effectiveness
Research demonstrates that dealing constructively with the vast
uncertainties inherent to medical care requires policies to make
the generation of high-quality evidence an inseparable part of
routine health care.
This book is about pleasure. It's also about pain. Most important, it's about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential.
We're living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting... The increased numbers, variety, and potency is staggering. The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation. As such we've all become vulnerable to compulsive overconsumption.
In Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke, psychiatrist and author, explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain...and what to do about it. Condensing complex neuroscience into easy-to-understand metaphors, Lembke illustrates how finding contentment and connectedness means keeping dopamine in check. The lived experiences of her patients are the gripping fabric of her narrative. Their riveting stories of suffering and redemption give us all hope for managing our consumption and transforming our lives. In essence, Dopamine Nation shows that the secret to finding balance is combining the science of desire with the wisdom of recovery.
Free Radicals in Biology and Medicine has become a classic text in
the field of free radical and antioxidant research. Now in its
fifth edition, the book has been comprehensively rewritten and
updated whilst maintaining the clarity of its predecessors. Two new
chapters discuss 'in vivo' and 'dietary' antioxidants, the first
emphasising the role of peroxiredoxins and integrated defence
mechanisms which allow useful roles for ROS, and the second
containing new information on the role of fruits, vegetables, and
vitamins in health and disease. This new edition also contains
expanded coverage of the mechanisms of oxidative damage to lipids,
DNA, and proteins (and the repair of such damage), and the roles
played by reactive species in signal transduction, cell survival,
death, human reproduction, defence mechanisms of animals and plants
against pathogens, and other important biological events. The
methodologies available to measure reactive species and oxidative
damage (and their potential pitfalls) have been fully updated, as
have the topics of phagocyte ROS production, NADPH oxidase enzymes,
and toxicology. There is a detailed and critical evaluation of the
role of free radicals and other reactive species in human diseases,
especially cancer, cardiovascular, chronic inflammatory and
neurodegenerative diseases. New aspects of ageing are discussed in
the context of the free radical theory of ageing. This book is
recommended as a comprehensive introduction to the field for
students, educators, clinicians, and researchers. It will also be
an invaluable companion to all those interested in the role of free
radicals in the life and biomedical sciences.
Consumption was the deadliest, most common disease that mankind has
faced up till now. Three billion people in Europe and North America
died between the fourteenth and the end of the eighteenth century.
It was a death sentence with no known cause which led to the
development of unusual empirical therapies. Lucky Consumptive
patients reached a Sanatorium. Sanatoria were developed to house
sick patients in an environment where they stood the best chance of
recovery from their illness. There was no organised healthcare
system and funding for a Sanatorium depended upon provision
provided by wealthy individuals, or societies. Charles Dunnell Rudd
was a Cape Merchant who had made a fortune in South Africa
successfully prospecting for Gold and Diamonds. His mother had died
from Consumption and he wished to invest some of his money in
building a Sanatorium. It had been shown that Consumptive patients
survived longer if they took vigorous exercise, slept out of doors,
and were nursed on higher land near to forests. Rudd anonymously
purchased raised land at Northwood for this purpose. Helena (later
Princess Christian) was Queen Victoria's third daughter, and had a
marked social awareness, arranging charitable meals for the less
fortunate. She was very hard working and became the Principal
Patron for Mount Vernon Hospital, donating money and attending
annual fundraising Festival Dinners. Contemporary photographs from
this period show female patients walking around the grounds and
occupying designated rest shelters. The male patients had a more
vigorous lifestyle, working in the gardens and sleeping in their
beds out of doors. Those surviving often acquired new skills which
might enhance their future employment prospects. These measures
greatly improved the prognosis for consumptive patients. After Koch
discovered the Tubercle Bacillus effective curative
anti-tuberculous therapy evolved.
Advances in Immunology, a long-established and highly respected
publication, presents current developments as well as comprehensive
reviews in immunology. Articles address the wide range of topics
that comprise immunology, including molecular and cellular
activation mechanisms, phylogeny and molecular evolution, and
clinical modalities. Edited and authored by the foremost scientists
in the field, each volume provides up-to-date information and
directions for the future.
The Advances in Protein Chemistry and Structural Biology series is
an essential resource for protein chemists. Each volume brings
forth new information about protocols and analysis of proteins,
with each thematically organized volume guest edited by leading
experts in a broad range of protein-related topics.
Advances in Cancer Research provides invaluable information on the
exciting and fast-moving field of cancer research, presenting
outstanding and original reviews on a variety of topics.
This book provides detailed and updated knowledge about medically
important 'Big Four' venomous snakes of India (Indian spectacled
cobra, Indian common krait, Indian Russell's viper, and Indian
saw-scaled viper). This book essentially covers the snakebite
problem in the world with particular reference to Asia and India.
It discusses the evolution and systematics of venomous snakes,
emphasizing 'Big Four' venomous snakes of India; the evolution and
composition of venoms determined by traditional biochemical and
modern proteomic analyses. It also describes the pharmacological
properties of enzymatic and non-enzymatic toxins of 'Big Four'
venomous snakes of India. Different chapters discuss exciting
topics such as species-specific and geographical differences in
venom composition and its impact on pathophysiology and clinical
manifestations of snakebite envenomation in India, biomedical
application of Indian snake venom toxins; production and quality
assessment of commercial antivenom, prevention, and treatment of
snakebite in India, adverse effects of antivenom including
strategies to combat antivenom reactions inpatient. This book
caters to toxinologists, pharmacologists, zoologists, antivenom
manufacturers, biochemists, clinicians, evolutionary biologists,
herpetologists, and informed non-specialists interested to know
about the Indian snake venoms.
This book is about the theory of Hot and Cold, a mutual fundamental
base of traditional medicines all around the world. The theory
describes the dynamic balance state of the body on the axis of hot
and cold for each individual and proposes the fact that deviation
from this equilibrium is a predisposing factor for diseases. Such
an approach helps practitioners to provide treatments tailored to
the patient's condition, not the disease. This book, for the first
time, has gathered native descriptions of Hot and Cold theory in
different traditional medicines, including traditional Chinese
medicine, Persian (Humoral, Unani) medicine, Ayurvedic medicine and
Latin American and Caribbean medicines. After defining the common
ground, contemporary research - in nutrition, pharmacology,
physiology and systems biology - has been explored using scientific
methodology. This work is the result of an international
collaboration of more than 30 scientists and scholars with high
reputations in their fields. Hot and Cold theory, as a holistic
individualized approach in prevention, diagnosis and treatment, can
be merged into the novel fast-paced concepts in systems biology and
precision medicine. Through this bridge, the authors propose that
the Hot and Cold theory should be revisited more deeply by medical
scientists, who are the main audience of this book, to pave the way
towards integrated holistic personalized medicine.
This book addresses the structural and biological properties of
dental and peridental tissue structures and covers their
mineralization process. The book contains a description of
dentines, cementum, enamel and bone, including collagens, as well
as non-collagenous proteins (SIBLINGs, SLRPs, GAGs, PGs, lipids,
and MMPs). The mechanisms of mineralization are described in detail
and the book is focused on matrix vesicles, collagen mineralization
and the role of non-collagenous extracellular matrix components
either as promoters or inhibitors of mineralization. In addition,
the matrix components (non-collagenous) of enamel (amelogenin,
ameloblastin, enamelin, MMP4, MMP20 and other proteases) are
reviewed and their respective roles in dental tissues
biomineralizations and tissue turnover are discussed. Additionally,
environmental factors involved in enamel / dentin defects are
adressed. With state-of-the-art contributions from experts in the
respective domains, the book is a useful introduction to the field
for junior scientists, interested in dental and peridental tissue
biomineralization. It is also an interesting read for advanced
scientists and clinicians working in dental research, giving them a
broader view of the topic beyond their area of specialization. The
series Biology of Extracellular Matrix is published in
collaboration with the American Society for Matrix Biology.
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