Leslie T. Cooper, Jr., MD, and a panel of leading clinical and scientific experts comprehensively review both advances in basic scientific understanding and current clinical knowledge of inflammatory heart disease. On the clinical side they discuss the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of nonspecific and specific myocarditis in separate chapters devoted to such major idiopathic clinical entities as cardiac sarcoidosis, giant cell myocarditis, eosinophilic myocarditis, Chagas disease, rheumatic fever, and human immunodeficiency virus-related cardiomyopathy. Research articles complete the picture with discussions of the role of apoptosis in viral myocarditis, rat and mouse models of autoimmune giant cell and lymphocytic myocarditis, and the latest available data on enteroviral proteases and cardiomyopathy.

Man’s environment is pervaded by ionizing radiation of predominantly natural origin but now with an important contribution from anthropogenic activities. Exposure to ionizing radiation can have serious health implications, which is why it is of concern to us. This book brings together under one cover, the fundamentals of radiological protection, the techniques used for measuring radioactivity and radionuclides and the methods for modelling the dispersion of radionuclides in the environment. Information on radioactive decay, the interaction of ionizing radiation with matter and biological effects of radiation is provided in a form that enables the reader to quickly appreciate its importance to the environment and human health. Summaries of the effects of past releases, including the Chernobyl accident, are included as well as examples of applications of models to calculate and predict concentrations of radionuclides in our environment.

This book is aimed at all those studying, at undergraduate and graduate levels, radioactivity in the environment and its impact on man. It will also serve as a handbook for workers in the fields of radiochemical analysis and environmental modelling and for scientists, consultants and environmental health and pollution officers who have to provide radiological data or information for legislative and related purposes.

Man’s environment is pervaded by ionizing radiation of predominantly natural origin but now with an important contribution from anthropogenic activities. Exposure to ionizing radiation can have serious health implications, which is why it is of concern to us. This book brings together under one cover, the fundamentals of radiological protection, the techniques used for measuring radioactivity and radionuclides and the methods for modelling the dispersion of radionuclides in the environment. Information on radioactive decay, the interaction of ionizing radiation with matter and biological effects of radiation is provided in a form that enables the reader to quickly appreciate its importance to the environment and human health. Summaries of the effects of past releases, including the Chernobyl accident, are included as well as examples of applications of models to calculate and predict concentrations of radionuclides in our environment.

This book is aimed at all those studying, at undergraduate and graduate levels, radioactivity in the environment and its impact on man. It will also serve as a handbook for workers in the fields of radiochemical analysis and environmental modelling and for scientists, consultants and environmental health and pollution officers who have to provide radiological data or information for legislative and related purposes.