A significant proportion of skin disease develops rapidly, is highly symptomatic and can be associated with considerable morbidity. While most patients with acute skin disorders are initially seen by primary care services, acute dermatology is also encountered in hospital emergency departments and in dermatology clinics. This comprehensive reference on relevant acute dermatology is designed to encourage a structured and thorough clinical technique. The sections have been written so that essential information about each disease is summarized in a clear and concise way. After a brief introduction, there is a description of the clinical features, followed by a differential diagnosis, a list of important systemic associations and the relevant investigations. Treatment is divided into two sections, the first stating the immediate action required to prevent further deterioration and the second discussing long-term management considerations. Each condition described and discussed is illustrated by clinical pictures. It is hoped that this book will enable all medical staff seeing patients with acute skin problems to practice more effectively. It is aimed at primary care physicians, nurse specialists, emergency department staff and dermatologists. It should also appeal to the general physician who is interested in dermatology.

First published in 1989, Rural Communities Under Stress goes behind the crises of famine and poor agricultural production to examine the forces and pressures that can affect peasant farming communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on a wide range of case studies by anthropologists, political scientists, sociologists, and economists, the book shows that peasant farmers have ways of defending their interests. Cases from Senegal, Tanzania, Mozambique, Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda are given as concrete examples of ways peasant farming communities cope with the stresses of economic exploitation, political subordination, and demographic and ecological pressure. Even when they are not successful, peasant farmers are far from being passive victims. The book examines in direct and clear language the major arguments about the basic nature of Africa's rural crisis put forward by powerful agencies of international assistance and influential academics.

Drugs produced by molecular biological techniques, called the 'biologics', differ from the usual chemical medications. Their optimum use, and the detection and managemenet of adverse events, pose a significant challenge to the clinician. Licences for new biologics continue to be granted for the likes of rituximab, abatacept and certocizumals pegol. Intensive research is also defining new areas in which these drugs will be used in the future, increasing the number of practitioners using biologics. As the use of these drugs increases around the world, so the level of information needed by primary care practitioners and specialist prescribers needs to be expanded The Handbook of Biological Therapy provides the practising clinician with a practica guide to the use of Tumour Necrosis Factor Blocking Therapy (TNF-blockers), and important new class of biologic therapy for rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis. It is a comprehensive distillation of the authors' clinical experience with these drugs, combined with data from diverse databases offering practical advice on their uses, specific indications, supporting clinical trial data and safety issues, with the aim of making the use of these drugs easier for the busy clinician. All of the authors have been involved from the beginnings of the clinical trial programmes with these drugs and continue to use them in daily practice.

Richard Titmuss was one of the twentieth century's foremost social policy theorists. This accessible Reader is the first compendium of his work on public health, health promotion and health inequalities. like its predecessor, Welfare and wellbeing (The Policy Press, 2001), is important in bringing the work of this highly influential thinker to the attention of a new generation of social policy students and policy makers. It also enhances current debates about how complex societies can best provide for the health of all their citizens. include: the differences between private and public health care systems; relationships between health care provision and the values underlying social policy; debates between health care 'experts' and consumers; health and social inequalities; personal and social meanings of health. explicit links between Titmuss's work and key issues of concern in health policy today. social policy and health, policy makers and planners in the health service, analysts of health care and social policy, and for historians with a particular interest in the origins of the NHS.

The past few years have seen considerable advances in our understanding of the molecular basis underlying cutaneous cell adhesion mechanisms. Co-authored by a number of leading experts in the field DEGREESCell Adhesion and Migration in Skin Disease provides a comprehensive overview of the critical role played by cell adhesion in determining the structure and function of both healthy and diseased human skin.
The book is divided into three main sections, with each one addressing a principal function of adhesion molecules.
The first part focuses on the epidermis, which as the skin's outermost layer, acts as the human body's primary barrier of defence. Roles played by cytoskeletal intermediate filaments and junctional complexes in cutaneous cell adhesion are emphasised with descriptions of blistering skin diseases that can arise if these molecules malfunction.
The second part describes the macromolecular interactions responsible for the anchorage of cells to the underlying extracellular basement membrane. The experimental approaches detailed in the text not only reveal how the molecular components of the dermal-epidermal junction have been elucidated, but also highlight how mutations in the genes which encode these molecules are responsible for many heritable skin diseases. Leukocytes continually infiltrate the skin and patrol it for potentially harmful pathogens. Control of leukocyte adhesion to resident cells within the skin and to the extracellular matrix plays a key role in controlling these processes. These mechanisms constitute the primary focus of the final section. The pivotal role of leukocytes is examined in conjunction with the chronic inflammatory diseases which arise when components of the skin's finely tuned defence strategy go awry and the potential for these anomalies to be pinpointed as important immunotherapeutic targets for skin diseases.