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The Abraham Dilemma: A Divine Delusion focuses on the topic of religious delusion - on the disorder's causes, contents, consequences, diagnosis and treatment. The title argues that we cannot understand a religious delusion without appreciating three facts. One is that religiosity or spirituality is a part of human nature, whether it takes theistic or non-theistic forms. Another is that religious delusion is something to which we are all vulnerable. The third is that the delusion is not best understood by reducing it to brain chemistry, or by insisting that it is empirically false. It is best understood by examining its harmful personal and moral consequences - consequences that nearly unfolded when the biblical patriarch Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac in response to a command, he thought, from God.Less

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory arthritis affecting mainly the sacroiliac joints and spine, resulting in pain, stiffness, and reduced movement. Over the past decade there have been major advances in many aspects of the disease, including a broadening of the disease description to axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). While the many advances have transformed the lives of patients with axSpA, they have also increased complexity for non-specialists in this area. This handbook contains a timely update of the key developments and current state of play in axSpA. It is intended primarily for the many healthcare professionals who encounter patients with this condition, in both primary and secondary care settings. It will also be of interest to the wider medical and research community.The handbook is written by rheumatologists with active research programmes and clinical expertise in these conditions. The topics covered include:

• the clinical features

• extra-articular manifestations and complications

• the impact on patients’ lives

• the major advances in genetics and pathogenesis

• imaging advances

• classification criteria and diagnosis (and the important differences between these)

• treatment advances (particularly TNF inhibitors and upcoming biologics)

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This resource takes a critical insider's look at commonly held views about the diagnosis and management of depression, and argues that our belief in depression as a medical condition is based on commercial, professional, organisational and cultural factors, which all combine to sustain the popularity of depression as a concept, which is based more on our values than on science.Less

Medical innovation as it stands today is fundamentally unsustainable. There is a widening gap between what biomedical research promises and its current impact in terms of patient benefit and health system improvement. This book highlights the global problem, analyses underlying causes, and provides powerful prescriptions for change to close the gap.It contrasts progress in biomedicine with other areas of science and technology, such as information technology, in which there are faster, more reliable returns for society from scientific advance. It questions whether society is right to expect so much from biomedicine and why we have become accustomed to such poor returns.It focuses on four specific ‘gaps in translation’ between bioscience breakthroughs and ultimate patient benefit, and explains how unhelpful mental models and differing perceptions of value, risk, and uncertainty contribute to stifling progress.Specific examples are examined, in which these bottlenecks have prevented promised progress (e.g. antibiotic-resistant infections), and others in which these barriers have been overcome, as a result of patient pressure (e.g. HIV treatment) or a sense of impending crisis (e.g. pandemic influenza).Less

Breast cancer affects 1 in 10 women and the majority of UK women will attend a breast clinic at least once during their lives. The patient's journey through assessment and management is one that involves a huge range of healthcare professionals, in which the truly multidisciplinary management style required has previously been only sparsely addressed. This resource provides a practical guide on how to investigate and manage common breast problems for all members of the breast disease team, and covers the whole of the patient journey from assessment through to surgery and adjuvant treatments, giving a practical overview of the whole process of care. It includes the latest evidence, guidance and references on breast disease, together with discussions on current controversies in the field including the management of margins, management of the axilla and the evidence surrounding the NHS Breast Screening Programme. To give practical advice on the realities of being part of a breast care team, this resource also has several chapters devoted to leadership and management including MDT requirements, audit and research, avoiding complaints and the organisation of a breast unit.Less

Bridging the Gap details the role, lessons, and effectiveness of community health workers (CHWs) in bringing health care to underserved immigrant communities. Combining education, advocacy, and local cultural acumen, CHWs have proven successful in the United States and abroad, improving community health and establishing an evidence base for how CHW programs can work for immigrants. Based on a decade of in-depth evaluations from several immigrant health programs in New York City with complementary interviews with dozens of immigrants and CHWs, Bridging the Gap offers insights into how CHWs help immigrants overcome the obstacles to health care. The authors carefully distil first-hand lessons into recommendations for best practices in developing and utilizing effective CHW programs—insights that will be immediately useful to any community group, municipal agency, or health care organization.Less

Child Health: a Population Perspective provides students with a multifaceted overview of the importance of child health as a population health strategy. Child health considers the determinants, interventions, and policies that affect health outcomes for the youngest segment of our population. Child health also recognizes that investments in our nation’s young have implications for the future workforce as well as adult health outcomes. Child Health: a Population Perspective is a foundational text for training future leaders in maternal and child health. The book provides perspectives in three key areas: current issues facing children in the United States, theoretical concepts behind understanding child health, and practical approaches to address child health in practice, including case studies. The authors also provide a historical perspective of how child health has developed in this country, as well as the impact of immigration and a global view of child health internationally. The authors have created a core text for maternal and child health or pediatrics courses in schools of public health, medicine, and nursing. Undergraduate students, pediatric residents, maternal and child health fellows, and practitioners in the field can benefit from this comprehensive yet concise book.Less

Orchestrating and coordinating contributions from more than 75 selected public health specialists and environmental scientists, the editors have developed a concise and comprehensive resource that represents a core curriculum on climate change and public health, including key strategies for adaptation and mitigation. Written primarily for students and mid-career professionals in public health and environmental sciences, the book clearly describes concepts and their application to the health impacts of climate change. Chapters are supplemented with case studies, graphs, tables and photographs. Less

Compassion is a complex and multifaceted concept that has been explored from a range of cultural, philosophical, theological, and sociological perspectives. It can be considered a prerequisite for optimal health care, an expectation of the general public from their health care system, and a specific approach to care which should underpin the work of health care professionals globally. Given the nature of life-limiting illness and the challenges that shifting goals of care impose, the place of compassion as the underlying construct governing health care decisions would seem paramount. Yet there is an increasing concern-particularly in the UK media and recent reviews of clinical practices around end-of-life care-suggesting that somehow compassion has been lost as a governing principle of care giving. The reasons for this are not always clear, but increased clinical intervention, the over-professionalization of care, and lack of formal teaching on the topic of compassion are all indicated. Given the complex nature of care in advanced illness and life-limiting disease, the place of compassion within palliative and end-of-life care is worthy of further exploration to try to understand this phenomenon better. This book asks an international panel of expert palliative care practitioners to consider these issues for themselves and the discipline as we move into the 21st century. Through a series of interviews with some of the world’s experts in the field, the meaning, purpose, and outcome of providing compassionate care for palliative and end-of-life care is explored and critiqued. A critical commentary of themes raised by each contributor is discussed relative to the broader literature around the topic, and further reading and learning resources indicated for practitioners, educators, and students to follow up.Less

Epidemiology is a population science that underpins health improvement and health care, and is concerned with the pattern, frequency, trends, and causes of disease. This book teaches its applications to population health research, policy-making, health service planning, health promotion, and clinical care. The book emphasizes concepts and principles. In 10 chapters, the book explains what epidemiology is; illustrates the basis of epidemiology in populations; provides a framework for analysing diseases by time, place, and person; introduces error, bias, and confounding; explains how we move from association to causation; considers the natural history, spectrum, and iceberg of disease in relation to medical screening; discusses the acquisition and analysis of data on incidence and prevalence of risk factors and diseases; shows the ways in which epidemiological data are presented, including relative and absolute risks; provides an integrated overview of study designs and the principles of data analysis; and considers the theoretical and ethical basis of epidemiology both in the past and the future. The emphasis is on interactive learning, with each chapter including learning objectives, theoretical and numerical exercises, questions and answers, and a summary. The text is illustrated, with detailed material in tables. The book is written in plain English, and the necessary technical and specialized terminology is explained and defined in a glossary. The book is for postgraduate courses in epidemiology, public health, and health policy. It is also suitable for clinicians, undergraduate students in medicine, nursing and other health disciplines, and researchers.Less