Osteoarthritic Joint Pain (Novartis Foundation Symposia)

Product Details
Book Publisher: Wiley (25 June, 2004)
ISBN: 0470867612
Book author: Novartis Foundation

Book Description:
Osteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative disease associated with joint pain and loss of joint function. It has an estimated incidence of 4 out of every 100 people and significantly reduces the quality of life in affected individuals. The major symptoms are chronic pain, swelling and stiffness; severe, chronic joint pain is often the central factor that causes patients to seek medical attention. Within the affected joint, there is focal degradation and remodelling of articular cartilage, new bone formation (osteophytes) and mild synovitis.

Several mechanisms are thought to contribute to osteoarthritic joint pain. These include mild synovial inflammation, bone oedema, ligament stretching, osteophyte formation and cartilage-derived mediators. Changes in joint biomechanics and muscle strength also influence the severity and duration of joint pain in osteoarthritis. Within the nervous system, the relative contributions of peripheral afferent nociceptive fibres and central mechanisms remain to be defined, and there is limited information on the phenotype of sensory neurons in the OA joint. Importantly, there is no relation between clinical severity, as measured by radiographic changes, and the presence and severity of joint pain. Patients with severe joint pain may have normal joint architecture as determined by X-ray, whereas patients with considerable evidence of joint remodelling may not have significant joint pain. Treatments for osteoarthritic joint pain include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory compounds, exercise, corrective shoes and surgical intervention. There remains a critical need for improved control of joint pain in osteoarthritis.

This book brings together contributions from key investigators in the area of osteoarthritic joint pain. It covers the clinical presentation of joint pain, the pathways involved in joint pain, osteoarthritis disease processes and pain, experimental models and pain control. The discussions provide insights into the nature of osteoarthritic joint pain, identify key studies needed to advance understanding of the problem, highlight possible intervention points and indicate future pathways towards a better treatment of osteoarthritic joint pain.

The Complete Book of Intelligence Tests: 500 Exercises to Improve, Upgrade and Enhance Your Mind Strength

Product Details
Book Publisher: Wiley (23 September, 2005)
ISBN: 0470017732
Book author: Philip Carter
Amazon Rating: 5.0

Book Description:
Enjoyable mental exercises to help boost performance on IQ tests

This engaging book offers readers the ultimate in calisthenics for the brain. Using the same fun, informative, and accessible style that have made his previous books so popular, Philip Carter helps people identify mental strengths and weaknesses, and provides methods for improving memory, boosting creativity, and tuning in to emotional intelligence. Featuring never-before-published tests designed specifically for this book, plus answers for all questions, this latest treasure trove from a MENSA puzzle editor outlines a fun, challenging program for significantly enhancing performance in all areas of intelligence.

Head and Neck Cancer Imaging

Product Details
Book Publisher: Springer (22 March, 2006)
ISBN: 3540220275
Book author: A.L. Baert, Robert Hermans

Book Description:
This book provides a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art imaging in head and neck cancer. Precise determination of tumor extent is of the utmost importance in these neoplasms, as it has important consequences for staging of disease, prediction of outcome and choice of treatment.
Only the radiologist can fully appreciate submucosal, perineural, and perivascular tumor spread and detect metastatic disease at an early stage. Imaging is also of considerable benefit for patient surveillance after treatment. All imaging modalities currently used in the management of head and neck neoplasms are considered in depth, and in addition newer techniques such as PET-CT and diffusion-weighted MRI are discussed. This book will help the reader to recommend, execute and report head and neck imaging studies at a high level of sophistication and thereby to become a respected member of the team managing head and neck cancer.

Herbal Medicines: A Guide for Health Care Professionals

Product Details
Book Publisher: Pharmaceutical Press (January, 1996)
ISBN: 0853692890
Book author: Joanne Barnes, Linda A. Anderson, J. D. Phillipson
Amazon Rating: 4.0

Book Description:
First published in 1996, this book stands as a landmark reference work on herbal medicines for health professionals, particularly pharmacists. The authors are all affliliated with the Department of Pharmacognosy, The School of Pharmacy, University of London, and the book was commissioned by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in response to the many questions they were fielding on herbal medicines from practicing pharmacists. This is not a book that will interest most lay people as it is quite technical in its approach to the topic. The book, however, is very readable, despite being technical. It is organized around 141 monographs on individual medicinal plants. Each monograph includes species, synonyms, parts used, availability of other pharmaceutical monographs, legal category of product (in Great Britain), constituents, food use, herbal use, pharmacological actions, side effects & toxicity, contraindications & warnings, a pharmaceutical comment from the authors, and references. The monograph sections on pharmacological actions summarize both animal and human studies. In addition to the 141 monographs on individual medicinal plants, the book has a number of quick reference tables, e.g. potential drug/herb interactions, listings of ingredients by their primary activity, e.g. cardioactive, laxative, diuretic, hypotensive, hypertensive, anticoagulant (etc.), and listing of ingredients by constituents, e.g. coumarins, flavonoids, saponins (etc.). The book begins with a list of potential adverse effects of the herbal ingredients listed in the monographs and another list of herbal ingredients that is is best to avoid or use with caution during pregnancy. The book is well-referenced throughout, including a listing of general references at the beginning of the book.
Herbal Medicines: A Guide for Health Care Professionals

Bioinformatics Technologies

Product Details
Book Publisher: Springer (24 July, 2006)
ISBN: 3540208739
Book author: Yi-Ping Phoebe Chen

Book Description:
Solving modern biological problems requires advanced computational methods. Bioinformatics evolved from the active interaction of two fast-developing disciplines, biology and information technology. The central issue of this emerging field is the transformation of often distributed and unstructured biological data into meaningful information.

This book describes the application of well-established concepts and techniques from areas like data mining, machine learning, database technologies, and visualization techniques to problems like protein data analysis, genome analysis and sequence databases. Chen has collected contributions from leading researchers in each area. The chapters can be read independently, as each offers a complete overview of its specific area, or, combined, this monograph is a comprehensive treatment that will appeal to students, researchers, and R&D professionals in industry who need a state-of-the-art introduction into this challenging and exciting young field.