Glaucoma is a group of disorders characterised by an abnormally high intraocular pressure (IOP), which can damage the optic nerve and lead to blind...

Hodgkin's disease, sometimes called Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a cancer that starts in lymphatic tissue. Lymphatic tissue includes the lymph nodes and ...

Immunology is the study of the body's protection from foreign macromolecules or invading organisms and the responses to them. These invaders includ...

The process of inflammation, which causes the swelling and redness around a wound, is a vital part of the body's system for fighting off infections...

Kidney cancer usually occurs in older adults and constitutes about 2% of all adult cancers (more frequent in men than women). It is also known as n...

This new book brings together leading research from around the globe. Leukaemia is cancer that begins in blood cells. In people with leukaemia, the...

The liver is a large organ that sits in the right upper abdomen, just under the right lung. It is one of the body's most "intelligent" organs in th...

This new and important international source of information brings together leading-edge research dedicated to monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal ant...

The muscular dystrophies (MD) are a group of genetic diseases characterised by progressive weakness and degeneration of the skeletal muscles which ...

The taking in and use of food and other nourishing material by the body. Nutrition is a 3-part process. First, food or drink is consumed. Second, t...

Far from a sign of healthy prosperity and contentment, overweight and obesity are now considered high risk factors for a wide range of diseases inc...

Carcinoma of the pancreas has markedly increased in incidence over the past several decades, and now ranks as the fourth leading cause of cancer de...

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of life-threatening events ...

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men (other than skin cancer). Of all the men who are diagnosed with cancer each year, more tha...

Psychotherapy is the treatment of mental and emotional disorders using psychological methods. Psychotherapy, thus, does not include physiological i...

RNA is a chemical found in the nucleus and cytoplasm of cells. RNA plays an important role in protein synthesis and other chemical activities of th...

The most significant class of antidepressants marketed in recent years is the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Claims of decreased ...

Spina bifida (SB) is a neural tube defect (a disorder involving incomplete development of the brain, spinal cord, and/or their protective coverings...

Among the many applications of stem cell research are nervous system diseases, diabetes, heart disease, auto-immune diseases as well as Parkinson's...

Thyroid cancer is cancer of the thyroid gland. These may be of many types including papillary, follicular, Hurthle cell (aka oxyphilic or oncocytic...

Pain is considered one of the most relevant symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). Myofascial pain with taut bands and trigger points (TrPs) ...

Gaining a patient's trust, or the trust of a patient's family, may seem to be a given, but achieving trust is a fragile, individual, hazardous ende...

Trust in a Medical Setting

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most widespread infectious diseases in the world, infecting an average of 9 million people annually. Although TB is...

Tumour markers are molecules occurring in blood or tissue that are associated with cancer, and whose measurement or identification is useful in pat...

A tumour suppressor gene is a gene that reduces the probability that a cell in a multicellular organism will turn into a tumor cell. A mutation or ...

Tumourigenesis is the formation of tumours in the body, often caused by oncogenes. These tumours are the result of uncontrollable reproduction (cel...

Type I collagen is a popular biomaterial for use in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications owing to its abundance in natural tis...

The three clinical types of childhood diarrhoea include - acute watery, persistent and dysentery. Acute watery diarrhoea which lasts for less than ...

The United States spends more money on health care than any other country in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The...

The federal government is involved in mental health care in various ways, including direct provision of services, payment for services, and indirec...

The United States, like all countries, faces many threats with the potential for large-scale health consequences, including disease outbreaks, natu...

Understanding the supply, distribution, and educational pipeline of nurses is key to designing programs and policies that will ensure access to car...

Within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), eight agencies are designated components of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS). The PHS...

This book explores the technology, diagnostic applications and potential benefits and risks of ultrasonography. Topics discussed in this compilatio...

Bone is a complex and specialised connective tissue, with a degree of elasticity even with a high concentration of mineralised components in the ex...

Community-based health-related research requires a reciprocal relationship between researchers and communities that differs from the relationships ...

U.S. support for global health has been motivated in large part by concern about emergent and re-emerging infectious diseases. Following outbreaks ...

Nature creates viruses. But people and politics create pandemics. And pandemics create new politics. In the 1980s, the toxic politics of the respon...

Although governments believe that the key to efficient health services lies in organisations run by inspiring leaders who stimulate the most effici...

Uric acid is the end-product of the purine metabolism in human beings. Most of this substance is in the form of monosodium urate in compartments wi...

This book has been prepared with the purpose of describing the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) programme on radiation and tis...