COVID-19: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives informs readers about the current status of knowledge on COVID-19 infection. The book begins by presenting basic information about the history, epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment and preventive measures against COVID-19. The second part of the book contains information about the repurposing of drugs, herbal medicines, and immunotherapy against COVID-19 infections. Integrating both general and advanced information about Sars-cov-2, this book updates a wide range of readers including students, researchers (virologists, pharmacologists), health care professionals (physicians, nurses, pharmacists, paramedics) and the general public on novel coronaviruses and COVID-19.
The brain-gut connection has been increasingly implicated in biopsychosocial well-being. While there are numerous factors that directly and indirectly impact on how the gut and the brain interact, there is a growing awareness that gastrointestinal conditions need to be viewed and treated as part of a multidisciplinary approach. Psychogastroenterology for Adults: A Handbook for Mental Health Professionals is the first book to provide mental health professionals with an evidence-based, practical guide for working with patients living with gastrointestinal conditions. Timely and accessibly written, this book provides a unique, comprehensive introduction to psychogastroenterology, offering a step-by-step guide to evidence-based psychological treatment protocols. Broad in scope and expertise, the book is divided into four parts. It opens with an overview of the field, moving on to outline psychological concerns and conditions in gastroenterological (GI) cohorts. Further, it covers various approaches to psychogastroenterology, including psychopharmacological and eHealth practices. In closing, the book looks to the future, providing guidance on supervision in psychogastroenterology, and exploring challenges in the field. Written by experts in the field, this book will be an indispensable resource for those who wish to enhance their knowledge and practice of psychogastroenterology in the mental health profession, including psychologists, psychiatrists, psychosomatic medicine specialists, nurses and social workers.
Interventional Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: Endoscopic Management and Treatment of Complications covers the preparation, principle, techniques, and damage control of complications in endoscopic therapy, providing the ultimate guidance in endoscopic management of IBD. With contributions from a panel of international leading experts in the field, perspectives are included from GI pathologists, GI radiologists, gastroenterologists, advanced endoscopists, IBD specialists and colorectal surgeons. Recommendations from experts are also included within each chapter. By bridging medical and surgical treatment modalities for IBD, this is the perfect reference for GI researchers, medical students, therapeutic GI endoscopists, IBD specialists, surgeons and advanced health care providers. - Incorporates state-of-the-art of research in the area of therapeutic endoscopy in Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis - Makes the connection between the understanding of the complex nature and disease course of IBD with corresponding advanced endoscopic procedures - Explores endoscopic treatment as the missing link between medical and surgical treatment for complex Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis - Contains access to videos demonstrating important procedural concepts
In rural and sparsely populated countries, telemedicine can be a vital and life-saving link to health care, and in those regions where demands on hospitals are ever increasing, it can provide a safe and comfortable alternative to hospital-based therapy. The second edition of this introductory guide to telemedicine and telecare services is invaluable to new practitioners in this growing field of medicine. The book describes the benefits of telemedicine and highlights the potential problems. The authors provide numerous examples of how telemedicine is used in the United States, Australia, and Scandinavia.
The term “immunobiotics” has been proposed to define microbial strains able to beneficially regulate the mucosal immune system. Research in immunobiotics has significantly evolved as researchers employed cutting-edge technologies to investigate the complex interactions of these beneficial microorganisms with the immune system. During the last decade, our understanding of immunobiotics-host interaction was profoundly transformed by the discovery of microbial molecules and host receptors involved in the modulation of gut associated immune system, as well as the systemic and distant mucosal immune systems. In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of reports describing the beneficial effects of immunobiotics in diseases such as intestinal and respiratory infections, allergy, inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, immunosuppression, and several other immune-mediated conditions. Evidence is also emerging of immunobiotics related molecules with immunomodulatory functions leading to the production of pharmabiotics, which may positively influence human or animal health. Therefore, research in immunobiotics continue to contribute not only to food but also medical and pharmaceutical fields. The compilation of research articles included in this ebook should help reader to have an overview of the recent advances in immunobiotics.
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
A novel public health concept, the Fangcang Shelter Hospital was first proposed by Professor Wang Chen, an academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, in Wuhan, China, in February 2020. While responding to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, medical staff faced the pressing situation of limited medical supplies, which led Professor Wang Chen to the suggestion of converting large-scale public venues such as exhibition centers and indoor stadiums into shelter hospitals to receive large number of patients, as this involved minimum time and monetary costs. The five essential functions of Fangcang Shelter Hospitals (isolation, triage, provision of basic medical care, frequent monitoring and rapid referral, and essential living and social engagement) enable shelter hospitals to receive patients with mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19, and have the greatest impact on isolating the source of infection and expanding the area's health-care capacity.Two of the first three Fangcang Shelter Hospitals set up in Wuhan were redeveloped by Zall Group Property from existing buildings, while Zall Foundation was responsible for the provision of essential medical supplies and logistical support to facilitate the running of these shelter hospitals. In total, the two shelter hospitals have been instrumental in diagnosing, treating and curing 3663 patients. Under the medical expertise and guidance of Professor Wang Chen, as well as inputs from Zall Foundation's crews who contributed to the design, renovation and operation of these shelter hospitals, this manual encompasses knowledge and experience distilled from the running of these Fangcang Shelter Hospitals. Covering five important aspects, namely the proposal, design, renovation, operation, and logistical support for shelter hospitals, this booklet aims to be a useful reference for other epidemic prevention and control efforts in regions around the world. The manual has been translated into more than 20 languages.
The innate immune system represents a critical arm of the immune response by providing immediate and robust host defense; however, human studies of its function are often limited by ethical, logistical, and technical obstacles. In Mouse Models of Innate Immunity: Methods and Protocols, experts in the field explore the design and execution of experiments used to thoroughly evaluate critical elements associated with the host innate immune response. The volume opens with methods that are essential for collecting and assessing various primary cells that are highly relevant to innate immunity, and it continues with in vivo protocols commonly used to evaluate the innate immune response in the mouse, including mouse models of respiratory infection, gastrointestinal inflammation, fungal and parasitic diseases, sepsis, and HIV-1 infection. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and easy to use, Mouse Models of Innate Immunity: Methods and Protocols will serve the research community by providing expert advice and protocols that allow both experienced and novice investigators to successfully plan, implement, and assess disease processes associated with the innate immune response.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus (SARS-Cov2), which may cause mild to moderate respiratory complications in most infected people. Older people and those with chronic and/or acute illnesses may present serious complications. Underlying mechanisms of the cellular responses to the virus are not fully revealed; therefore, understanding the pathophysiology of COVID-19 is crucial to provide efficient data to define the appropriate and effective therapeutic strategies to cure and prevent COVID-19-associated complications. The Handbook of Research on Pathophysiology and Strategies for the Management of COVID-19 summarizes and assembles the published data on COVID-19 and provides an answer to the reader for the mystery of SARS-Cov2’s impact on human health through a deep analysis of the current data available in the literature. This book addresses the epidemiology and infectious patterns of the disease and the recent pathophysiological mechanisms of the disease and relationships to the medical history of the patient. Covering topics from the tie between COVID-19 and respiratory disease to vaccination information, this comprehensive reference source is ideal for clinicians, health professionals, pathologists, virologists, researchers, academicians, and medical and PhD students.
Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring.
