On 25th November 2009 members of The Climate Change Research Centre, as part of a group of 26 international climate scientists, were part of a major international release of a new report synthesizing the latest climate research to emerge since the last IPCC Assessment Report of 2007. The "Copenhagen Diagnosis" has found that changes to some of the world's major systems are tracking at or above IPCC projected levels. The report has been published in time for the December United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Copenhagen.
The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a summary of the global warming peer reviewed science since 2007. Produced by a team of 26 scientists led by the University of New South Wales Climate Research Centre, the Diagnosis convincingly proves that the effects of global warming have gotten worse in the last three years. It is a timely update to the UN's Intercontinental Panel on Climate Change 2007 Fourth Assessment document (IPCC AR4). The report places the blame for the century long temperature increase on human factors and says the turning point "must come soon". If we are to limit warming to 2 degrees above pre-industrial values, global emissions must peak by 2020 at the latest and then decline rapidly. The scientists warned that waiting for higher levels of scientific certainty could mean that some tipping points will be crossed before they are recognized. By 2050 we will effectively need to be in a post-carbon economy if we are to avoid unlivable temperatures. Authors: Ian Allison, Nathaniel Bindoff, Robert Bindschadler, Peter Cox, Nathalie de Noblet-Ducoudre ́, Matthew England, Jane Francis, Nicolas Gruber, Alan Haywood, David Karoly, Georg Kaser, Corinne Le Que ́re ́, Tim Lenton, Michael Mann, Ben McNeil, Andy Pitman, Stefan Rahmstorf, Eric Rignot, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Stephen Schneider, Steven Sherwood, Richard Somerville, Konrad Steffen, Eric Steig, Martin Visbeck, Andrew Weaver
Advances in the standardization, precision and thoroughness of psychiatric diagnosis are being supplemented with attention to personalized or ideographic descriptive approaches. This promises not only to enhance the clinician's understanding of a case but to allow a fuller and more effective use of the evolving range of therapeutic possibilities. To reflect these developments, the Section on Classification, Diagnostic Assessment and Nomenclature of the World Psychiatric Association has prepared this volume which is organized around five prominent themes in contemporary psychiatric diagnosis: -major regional perspectives - ICD-10 - comprehensive diagnosis through the multiaxial model - treatment planning and organization of health services - the role and challenges of psychiatric diagnosis in primary health care.
On October 29th 1953 in Lund, Sweden, Inge Edler, cardiologist, and Hellmuth Hertz, physicist, performed the first successful Ultrasoundcardiogram (UCG), later renamed Echocardiogram. A few weeks later, on December 16th, the neurosurgeon Lars Leksell diagnosed an intracranial bleeding in a 16-month-old boy using the same equipment, and Echoencephalography was born. The Lundensian obstetrician Bertil Sundén was in 1962 able to take the first ultrasound picture of twins in pregnancy. These three world premieres at the Lund University were the foundation for the tremendous development of diagnostic ultrasound. Before it is too late, the history in Lund will be told, and with this history as background Ultrasound in Clinical Diagnosis brings together some of the leading ultrasound experts of today to bring us up to date with the use of ultrasound in its ever-increasing importance for diagnosis in many areas of medicine. Peter Wells writes in his Foreword that "this fascinating book serves more than one purpose: it is an historical record of the pioneering developments in clinical ultrasonic diagnosis that took place in Lund... what we now recognise as one of the greatest medical innovations of the twentieth century... Besides its historical content, this book also includes scholarly reviews of the state-of-art in adult and paediatric cardiology, obstetrics and gynaecology, vascular disease in several countries and, primarily from technical perspective, radiology, as well as an overview of contrast studies". Other chapters describe the development in ophthalmology and oto-rhino-laryngology as well as the industrial development of ultrasound equipment. This book will be valuable and interesting to those who are interested in the development of ultrasound diagnosis in medicine.
systematically covers the definition, historical background, epidemiology, clinical picture, natural history, complications, family studies, differential diagnosis, and clinical management of each disorder." "Some specific areas of new material include the long term course of mood disorders, genetics and neuro-imaging of schizophrenia and mood and other disorders, cognitive changes in relation to depression and dementia, brain stimulation techniques, outcome studies of eating disorders, and epidemiology of drug use disorders. In accordance with current medical community interest and research, entirely new chapters on posttraumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder have been included. Additionally, a new introduction reviews the background of medical model psychiatry and the empirical approach to psychiatric nosology. With this new edition, medical students and psychiatric residents will continue to discover that no other text provides such a lucid, --
A vast amount has been written on climate change and what should be our response. Rise and Fall of the Carbon Civilisation suggests that most of this literature takes a far too optimistic position regarding the potential for conventional mitigation solutions to achieve the deep cuts in greenhouse gases necessary in the limited time frame we have available. In addition, global environmental problems, as exemplified by climate change, and global resource problems – such as fossil fuel depletion or fresh water scarcity – have largely been seen as separate issues. Further, proposals for solution of these problems often focus at the national level, when the problems are global. The authors argue that the various challenges the planet faces are both serious and interconnected. Rise and Fall of the Carbon Civilisation takes a global perspective in its treatment of various solutions: • renewable energy; • nuclear energy; • energy efficiency; • carbon sequestration; and • geo-engineering. It also addresses the possibility that realistic solutions cannot be achieved until the fundamentally ethical question of global equity – both across nations today and also inter-generational – is fully addressed. Such an approach will also involve reorienting the global economy away from an emphasis on growth and toward the direct satisfaction of basic human needs for all the Earth’s people. Rise and Fall of the Carbon Civilisation is aimed at the many members of the public with an awareness of climate change, but who wish to find out more about how we need to respond to the challenge. It will also be of interest to technical professionals, as well as postgraduate students and researchers, from the environmental and engineering science sectors.
Now in its fourth edition, Rational Diagnosis and Treatment: Evidence-Based Clinical Decision-Making is a unique book to look at evidence-based medicine and the difficulty of applying evidence from group studies to individual patients. The book analyses the successive stages of the decision process and deals with topics such as the examination of the patient, the reliability of clinical data, the logic of diagnosis, the fallacies of uncontrolled therapeutic experience and the need for randomised clinical trials and meta-analyses. It is the main theme of the book that, whenever possible, clinical decisions must be based on the evidence from clinical research, but the authors also explain the pitfalls of such research and the problems involved in applying evidence from groups of patients to the individual patient. For this new edition, the sections on placebo and meta-analysis and on alternative medicine have been thoroughly updated, and there is more focus on insufficient reporting of harms of interventions. The sections on different research designs describe advantages and limitations, and the increased medicalisation and the effects of cancer screening on health people are noted. A section on academic freedom when clinicians collaborate with industry and ghost authors is added. This essential reference work integrates the science and statistical approach of evidence-based medicine with the art and humanism of medical practice; distinguishing between data, sets of data, knowledge and wisdom, and their application. Such an intellectually challenging book is ideal for both medical students and doctors who require theoretical and practical clinical skills to help ensure that they apply theory in practice.
Peripheral neuropathies represent a challenging subject for most physicians. This is an up-to-date, comprehensive, and readable book on peripheral neuropathies that includes concise information on the clinical, electrophysiological, pathological, pathogenic, and treatment aspects of the most important disorders. New molecular and serologic diagnostic tests are discussed. Sections are devoted to nerve and skin biopsy techniques and findings, quantitative sensory and autonomic reflex tests. Case examples are used liberally throughout the text. The editors: Mendell, Kissel, and Cornblath are experienced clinicians that bring complementary knowledge to each of the subjects. Additional authors have been handpicked for specific topics which add to the value of the edition.
