Books in the Biographies of Disease series

What makes obesity a disease instead of just a matter of overeating? What are the genetic and environmental factors behind it? What new breakthroughs are being developing to combat it? This concise, information-rich volume looks at these and other important questions, clearing away misconceptions about this devastating condition.Obesity explains what scientists now know about the causes and consequences of being overweight, including the latest on the links between obesity and heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, asthma, and sleep difficulties. The book pays specific attention to the problem among obese young people, who more and more are being diagnosed with chronic illnesses that used to only be seen in adults. It also reports on promising efforts to battle obesity, from medical treatments to community awareness programs.

Millions of people are affected by thyroid disease worldwide, yet most people know little about the thyroid. Thyroid Disease fills that gap, explaining the importance of the thyroid gland to the smooth functioning of the human body and mind.This book covers all of the important aspects of diseases of the thyroid, a small gland that secretes hormones that deliver energy to cells of the body. Historical details on the earliest references to the thyroid gland and goiters, as well as historic details on the links between goiter, iodine, and cretinism are discussed. Thyroid diseases, such as hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, goiter, thyroid nodules, and thyroid cancer, are addressed in detail. Historical vignettes help explain important topics, such as the iodination of salt and Nobel Prize-winning work on thyroid surgery, and also provide examples of famous people with thyroid conditions.

This comprehensive review examines the biological, medical, social, historical, and political aspects of HIV/AIDS. In AIDS, three Harvard-educated physicians explore the evolution of the HIV epidemic, contextualizing the disease from historical, social, and medical perspectives.

This new title in the Biographies of Disease series offers a thorough examination of medical and scientific efforts to battle polio, from the 19th-century identification of the virus to the great 20th-century epidemics, from the unprecedented campaign to find a vaccine to recent efforts to confront polio in West Africa and South Asia and eliminate it entirely.Beyond the science, Polio looks at the effects of the disease on individuals and the United States as a whole. The book gives readers a sense of what it was like to have polio and to recover from it. It also describes how the search for answers to polio led to the rise of one of America's premier medical charities-the March of Dimes-and how modern physical therapy practices emerged alongside the polio epidemics of the 20th century.

As described in this timely volume, three decades of objective scientific evidence has finally transitioned a suspicious set of symptoms into a real diagnosis for-and potential treatments of-fibromyalgia. It is a revelatory work, focusing on important research discoveries, the struggles of patients, and hopes for a future cure.Each chapter of Fibromyalgia covers different aspects of the disease and its treatment, including global, economic, and risk statistics; a timeline of key events in the study of fibromyalgia; common symptoms and diagnostic indicators; pharmacologic and non-pharmacological treatments; associated disorders and syndromes; and impact of fibromyalgia at home, in the workplace, and in society at large. Adding to the coverage is a firsthand account from a young patient describing her experiences with this disease.

Diseases have a history, and understanding that history helps us understand how best to treat and control disease today. Today's students are confronted with a panoply of often-frightening illnesses and afflictions - the Biographies of Disease series provides students with the information that they need to understand the origin of various maladies, how they impact contemporary society, and how doctors and researchers from around the world are fighting to devise treatments to alleviate or cure these diseases. This volume, ADHD, examines Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, the controversial affliction with which millions of boys and girls are diagnosed every year.

Most people take eating for granted - but for some, eating can be downright dangerous. Thirty thousand Americans are hospitalized each year due to an allergic food reaction and peanut allergies in American children doubled from 1997 to 2002. Between two and ten percent of children are affected by food allergies worldwide and adverse food reactions increased hospital admissions by five hundred percent in the United Kingdom during the past two decades. Asthma cases, a reliable indicator of food allergy susceptibility, increased one hundred percent during the last thirty years. While most people assume they have a food allergy, only a very small percentage of cases are a true food allergy. For reasons still unknown, the human immune system reacts abnormally to certain foods. However, medical disorders, increased globalization of the food supply, and an upsurge of processed and convenience foods that contain food additives may also cause adverse food reactions as well. Accurate diagnosis can be extremely tricky and many sufferers never learn what causes their symptoms.Why are adverse food reactions on the rise? How can an accurate diagnosis be made? Is it even possible to enjoy foods and stay safe and healthy? These are just some of the questions this book will answer while helping the reader to learn all they can about why adverse food reactions happen, distinguish between a true food allergy and a food hypersensitivity, and outline strategies to successfully manage and live with them.

Alcoholism tells the story of a disease familiar to many yet not well understood. It is the first "e;biography"e; of alcohol abuse that gauges its devastating effects on the body, the family, the economy, and the community.Alcoholism provides the latest understanding of the disease as a behavioral dysfunction and a biological condition. Coverage includes the origins of alcohol and the discovery of alcoholism as a medical disease; the biology of alcoholism and its effects on the body; and current diagnostic and treatment methods for alcoholism. In addition, the book explores the effects on society of such alcoholism-related problems as domestic abuse, fetal alcohol syndrome, drunk driving, and suicide, as well as promising new directions in alcoholism research, awareness, treatment, and prevention.

Written in accessible but medically accurate prose, Anorexia provides a detailed explanation of how the diagnosis of anorexia is made, common physical and personality characteristics of those affected by the illness, and both short and long-term complications. Anorexia takes the discussion a step further than similar books on the subject by placing the disease in context with a broad survey of the history of self-starvation from Antiquity to the present, and it tackles the difficult question of whether anorexia nervosa existed before the 19th century or is a uniquely modern disease. The book evaluates in detail the social, economic and cultural environments within which self-starvation has occurred historically, and it analyzes competing theories of the disease's origins-including sociocultural, developmental, biochemical, and genetic hypotheses. The book also provides coverage of several often overlooked topics, such as the incidence of anorexia among young men, and it makes use of the personal narrative of an anorexic throughout to give the reader some sense of what it feels like to have anorexia and what someone with anorexia may be thinking.

Sports Injuries tells the story of a specific area of medicine that can be traced back as far as the days of the gladiators, but has, like so many medical fields, undergone a dramatic transformation with new technology-based methods of diagnosis and treatment.Written by a clinical instructor at Harvard and former athletic trainer at Notre Dame, Sports Injuries provides an overview of the common injuries sustained by athletes of all ages and levels of competition. In easily understandable language, it takes readers step by step through the process doctors follow when diagnosing and treating sports injuries, including the reasons why the same injury might require different treatment depending on the age, gender, or skill level of the person involved.

Once a certain death sentence and often a cause for shame, cancer is now a treatable disease. Cancer provides a broad introduction to this complex family of diseases, tracing the fascinating history of scientific discoveries that led to today's sophisticated treatments. This extraordinary new volume, coauthored by three leaders in cancer research and surgery at Harvard Medical School, uses scientifically accurate yet accessible language to give readers a firm grounding in such essential concepts as angiogenesis and the genetics of cancer. In addition to information about types of cancer, diagnosis, and treatment, Cancer places special emphasis on new frontiers in research, psychological aspects of a cancer diagnosis, and quality-of-life issues for those living with disease. Useful features include a comprehensive glossary, a timeline of milestones in cancer research, and an appendix for students on how to pursue a career in science or medicine.

Written by a professor of medicine who is also personally affected by the disease, Multiple Sclerosis offers an overview of every aspect of the condition. It begins by introducing the central nervous system and describing how multiple sclerosis affects the brain and spinal cord. The author then reviews early understanding of MS, how it was first recognized as a disease, and the discoveries that have helped explain its causes. Moving to contemporary understanding of multiple sclerosis, the book explores the epidemiology of MS in the United States and around the world, describes MS symptoms, and reviews today's treatments and research directions. Perhaps most important, it presents the experiences of persons living with multiple sclerosis, concluding with a discussion of factors affecting these individuals in their homes, families, and communities.

Written by a past president of the Boston Chapter of the American Heart Association, Heart Disease is a comprehensive account of the leading cause of death in the West. Sequential chapters describe the structure and function of the heart, the various disease states, and the treatments for each major disease. In addition, the book examines the vast array of diagnostic tests and the most advanced treatments available, from basic drugs for prevention such as aspirin to transplants and artificial hearts.Dr. de Silva, who teaches at Harvard Medical School, also covers historical aspects of heart disease, discoveries about the structure and function of the heart, and the ways in which heart disease can be diagnosed and treated. Underlying conditions that affect the heart are described and linked to the treatments and devices used to correct disease conditions.

Diseases have a history, and understanding that history helps us understand how best to treat and control disease today. Today's students are confronted with a panoply of often-frightening illnesses and afflictions-the Biography of Diseases series provides students with the information that they need to understand the origin of various maladies, how they impact contemporary society, and how doctors and diseases researchers from around the world are fighting to devise treatments to alleviate or cure these. This volume, Rabies, examines that disease that caused fear and panic for centuries because of the horror of dying of rabies and the near certainty of death once one has contracted the disease. And despite the famous vaccine discovered by Louis Pasteur in the 19th centuries, thousands still die of rabies every year in developing countries.