Books published by Humana Press Inc.

Is the involuntary commitment of the mentally ill morally proper? Objective and readily understandable, Mental Illness and Public Health Care illuminates for the educated reader some of the key ethical issues facing mental health care professionals and provides convincing practical conclusions with real moral import.

Offering a wealth of information, this text provides a range of insights, including a novel view of the hormonal regulation of the vascular system and the disruption of the nitric oxide signaling system. It also addresses the role of fatty acids and cytokines.

Part III provides a series of tables providing organ weights and body measurements for fetuses, children and adults.Handbook of Autopsy Practice Fourth Edition is an essential resource for clinicians, pathologists, residents and students who strive to hone their trade and increase the value of the autopsies they perform.

A collection of basic and advanced molecular methods that reveal those markers essential for diagnoses of specific diseases. The techniques range from in vitro methods to in vivo models of prostate cancer, and include new methods for the accurate diagnosis of prostate cancer, and proteome and microarray analyses.

Suicide Gene Therapy: Methods and Reviews covers gene therapy that targets malignant cells in a treatment that has become known as "suicide gene therapy. Additional trials used multiple gene therapy protocols that also involved suicide gene therapy (83 with 497 patients), indicating that the interest in this area is considerable.

We are in an exciting era in the war against cancer, with real prospects for novel anticancer drugs that are cancer cell-specific without the toxicities that have been the hallmark of conventional cytotoxic cancer chemotherapy.

Reviews the findings on the role of folate in human development, health, and disease. This book addresses areas such as folate metabolism in zinc or copper deficiencies, choline and folate in development, animal models of folate-related birth defects, and developmental toxicants potentially acting via folate perturbation.

Presents a survey of the scientific evidence showing how cyclosporin, FK-506, and their analogs - the neuroimmunophilins - evolved from being purely immunosuppressant "drugs" to neuroprotective "agents". This book also discusses their efficacy and mechanisms of action in vitro and in vivo models of CNS disease.

Although the potential applications for such tests at the site of specimen collection, now called "on-site" or "point-of-care" testing, range far beyond hospital emergency rooms and law enforcement needs, it was catalyzed by the requirements of workplace drug testing and other drugs-of-abuse testing programs.

This volume deals with critical issues concerning biocompatible materials - polymers, metals and other substances used in or on the human body. The focus of the topics range from biopolymers used in controlled release drug delivery systems to biopolymeric plates used in bone repair.

A panel of recognized authorities comprehensively review the medical, surgical, and pathophysiologic issues relevant to lung volume reduction surgery for emphysema. The experts also detail the selection of candidates for LVRS, the clinical results and clinical trials in LVRS, and the effects of LVRS on survival rates.

The contributors offer not only an understandable description of its molecular origins-an essential key to developing future therapies and preventive measures-but also rigorously discuss well-tested approaches, as well as those that are currently being evaluated for future use in both the laboratory and clinic.

Seizures are frightening events. Most individuals with seizures present to family physicians or to emergency room physicians. However, despite the fact that seizures are among the most common neurological conditions, most general practitioners, family practice specialists, and intemists do not see large numbers of patients with seizures.

This readily reproducible collection of methods for the study of eicosanoids concentrates on studying the regulation of expression and function of enzymes, particularly cyclooxygenase, phospholipase A2 and lipoxygenases involved in the synthesis of established eicosanoids.

The application of molecular techniques to gastroenterology continues to yield important advances in the development of drugs to treat gastrointestinal disorders.

The authoritative experts writing here explore the mechanistic aspects of such autoimmune diseases as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and autoimmune thyroid disease, and where possible delineate how malfunctioning immunological mechanisms can lead to clinical symptoms.

The aim of Hematologic Malignancies: Methods and Techniques is to review those methods most useful for the diagnosis and subsequent mana- ment of hematologic malignancies.

In Drug Targeting: Strategies, Principles, and Applications we have tried to compile a state-of-the-art volume on current targeting approaches.

They not only review such problems as obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, and narcolepsy, but they also discuss such important topics as pediatric sleep disorders, the pharmacology of sleep medicines, diagnostic testing and technology, and the use of bright light therapy in sleep disorders and depression.

An international team of experts critically review the recent progress in basic and applied research in angiogenesis.

Fifteen contributed articles by investigators survey the dramatic increase in the understanding of receptor action that has resulted from the recent cloning of numerous ionotropic glutamate receptor subunits.

This text covers such topics as: somatotopic organization of the striatum and its relevance to neural transplantation; evaluation of patients with Parkinson's disease; the Lund Transplant Program (Parkinson's disease and MPTP patients); and the Paris Program.

A unique, integrated collection of original contributions on the molecular biology, physiology, and pathology of endothelin. Leading academic, clinical, and industrial researchers summarize the dramatic recent progress in endothelin research and indicate the optimal direction of future studies.

Authoritative and practical, this important new book not only spells out the advantages and limitations of the latest diagnostic tests, but also provides numerous algorithms for evaluating patients and treating the liver problems commonly encountered by primary care physicians.

A state-of-the-art summary from leading laboratories around the world of our current knowledge of the molecular biology, the physiology, and the pharmacology of the P2 receptors.

Leading international virologists review the state-of-the-art in the biology, pathogenesis, and epidemiology of the hepatitis viruses. The authorities writing here examine the five well-recognized hepatitis viruses, A through E, and some of the newer agents, the so-called non- A-E hepatitis viruses.

Those who do not feel pain seldom think that it is felt. Our purpose in preparing The Pain Management Handbook is to provide the informa tion needed by clinicians to develop strategies that optimize pain management.

Laboratory studies in hemostasis have traditionally focused on abn- malities of platelet function or the quantitative and qualitative disorders that affect the proteins involved in blood coagulation.

Authoritative experts in transfusion medicine describe in critical detail the most important procedures for obtaining, selecting, and transfusing red blood cells to patients.

This survey outlines recent findings in the cellular and molecular biology of allergy and reviews their contribution to the understanding and management of various organ-based diseases and syndromes.