Author: Chris E. Cooper Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199581452 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 169
Book Description
Le rabat de la couverture indique : Blood is a vital fluid with a profound cultural and historical significance. Long considered the essence of life, blood pumps through our language and religion, and is a major diagnostic tool in the doctor's armoury. This Very Short Introduction explores early views of blood, our modern understanding of its nature and components, and future possibilities, such as artificial blood. Chris Cooper gets to the heart of this fascinating topic, covering the basic biology of blood, and the role of blood transfusions, blood tests, and the treatment of blood-borne diseases in modern medicine.
Author: Nicholas Vincent Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199582874 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 153
Book Description
Magna Carta has long been considered the foundation stone of the British Constitution, yet few people today understand either its contents or its context. With a full English translation of the 1215 charter, Nicholas Vincent introduces the document to a modern audience; explaining its origins and tracing the significance of its role in our history.
Author: Chris Cooper Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0191665169 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 169
Book Description
Blood is vital to most animals. In mammals it transports oxygen and food, carries away waste, and contains the white cells that attack invading microbes. Playing a central role in life, it has had profound cultural and historical significance and plays an important role in religious ritual. Blood was one of the four humours in early Western medicine and is still probably the major diagnostic tool in the doctor's armoury. In this Very Short Introduction, Chris Cooper analyses the components of blood, explains blood groups, and looks at transfusions, blood tests, and blood-borne diseases. He considers what the future may hold, including the possibility of making artificial blood, and producing blood from stem cells in the laboratory. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Author: Virginia Berridge Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0191002143 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 161
Book Description
Public health is a term much used in the media, by health professionals, and by activists. At the national or the local level there are ministries or departments of public health, whilst international agencies such as the World Health Organisation promote public health policies, and regional organisations such as the European Union have public health funding and policies. But what do we mean when we speak about 'public health'? In this Very Short Introduction Virginia Berridge explores the areas which fall under the remit of public health, and explains how the individual histories of different countries have come to cause great differences in the perception of the role and responsibilities of public health organisations. Thus, in the United States litigation on public health issues is common, but state involvement is less, while some Scandinavian countries have a tradition of state involvement or even state ownership of industries such as alcohol in connection with public health. In its narrowest sense, public health can refer to the health of a population, the longevity of individual members, and their freedom from disease, but it can also be anticipatory, geared to the prevention of illness, rather than simply the provision of care and treatment. In the way public health deals with healthy as well as sick people it is therefore a separate concept from health services, which deal with the sick population. Drawing on a wide range of international examples, Berridge demonstrates the central role of history to understanding the amorphous nature of public health today. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Author: Jim Fraser Publisher: ISBN: 0198834411 Category : Law Languages : en Pages : 153
Book Description
Jim Fraser explains the forensic techniques used in the investigation of crime, such as DNA profiling, toxicology, trace evidence, digital forensics, fingerprints, and crime scene management, and how forensic scientists work alongside criminal investigators and lawyers.
Author: Paul Klenerman Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 019875390X Category : Electronic books Languages : en Pages : 145
Book Description
The immune system is central to human health and the focus of much medical research. Growing understanding of the immune system, and especially the creation of immune memory (long lasting protection), which can be harnessed in the design of vaccines, have been major breakthroughs in medicine. In this Very Short Introduction, Paul Klenerman describes the immune system, and how it works in health and disease. In particular he focuses on the human immune system, considering how it evolved, the basic rules that govern its behavior, and the major health threats where it is important. The immune system comprises a series of organs, cells and chemical messengers which work together as a team to provide defence against infection. Klenerman discusses these components, the critical signals that trigger them and how they exert their protective effects, including so-called innate immune responses, which react very fast to infection, and adaptive immune responses, which have huge diversity and a capacity to recognize and defend against a massive array of micro-organisms. Klenerman also considers what happens when our immune systems fail to be activated effectively, leading to serious infections, problems with inherited diseases, and also HIV/AIDS. At the opposite extreme, as Klenerman shows, an over-exaggerated immune response leads to inflammatory diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis, as well as allergy and asthma. Finally he looks at the Immune system v2.o - how immune therapies and vaccines can be advanced to protect us against the major diseases of the 21st century. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Author: Jamie Davies Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0198869886 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 169
Book Description
"Human Physiology: A Very Short Introduction explores how the human body works, senses, reacts, and defends itself. Physiology is the science of life. It considers how human bodies are supplied with energy, how they maintain their internal parameters, the ways in which they gather and process information or take action, and the creation of new generations. This VSI examines the experiments undertaken to understand the interplay of the vast variety of physiological mechanisms and principles within us, and analyses the ethical issues involved. It also looks at how enhanced understandings of physiological knowledge can help inform medical research and care"-- Provided by publisher.
Author: David J. Hand Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0198779569 Category : Mathematics Languages : en Pages : 145
Book Description
This Very Short Introduction explores the concept of measurement, its mathematical underpinnings, and its wide range of application from the sciences and social sciences to economics and commerce
Author: Daniel Freeman Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199567158 Category : Psychology Languages : en Pages : 177
Book Description
Are we born with our fears or do we learn them? Why do our fears persist? What purpose does anxiety serve? In this Very Short Introduction we discover what anxiety is, what causes it, and how it can be treated. Looking at six major anxiety disorders, the authors introduce us to this most ubiquitous and essential of emotions.
Author: Chris E. Cooper
Author: Nicholas Vincent
Author: Chris Cooper
Author: Virginia Berridge
Author: Jim Fraser
Author: Paul Klenerman
Author: Jamie Davies
Author: David J. Hand
Author: Daniel Freeman
Author: Terence Allen