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Few issues cause as much strife in contemporary society as does the cause and treatment of autism. Stories about the autism epidemic abound on talk shows and make headlines in newspapers and magazines. Celebrities and politicians express their personal opinions on the cause (or causes) of the increase in autism spectrum disorders (or ASDs), opinions often not shared by the conventional scientific community. Parents, family members, schools and government-funded agencies struggle to do the right thing for individuals with ASDs, This volume in the Biographies of Disease series provides an understandable, non-biased guide to the quagmire of information about ASDs. This foundation will enable readers to better understand the statements made by various authorities on ASDs. Autism covers all aspects of our historical and current understanding of autism spectrum disorders. The text starts with the recognition of autism in the forties and traces the development of ways to diagnose autism, explains why autism has been expanded to the autistic spectrum disorders. The author covers what is known and not known about the autism epidemic and the causes of ASDs. The critical importance of screening and early intervention is emphasized with respect to outcome for individuals with ASDs. Promising areas of research are highlighted. After reading this book, the reader will be able to place the latest breaking news about ASDs into perspective. While it is not yet possible to answer all of the questions about autism, this book allows the reader to follow along as the mystery is unraveled.Autism covers all aspects of our historical and current understanding of autism spectrum disorders: The recognition of autism in the forties and the development of ways to diagnose autism; why autism has been expanded to the autistic spectrum disorders; what is known and not known about the autism epidemic and the causes of ASDs; the importance of screening and early intervention as well as information about outcome for individuals with ASDs; and promising areas of research.After reading this book, the reader will be able to place the latest breaking news about ASDs into perspective. While it is not yet possible to answer all of the questions about autism, this book allows the reader to follow along as the mystery is unraveled.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a comprehensive and thoughtful examination of the nature, causes, and treatment of PTSD. Drawing on the vast experience of its team of authors, the book details the insidious nature and history of PTSD, from the internal and external factors that cause this form of suffering to the ways it manifests itself psychologically and socially. The most cutting-edge research on treatment, intervention, and prevention is thoroughly discussed, as are the spiritual and psychological strengths that can emerge when one progresses beyond the label of "e;disorder."e;The book begins with a historical review of the topic. Subsequent chapters offer in-depth exploration of the significant foundations, function, impacts, and treatments associated with PTSD. Each chapter addresses practical issues, incorporating case studies that bring the information to life and ensure an appreciation of the myriad social, psychological, and biological experiences surrounding PTSD. This book answers complex questions like "e;How does PTSD manifest itself?"e; and more critically: "e;How can its effects be mitigated or overcome?"e; Finally, it discusses how PTSD survivors can move beyond post-traumatic stress to post-traumatic strengths.

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.

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 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, Stroke, covers a common affliction that comes in many different forms, which can be fatal or leave the patient disabled, and which strikes a surprising number of younger people.

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 researchers from around the world are fighting to devise treatments to alleviate or cure these diseases. This volume, Depression, addresses a disease that confronts millions of young people every year, causing significant damage to their emotional and physical health.Depression examines all aspects of the affliction, including: Depression through the ages, from its earliest mention to the present, including how depression is portrayed in the arts. The demographics of the disorder - who is most likely to have depression, and what the prognosis would be. The clinical description of depression, including both physical and psychological symptoms. Current techniques for testing for depression, including DNA testing and brain scans. An examination of the current research, and the possible treatments for the future. The volume includes a glossary of important terms and a bibliography of accessible works that discuss the disease.

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.

Anxiety disorders are significant mental health illnesses that impair lives and cost society millions of dollars in health care expenses and lost productivity. Greater awareness of anxiety disorders is essential for both the general public and health professionals if those who suffer from them are to be identified, receive proper treatment, and have a chance at leading fulfilling lives.To that end, Anxiety begins with a historical overview of the ways in which anxiety disorders have been understood, from the prehistoric era until the present time, examining the disorders from the perspectives of conceptualization, classification, research, and treatment. Subsequent chapters examine these themes in light of our current understanding and approaches to anxiety disorders. Current diagnostic and assessment methods are discussed, as are modern treatment options. The book concludes with a survey of the future directions in research for the understanding and treatment of anxiety disorders.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Down's Syndrome is a mental disability with very distinctive characteristics. David Wright looks at the care and treatment of Down's sufferers - described for much of history as 'idiots' - since Medieval Europe right up to the present day; considering the change in attitudes, care, and identification of the condition in the modern era.

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.

Diseases have a history, and understanding that history helps us understand how best to treat and control disease today.

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.

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.

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.

Alzheimer's disease is a vastly underrecognized disease that primarily appears in patients age 65 and older. It affects the entire family of those afflicted and has a tremendous impact on our health care system-the Alzheimer's Association estimates the cost of treating this form of dementia at $172 billion annually in the United States. Current treatment with medications has only limited success. Therefore, awareness of symptoms-which are often mistaken for aging or stress-and early recognition of the disease are the best ways to help patients and their caregivers.Alzheimer's Disease is written to provide a broad overview of the disease, conveying all information and concepts in easy-to-read and understandable language. This text is intended for high school and college students, but is appropriate for general reading audiences as well.

Tuberculosis is a complicated medical condition that has a rich and important history, a distinctive social context, and an active and destructive present. The disease appears in Greek literature as early as 460 BCE and was a favorite of 19th-century novelists whose heroines often succumbed to "e;consumption."e; Through history, the development of TB diagnosis and treatment has been synonymous with events in the development of medicine. Tuberculosis presents TB from the perspective of the people and events that shaped its past and the factors that influence its current global state. The book begins with an essay discussing the importance of the social factors that influence the transmission and progression of TB. The following eight chapters focus on disease-specific information, historical and biographical perspectives, influence on the arts, the current state of TB in the world, and future directions. Throughout, medical information about the disease is intertwined with a historical and cultural perspective to illustrate the state of the disease today.

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.

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.

This volume covers a common infectious disease that afflicts millions every year-the flu-but one that has the potential of being at the center of a new pandemic, similar to the one that killed millions during 1918.Influenza examines all aspects of this disease, including: * The influenza virus and how it leads to infection in humans. * The definition of epidemics and pandemics, and a description of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918. * The clinical signs and symptoms of influenza, and how it impacts special populations, such as the elderly and HIV-infected patients * The treatment and prevention of the flu The volume includes a glossary of important terms and a bibliography of accessible works that discuss the disease.

Diseases have a history, and understanding that history helps us understand how best to treat and control disease today.