Appalachians have been characterized as a population with numerous disparities in health and limited access to medical services and infrastructures, leading to inaccurate generalizations that inhibit their healthcare progress. Appalachians face significant challenges in obtaining effective care, and the public lacks information about both their healthcare needs and about the resources communities have developed to meet those needs.In Appalachian Health and Well-Being, editors Robert L. Ludke and Phillip J. Obermiller bring together leading researchers and practitioners to provide a much-needed compilation of data- and research-driven perspectives, broadening our understanding of strategies to decrease the health inequalities affecting both rural and urban Appalachians. The contributors propose specific recommendations for necessary research, suggest practical solutions for health policy, and present best practices models for effective health intervention. This in-depth analysis offers new insights for students, health practitioners, and policy makers, promoting a greater understanding of the factors affecting Appalachian health and effective responses to those needs.

In 1976, the outbreak of a new strain of swine flu at the Fort Dix, New Jersey, army base prompted an unprecedented inoculation campaign. Some forty-two million Americans were vaccinated as the National Influenza Immunization Program hastened to prevent a pandemic, while the World Health Organization (WHO) took a wait-and-see approach. Fortunately, the virus did not spread, and only one death occurred. But instead of being lauded, American actions were subsequently denounced as a \u201cfiasco\u201d and instigator of mass panic. In Influenza, George Dehner examines the wide disparity in national and international responses to influenza pandemics, from the Russian flu of 1889 to the swine flu outbreak in 2009. He chronicles the technological and institutional progress made along the way and shows how these developments can shape an effective future policy. Early pandemic response relied on methods of quarantine and individual scientific research. In the aftermath of World War II, a consensus for cooperation and shared resources led to the creation of the WHO, under the auspices of the United Nations. Today, the WHO maintains a large and proactive role in responding to influenza outbreaks. International pandemic response, however, is only as strong as its weakest national link—most recently evidenced in the failed early detection of the 2009 swine flu in Mexico and the delayed reporting of the 2002 SARS outbreak in China. As DehnerÆs study contends, the hard lessons of the past highlight the need for a coordinated early warning system with full disclosure, shared technologies, and robust manufacturing capabilities. Until the \u201cnational\u201d aspect can be removed from the international equation, responses will be hampered, and a threat to an individual remains a threat to all.

How did governments in the past act to stop the spread of venereal disease? Did legislation reflect medical opinion, and how did it treat the interests represented by women's or homosexual organisations? How can similarities and differences in national legislation be explained? In this book celebrated historian Ida Blom analyses the political culture of five welfare states -- the three social-democratic states of Scandinavia, the conservative German state, and the liberal British state -- with a view to understanding how relations between the individual citizen and the state vary. Pointing to important differences between the Scandinavian countries, the book charts the interaction of medicine and sexual morality, indicating the influence -- or lack of influence -- of medical opinion, and the impact of debates about gender, sexuality, and religion on policies intended to combat venereal disease. Ida Blom identifies the far-reaching consequences of these policies, be they fresh solutions or repeats of past political decisions, and establishes their effectiveness in hindering the spread of disease.

Complex regional pain syndrome type I (CRPS-I), formerly known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, can occur after a trauma to an arm or leg. CRPS is frequently seen after wrist fractures. The diagnosis of CRPS is based on clinical signs and symptoms. According to Veldman et al. it is characterized by unexplained diffuse pain, differences in skin colour and temperature relative to the other limb, diffuse oedema, and limited active range of motion. These signs and symptoms occur or increase after use and are present in an area larger than the area of primary trauma. CRPS is one of the most important causes of invalidation after an injury to an extremity and the therapy is difficult, time consuming and costly. When it occurs it has a devastating impact on the patient in personal, social and economic view. The emphasis of treatment should therefore be on prevention. This thesis, by orthopaedic surgeon Paul Zollinger, gives an overview of the evidence-based therapy of CRPS in an outline of the Dutch clinical practice guideline Complex regional pain syndrome type I. A general exposé on the chemical, pharmacodynamic and clinical aspects of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is presented. In two placebo-controlled randomized clinical trials Zollinger et al. show that 500 mg vitamin C daily, reduces the chance for the occurrence of CRPS after wrist fractures. In addition, this application of vitamin C is proposed in hand surgery as well. An alphabetical list of the relevant literature and summaries in English, Dutch and German complete this book on CRPS, which may be of interest for a variety of health care professionals (general practitioners, physiotherapists, trauma and orthopaedic surgeons, etc.).

The present work offers an extensive introduction to the text and transmission of the ancient Latin version of the medical works "Therapeutica" and "On Fevers" of the great sixth-century Greek doctor Alexander of Tralles. The importance of the Latin Alexander in medieval medicine in the West is seen in the richness of both mainstream and secondary, excerpting manuscript-traditions. The tradition is such that the reconstructed Latin text promises to be a much more important witness to the Greek text than the Greek is to the Latin, and of course a reliable edition is a prerequisite for any systematic work on questions such as the provenance of the translation and the Latinity of the translator(s). The volume comprises an introduction to Alexander; an outline account of his works in Greek compared with the Latin version; a description of the Latin manuscript copies, and a proposed reconstruction of the genetic relations between them; some preliminary remarks on the Latinity of the Latin Alexander; and a sample edition, with translation, critical apparatus, and extensive notes, of the chapters on coughing at the start of Book 2.

For thousands of years, cultures around the world have relied on herbal medicine for healing. Only recently have Americans flocked to once-suspect botanical treatments for the promise of good health and longevity. Among the most treasured of these plants is American ginseng, revered by millions of Asians as a virtual panacea that sustains every system of the human body. In Ginseng Dreams, Kristin Johannsen chronicles the remarkable world of the mysterious plant that commands as much as two thousand dollars a pound. She unfolds ginseng's history and its future through the stories of seven people whose lives center on it: a huckster, a field researcher, a farmer, a ginseng "missionary," a criminal investigator, a broker, and a cancer researcher. Each of them brings a different perspective to the elusive root -- and each is consumed by a different dream. Despite its venerable past and medicinal promise, American ginseng faces an uncertain future. Urban sprawl and environmental destruction threaten its fragile forest habitat, and the law provides little recourse against ginseng thieves who roam the backwoods. One step away from endangered species status, this precious plant of so much promise could soon be lost to us forever. Ginseng Dreams tells the extraordinary story of a natural treasure and the spell it casts on those who seek it.

Women have traditionally been expected to tend the sick as part of their domestic duties; yet throughout history they have faced an uphill struggle to be accepted as healers outside the household.In this provocative anthology, twelve essays by historians and literary scholars explore the work of women as healers and physicians. The essays range across centuries, nations, and cultures to focus on the ideological and practical obstacles women have faced in the world of medicine. Each examines the situation of women healers in a particular time and place through cases that are emblematic of larger issues and controversies in that period.The stories presented here are typical of different but parallel facets of women's history in medicine. The first six concern the controversial relationship between magic and medicine and the perception that women healers can harm or enchant as well as cure. Women frequently were banished to the edges of medical practice because their spiritualism or unorthodoxy was considered a threat to conventional medicine. These chapters focus mainly on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance but also provide continuity to women healers in African American culture of our own time. The second six essays trace women healers' efforts to seek professional standing, first in fifth-century Greece and Rome and later, on a global scale, in the mid-nineteenth century. In addition to actual case studies from Germany, Russia, England, and Australia, these essays consider treatments of women doctors in American fiction and in the writings of Virginia Woolf.Women Healers and Physicians complements existing histories of women in medicine by drawing on varied historical and literary sources, filling gaps in our understanding of women healers and nulling social attitudes about them. Although the contributions differ dramatically, all retain a common focus and create a unique comparative picture of women's struggles to climb the long hill to acceptance in the medical profession.

This exciting work by a nationally known fitness and health expert is a realistic and practical guide to a healthier and happier lifestyle. Dr. Bryant Stamford, author of the highly acclaimed Fitness Without Exercise and a syndicated health columnist, and co-author Becca Coffin, a registered nurse, show how making the right choices in diet can improve health and reduce fat while allowing people to enjoy a fuller and more varied diet than other weight-loss plans permit. Americans are obsessed with diets and dieting, and yet we grow fatter every year. Traditional diets offer only temporary weight loss through loss of water and muscle and do not address the real problems of dietary fat and poor eating habits. Fat is sinister, wreaking havoc on every system of the body. Eating fat results in fat people, but it also clogs the arteries, raises blood pressure, overloads the bowels, and causes diabetes. To avoid the dangers of dietary fat, we need to change our eating habits. Happily, we don't have to eat less; we just need to make smarter choices about what we eat.The Jack Sprat diet plan uses a guided day-by-day approach geared to gender, size, and physical activity level. Each of the four weeks in the plan starts with a complete grocery list, including daily menus that have been analyzed to show how many calories and grams of fat will be consumed. All menus have been analyzed also to assure fulfillment of RDA guidelines. Recipes are provided for all home-prepared items in the plan, and specially designed "On-Your-Own" tables help with substitutions in the daily menus. There are even sections for including fast foods and a system of "controlled cheating."To help ensure success, Stamford and Coffin provide not only day-by-day and meal-by-meal details of what to eat but also insightful scientific background that explains why. These chapters include information on how much fat one should eat, how to make smart choices when choosing a menu, and the benefits of light exercise. The authors also present a wealth of more specific information on physiology and metabolism, hormones, antioxidants, and phytochemicals, as well as on frauds such as cellulite-reducing creams and diet pills.Stamford and Coffin do not offer miracles or magic, but they do provide sound advice and practical guides that will be invaluable to anyone interested in losing weight and making positive lifestyle changes.

When Alexandra Todd's 21-year-old son is diagnosed with cancer, the family embarks on an odyssey that ultimately steers an expansive course between the gleaming technologies of traditional Western medicine and the gentle arts of alternative healing.

This pioneering work by internationally known physician Dr. James W. Anderson is a quick and easy guide to a healthier lifestyle. Breaking the steps to healthful living into manageable units, Dr. Anderson shows how making the right choices in diet, exercise and relaxation can improve health and reduce risks of major disease.Dr. Anderson's High-Fiber Fitness Plan is an essential handbook for those who want a hassle-free way to fitness and health. It has an enclosed spiral binding that lies flat on the counter with a wipeable cover and plenty of space for notes. The first half of the book is filled with suggestions for health-promoting foods and practices and packed with workbook exercises that allow users to personalize the plan. Practical chapters address topics including: using dietary fiber to fight disease, developing a lifetime plan, losing weight quickly & healthfully, cooking easily, dining outThe second half of the book is filled with more than 150 recipes, most of which take less than fifteen minutes to prepare. Try "Gingered Fruit Dip" on apple wedges and kiwi slices for breakfast or "Unfried Beans" for lunch; savor "Orange Muffins" for a snack or "Homestyle Brisket" for dinner. Offerings include: appetizers, beverages, snacks; fruits and desserts; fish, chicken, and meat; vegetables; salads; soups and sandwiches."I can do that!" sections help readers study their own habits and incorporate positive changes into daily life. Each chapter includes a "chapter action plan" to help readers put new information to use. A handy chart lists calories and fat content for restaurant foods.Through the use of "Jim's Diary," Dr. Anderson charts his own progress and improvement, and, through the success stories of those who have tried his diet and found their lives changed, he provides inspiration. His gentle, humorous style makes self-improvement nearly painless.

Social change has placed new demands on the practice of medicine, altering almost every aspect of patient care relationships. Just as medicine was encouraged to embrace the biological sciences some 100 years ago, recent directives indicate the importance of the social sciences in understanding biomedical practice. Humanistic challenges call for changes in curative and technological imperatives. In this book, social scientists contribute to such challenges by using social evidence to indicate appropriate new goals for health care in a changing environment.This book was designed to stimulate and challenge all those concerned with the human interactions that constitute medical practice. To encompass a wide range of topics, the authors include researchers; practicing physicians from the specialties of family, general, geriatric, pediatric, and oncological medicine; social and behavioral scientists; and public health representatives. Cutting across disciplinary boundaries, they explore the ethical, economic, and social aspects of patient care.These essays draw on past studies of the patient-doctor relationship and generate new and important questions. They address social behavior in patient care as a way to approach theoretical issues pertinent to the social and medical sciences. The authors also use social variables to study patient care and suggest new areas of sociomedical inquiry and new approaches to medical practice, education, and research.Its cross-disciplinary approach and jargon-free writing make this book an important and accessible tool for physician, scholar, and student.

The public health movement in the South began in the wake of a yellow fever epidemic that devastated the lower Mississippi Valley in 1878--a disaster that caused 20,000 deaths and financial losses of nearly $200 million. The full scale of the epidemic and the tentative, troubled southern response to it are for the first time fully examined by John Ellis in this new book.At the national level, southern congressional leaders fought to establish a strong federal health agency, but they were defeated by the young American Public Health Association, which defended states' rights. Local responses and results were mixed. In New Orleans, business and professional men, reacting to the denunciation of the city as the nation's pesthole, organized in 1879 to improve drainage, garbage disposal, and water supplies through voluntary subscription. Their achievements were of necessity modest.In Memphis--the city hardest hit by the epidemic--a new municipal government in 1879 helped form the first regional health organization and during the 1880s led the nation in sanitary improvements. In Atlanta, though it largely escaped the epidemic, the Constitution and some citizens called for health reform. Ironically their voices were drowned out by ritual invocation of local health mythology and by unabashed exploitation of the stigma of pestilence attached to New Orleans and Memphis. By 1890 Atlanta rivaled Charleston and Richmond for primacy in black mortality rates.That the public health movement met with only limited success Ellis attributes to the prevailing atmosphere of opportunistic greed, overwhelming debt, economic instability, and inordinate political corruption. But the effort to combat a terrifying disease not fully understood did eventually produce changes and the vastly improved health systems of today.

This volume is the first to explore broadly many important theoretical and applied issues concerning the mental health of Appalachians. The authors -- anthropologists, psychologists, social workers and others -- overturn many assumptions held by earlier writers, who have tended to see Appalachia and its people as being dominated by a culture of poverty.While the heterogeneity of the region is acknowledged in the diversity of sub-areas and populations discussed, dominant themes emerge concerning Appalachia as a whole. The result of the authors' varied approaches is a cumulative portrait of a strong regional culture with native support systems based on family, community, and religion.Some of the contributors examine therapeutic approaches, including family therapy, that consider the implications of the cultural context. Others explore the impact of Appalachian culture on the impact of Appalachian culture on the development of mental health problems and coping skills and the resulting potential for conflict between Appalachian clients and non-Appalachian health providers. Still others examine cultural considerations in therapeutic encounters and mental health service delivery. The book is rich in case studies and empirical data. The practical, applied nature of the essays will enhance their value for practitioners seeking ways to improve mental health care in the region.