Oxford University Press

Clinical neuropsychology is one of the fastest growing specialities within mainstream clinical psychology, neurology and the psychiatric disciplines. This handbook is designed to provide a practical guide for those interested in the professional application of neuropsychology to clinical practice. The book is written and presented in a concise, structured and easy-to-read style. It covers the contribution that neuropsychological approaches can make to the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of a range of brain disorders, as well as addressing the special considerations when treating children and the elderly. The content is firmly anchored in contemporary neuroscientific techniques, focusing on the techniques of functional imaging, cognitive psychology, cognitive neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry and cognitive rehabilitation. It also provides background information on laboratory and research techniques, as well as covering relevant neurology and psychiatry.

Acute and chronic pain place a huge burden on our society. Approximately 10% of the population in Western countries report suffering from chronic pain, and both chronic and acute pain are responsible for high absenteeism in the workplace. It is therefore crucial that we have effective ways of treating pain. Unfortunately though, we have no objective measures of pain - no blood tests, no urine dipsticks. We have to rely on what the patient tells us. So how then do we know what are and what are not effective pain treatments? It is here that the principles of evidence-based medicine have been of great value - helping us to understand the most effective forms of pain treatment. Bandolier's Little Book of Pain is a unique portable guide to evidence-based pain treatments. For each possible treatment, the book provides the evidence supporting the efficacy of the treatment, along with a clinical bottom line, for those requiring immediate information. Written by world leaders in the field of evidenced-based pain treatments, the book will be indispensable for the multi-disciplinary professionals managing acute and chronic pain in primary and secondary care.

The new edition of Prevention of Oral Disease remains the only comprehensive textbook covering all aspects of dental prevention. Chapters covering conventional preventive issues such as diet and fluorides are complemented by innovative new or revised material in a wide range of areas, including mucosal disease, the pulp and endodontics and periodontal disease. Generic subjects such as the social dimension of oral health and health promotion underpin the clinically based chapters. The book is relevant to anyone who has to provide or understand prevention, irrespective of their clinical discipline or interest. This is an essential text for undergraduates, but will be valuable for postgraduate students in many fields, and for dental practitioners and hygienists interested in current thinking on prevention. The material presented is concise, structured and well illustrated and is based on the most recent research evidence. For the first time, the book is presented in an attractive two-colour format and the use of summaries and key points throughout the book ensure that it is learner friendly.

Trauma, be it as a result of road traffic accident, domestic incident, deliberate violent act, or war, is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease, is a major issue for public health generally, and has significant impact on the economics of healthcare provision. This book provides a unique and comprehensive overview of the field, covering a wide range of non-orthopaedic trauma, as well as the more prevalent musculoskeletal injuries. After an introductory section defining the scale of the problem, the book describes the initial management and stabilization of the patient. There then follow substantial chapters on injuries to each of the major body systems and to the musculoskeletal structure. Other physical injuries, such as electrical shock and bites, are covered, before a look at trauma in special groups, including children, the elderly and in pregnant women. The final sections cover specific problems such as dealing with HIV, psychiatric trauma and sexual assault, before a chapter on rehabilitation. The book concludes with a resource section including a drugs formulary specifically for trauma and an online directory of related websites. This is an all-encompassing textbook providing a uniquely comprehensive and international resource for members of the trauma and accident and emergency teams.

The Handbook of Postoperative Complications focuses on the complications that can arise after surgical procedures. Complications are clearly important and are increasingly used as measurable, clinical performance indicators. The consequences of postoperative complications can include the inconvenience to the patient, their relatives, work and lifestyle, complaints and litigation against the medical staff, and increased periods of hospitalisation, with the associated cost implications. The Handbook is divided into two sections. The first covers general complications such as pressure sores, complications of fluid balance and problems related to anaesthesia. Section two focuses in on the complications encountered in all of the major surgical specialties. This book, written and presented in the familiar, concise and convenient note-based style of the Oxford Pocket Medicine series, will be essential reading for all trainee surgeons, medical students, operating theatre staff, nurses, rehabilitation staff and general practitioners responsible for the care of surgical patients after their discharge from hospital.

In order to understand how brains carry out perceptual and cognitive processes, we need co-ordinated investigations of these tasks at three levels. In addition to studying the cognitive processes of the whole organism, we need to investigate the contributions of specific brain regions and small groups of neurons within those regions. We also need to understand how computations in distinct regions interact to produce cognition and the pathways through which these interactions take place. These questions are most productively answered by taking a multi-level approach, using a variety of experimental techniques that are themselves developing rapidly in power as research tools. About half a century ago, the first micro-electrode recordings of sensory neurons in mammalian visual cortex transformed our thinking about how the brain carries out the job of seeing the world around us. Since that time, the physiology of cognitive processes has come a long way. New techniques have been developed. Old techniques are being deployed in new ways. However, the most spectacular development has been the growth in the range of topics that are now addressed by this discipline. Recording with micro-electrodes is still centre stage, but today neurons can be studied in conscious animals that are looking, learning, remembering and making decisions, and the recordings are beginning to show how these processes work. New techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain are now making it possible to study cognitive processes as they occur in the human brain. This important new book addresses a range of questions including: Which parts of the human brain analyse colour? How do neurones enable us to decide what we are looking at? How does paying attention to a stimulus change the way neurons process it? How do neurons decide when and where to move our eyes when we are searching for something? Where in the brain are memories stored? How do neurons tell us we have seen something before? What aspect of brain activity is recorded by a brain scanner? The underlying theme of all the papers is to understand the neuronal events and processes that are responsible for the remarkable range of cognitive tasks that can be carried out by primate brains. With contributions from world leaders in the cognitive neurosciences, this is a volume that will be essential reading for students and researchers involved in brain research.

This highly acclaimed book deals with all the key kidney, ureter and bladder problems likely to be encountered by the non-specialist paediatrician and paediatric nephrologist. The book adopts an evidence-based, problem solving approach and focuses on presenting clinical symptoms rather than being disease orientated. Emphasis is placed on differential diagnosis, evaluation and treatment. Where no evidence is available or where controversy exists, a clear opinion on the most appropriate treatment is provided. For this completely revised and updated edition over half of the text is revised. New chapters have been added on psychosocial care principles, drug prescribing in children and paediatric nephrology in the third world. Certain chapters have been condensed for clarity and other chapters have been combined to facilitate practical use. This edition is based around practical guidelines and contributions have been collected from international experts in the field. The chapters contain key point boxes highlighting the important take-home messages. The well-structured text is ideal for trainee and non-specialist paediatricians, for paediatric nephrologists and for nephrologists and urologists with an interest in children. This book is undoubtedly regarded as 'the' paediatric nephrology textbook to be held on the shelves of all general paediatric departmental libraries.

This book considers the aetiological factors that render renal patients at risk of infection and covers the infectious complications of the major modalities of renal replacement therapy. The book has been written by a combination of microbiologists, clinical scientists and clinicians active in the care of kidney patients at all stages in their treatment from chronic renal insufficiency through dialysis and on to transplantation. It brings together a large body of clinical and scientific material to help clinicians manage infectious complications of kidney disease. As far as is possible a clinical chapter is balanced by a chapter dealing with pathophysiology. The book is divided in to three sections: Basic Mechanisms, Infectious Complications of Common Renal Conditions, Renal Failure and Transplantation, and Prevention and Management. The uraemic condition as a state of immunosupression is discussed to set the scene for why renal patients are prone to so many diverse infections. Increasingly potent immunosuppressive drugs are being deployed in a variety of primary conditions and also to prevent renal allograft rejection. The mechanisms by which these drugs predispose to infection are discussed. A chapter deals specifically with peritoneal defence mechanisms of critical importance in the management of infection complicating continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. The second section of the book deals specifically with infectious complications in defined situations. For example, diabetes mellitus is discussed in detail as this is now the major cause of endstage chronic renal failure. Infectious complications of glomerulonephritis and vasculitis are discussed, and this relates to the effects of the potent immunosuppressive agents now deployed. Specific chapters are devoted to infectious complications of peritoneal dialysis and haemodialysis including a chapter on mucormycosis. Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C have each been given a chapter and the impact of these hepatitis viruses on the renal patient from chronic renal failure through dialysis to transplantation is described. Infectious complications of transplantation follows and reviews the common infections as well as presenting some new data on viral induced tumours. In the final section of the book, prevention of infection is discussed with particular emphasis to vascular access and the care of the uraemic ischaemic/diabetic foot. The general principles relating to limiting the spread of infection within the Renal Unit are discussed in detail. Increasing patient mobility and travel requires that travel and vaccination in renal patients are discussed. The book ends with a practical chapter on prescribing advice for the use of common anti-microbial agents. This book will be of value to all those involved in the care of this vulnerable group, specifically nephrologists, renal transplant surgeons and physicians and diabetologists.

This is the first book devoted to the study of the social and economic consequences of headache. Reducing the Burden of Headache analyses the financial cost of headache diseases, the disability and suffering they cause and the impact they have on the quality of life of the sufferers and their families. These are issues of major importance; migraine appears in the top 20 list of diseases ranked according to years lived with disability. Headache, in general, is thought to account for approximately 20% of all days lost from work. Of even greater importance is the impact on everyday life, studies have shown that migraine has a greater impact on the quality of life of sufferers than many other diseases generally considered to be more serious. This book describes and analyses the epidemiological data accumulated in the field and suggests guidelines and interventions aimed at improving healthcare for headache. Adoption of these suggestions combined with judicious use of existing resources and modern treatment options can lead to great improvements in the lives of headache sufferers world-wide. This book will be of interest to neurologists, general practitioners, epidemiologists, public health specialists, health service managers and all those interested in improving services and outcomes for sufferers of headache.

The quest for therapeutic specificity is implicit in all branches of medicine. In cancer treatment, where the therapeutic modality is a cytotoxic agent such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy, such specificity is of paramount importance. The growing realisation that current therapeutic options are likely to yield no more than incremental improvements in outcome has fuelled the search for more active targeted approaches. This book discusses the more archetypal systemic targeted therapies, such as those employing monoclonal antibodies or liposomes, but also includes strategies, such as photodynamic therapy and boron neutron capture therapy, that rely on direct physical targeting of disease. The explosion in our understanding of the molecular biology of cancer in recent years has led to the identification of a number of new potential therapeutic targets. These factors, combined with the likelihood that yet more valuable information will be gleaned from the Human Genome Project, mean that inevitably, significant clinical activity in this arena is anticipated in the coming years with the very real prospect that gene therapy approaches may find an established role in the standard treatment of some of the common cancers. This book brings together the very latest research in this field from an international group of experts and will prove invaluable for molecular oncologists, cancer researchers and those involved with clinical trials as well as providing a reference for oncologists who are beginning to use some of these therapies in everyday clinical practice.

Spatial neglect is a disorder of space-related behaviour. It is characterized by failure to explore the side of space contralateral to a brain lesion, or to react or respond to stimuli or subjects located on this side. Research on spatial neglect and related disorders has developed rapidly in recent years. These advances have been made as a result of neuropsychological studies of patients with brain damage, behavioural studies of animal models, as well as through functional neurophysiological experiments and functional neuroimaging. The Cognitive and Neural Bases of Spatial Neglect provides an overview of this wide-ranging field of scientific endeavour, providing a cohesive synthesis of the most recent observations and results. As well as being a fascinating clinical phenomenon, the study of spatial neglect helps us to understand normal mechanisms of directing and maintaining spatial attention and is relevant to the contemporary search for the cerebral correlates of conscious experience, voluntary action and the nature of personal identity itself. The book is divided into seven sections covering the anatomical and neurophysiological bases of the disorder, frameworks of neglect, perceptual and motor factors, the relation to attention, the cognitive processes involved, and strategies for rehabilitation. Chapters have been written by a team of the leading international experts in this field. This will be essential reading for neuropsychologists, neurologists, neurophysiologists, cognitive neuroscientists and psychologists.

Genetics promises to provide one of the most powerful approaches to understanding the functional pathology of the human brain. This book presents a critical review of the evidence for a genetic contribution to common psychiatric conditions and the rarer single-gene disorders that may have psychiatric presentations. The first section of the book introduces the reader to molecular biology and the techniques of molecular genetics. The coverage then moves on to consider the genetics of normal and abnormal development, followed by a look at the genetics of abnormal behaviour in adults. This section includes, amongst others, consideration of personality disorders, schizophrenia and the dementias. The final section considers the applications of the work and covers issues such as counselling and ethics, closing with a look to the future. The editors are internationally renowned figures in this field and they have invited a team of equally eminent chapter authors. This will be essential reading for psychiatrists and geneticists and will be of interest to neurologists, psychologists and neuroscientists.