Springer Verlag

This new textbook wants to offer to neonatologists and pediatricians a modern and complete view of the various problems and aspects of neonatology, currently one of the most complex and advanced fields of pediatrics. The first chapters will be dedicated to the epidemiology of neonatal mortality and morbidity and to the conditions responsible for neonatal risk. A section will be devoted to organizational problems of hospitals and home services for efficient modern neonatal and infant care. Particular attention will be paid to neonatal care, medico-legal questions, examination of newborns and current availability of laboratory facilities and instrumentation for identification of perinatal abnormalities. Neonatal nutritional problems will also be examined, outlining current knowledge of the needs of sick and healthy babies. Conditions jeopardizing fetal health such as diabetes, maternal drug abuse and smoking will be discussed. New advances in neonatal pharmacology will be extensively examined. Various diseases of the neonate involving lungs, heart, gastrointestinal tract, blood, immune system, endocrine system and kidneys will be also expounded in special chapters. Fetal and neonatal infections will be extensively discussed. Fetal and neonatal neurological abnormalities will be discussed by highly specialized authors. There will be chapters on neonatal ophthalmology, dermatology and orthopedics. Each chapter has beeb written by a well recognized international expert in his or her field. As the opinion leader in their field, the Author is responsible for giving the most up-to-date information in terms of what is known, what is still being researched, and what has become evidence based medicine. Underlying causes and mechanisms of neonatal diseases will be presented in an immediate form. The use of summaries, tables, and accurately selected guidelines or recommendations that will accompany the text will supply quick references and instant solutions to the concerned neonatologists during their daily practice.

The focus of this volume is the "state of the art" of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine as well as new insights into basic science, clinical research and therapeutic interventions. Structured in four parts, the volume opens with few chapters devoted to the beginning and development of the WSICCM, to procedures standardization, recommendations and quality of care improvement, with particular reference to the definition of clinical governance, professionalism and ethics. In the second part, the authors describe the practical clinical approach to critical illness; among the topics dealt with, the reader will find monitoring and management of shock states; acute pain management, airway management, ALI/ARDS and protective lung ventilation; the problem of weaning; antibiotics policy, sepsis and organ dysfunction. The third part of the book is related to some special conditions of countries with limited resources, such as management of obstetrics at high risk, malaria, AIDS, blood transfusion and its components. The last part of the book is structured to present some crucial issues of the intensive and critical care arena, in particular evidence-based practice, the role of the e-distance learning for information and the promotion of CME programs; last but not least, trauma care, disaster and natural disaster medicine are also discussed; a final chapter on the Guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Disaster Medicine is included.

Needle biopsy is a simple, reliable, inexpensive, well tolerated, and minimally invasive procedure for the diagnosis of tumors both in superficial and deep sites. In the new scenario determined by a more conservative approach to tumor treatment, and in the era of 'tailored' or 'targeted' oncological therapies the use of this technique is expected to increase dramatically for the diagnosis of neoplasia in all different phases of the disease. The efficacy of needle biopsy is, however, strongly influenced by the experience of the physician performing the technique and by the pathologist's attitude towards the interpretation of such minimal cellular harvest. Aim of this volume is to provide all possible clues for the optimization of the needle biopsy diagnosis. By using a problem-oriented approach, the best interventional maneuver and sample triage will be described for all types of lesions, and the interpretation of all possible cytological findings will be supported by the pattern analysis methodology. The reader will be guided to pattern recognition in the cellular sample and to provide the most correct interpretation, based on the integration with clinical and preanalytical data.