Medicina

Internationally recognized physicians and researchers review both the basics of allogeneic stem cell transplantation and recent advances in the field, particularly as they relate to antitumor effects and graft-versus-host disease. They also provide unique decision-tree analyses to guide clinicians in selecting and managing their allogeneic transplant patients. The innovations discussed cover a variety of areas, ranging from stem cell mobilization in normal donors, to indications for allogeneic transplantation other than hematologic malignancies, to the use of nonmyeloablative conditioning regimens. The authors also explore new developments in the optimal selection of unrelated allogeneic grafts (e.g., matched unrelated donor, partially mismatched family member, or umbilical cord blood), the use allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell vs marrow-derived grafts for transplantation, and the kinetics of immune reconstitution after transplantation.

This publication surveys the profound and far-reaching ramifications that have arisen from the very significant advances in our understanding of the genetic basis of familial breast and ovarian cancer. Written by international experts from Europe and North America, this book provides the busy clinician with a contemporary and wide-ranging guide to the latest developments in the diagnosis, genetics, screening, prevention and management of familial breast cancer. This area has advanced in knowledge so rapidly that this publication provides an unrivalled source of information including sections on ethical and insurance issues and the different cultural differences in breast cancer. The use of recently devised cancer genetics clinics and different referral criteria and patterns to these clinics are detailed. The volume will be of immense value to all clinical geneticists, oncologists, and healthcare professionals involved in screening and counselling programmes.

The exponential growth and acceptance rate of stereotactic radiosurgery (as measured by recognized indications and number of treating centers) has been coupled with concern about its possible over-utilization and long-term risks. To provide the most balanced account possible of this controversy, each chapter in this book is followed by a critical commentary from an expert on each indication, often one who does not perform radiosurgery. As a result, the reader benefits from an intelligent discussion of the clinical indications by both advocates and critics of radiosurgery. The book's contributors, true leaders in the field from the United States, Europe, and Japan, represent a wide variety of experience and opinion. Whereas earlier texts devoted large sections to the actual equipment used to perform radiosurgery, as the field matures it is now clear that the technique can be performed equally well with a variety of technologies. Thus, this book has just one chapter on technology, and otherwise concentrates on appropriate indications, use, and patient outcomes. It is the author's hope that neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists and neurologists will use the information in this text to decide for themselves the role that radiosurgery should play in treating patients with neurologic disorders.

The Executive Brain is the first popular but rigorous book to explore the most 'human' region of the brain, the frontal lobes. Writing in a lively and accessible style, the author shows how the frontal lobes enable us to engage in complex mental processes, how they control our judgment and our social and ethical behavior, how vulnerable they are to injury, and how devastating the effects of damage often are, leading to chaotic, disorganized, asocial, and even criminal behavior. Replete with fascinating case histories and anecdotes, Goldberg's book offers a panorama of state-of-the-art ideas and advances in cognitive neuroscience. It is also an intellectual memoir, filled with vignettes about the author's early training with Luria, his escape from the Soviet Union, and later interactions with patients and professionals around the world.