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This book contains the essential information required by physicians and bench scientists to understand the definition of a given autoimmune disease and its diagnostic criteria and treatment. Autoimmune diseases are a family of more than one hundred chronic, and often disabling, illnesses that develop when underlying defects in the immune system lead the body to attack its own organs, tissues, and cells. In Autoimmune Disease Diagnosis: Systemic and Organ-specific Diseases, the editors have gathered a critical review by renowned experts of more than 120 autoimmune diseases. A contemporary overview of these conditions with special emphasis on diagnosis is presented. This edition of Autoimmune Disease Diagnosis is divided into two parts, the first covering systemic autoimmune diseases, and the second covering organ-specific autoimmune diseases. They cover all the newly approved classification criteria, such as those for systemic lupus erythematosus, antiphospholipid syndrome, several systemic vasculitis, etc. This edition also reviews newly described systemic autoimmune conditions: immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy, VEXAS, immunoglobulin G4-associated autoimmune disease, autoimmune/autoinflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA), and autoimmune manifestations induced by immune-therapies. Several organ-specific diseases have been added, including autoimmune alopecia and other immune-mediated dermatosis, autoimmune encephalitis, and autoimmune dysautonomia, among others. This is an essential guide to the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases for internists, rheumatologists, clinical immunologists, primary care physicians, and bench scientists.

This encyclopedia volume covers the complete field of endocrine pathology – from Acidophil Stem Cell Adenoma to Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome. The alphabetically arranged entries, each of which provides a detailed description of a specific pathological disease pattern, allow readers to quickly and easily find the information they need.

Every surgical subspecialty has been rapidly developing with establishment of the board certification. The Division of Endocrine Surgery (DES) of the European Board of Surgery has defined the curriculum for Endocrine Surgery to include thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal and GEP-NET surgery, and handles accreditation in Endocrine Surgery. The first examinations in Endocrine Surgery in Europe have been introduced in 2003. The main goal of the exam is to maintain a uniform and high standard of endocrine surgical professionalism across the Europe.This book was completed with the expectation that it would benefit all European surgeons looking to be certified in Endocrine Surgery. Additionally, surgeons from the United States and other non-EU countries we hope will also benefit from this book. There is a need for a specialized book that reviews evidence based endocrine surgery that aligns itself with current curriculum standards in the field. The book contains knowledge that is expected to be known on the board examination of the DES. In general, chapters start with a patient's case followed by questions. The subsequent comprehensive yet concise main text provides all the information needed for a successful DES exam and cites important references. After the patient case and questions, the text goes on to define the condition, the standard of care approach to establish the diagnosis, perform diagnostic tests of choice, review evidence-based treatment options including medical therapy, preparation for surgery. The chapters conclude with follow up care and long term outcomes. The topics discussed within this book closely follow the curriculum of the European Board of Surgery Examination.Written by experts in the field, Endocrine Surgery Comprehensive Board Exam Guide is a valuable source of preparation for the Endocrine Surgery examination and brings Endocrine Surgery to a higher level of expertise byhelping to raise the standard of training for future endocrine surgeons.

This comprehensive reference book is meant to support clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of polyendocrine diseases and endocrine neoplastic syndromes. Although a large majority of endocrine diseases present as sporadic cases, an increasing proportion can be identified as part of a polyendocrine or systemic syndrome. These include autoimmune endocrine diseases, which may be part of autoimmune polyendocrine disorders (APS) or rare complex disorders such as POEMS (polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, M-protein and skin changes) or IPEX (immune dysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, X-linked) syndromes. On the other hand, endocrine tumors may develop in a variety of clinical conditions, including multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) syndromes, syndromic diseases such as McCune Albright or Carney's complex, or peculiar familial associations such as pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma syndromes. The book discusses the significant advances that have been made in the clinical and genetic characterization of such entities, with major implications in terms of diagnosis and clinical management - with special attention to emerging syndromes, familial screening, multidisciplinarity and multimodal treatment. This volume is intended for clinicians, residents, specialists and physicians involved in the diagnosis and treatment of affected patients, including specialists in endocrinology, internal medicine, oncology, genetics and imaging.

This volume presents and analyses the ongoing arguments, controversies, challenges and debates on thyroid disease with a view to clarifying some uncertainties, and to making suggestions that will help resolve others.Issues such as thyroid disease during pregnancy, Hashimoto's disease, Hurthle cell lesions, solitary thyroid nodules, retrosternal goiter, thyroid cancer, recurrent thyroid disease, thyroidectomy techniques, post-thyroidectomy hypocalcemia, and thyroid auto-transplantation are thoroughly explored. Richly illustrated, the book offers an invaluable tool for all specialists and trainees entrusted with the care of patients suffering from thyroid disease.

The interaction between mind and skin diseases is the focus in psychodermatology. This important subspecialty is the result of the merging of two major medical specialties: psychiatry and dermatology. Research and existing publications in this field are mainly focused on the general population. The increase in life expectation and the increasing number of elderly individuals worldwide is making the geriatrics specialty more and more important.'Geriatric psychodermatology'is a combination of three medical specialties: Geriatrics, Psychiatry and Dermatology. The natural aging changes that occur in the skin can be a psychological challenge for many individuals, as well as various psychodermatological disorders pertaining to the elderly population, causing significant psychological and physical distress and impacting quality of life. This is the first book ever published about this unexplored and eminent topic. This book presents a new perspective of known psychodermatological diseases in elderly populations. Psychological implications, impact on quality of life and holistic and integrated management of psychocutaneous diseases are the main focus of this book. The authors invite you to explore the geriatric psychodermatology field.

Atrial fibrillation is rapidly assuming a predominant role in current vascular medicine. Parallel to its escalating prevalence, due mainly to the global aging of the population, physicians worldwide and across different medical fields have joined efforts producing dramatic breakthroughs in diagnostics and the multidimensional therapeutic arsenal to this common arrhythmia. In this endeavor, we aim to cover an updated and practical overview of the whole spectrum of this disturbing hurdle. Firstly, this publication will encompass different perspectives for the same entity: atrial fibrillation, encompassing the first line approach of Internal Medicine and the mindset of cardiologists and neurologists. Thereafter, an updated look on the epidemiology that has been exponentiating the awareness on this arrhythmia with a special scrutiny to the impact on stroke units worldwide is discussed. In the next section, the main advances in the diagnostic area will be presented, ranging from the anatomical viewpoint to rhythm disturbances and embolic complications. The medical and interventional treatment will follow with critical reviews of the therapeutic outbreaks and achievements into a practical modern-day care. In summary, we designed a flow of contents from the burden of the disease to its approach, with the intent to provide an updated, comprehensive overview of all major current dilemmas in atrial fibrillation conceptualized for physicians from all specialties addressing patients with this contemporary clinical challenge. (Imrint: Nova Biomedical)

Thyroid nodules have a high prevalence in populations where iodine deficiency rates are high and in people older than 50 years. Considering that only 5-10% of thyroid nodules are of malignant nature, it is apparent that the clinical issue is the cost-effective differential diagnosis between benign nodules and the malignant ones. This e-book addresses this key issue by giving readers a general overview on the clinical aspect of thyroid nodules and specific details on molecular characterization of the nodules. This e-book is particularly suitable for novice endocrinologists but laboratory biologists and technicians involved in the pre-surgical diagnosis of thyroid cancer can also benefit from the additional technical details offered in this text.

The disorders induced by iodine deficiency affect at least one billion people. Because ofits effects on brain development, iodinedeficiency is the single most preventable cause of mental retardation in the world. Therefore, the United Nations and the Heads of State of almost all the world's countries represented at the Summit for Children in 1990 adopted resolutions to eradicate the disorders induced by iodine deficiency (IDD) by the year 2000. For geological and socio-economic reasons, most of the populations affected by iodine deficiency disorders live in isolated and usually mountainous areas, in pre­ industrialized parts ofthe world. The problem of iodine deficiency in Europe has been greatly underestimated in the last decades. After the remarkable studies on the effects of iodine deficiency and their prevention and correction in Switzerland, IDD was generally considered no longer a significant public health problem in Europe. However, surveys carried out in the early 1980's under the auspices of the European Thyroid Association, clearly demonstrated the persistence of moderately or even severely affected areas. These surveys also highlighted the lack ofinformation about large parts ofEurope, especially its eastern part. It is only quite recently, following major changes in international relations and thanks to the support of UNICEF, WHO, the International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders and the European Thyroid Association, that more extensive surveys have been conducted in several parts of Europe hitherto almost unexplored. These surveys showed that most European countries were iodine deficient.

Over the past two decades ultrasound has undergone numerous advances in technology such as gray-scale imaging, real-time sonography, high resolution 7.5-10 MHz transducers, and color-flow Doppler. This makes ultrasound unsurpassed in its ability to provide very accurate images of the thyroid gland quickly, inexpensively, and safely. However, in spite of these advances, ultrasound remains drastically underutilized by endocrinologists. In part, this is due to a lack of understanding of the ways in which ultrasound can aid in the diagnosis of various thyroid conditions and to a lack of experience in the ultrasound technique by the clinician. Thyroid Ultrasound and Ultrasound-Guided FNA Biopsy presents a `hands-on'approach to using ultrasound in the clinical evaluation and management of thyroid disease. It is written specifically for the clinician and discusses the subtleties one needs to be aware of in using this technique. Particular attention is paid to using ultrasound in conjunction with FNA biopsy. New technology such as three-dimensional ultrasound, color-flow Doppler, and percutaneous injection of cysts and nodules are discussed and demonstrated. Numerous ultrasound examples are used to show the interactions between ultrasound and tissue characteristics and explain their clinical significance. Also presented is the work of several groups of investigators worldwide who have explored new applications of ultrasound, that has led to novel techniques that are proving clinically useful.

The immune system is a natural component, regulator and direct participant in the physiological activities in a healthy body. A considerable number of immune functions, including those related to antimicrobial defense, derive from autoclearance as well as construction and support of multicellularity. Various pathological processes in any organ are usually accompanied by different patterns of cell death and, thus, by increased exposure and presentation of self antigens. These events induce the secondary rise in production of autoantibodies with appropriate specificity (opsonins), which provides augmentation of clearance by facilitating the efficacy of macrophage-dependent consumption of debris in the affected organ. Secondary changes in production and serum content of autoantibodies can be considered the universal and earliest detectable marker of any chronic disease. Experimental and clinical production antibodies reveal antibodies against nuclear antigens, which penetrate into living cell nuclei and alter nuclear acid synthesis, cell proliferation and function. Autoantibodies can thus be regarded as hormone-like bioregulators of gene expression. The immune system is apparently able to reproduce complementary regulators for various cell receptors, including nuclear ones. The book focuses on physiological autoimmunity models and delves into the relation between autoimmunity and autoallergy in the context of disease prevention and prediction. The E-book is a unique and comprehensive monograph and includes a history and contemporary research on natural autoimmunity - a fundamental concept essential for many branches of medicine and pathology. The concepts described in this e-book also have broad practical implications for the healthcare sector, because it establishes effective method of early prediction for many different diseases and creates a basis for prophylaxis. The reference gives medical and clinical professionals a chance to revisit old dogmas and acquire fruitful perspectives for theoretical reasoning and research planning.

Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma is a rare thyroid tumor originating from neural crest cells, the C-cell that implies several special features, secretion of different neuroendocrine markers, association with other endocrine tumors and familial appearance. The familial variant of medullary thyroid carcinoma allows an early detection by biochemical and genetic testing. At that stage acceptable surgical treatment will cure the patient. The sporadic form of medullary thyroid carcinoma will be diagnosed in a progressive stage, but adequate surgical procedure can cure these patients too. Long term survival depends on stage, age, sex, and variant of the disease and seems to be as good as in other differentiated thyroid cancers.

This issue of Medical Clinics of North America provides the latest essential updates on thyroid disorders and diseases. Topics covered include the following: thyroid synthesis and physiology; hyperthyroidism; hypothyroidism; thyroid nodules; goiter; differentiated thyroid cancer; subacute, silent, and postpartum thyroiditis; thyroid and pregnancy; thyroid and the elderly; medications and thyroid hormones; thyroid and the heart; thyroid and lipids; and Graves'ophthalmology.

A Clinical Guide to Occupational and Environmental Lung Diseases delivers a concise compendium to the diagnosis and management of occupational and environmental lung diseases, incorporating evidence-based guidelines where available. Each chapter provides an updated review and a practical approach to different occupational and environmental lung diseases. With rapidly changing technology, new conditions and exposures will undoubtedly emerge. Clinicians need to remain vigilant about assessing the potential link between lung diseases and environmental exposures, and this book provides a practical guide to recognize, diagnose, and prevent occupational and environmental lung diseases. Written for practicing clinicians including internists, pulmonologists, and primary care providers, as well as industrial hygienists and environmental regulators, A Clinical Guide to Occupational and Environmental Lung Diseases is a timely and important new volume and an invaluable contribution to the literature.

Because of its relative rarity and favorable outcome, it has not been feasible to assess medical interventions for thyroid cancer using randomized prospective trials. The approach to diagnosis and treatment relies to a great extent on information derived from retrospective studies. Overall prognosis and survival rates have been edging upward over the past two decades. This is attributed to a wider acceptance of total thyroidectomy as the primary surgical strategy. The appropriate indication of radioiodine therapy remains controversial, and physicians must be familiar with staging criteria to make educated decisions. We are now beginning to understand the genetic mechanisms of thyroid tumor initiation and progression. There are still major challenges ahead. Thyroid Cancer provides comprehensive updates on the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of thyroid neoplasms. Although the material should be of particular interest to scholars in the field, the contributors have striven to make it of practical use to physicians who treat patients with thyroid disease.

Already established as a'classic'in the field, Clinical Tests of Respiratory Function presents an authoritative yet accessible account of this complex area, fusing the basic principles of respiratory physiology with applications in clinical practice across a wide range of disorders. This third edition has been extensively revised to reflect

Autoimmune Diseases in Endocrinology is a comprehensive and novel text that examines key features that predispose individuals to autoimmune diseases. The text begins with three introductory chapters which provide sufficient information so that anyone, including those without a background in recent immunology, will be able to understand the developments in the field. The next and largest section of the book concerns autoimmune thyroid disease, and authors of these chapters take the reader through the basic epidemiology, genetic and environmental risk factors, immunopathogenesis, and the diagnostic and management aspect of the disease. The next section discusses Type 1 diabetes mellitus. In the final section, authors explain other autoimmune endocrinopathies, including Addison's disease, premature ovarian failure, autoimmune hypophysitis, and autoimmune polyglandular syndrome types 1 and 2. Comprehensive and timely, Autoimmune Diseases in Endocrinology will become an essential reference for all endocrinologists and internal medicine practitioners working in this field.

According to the Autoimmune Diseases Coordinating Committee (ADCC), between 14.7 and 23.5 million people in the USA – up to eight percent of the population are affected by autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases are a family of more than 100 chronic, and often disabling, illnesses that develop when underlying defects in the immune system lead the body to attack its own organs, tissues, and cells. In Handbook of Autoimmune Disease, the editors have gathered in a comprehensive handbook a critical review, by renowned experts, of more than 100 autoimmune diseases, divided into two main groups, namely systemic and organ-specific autoimmune diseases. A contemporary overview of these conditions with special emphasis on diagnosis is presented. Each chapter contains the essential information required by attending physicians as well as bench scientists to understand the definition of a specific autoimmune disease, the diagnostic criteria, and the treatment.

Jacques Barzun, the noted Columbia University historian of ideas and culture, once described the feeling that some people experience when they come upon a new reference book. He wrote: “Hand over to one of us a new Dictionary, “Companion,” or Guide, and our eyes first light up and then turn dreamy: we have seized the volume and are off, arm in arm with the guide i or companion. …” The book now in your hands made my eyes light up. Thyroid Disorders with Cutaneous Manifestations is that kind of book. Heymann, who has been fascinated by this sometimes controversial subject for decades, has brought not only his own expertise, but that of many experts from the fields of the skin and the thyroid gland. Steven Jay Gould wrote about overlapping and nonoverlapping magisteria—this book demonstrates just how much important overlap there is. But it also covers the basics in such a way that dermatologists can find what they need to know about the thyroid and thyroidologists can find what they need to know about the skin. Thyroid Disorders with Cutaneous Manifestations falls neatly into the tra- tion of medical monographs that become standards. They fulfill the roles of gathering, digesting, and synthesizing current knowledge, and they do so in a way that review articles cannot approach and that the scientific literature is not designed to accomplish.

Management of Thyroid Cancer and Related Nodular Disease is an authoritative, readable book covering all aspects of thyroid cancer. The text is extensively referenced and includes personal experience of 35 years working with patients with thyroid disorders, including thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer. The chapters are supplemented with many illustrations including pathology, thyroid and whole-body scans, ultrasounds and other nuclear medicine and radiological studies. Important questions that patients may ask their physicians are highlighted, indicating the topics the physician should cover. Thyroid anatomy and physiology, as well as the management of thyroid nodules are covered. There are several pathological varieties of thyroid cancer and these are reviewed with examples. A chapter about the etiology and pathogenesis of thyroid cancer covers the role of radiation and gene abnormalities. Chernobyl is referred to in this chapter as well. Management of Thyroid Cancer and Related Nodular Disease is designed for physicians, including primary care doctors, endocrinologists, nuclear medicine physicians, general and head and neck surgeons, oncologists and radiation oncologists. Others groups who will find an interest in part, or all of the book are residents, medical students, and nurse practitioners when they research a patient-related problem.

As a phylogenetically old system complement is now regarded as a part of innate immunity. But it is much more than that. It bridges innate and adapted immunity, participates not only in host defense but also in many essential physiological processes, old and new diseases and adverse conditions. Indeed, complement became a term that almost defies categorization. What was for a long time a subject for a limited number of specialists has now moved into the mainstream of experimental and clinical immunology. In 1973 I visited the Basel Institute of Immunology and met its director, the eminent scientist and Nobel laureate Nils Jerne. When I entered his office he greeted me with the following words: “Complement, does that really exist?” I was never certain whether he wanted only to tease me or whether he sincerely believed that the complement system was an unimportant biological curiosity, a misstep of evolution. But, of course, missteps do not survive the evolutionary process. Little did I foresee the dramatic developments of recent years when Hans J. Müller-Eberhard and I started to unravel the specifics of the action of the cobra venom factor on the complement system in 1968 and defined a new pathway to its activation. An elucidation of the role of the system in diseases and its control for therapeutic reasons is now getting closer to actual realization in the clinic although many problems, in particular those of highly specificinhibition free of side effects, have still to be resolved.

The considerable increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer in children in areas exposed to the fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident has drawn attention to the need for a better understanding of the relationship between radiation exposure (especially from the radionuclides of iodine) and the risk of thyroid cancer. An increase in thyroid cancer has been reported both in patients exposed to therapeutic and diagnostic external radiation, and in the population exposed to radiation from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs. While there is no evidence of a significant increase of this cancer in patients treated with radioactive iodine, an increase in thyroid cancer incidence was found in the Marshall Islands population after exposure to the fallout from a thermonuclear explosion, and now an increase has been observed in children exposed to the fallout from Chernobyl.This volume constitutes the proceedings of the first international conference on the relationship between radiation and thyroid cancer — a very important area of research. Besides addressing the link between radiation and thyroid cancer, it examines the many factors influencing the interactions between radiation and the thyroid cell.

Monoclonal Antibodies: Probes for the Study of Autoimmunity and Immunodeficiency focuses on the research/studies using monoclonal antibodies in two major classes of diseases, which are autoimmunity and immunodeficiency. The book comprises of 14 chapters; each is written in detail and includes studies using monoclonal antibodies of the pathogenesis and treatment of various types of diseases of disordered immunity. The first chapter presents an overview of the use of monoclonal antibodies in the study of autoimmunity and immunodeficiency. The following chapters focus on other monoclonal reagents and their uses and applications to different diseases. The last four chapters discuss specific classic endocrine diseases in reference to discoveries regarding the beginning of autoimmune mechanisms and pathophysiology. Because the book is technically written, students with background in biology, microbiology, and biochemistry are most likely the target audience of this book. Other parties in the fields of immunology, clinical medicine, pathology, and physiology will also find this book a good reference material.