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The Evolution of Medical Genetics: A British Perspective
by Peter S. HarperThis informative new book presents an accessible account of the development of medical genetics over the past 70 years, one of the most important areas of 20th, and now 21st, century science and medicine. Based largely on the author’s personal involvement and career as a leader in the field over the last half century, both in the UK and internationally, it draws on his interest and involvement in documenting the history of medical genetics. Underpinning the content is a unique series of 100 recorded interviews undertaken by the author with key older workers in the field, the majority British, providing invaluable information going back to the very beginnings of human and medical genetics. Focusing principally on medically relevant areas of genetics rather than the underlying basic science and technological aspects, the book offers a fascinating insight for those working and training in the field of clinical or laboratory aspects of medical genetics, genomics and allied areas; it will also be of interest to historians of science and medicine and to workers in the social sciences who are increasingly attracted by the social and ethical challenges posed by modern medical genetics and genomics.
The Evolution of Obesity
by Jay Schulkin Michael L. PowerIn this sweeping exploration of the relatively recent obesity epidemic, Michael L. Power and Jay Schulkin probe evolutionary biology, history, physiology, and medical science to uncover the causes of our growing girth. The unexpected answer? Our own evolutionary success.For most of the past few million years, our evolutionary ancestors' survival depended on being able to consume as much as possible when food was available and to store the excess energy for periods when it was scarce. In the developed world today, high-calorie foods are readily obtainable, yet the propensity to store fat is part of our species' heritage, leaving an increasing number of the world's people vulnerable to obesity. In an environment of abundant food, we are anatomically, physiologically, metabolically, and behaviorally programmed in a way that makes it difficult for us to avoid gaining weight.Power and Schulkin’s engagingly argued book draws on popular examples and sound science to explain our expanding waistlines and to discuss the consequences of being overweight for different demographic groups. They review the various studies of human and animal fat use and storage, including those that examine fat deposition and metabolism in men and women; chronicle cultural differences in food procurement, preparation, and consumption; and consider the influence of sedentary occupations and lifestyles.A compelling and comprehensive examination of the causes and consequences of the obesity epidemic, The Evolution of Obesity offers fascinating insights into the question, Why are we getting fatter?
The Evolutionary Basis of Strabismus and Nystagmus in Children
by Michael C. BrodskyThis text is a comprehensive collection and discussion of scientific essays that define the pathogenesis of common forms of pediatric strabismus and nystagmus in terms of their common evolutionary mechanisms. The goal of this book is to assemble these essays, to provide a definitive source for current clinicians to use along with follow up comments to help direct future scientific research in the field of pediatric ophthalmology. This book includes 20 original essays written by Michael C. Brodsky which mechanistically explain and unify such enigmatic conditions such as infantile esotropia, latent nystagmus, primary oblique muscle overreaction action, dissociated vertical divergence, infantile nystagmus, and intermittent exotropia in terms of ancestral evolutionary reflexes which become expressed in different ways to generate these disorders. This collection of essays is poised to become a classic reference, providing the necessary neurological framework for contextualizing unique ocular motor disorder and understanding the evolutionary mechanisms responsible for their development in early childhood. Written with focused interest for pediatric ophthalmologists and neuro-ophthalmologists, this reference will also find audience with ophthalmologists, neurologists, evolutionary biologists, and neuroscientists.
The Evolutionary Biology of Human Body Fatness
by Jonathan C. K. WellsThis comprehensive synthesis of current medical and evolutionary literature addresses key questions about the role body fat plays in human biology. It explores how body energy stores are regulated, how they develop over the life-course, what biological functions they serve, and how they may have evolved. There is now substantial evidence that human adiposity is not merely a buffer against the threat of starvation, but is also a resource for meeting the energy costs of growth, reproduction and immune function. As such it may be considered as important in our species evolution as other traits such as bipedalism, large brains, and long life spans and developmental periods. Indeed, adiposity is integrally linked with these other traits, and with our capacity to colonise and inhabit diverse ecosystems. It is because human metabolism is so sensitive to environmental cues that manipulative economic forces are now generating the current obesity epidemic.
The Evolutionary Journey of Amino Acids: From the Origin of Life to Human Metabolism (Fascinating Life Sciences)
by François BlachierThis book takes readers on a journey from the very fundamental and chemical beginnings of amino acids on Earth to their role in human metabolism. It provides background on how amino acid metabolism has changed across the evolutionary tree and discusses their physico-chemical properties as well as their biochemical roles across various forms of life. Amino acids are emerging as key players in numerous physiological functions and are being increasingly recognized as playing a mechanistic role for the communication between the gut microbiota and the host in healthy state and in some pathophysiological situations. However, understanding these associations requires a multidisciplinary approach, combining chemistry, biochemistry, physiology, nutrition, molecular/cellular biology and microbiology. This book aims to describe the science behind amino acids from their first appearance and evolutionary significance, all the way through the tree of life to humans, and then to consider how gut microbial amino acid metabolism regulates human physiology and risk in some chronic diseases. It covers key concepts such as the characteristics of different amino acids found in living organisms, their existence in the pre-living world, and their vital roles in metabolism and physiology. It also explores intriguing questions about microbial communication and the effect of amino acid-derived microbial metabolites on mammalian cells. With this multidisciplinary approach and accessible structure, this book will appeal not only to students and researchers with a background in biochemistry and related fields, but also to non-specialists with an interest in the foundations of life at the intersection of evolutionary biology and metabolism.
The Evolutionary Mechanism of Human Dysfunctional Behavior: Relaxation of Natural Selection Pressures throughout Human Evolution, Excessive Diversification of the Inherited Predispositions Underlying Behavior, and Their Relevance to Mental Disorders
by Ivan FuchsWhy is humanity by far the most successful animal in the animal kingdom, but when it comes to survival of the fittest, we pull against the impulse toward natural selection? Unique among vertebrates, humans develop and practice varied forms of dysfunctional or maladaptive behavior, the graver of which are categorized as mental disorders, which doesn&’t sustain our species. Dr. Ivan Fuchs explains why this is the case, setting his discussion within the fields of psychiatry, evolutionary biology, and genetics, marshalling a wide-range research to make a compelling case. In this work, Dr. Ivan Fuchs provides his theory on human dysfunctional behavior rooted in Darwinian evolutionary thinking. His theory includes: 1. An attempt to identify the basic evolutionary mechanism that leads to dysfunctional or maladaptive behavior that is increasing in human populations. He proposes that this mechanism consists of progressive relaxation of selection pressures originating in the natural environment as a result of the technological and cultural development in human civilization. These developments protect against many natural inconveniences and dangers such as harmful weather conditions; scarce or unreliable food supplies; cruel, even deadly competition for life-sustaining or reproductive resources; danger of predation, and so on. The relaxation of natural selection pressures leads to excessive diversification of innate predispositions that, due to the complexities of social coexistence, has both far-reaching beneficial, as well as harmful, consequences. 2. Dr. Fuchs deals primarily with severe forms of dysfunctional behavior (categorized as mental disorders), pinpointing those genetically based behavioral complexes which predispose humans to anxiety, affective and personality disorders, paranoia, and schizophrenia. 3. Dr. Fuchs also makes clear that the above innate predispositions cannot lead by themselves to the whole clinical picture of diagnosable mental disorder categories. In order for full-blown clinical symptomatology to develop, the innate predisposition has to interact with influences after childbirth, first of all, learning. Consequently, psychiatric understanding and research has to distinguish sharply between those mental (brain) structures and functions which constitute the innate predisposition to a certain mental disorder versus those ones involved secondarily during the lifespan. This consideration is detailed in the case of schizophrenia spectrum of disorders. The above theoretical considerations have important therapeutic, preventive and research implications.
The Evolving Landscape of Liver Cirrhosis Management
by Hitoshi Yoshiji Kosuke KajiThis book comprehensively covers the latest developments in the diagnosis and treatment of liver cirrhosis, including molecular mechanisms and therapeutic strategies. It elaborates on and explores the relation between chronic liver disease (CLD) and its causes, including viral hepatitis, steatohepatitis, autoimmune liver diseases and/or inherited liver diseases, and sustained liver injury. Furthermore, it discusses various complications such as hepatic encephalopathy, ascites, sarcopenia, esophagogastric varices, muscle cramps and pruritus, and the fact that it frequently leads to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. CLD is becoming a growing issue with substantial effects on public health, and Evolving Landscape in Management of Liver Cirrhosis provides scholars in gastroenterology and hepatology with invaluable insights. At the same time, it is a valuable resource for clinicians specializing in gastroenterology and hepatology as well as for researchers who are curious about new research on liver disease.
The Evolving Role of Emergency Departments in the United States
by Arthur L. Kellermann Edward N. Okeke Kristy Gonzalez Morganti Sebastian Bauhoff Janice C. Blanchard Mahshid Abir Neema Iyer Alexandria C. Smith Joseph V. VeselyThis report explores the evolving role that hospital emergency departments play in the U. S. health care system. EDs evaluate and manage complex and high-acuity patients, are the major point of entry to inpatient care, and serve as â#128;#156;the safety net of the safety netâ#128;#157; for patients who cannot get care elsewhere. The report examines the role that EDs may come to play in either contributing to or reducing the rising costs of health care.
The Exceptional Potential of General Practice: Making a Difference in Primary Care
by Graham WattThis innovative and timely book draws on pioneering precedents, basic principles, current examples and international experience to capture the narratives, examples and ideas that underlie and demonstrate the exceptional potential of general practice: <P><P>"If health care is not at is best where it is needed most, health inequalities will widen." <P><P>"The unworried unwell are not hard to reach but they are easy to ignore and are often ignored." <P><P>"With patient contact, population coverage, continuity, coordination, flexibility, long term relationships and trust, general practices are the natural hubs of local health systems." <P><P>"… practitioners … are not only scientists but also responsible citizens and if they did not raise their voice who else should?" <P><P>Written for family doctors looking to strengthen local collaboration, it brings together the traditional strengths of consultations, caring, continuity, coordination and coverage with the current and future challenges of building capacity, community, creativity, consistency, collegiality and campaigning. It highlights the critical importance of working with patients, maximising the use of serial encounters, integrating care, joint working between practices, social prescribing, community development and advocacy based on patient and practitioner experience. <P><P>Drawing on the highly-regarded work of Deep End GPs serving the poorest communities in Scotland ̶ www.gla.ac.uk/deepend ̶ the book is an invaluable handbook for all primary care doctors, irrespective of health care system or country, seeking to provide unconditional continuity of personalised care for all patients, whatever problem or combination of problems a patient may have.
The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins and the fight for women in science
by Kate Zernike&‘Outstanding&’ Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in ChemistryThe remarkable untold story of how a group of sixteen determined women used the power of the collective and the tools of science to inspire ongoing radical change. This is a triumphant account of progress, whilst reminding us that further action is needed. These women scientists entered the work force in the 1960s during a push for affirmative action. Embarking on their careers they thought that discrimination against women was a thing of the past and that science was a pure meritocracy. Women were marginalized and minimized, especially as they grew older, their contributions stolen and erased. Written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who broke the story in 1999 for The Boston Globe, when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology made the astonishing admission that it discriminated against women on its faculty, The Exceptions is an intimate narrative which centres on Nancy Hopkins – a surprisingly reluctant feminist who became a hero to two generations of women in science. In uncovering an erased history, we are finally introduced to the hidden scientists who paved the way for collective change.
The Excruciating History of Dentistry: Toothsome Tales & Oral Oddities from Babylon to Braces
by James WynbrandtAn “entertaining history” of the practice of dentistry that will remind you how lucky you are to live in the modern era (Publishers Weekly).For those on both sides of the dreaded dentist’s chair, James Wynbrandt has written a witty, colorful, and richly informative history of the art and science of dentistry. To all of those dental patients whose whine rises in tandem with that of the drill, take note: You would do well to stifle your terror and instead offer thanks to Apollonia, the patron saint of toothache sufferers, that you face only fleeting discomfort rather than the disfiguring distress or slow agonizing death oft meted out by dental-care providers of the past. The transition from yesterday’s ignorance, misapprehension, and superstition to the enlightened and nerve-deadened protocols of today has been a long, slow, and very painful process—as shown by such facts as:*Among the toothache remedies favored by Pierre Fauchard, the father of dentistry, was rinsing the mouth liberally with one’s own urine.*George Washington never had wooden teeth. However, his chronic dental problems may have impacted the outcome of the American Revolution.*Soldiers in the Civil War needed at least two opposing front teeth to rip open powder envelopes. Some men had their front teeth extracted to avoid service.*Teeth were harvested from as many as fifty thousand corpses after the Battle of Waterloo, a huge crop later used for dentures and transplants that became known as “Waterloo Teeth.”“You’ll gain a great deal of dental knowledge, acquired quite painlessly.” —The New York Times Book Review“Just the thing you need to get through your next oral probing.” —Entertainment Weekly“A breezy romp . . . While sensitive dentists may wince at having their profession’s rough-and-tumble past revealed, dental patients are more likely to feel relief at having been born in the modern era of dentistry. Both groups are in for a good laugh.” —Kirkus Reviews
The Executive Medical Services Professional: What It Takes to Get to the Top!
by Donna Goestenkors Georgia DayMedical Services Professionals (MSPs) hold a unique place in the healthcare industry. Medical Staff leaders, practitioners and providers rely on MSPs to ensure qualitative regulatory compliance, performance improvement, accreditation, credentialing and governance for physicians, practitioners, and other healthcare providers. MSPs ensure the design, implementation, and maintenance of current industry practices to promote quality patient care. Their roles are rapidly changing due to competition, increased government influence, and vast changes in technology that demand for service delivery improvements worldwide. The successful MSP will require a formal professional development plan, comprised of skills and knowledge for both personal and career choices as the industry moves into the future. This book is presented in an easy to read format and contains a series of building blocks, "points" to navigate career progression logically. Each point highlights solutions for MSPs to test and apply with real-life stories interspersed to illustrate points. This book contains a helpful glossary, sample job descriptions, and terms specific to the MSP.
The Executive Years of the NHS: The England Account 1985-2003
by Brian Edwards Margaret FallA guide to clinical effectiveness and governance, this second edition includes clinical governance issues. It aims to increase awareness of, and skills in, an evidence-based approach to health care, and there is advice on collecting, evaluating, interpreting and applying evidence.
The Exercise Effect on Mental Health: Neurobiological Mechanisms
by Henning Budde Mirko WegnerThe Exercise Effect on Mental Health contains the most recent and thorough overview of the links between exercise and mental health, and the underlying mechanisms of the brain. The text will enhance interested clinicians’ and researchers’ understanding of the neurobiological effect of exercise on mental health. Editors Budde and Wegner have compiled a comprehensive review of the ways in which physical activity impacts the neurobiological mechanisms of the most common psychological and psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. This text presents a rigorously evidence-based case for exercise as an inexpensive, time-saving, and highly effective treatment for those suffering from mental illness and distress.
The Existential Crisis of Motherhood
by Claire Arnold-BakerThis book offers a new perspective on the motherhood experience. Drawing on existential philosophy and recent phenomenological research into motherhood, the book demonstrates how motherhood can be understood as an existential crisis. It argues that an awareness of the existential issues women face will enable mothers to gain a deeper understanding of the multifaceted aspects of their experience. The book is divided into four sections: Existential Crisis, Maternal Mental Health Crisis, Social Crisis and Working with Existential Crisis, where each section. Each chapter is based on either experiential research or the author’s extensive therapeutic experience of working with mothers and reflects different aspects of the motherhood journey, all through the lens of a philosophical existential approach. The book is essential reading for mental health practitioners and researchers working with mothers, midwives and health visitors, but it is also written for mothers, with the aim to offer new insights on this important life transition.
The Existential Structure of Substance Misuse: A Psychopathological Study
by Guilherme MessasThis book contributes to one of the most challenging areas of mental health: substance misuse. Its focus is on the psychopathological experiences associated with it: both the consequences of substance misuse and the existential vulnerabilities that lead to it, even if such a clear-cut distinction is rarely possible. The work brings an innovative perspective to the issue, as it draws on two scientific fields whose association has not yet been fully explored: phenomenological psychopathology and substance misuse studies. The association of these two perspectives could build a greater understanding of this important topic and be of practical help to a wide array of professionals in their clinical practice. The structure of the book is inspired by this overall perspective. Its division into three parts is designed to introduce the reader, in a stepwise manner, to the complexities of the theme, based on the latest advances in the specific literature. The broad objective of this work is therefore to offer a useful instrument for mental health clinicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, undergraduate students of these disciplines, and all substance abuse workers.
The Experiential Caribbean: Creating Knowledge and Healing in the Early Modern Atlantic
by Pablo F. GómezOpening a window on a dynamic realm far beyond imperial courts, anatomical theaters, and learned societies, Pablo F. Gomez examines the strategies that Caribbean people used to create authoritative, experientially based knowledge about the human body and the natural world during the long seventeenth century. Gomez treats the early modern intellectual culture of these mostly black and free Caribbean communities on its own merits and not only as it relates to well-known frameworks for the study of science and medicine.Drawing on an array of governmental and ecclesiastical sources—notably Inquisition records—Gomez highlights more than one hundred black ritual practitioners regarded as masters of healing practices and as social and spiritual leaders. He shows how they developed evidence-based healing principles based on sensorial experience rather than on dogma. He elucidates how they nourished ideas about the universality of human bodies, which contributed to the rise of empirical testing of disease origins and cures. Both colonial authorities and Caribbean people of all conditions viewed this experiential knowledge as powerful and competitive. In some ways, it served to respond to the ills of slavery. Even more crucial, however, it demonstrates how the black Atlantic helped creatively to fashion the early modern world.
The Experimental Animal in Biomedical Research: A Survey of Scientific and Ethical Issues for Investigators, Volume I
by Bernard E. RollinThe Experimental Animal in Biomedical Research provides a concise, useful survey of knowledge regarding laboratory animal care. Volume I addresses researchers who use animals and focuses on how to maximize the welfare of animals used in research.
The Expert Guide to Beating Heart Disease: What You Absolutely Must Know
by Harlan M. KrumholzWhat Do the Best-Trained Doctors Do to Beat Heart Disease?In today's avalanche of medical information, how can you distinguish between proven evidence and unfounded claims? This is the first book to translate key medical data into clear guidelines capturing the highest treatment standards for heart disease. Renowned cardiovascular expert Dr. Harlan Krumholz presents seven strategies for reducing cardiac risk—what professionals agree really works. In this indispensable handbook, he also profiles care alternatives from supplements to stress reduction as well as treatments on the horizon. A "Tools for Success" section helps you track blood pressure, cholesterol, exercise, and weight.
The Expression of the Psychosomatic Body from a Phenomenological Perspective
by Jennifer BullingtonThis book is a contribution to the understanding of psychosomatic health problems. Inspired by the work of the French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty, a phenomenological theory of psychosomatics is worked out as an alternative to traditional, biomedical thinking. The patient who presents somatic symptoms with no clearly discernible lesion or dysfunction presents a problem to the traditional health care system. These symptoms are medically unexplainable, constituting an anomaly for the materialistic understanding of ill health that underlies the practice of modern medicine. The traditional biomedical model is not appropriate for understanding a number of health issues that we call "psychosomatic" and for this reason, biomedical theory and practice must be complemented by another theoretical understanding in order to adequately grasp the psychosomatic problematic. This book establishes a complementary understanding of psychosomatic ill health in terms of a non-reductionistic model allowing for the (psychosomatic) expression of the lived body. A thorough presentation of the work Merleau-Ponty is followed by the author's application of his thinking to the phenomenon of psychosomatic pathology.
The Expressiveness of the Body and the Divergence of Greek and Chinese Medicine
by Shigehisa KuriyamaAn illuminating account of how early medicine in Greece and China perceived the human bodyWinner of the William H. Welch Medal, American Association for the History of MedicineThe true structure and workings of the human body are, we casually assume, everywhere the same, a universal reality. But when we look into the past, our sense of reality wavers: accounts of the body in diverse medical traditions often seem to describe mutually alien, almost unrelated worlds. How can perceptions of something as basic and intimate as the body differ so? In this book, Shigehisa Kuriyama explores this fundamental question, elucidating the fascinating contrasts between the human body described in classical Greek medicine and the body as envisaged by physicians in ancient China. Revealing how perceptions of the body and conceptions of personhood are intimately linked, his comparative inquiry invites us, indeed compels us, to reassess our own habits of feeling and perceiving.
The Exquisite Machine: The New Science of the Heart
by Sian E. HardingHow science is opening up the mysteries of the heart, revealing the poetry in motion within the machine.Your heart is a miracle in motion, a marvel of construction unsurpassed by any human-made creation. It beats 100,000 times every day—if you were to live to 100, that would be more than 3 billion beats across your lifespan. Despite decades of effort in labs all over the world, we have not yet been able to replicate the heart&’s perfect engineering. But, as Sian Harding shows us in The Exquisite Machine, new scientific developments are opening up the mysteries of the heart. And this explosion of new science—ultrafast imaging, gene editing, stem cells, artificial intelligence, and advanced sub-light microscopy—has crucial, real-world consequences for health and well-being. Harding—a world leader in cardiac research—explores the relation between the emotions and heart function, reporting that the heart not only responds to our emotions, it creates them as well. The condition known as Broken Heart Syndrome, for example, is a real disorder than can follow bereavement or stress. The Exquisite Machine describes the evolutionary forces that have shaped the heart&’s response to damage, the astonishing rejuvenating power of stem cells, how we can avoid heart disease, and why it can be so hard to repair a damaged heart. It tells the stories of patients who have had the devastating experiences of a heart attack, chaotic heart rhythms, or stress-induced acute heart failure. And it describes how cutting-edge technologies are enabling experiments and clinical trials that will lead us to new solutions to the worldwide scourge of heart disease.
The Extra Cadaver Murder (Inspector Coswell of the RCMP #4)
by Roy InnesRCMP Inspector Coswell is back. A university professor is murdered and his corpse is revealed to a first year anatomy class in spectacular fashion—nude on a slab alongside shrouded medical cadavers. He begins his investigation with Corporal James, his long time assistant, but is abruptly assigned a new partner, a female officer who arrives under a political cloud. Already depressed by his perceived plunge into senility, Coswell struggles to stifle his own gender biases and work effectively with this woman. Their list of suspects grows: failed students, a jealous colleague, an intriguing ex-wife and a criminal cartel. Clues emerge that send them all over the city of Vancouver from UBC campus to downtown and its gourmet restaurants.
The Extracellular Matrix and the Tumor Microenvironment (Biology of Extracellular Matrix #11)
by Ilona Kovalszky Marco Franchi Laura D. AlanizThis book introduces the most important and best studied extracellular and pericellular molecules of the tumor microenvironment. It gives a comprehensive overview of their role in tumor development and cancer progression.Twelve chapters deal with the biochemical and biophysical background of extracellular matrix (ECM) changes in the tumor stroma compared to the physiological state. The reader learns about the major ECM components that are deregulated during cancer development and how they are associated with cancer progression associated with survival, inflammation process, among others. These are followed by recent data about the cooperative activity of extracellular matrix in tumor metabolism, promoting cancer progression.Two chapters focus specifically on the critical role of the ECM in tumor angiogenesis, linking this process to cellular infiltration and metastatic behavior of tumors. The final part describes how the ECM influences the success of immuno- and chemotherapy in cancer patients, its potential as biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic target, as well as the mechanism of resistance-associated changes in the ECM. This book is an interesting read for anyone who want to know more about ECM and cancer biology. Early career scientists can use it as an introduction to the field, offering an excellent tool for studying ECM. Advanced researchers and clinicians can gain a broader overview of the subject, considering the role of ECM for influencing every cancer hallmark as well as in the response of cancer treatments. The work serves to inspire future research and shows that the ECM should be considered as an important factor in the development of cancer therapeutics. The series "Biology of Extracellular Matrix" is published in collaboration with the American Society for Matrix Biology and the International Society for Matrix Biology.
The Extracellular Matrix in Genetic Skeletal Disorders (Biology of Extracellular Matrix #16)
by Antonio Rossi Frank ZauckeThis book explores how defects in extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, their post-translational modifications, and intracellular trafficking impact cartilage and bone integrity. It underscores the ECM's role in providing structural support, establishing morphogenetic gradients, and interacting with cell surface receptors in musculoskeletal tissues. The book delves into the structure and biology of the ECM in the skeleton, discussing skeletal disorders caused by mutations in genes associated with ECM proteins, synthesis, turnover, and signal transduction. Authored by experts who have made significant discoveries in the molecular mechanisms of skeletal disorders and are developing therapeutic strategies, this book is an invaluable research for both scientists and clinicians seeking a comprehensive understanding of this growing and exciting field. The series Biology of Extracellular Matrix is published in collaboration with the American Society for Matrix Biology and the International Society for Matrix Biology.