Personal Health: What You Need to Know from Modern Science (Collection)

by Michael Kuhar, Karl S. Drlica, David S. Perlin, Anne Maczulak

Overview

3 remarkable books reveal the latest scientific discoveries about addiction, antibiotic-resistant disease, bacteria — and you

 

These three remarkable books take you to the cutting edge of health science, revealing today’s most powerful scientific discoveries about addiction, antibiotic-resistant disease, and bacteria. In The Addicted Brain, leading neuroscientist Michael Kuhar, Ph.D. explains how and why addiction destroys lives, and presents the latest advances in treatment and prevention. Using breathtaking brain imagery and other research, Kuhar reveals the powerful, long-term brain changes that drugs can cause, explaining why it can be so difficult for addicts to escape them. He describes why some people are unusually susceptible to addiction; illuminates striking neural similarities between drugs and pleasures ranging from alcohol and gambling to sex and caffeine; and outlines the 12 characteristics most often associated with successful treatment. Next, in Antibiotic Resistance: Understanding and Responding to an Emerging Crisis, Karl S. Drlica and David S. Perlin presents a thorough and authoritative overview of the growing resistance of pathogenic bacteria to antibiotics, and what this means to our ability to control and treat infectious diseases. The authors answer crucial questions such as: What is resistance? How does it emerge? How do common human activities contribute to resistance? What can we do about it? Are there better ways to discover new antibiotics? How can we strengthen our defenses against resistance, minimize public health risks and extend the effectiveness of the antibiotics we have? Finally, in Allies and Enemies, Anne Maczulak tells the story of the amazing, intimate partnership between humans and bacteria. Offering a powerful new perspective on Earth’s oldest creatures, Maczulak explains how bacteria work, how they evolve, their surprising contributions and uses, the roles they’ve played in human history – and why you can't survive without them.

 

From pioneering scientists and researchers including Michael Kuhar, Karl S. Drlica, David S. Perlin, and Anne Maczulak

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780133039542
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	02/20/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	752
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Michael Kuhar, Ph.D., is professor at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Candler professor in the Emory University School of Medicine, and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. His interests have included brain structure and function, mental illness, and the impact of drugs on the brain. Addiction has been his major focus for many years, and he is one of the field’s most productive and highly cited scientists. In June 2011, he received the Nathan B. Eddy lifetime achievement award from the College on Problems of Drug Dependence. Karl Drlica, Ph.D. is Principal Investigator at the Public Health Research Institute Center of the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School. His laboratory focuses on fluoroquinolone action and resistance with M. tuberculosis and other bacteria, including approaches to slowing the enrichment and amplification of resistant bacterial subpopulations. Dr. David S. Perlin is a Principal Investigator at the Public Health Research Institute (PHRI) of the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School. His laboratory explores mechanisms of antifungal drug resistance, rapid detection of bloodstream pathogens in high-risk patients, discovery of novel molecules to combat tuberculosis, and the development of small animal models for respiratory pathogens. Anne Maczulak is a Ph.D. microbiologist who has worked and consulted on water quality/sewage, and most recently for MedImmune manufacturing flu vaccine. She has written several books for Facts on File, as well as an encyclopedia of microbiology for younger readers, and one trade book, The Five-Second Rule and Other Myths about Germs. She provides independent consulting services to small and growing companies, academic research laboratories, and analytical labs through her company, Acorn GLP Consulting.

 

Table of Contents

The Addicted Brain: Why We Abuse Drugs, Alcohol, and Nicotine

Introduction     xi

Chapter 1: What’s in This Book, and Why Should I Read It?     1

Chapter 2: Hardwired: What Animals Tell Us About the Human Desire for Drugs     15

Chapter 3: Feeling Good: The Brain’s Own Reward System     29

Chapter 4: The ABCs of Drug Action in the Brain     39

Chapter 5: The Dark Side Develops!     59

Chapter 6: Why Are Drugs So Powerful?     73

Chapter 7: The Brain Is Changed—For a Long Time!     85

Chapter 8: Could I Become an Addict?     99

Chapter 9: Stress, Social Status, and Drugs     115

Chapter 10: Gambling, Sex, and Food     127

Chapter 11: What Else Do Drugs Do to Me?     137

Chapter 12: Women and Adolescents     159

Chapter 13: Treatment: How Do I Get Better?     171

Chapter 14: What Does the Future Hold?     189

Glossary     203

Index     211

 

Antibiotic Resistance: Understanding and Responding to an Emerging Crisis

Preface     xv

Chapter 1  Introduction to the Resistance Problem     1

Chapter 2  Working with Pathogens     17

Chapter 3  A Survey of Antibiotics     31

Chapter 4  Dosing to Cure     55

Chapter 5  Emergence of Resistance     73

Chapter 6  Movement of Resistance Genes Among Pathogens     91

Chapter 7  Transmission of Resistant Disease     105

Chapter 8  Surveillance     125

Chapter 9  Making New Antibiotics     139

Chapter 10  Restricting Antibiotic Use and Optimizing Dosing     149

Chapter 11  Influenza and Antibiotic Resistance     167

Chapter 12  Avoiding Resistant Pathogens     177

Afterword A  Course of Action     203

Appendix A  Molecules of Life     207

Appendix B  Microbial Life Forms     221

Glossary     227

Literature Cited     233

Index     251

 

Allies and Enemies: How the World Depends on Bacteria

Acknowledgments     viii

About the Author     ix

Introduction     1

Chapter 1  Why the world needs bacteria     7

Chapter 2  Bacteria in history     35

Chapter 3  “Humans defeat germs!”(but not for long)     63

Chapter 4  Bacteria in popular culture     83

Chapter 5  An entire industry from a single cell     99

Chapter 6  The invisible universe     121

Chapter 7  Climate, bacteria, and a barrel of oil     145

Epilogue  How microbiologists grow bacteria     165

Appendix  Resources for learning more about bacteria     173

Bacteria rule references     175

Index     197