Health Systems Science

In 1918, a world war raged, and a lethal strain of influenza circled the globe. In the midst of all this death, a bizarre disease appeared in Europe. Eventually known as encephalitis lethargica, or sleeping sickness, it spread worldwide, leaving millions dead or locked in institutions. Then, in 1927, it disappeared as suddenly as it had arrived. Asleep, set in 1920s and '30s New York, follows a group of neurologists through hospitals and asylums as they try to solve this epidemic and treat its victims - who learned the worst fate was not dying of it, but surviving it.

Brilliantly exploring today's cutting edge brain research, Mind Wide Open allows readers to understand themselves and the people in their lives as never before. Using a mix of experiential reportage, personal storytelling, and fresh scientific discovery, Steven Johnson describes how the brain works and how its systems connect to the day-to-day realities of individual lives.

From two of the world's top scientists and one of the world's top science writers (all parents), Dirt Is Good is a Q&A-based guide to everything you need to know about kids and germs. "Is it OK for my child to eat dirt?" Jack Gilbert and Rob Knight are bombarded with questions like this every week from parents all over the world. Google a question like this, and you'll be overwhelmed with answers. The Internet is rife with speculation and misinformation about the risks and benefits of what most parents think of as simply germs, but which scientists now call the microbiome.

E. Fuller Torrey's audiobook provides an inside perspective on the birth of the federal mental health program. On staff at the National Institute of Mental Health when the program was being developed and implemented, Torrey draws on his own first-hand account of the creation and launch of the program, extensive research, one-on-one interviews with people involved, and recently unearthed audiotapes of interviews with major figures involved in the legislation. As such, this book provides historical material previously unavailable to the public.

Thyroid disease patients can experience a number of different complications as a result of their hypothyroid (underactive thyroid) or hyperthyroid (overactive thyroid) conditions. Two of these complications are nerve pain and dysfunction, referred to as "peripheral neuropathy" and muscle weakness with possible atrophy (shrinkage of muscles), referred to as "thyroid myopathy".

Utah is said to have one million residents who have a diagnosed mental illness. Are those numbers accurate, or is mental health trying to make a profit at the expense of the people? This book goes over my situation and what I've learned about Utah's "behavioral" health system. After discussing my case, I go over what they consider a mental illness, and then I discuss the treatment of those who get the diagnosis. It is a dark and scary infiltration in our society that controls even our own government.

Joyful. Graceful. Blessed. Strong. Anxious. Depressed. Stigmatized. Stereotyped. What happens when motherhood isn’t what you expected—and when you reach out for support, you are met with judgment and prejudice? Sandra Igwe shares her journey as a young Black mother, coping with sleepless nights, anxiety, and loneliness after the birth of her first daughter. Burdened by cultural expectations of the “good mother” and the “strong Black woman” trope, her mental health struggles became an uphill battle.

The SAD pandemic is real. Sexual Violence, Addictions, and Domestic Violence (SAD) result in too many children in care yearly, aging out to different systems such as prison, employment and income assistance programs, mental health institutions, drug rehabilitation, and homelessness. Are we going to allow the cycle to continue for generations?

The Art of Muscle is an incredible masterpiece for those seeking a deeper understanding about how the human body and its muscles have shaped civilizations, past and present. Unveil the power of this ancient enigma by exploring the anthropology and history behind muscle development from early civilization to space exploration, allowing listeners to gain insight into why muscle has become so important in our interplanetary transition from barbarism to providence.

Black Women and Public Health creates an urgently needed interdisciplinary dialogue about issues of race, gender, and health. An enduring history of racism, sexism, and dehumanization of Black women's bodies has largely rendered the health needs of the Black community inaudible and invisible. Grounded in the lived experiences and expertise of Black women, this collection bridges gaps between researchers, practitioners, educators, and advocates.

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, a professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania who also served as a special adviser to the White House on health-care reform, has written a brilliant diagnostic explanation of why health care in America has become such a divisive social issue, how money and medicine have their own American story, and why reform has bedeviled presidents of the left and right for more than one hundred years.

Weißt du, was dein Körper jeden Tag, jede Minute, ja, jede Sekunde leistet? Stimmt, manchmal kann er auch ganz schön lästig sein: etwa wenn der Schädel brummt, alle Muskeln schmerzen oder dir – ganz peinlich – ein lauter Pups entfährt. Im Großen und Ganzen ist er aber wirklich voll in Ordnung! Er möchte nur sorgsam behandelt werden, denn wenn es ihm gut geht, geht es auch dir gut.

All the secrets to benefit from the power of the vagus nerve to overcome anxiety, depression, ptsd, trauma, and strengthen your immune system.

The human body is like an exceedingly well-fortified castle, defended by billions of soldiers - some live for less than a day, others remember battles for decades, but all are essential in protecting us from disease. This hidden army is our immune system, and without it we could not survive the eternal war between us and our microscopic enemies. Immune explores the incredible arsenal that lives within us - how it knows what to attack and what to defend and how it kills everything from the common cold to the plague bacterium.

In this path-breaking volume, engagingly written for the general public, psychiatrist Jeffrey Kahn reveals that the Angst of anxiety and depression ultimately results from our transformation, over tens of thousands of years, from biologically shaped, almost herd-like prehistoric tribes, to rational and independent individuals in modern civilization. Because of our Reason, we don't choose to act like sheep.

Nobody's Child traces the legal definition of "insanity" back to its inception in Victorian Britain nearly 200 years ago, from when our understanding of the human mind was in its infancy, to today, when questions of race, class, and ability so often determine who is legally "insane" and who is criminally guilty. Vinocour explains how "competency" and "insanity" are creatures of a legal system, not of psychiatric reality, and how, in criminal law, the insanity defense has too often been a luxury of the rich and white.

In The Ten Year War, veteran journalist Jonathan Cohn offers the compelling story of the defining political battle of our time, one that will shape political conversations for decades. At the heart of the book is the decades-old argument over what’s wrong with American health care and how to fix it. But the battle over health care was always about more than policy. The Ten Year War offers a deeper examination of how our governing institutions, the media and the two parties have evolved, and the dysfunction those changes have left in their wake.

Yoga instructor, nutrition expert, and healthy-living blogger Elise Marie Collins has compiled a comprehensive look at what "Super Agers" are doing to live long and prosper. Learn about movement at any age, brain fitness and memory maintenance, foods, vitamin and mineral content cues and clues, and what they do to promote health, prevent disease, and decrease and reverse symptoms of illness. In this revolutionary book, Collins presents us with a bold new paradigm of aging, telling us how we can increase not only our lifespan but also our health span.

Justin Yerbury made a promise to his mother while she was dying of motor neurone disease (MND) that he would do everything he could to find a cure. MND had already taken several members of Justin's family, and he learned that they carried a rare genetic form of the disease that gave them a fifty-fifty chance of inheritance. Desperate to help his loved ones, Justin went to university to study science, eventually becoming a professor of molecular biology at the University of Wollongong and one of the world's leading experts on MND.

With increasing urgency, the plight of the American family grips the national conscience. The family courts are often our society's last safety net to prevent disaster. In this penetrating exposé of the inner workings of the U.S. family court system, two award-winning journalists provide an intimate look at the lives of the children whose fate it decides.