Medical Research

An unborn baby with a fatal heart defect . . . a skier submerged for an hour in a frozen Norwegian lake . . . a comatose brain surgery patient whom doctors have declared a "vegetable." Twenty years ago all of them would have been given up for dead, with no realistic hope for survival. But today...

This is Mary Lasker's story. Americans now recognize the National Institutes of Health as the national treasure that it is, but when she began her crusade, her first challenge was persuading elected leaders and federal officials that the health of the American public was even their problem. Armed with the knowledge she was right, and supported by her husband, the famed ad man Albert Lasker, and close friend Florence Mahoney, she built a coalition of noted physicians and scientists that fundamentally changed how we think about medical research funding.

Although vital to our well-being and even to our success as a species, the physical sense of balance has never attained the same recognition as sight, hearing, touch, smell, or taste. Now, with an epidemic of debilitating falls sweeping America's aging population, the time is ripe for a lively...

Critically celebrated novelist Scott Spencer delivers a Rosemary's Baby-like novel of gothic horror, set against the backdrop of modern-day Upper East Side Manhattan. Alex and Leslie Twisden lead charmed lives-fabulous jobs, a luxurious town house on Manhattan's Upper East Side, a passionate...

The idea that medicine is gender-neutral is a myth. This isn't inflammatory rhetoric; it's simply true. From the way pain is felt, to how heart attacks are diagnosed, to the very role society plays in the health of the body, the medical landscape in place today is one that was designed for, and by, men. This audiobook is about all the ways medicine is not gender-neutral, from research to treatment to diagnosis. Throughout history, flawed mindsets have paved the way for sub-par treatment, and the prevailing attitudes that exist today have had terrible repercussions for women.

Ingrassia lost his mother, two sisters, brother, and nephew to cancer—different cancers developing at different points throughout their lives. And while highly unusual, his family is not the only one to wonder whether their heartbreak is the result of unbelievable bad luck, or if there might be another explanation. Through meticulous research and riveting storytelling, Ingrassia takes us from the 1960s—when Dr. Frederick Pei Li and Dr. Joseph Fraumeni Jr. first met, not yet knowing that they would help make a groundbreaking discovery that would affect cancer patients for decades to come.

“I am opposed to heart disease and cancer the way one is opposed to sin.” With that as her battle cry, health activist and philanthropist Mary Woodard Lasker had a singular goal: saving lives by increasing medical research. Together with her husband, advertising genius Albert, they created the Lasker Foundation, bestowing the Lasker Awards. But the real increase in medical research funding occurred when Mary discovered a revolutionary source: the federal government. “I’m just a catalytic agent,” she would insist, while she tirelessly lobbied Congress and presidents alike.

This book gives listeners access to the wide world of sex-specific medical issues as they play out in the research labs and doctor’s offices—and how women pay the price, with a close look at the impact that has on minority populations. It has been challenging to get individual researchers and practitioners to accept this, as well as research and medical institutions and manufacturers of medications and devices. The journey towards equal treatment and the understanding of sex and gender differences in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment is still unfolding.

If your love for someone is greater than your own life, what would you sacrifice to keep her safe? The world and everything you've worked most of your life to procure? That is CEO Carson Bradley's catch-22. Unfortunately for Carson, his rivals have discovered his only weakness - Lillian Ly, the owner of his heart. The power behind his new cancer drug is what they desire, and they will stop at nothing to seize it. If necessary, kidnapping and murder are just the means to an end.

When tragedy strikes it doesn't always signal the end. Sometimes it can mean a new beginning.... Still reeling from the events of the past culminating in her devastating loss, an emotionally scarred Lillian Ly is determined to follow her heart and temporarily forego a bright academic career to keep alive the only thing that matters, being with the man she loves. Guilt pours over Carson Bradley like molten lava, but despite his shame, he cannot let her go. She is the flame to his fire, the soul of his heart. Without Lillian by his side, he is just a body without a warm pulse.

What is embryonic stem cell research? Why is it so controversial? What is its relationship to human cloning? Events are moving so fast and biotechnology seems so complicated that many of us don't have an informed opinion about issues that are remaking the human future before our very eyes.

Every 69 seconds, someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Of the top 10 killers, it is the only disease for which there is no cure or treatment. For most people, there is nothing that they can do to fight back. But one family is doing all they can. The DeMoe family has the most devastating form of the disease that there is: early onset Alzheimer's, an inherited genetic mutation that causes the disease in 100 percent of cases, and has a 50 percent chance of being passed onto the next generation.

Over millions of years, male and female bodies developed crucial physiological differences to improve the chances for human survival. These differences have become culturally obsolete with the overturning of traditional gender roles. But they are nevertheless very real, and they go well beyond the obvious sexual and reproductive variances: Men and women differ in terms of digestion, which affects the way medications are absorbed. Sensitivity to pain is dependent on gender.

Have we advanced so far that we have arrived full circle with the technology of ancient times? Dr. James Bartlow thinks so. Appointed by the president of the United States to head the country's first national center for live fetal-tissue research, Bartlow stumbles upon an ancient, unknown technology that he believes will open the gateway to a whole new paradigm.

BONUS FEATURE: Exclusive interview with Robert Kurson and Michael May In his critically acclaimed bestseller Shadow Divers, Robert Kurson explored the depths of history, friendship, and compulsion. Now Kurson returns with another thrilling adventure–the stunning true story of one man’s...

While grieving her husband's murder, a young Colorado veterinarian meets a troubled FBI agent and begins to uncover the world's most sinister secrets in this thriller from James Patterson. Frannie O'Neill is a young and talented veterinarian living in Colorado. Plagued by the mysterious murder...

The second wave of the Siberian Flu catches the country completely unprepared. Instead of killing the old and frail, the young and healthy are dropping . . . in hours, not days. Kate, a new doctor, will sacrifice everything to break her and her sister free from a controlling stepfather and a dead-end small town existence. Moments from landing the critical job she needs, St. Louis falls apart around her.

The growth of careers and career pathways within medicine and health care can be confusing, yet it reflects the evolution of modern medicine which relies upon a myriad of different specialists each able to contribute their own particular skills to the care and wellbeing of the patient or client. Careers within the NHS are many and varied, with opportunities to train not only as nurses and doctors but also as dieticians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and speech and language therapists.

These monitoring superheroes can spot a missing data point or an inconsistent study result faster than a speeding bullet! Even when it comes to dinner, a CRA will conduct a well-controlled, randomized trial! No more tangled noodles, only perfectly organized pasta strands!