Biomedicine and the Human Condition: Challenges, Risks, and Rewards

by Michael G. Sargent

Overview

How to avoid disease, how to breed successfully, and how to live to a reasonable age are questions that have perplexed humankind throughout history. This book explores our progress in understanding these challenges, and the risks and rewards of devising solutions. A broad range of topics are covered, including reproduction, the development of human progeny from conception to adulthood, staying healthy, ageing, cancer, infection and the burden of our genetic legacy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521833660
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/14/2005
Pages:	364
Product dimensions:	6.22(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Michael G. Sargent is a Research Scientist in Developmental Biology at the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill, London.

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Challenge, risk and reward: learning to control our biological fate; 2. Learning to breed successfully; 3. How life is handled; 4. Cells in sickness and health; 5. Experiences in utero affect later life; 6. Infection, nutrition and poisons: avoiding an unhealthy life; 7. Signs of ageing: when renovation slows; 8. Cancer and the body plan: a Darwinian struggle; 9. Fighting infection; 10. Are devastating epidemics still possible?; 11. Discovering medicines: infinite variety through chemistry; 12. Protein medicines from gene technology; 13. Refurbishing the body; 14. Living with the genetic legacy; 15. Epilogue.

Editorial Reviews

"Sargent's tale is rooted in science, but he sees the big picture as well. The story is epic but the language is a marvel of clarity. Knowledge empowers, and if this book were on prescription, it might improve the national health." Tim Radford, The Guardian

"Sargent has done a valuable service to those general readers—and not a few doctors—who wish to learn about the directions of current medical research. While 'biomedicine' may be only part of the story of disease and the human condition, those who want to know what the medical world is up to have got to start somewhere; Sargent's tip of the iceberg is a better place than most." The Lancet, Daivd Weatherall

"The journey is fascinating and written with a general audience in mind." New Scientist

"Biomedicine and the Human Condition is written in a compelling and lucid style that renders it accessible to the layperson, but it should become a valuable work of reference for many who are engaged professionally in medicine." Biochemist, Stephen Pollock

"Michael G. Sargent has written a terrific book for the lay reader who wants to discover how biomedicine has confronted the human challenges of maintaining good health."
Abstract

From the Publisher