Implementing Precision Medicine In Best Practices Of Chronic Airway Diseases

Implementing Precision Medicine in Best Practices of Chronic Airway Diseases provides a comprehensive overview of the application of precision medicine in airway diseases with a goal of promoting optimal control of disease, higher patient satisfaction and disease prevention. As medical research continues to fund this area, the book highlights the need for implementation of the principles of precision medicine into the bedside management of chronic airway diseases. It is clear that chronic airway diseases are heterogeneous and that a personalized approach is warranted whereby treatment is tailored to the level of the individual patient. Written for basic researchers, medical doctors and other healthcare practitioners this book provides guidance on the implementation of the principles of precision medicine into further research and daily clinical practice. Bridges the gap between precision medicine research and the implementation of the principles into daily clinical practice Includes contributions from key opinion leaders in the field of airway disease giving a worldwide perspective Discusses precision medicine in terms of personalized and stratified medicine, biomarkers, prediction of success, participation of the patient and prevention of disease

World-renowned economist Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, explains that we have an opportunity to shape the fourth industrial revolu­tion, which will fundamentally alter how we live and work. Schwab argues that this revolution is different in scale, scope and complexity from any that have come before. Characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the developments are affecting all disciplines, economies, industries and governments, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human. Artificial intelligence is already all around us, from supercomputers, drones and virtual assistants to 3D printing, DNA sequencing, smart thermostats, wear­able sensors and microchips smaller than a grain of sand. But this is just the beginning: nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than a strand of hair and the first transplant of a 3D printed liver are already in development. Imagine “smart factories” in which global systems of manu­facturing are coordinated virtually, or implantable mobile phones made of biosynthetic materials. The fourth industrial revolution, says Schwab, is more significant, and its ramifications more profound, than in any prior period of human history. He outlines the key technologies driving this revolution and discusses the major impacts expected on government, business, civil society and individu­als. Schwab also offers bold ideas on how to harness these changes and shape a better future—one in which technology empowers people rather than replaces them; progress serves society rather than disrupts it; and in which innovators respect moral and ethical boundaries rather than cross them. We all have the opportunity to contribute to developing new frame­works that advance progress.

Severe asthma is a form of asthma that responds poorly to currently available medication, and its patients represent those with greatest unmet needs. In the last 10 years, substantial progress has been made in terms of understanding some of the mechanisms that drive severe asthma; there have also been concomitant advances in the recognition of specific molecular phenotypes. This ERS Monograph covers all aspects of severe asthma – epidemiology, diagnosis, mechanisms, treatment and management – but has a particular focus on recent understanding of mechanistic heterogeneity based on an analytic approach using various ‘omics platforms applied to clinically well-defined asthma cohorts. How these advances have led to improved management targets is also emphasised. This book brings together the clinical and scientific expertise of those from around the world who are collaborating to solve the problem of severe asthma.

The Healthcare industry is one of the largest and rapidly developing industries. Over the last few years, healthcare management is changing from disease centered to patient centered. While on one side the analysis of healthcare data plays an important role in healthcare management, but on the other side the privacy of a patient’s record must be of equal concern. This book uses a research-oriented approach and focuses on privacy-based healthcare tools and technologies. It offers details on privacy laws with real-life case studies and examples, and addresses privacy issues in newer technologies such as Cloud, Big Data, and IoT. It discusses the e-health system and preserving its privacy, and the use of wearable technologies for patient monitoring, data streaming and sharing, and use of data analysis to provide various health services. This book is written for research scholars, academicians working in healthcare and data privacy domains, as well as researchers involved with healthcare law, and those working at facilities in security and privacy domains. Students and industry professionals, as well as medical practitioners might also find this book of interest.

This book serves as the primary reference for precision medicine in the fields of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine by documenting principles written by experts in several aspects of precision medicine. It combines fundamental concepts of the field with state-of-the-art studies and how they translate into individual preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic plans. Precision medicine is focused on the integration of individual variability with disease prevention and treatment principles derived from population studies. This concept has risen to prominence in recent years in parallel with advances in genetics, molecular diagnostics and novel target-specific therapies. This fundamental shift in the approach to treatment has broad implications in how we prevent, diagnose and treat disease. Describing key concepts of precision medicine and relating these to pulmonary, critical care and sleep disorders is essential to educate relevant stakeholders and increase the impact of pulmonary precision medicine. The book is organized into seven sections: introduction; genetics; biomarkers; precise phenotyping; mobile health, wearables and telemedicine; precision therapeutics; and enabling widespread adoption of precision medicine. The chapters are organized with an introduction to the specific theme, followed by its basic concepts. They then delve into how these basic concepts relate to the larger theme of precision medicine, new precision medicine approaches to dealing with these problems, and key takeaway points. Liberally illustrated with images, figures, and tables, the text is thorough and intuitive for clinicians and researchers to learn the processes and applications of precision medicine. This is an ideal guide for clinicians to learn new precision medicine concepts in the fields of genetics, genomics, mobile health, and how they apply to their practice and their patients, as well as researchers seeking a basic understanding of precision medicine to assist in designing future research studies.

Kendig, Chernick’s Disorders of the Respiratory Tract in Children is the definitive medical reference book to help you confront critical challenges using the latest knowledge and techniques. You’ll get the state-of-the-art answers you need to offer the best care to young patients. Tackle the toughest challenges and improve patient outcomes with coverage of all the common and rare respiratory problems found in newborns and children worldwide. Get a solid foundation of knowledge to better understand and treat your patients through coverage of the latest basic science and its relevance to clinical problems. Get comprehensive, authoritative coverage on today’s hot topics, such as interstitial lung disease, respiratory disorders in the newborn, congenital lung disease, swine flu, genetic testing for disease and the human genome, inflammatory cytokines in the lung, new radiologic techniques, diagnostic imaging of the respiratory tract, and pulmonary function tests. Learn from the experts with contributions from 100 world authorities in the fields of pediatrics, pulmonology, neurology, microbiology, cardiology, physiology, diagnostic imaging, anesthesiology, otolaryngology, allergy, and surgery.

While emphysema and chronic bronchitis are primarily lung di seases, one of their major consequences is to deeply affect the function of the respiratory muscles. Lung hyperinflation shortens the inspiratory muscles due to increased airways resistance, more of their effort is demanded and changes in nutritional status wea ken them further. Their malfunction can lead to severe dyspnea and to failure of the ventilatory pump. Over the last 10 years we have witnessed an explosion of information of how respiratory muscles function in health and disease, new techniques for their evaluation have been created, the concept of fatigue, weakness, and failure was developed, and their rest or training was attemp ted. The implication of respiratory muscles malfunction in respi ratory medicine has reached a prominent place. It seems remarkable that while some aspect of skeletal muscles function requires molecular biology techniques to find new an swers, we still know little on respiratory muscles interaction, stra tegies of coordination, their role in dyspnea, chronic hypercapnia or how to effectively improve their function in patients. This workshop was organized and held at the Medical Center of Rehabilitation in Montescano and represents an attempt to focus on how the newly adquired wealth of information can eventually be trasformed into medical care. The particpants in this workshop brought forward challenging thoughts and we are most grateful for their participation. This book represents a report of the proceedings and also provides the most updated information in this field.