This book covers all necessary aspects on the global epidemiology of Malassezia species and their effect on various diseases. Valuable treatment advice is given in order to improve the treatment outcome of affected patients.

The concept of expressing acidity as the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration was defined and termed pH in the beginning of the 20th century. The general usefulness of the pH concept for life science was recognized and later gained importance to analytical research. Reports on results of pH measurements from living skin established the term acid mantle - the skin's own protective shield that maintains a naturally acid pH. It is invisible to the eye but crucial to the overall wellbeing of skin. Chronic alkalization can throw this acid mantle out of balance, leading to inflammation, dermatitis, and atopic skin diseases. It is therefore no surprise, that skin pH shifts have been observed in various skin pathologies. It is also obvious that the pH in topically applied preparations may play an important role. Optimal pH and buffer capacity within topical preparations not only support stability of active ingredients and auxiliary materials, but may also increase absorption of the non-ionized species of an acidic or a basic active ingredient. They may even open up opportunities to modify and "correct" skin pH and hence accelerate barrier recovery and maintain or enhance barrier integrity. Further efforts are needed to standardize and improve pH measurements in biological media or pharmaceutical/cosmetic vehicles to increase and ensure quality, comparability, and relevance of research data. In this volume, we present a unique collection of papers that address past, present and future issues of the pH of healthy and diseased skin. It is hoped that this collection will foster future efforts in clinical and experimental skin research.

The Oxford Textbook of Medical Mycology is a comprehensive reference text which brings together the science and medicine of human fungal disease. Written by a leading group of international authors to bring a global expertise, it is divided into sections that deal with the principles of mycology, the organisms, a systems based approach to management, fungal disease in specific patient groups, diagnosis, and treatment. The detailed clinical chapters take account of recent international guidelines on the management of fungal disease. With chapters covering recent developments in taxonomy, fungal genetics and other 'omics', epidemiology, pathogenesis, and immunology, this textbook is well suited to aid both scientists and clinicians. The extensive illustrations, tables, and in-depth coverage of topics, including discussion of the non-infective aspects of allergic and toxin mediated fungal disease, are designed to aid the understanding of mechanisms and pathology, and extend the usual approach to fungal disease. This textbook is essential reading for microbiologists, research scientists, infectious diseases clinicians, respiratory physicians, and those managing immunocompromised patients. Part of the Oxford Textbook in Infectious Disease and Microbiology series, it is also a useful companion text for students and trainees looking to supplement mycology courses and microbiology training.

The WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care provide health-care workers (HCWs), hospital administrators and health authorities with a thorough review of evidence on hand hygiene in health care and specific recommendations to improve practices and reduce transmission of pathogenic microorganisms to patients and HCWs. The present Guidelines are intended to be implemented in any situation in which health care is delivered either to a patient or to a specific group in a population. Therefore, this concept applies to all settings where health care is permanently or occasionally performed, such as home care by birth attendants. Definitions of health-care settings are proposed in Appendix 1. These Guidelines and the associated WHO Multimodal Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy and an Implementation Toolkit (http://www.who.int/gpsc/en/) are designed to offer health-care facilities in Member States a conceptual framework and practical tools for the application of recommendations in practice at the bedside. While ensuring consistency with the Guidelines recommendations, individual adaptation according to local regulations, settings, needs, and resources is desirable. This extensive review includes in one document sufficient technical information to support training materials and help plan implementation strategies. The document comprises six parts.

Fungi research and knowledge grew rapidly following recent advances in genetics and genomics. This book synthesizes new knowledge with existing information to stimulate new scientific questions and propel fungal scientists on to the next stages of research. This book is a comprehensive guide on fungi, environmental sensing, genetics, genomics, interactions with microbes, plants, insects, and humans, technological applications, and natural product development.

With greater occurance of fungal infections of the skin, especially in immuno compromised patients, the attention paid to this topic has increased in recent years. The second edition of Cutaneous Fungal Infections answers the need for more information on skin infections and the many new easy-to-use, effective drugs on the market today.