This book discusses the exciting potential for dermatology to embrace developments to enhance the profession’s valuable pattern recognition, diagnostic, and treatment skills. Personalized medicine (PM) and genomics are easily accessible and enable the customization of healthcare using molecular analysis to influence medical decisions, practices, and therapies for the individual patient. The evolution of the skin, and the manner in which dermatological conditions are described and managed, reveals the need to consider many aspects on a personal level. New research data are based on the use of evolutionary medicine and genomics to highlight how we can become more successful at finding the most efficacious types of antibiotic or therapy and dosage for a particular disease or pathogen and build a competitive edge by prevention and risk management against invasive viruses, bacteria, or wrongly administered drugs. As more is understood about what grows on us and how it all interacts, along with how the introduction of new antibiotics, biologics, and other therapies affect our skin’s ecological balance, this book aims to create a heightened sense of the importance and offerings of ecological dermatology.

Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR and Vanity Fair One of Smithsonian's Ten Best Science Books of 2020 “A searching and vital explication of germ theory, social norms, and what the modern era is really doing to our bodies and our psyches.” —Vanity Fair A preventative medicine physician and staff writer for The Atlantic explains the surprising and unintended effects of our hygiene practices in this informative and entertaining introduction to the new science of skin microbes and probiotics. Keeping skin healthy is a booming industry, and yet it seems like almost no one agrees on what actually works. Confusing messages from health authorities and ineffective treatments have left many people desperate for reliable solutions. An enormous alternative industry is filling the void, selling products that are often of questionable safety and totally unknown effectiveness. In Clean, doctor and journalist James Hamblin explores how we got here, examining the science and culture of how we care for our skin today. He talks to dermatologists, microbiologists, allergists, immunologists, aestheticians, bar-soap enthusiasts, venture capitalists, Amish people, theologians, and straight-up scam artists, trying to figure out what it really means to be clean. He even experiments with giving up showers entirely, and discovers that he is not alone. Along the way, he realizes that most of our standards of cleanliness are less related to health than most people think. A major part of the picture has been missing: a little-known ecosystem known as the skin microbiome—the trillions of microbes that live on our skin and in our pores. These microbes are not dangerous; they’re more like an outer layer of skin that no one knew we had, and they influence everything from acne, eczema, and dry skin, to how we smell. The new goal of skin care will be to cultivate a healthy biome—and to embrace the meaning of “clean” in the natural sense. This can mean doing much less, saving time, money, energy, water, and plastic bottles in the process. Lucid, accessible, and deeply researched, Clean explores the ongoing, radical change in the way we think about our skin, introducing readers to the emerging science that will be at the forefront of health and wellness conversations in coming years.

This book is a quick reference guide to the new, more personalized approaches to the management of skin disorders that have emerged as a result of progress in our understanding of the genetic background and pathophysiology of skin diseases and the diversity of mechanisms underlying their clinical heterogeneity. A wide range of personalized and targeted therapies are described, including those for different skin cancers, chronic inflammatory skin diseases, and autoimmune diseases. In addition, readers will find that the book documents how research results in personalized medicine can be effectively transferred to dermatological practice and looks forward to future treatments that might be developed on the basis of recent research findings. The authors are all recognized experts in the field, and the text is presented in a reader-friendly format and well illustrated.

"Erika Engelhaupt, founding editor of National Geographic's Gory Details blog, explores oft-ignored but alluring facets of biology, anatomy, space exploration, nature, and more. Featuring reporting and interviews with leading researchers in the field, Gory Details illuminates the world's most intriguing real-world applications of science"--

"More than seventy percent of the earth's surface is covered by the ocean which is home to a staggering and sometimes overwhelming diversity of organisms, the majority of which reside in pelagic form. Marine invertebrate larvae are an integral component of this pelagic diversity and have stimulated the curiosity of researchers for centuries. This accessible, upper-level text provides an important and timely update on the topic of larval evolution and ecology, representing the first major synthesis of this interdisciplinary field for more than 20 years. The content is structured around four major areas: evolutionary origins and transitions in developmental mode; functional morphology and ecology of larval forms; larval transport, settlement, and metamorphosis; larval ecology in extreme and changing environments. This novel synthesis integrates traditional larval ecology with life history theory, evolutionary developmental biology, and modern genomics research to provide a research and teaching tool for decades to come." -- from the rear cover.

How ed tech was born: Twentieth-century teaching machines--from Sidney Pressey's mechanized test-giver to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist bell-ringing box. Contrary to popular belief, ed tech did not begin with videos on the internet. The idea of technology that would allow students to "go at their own pace" did not originate in Silicon Valley. In Teaching Machines, education writer Audrey Watters offers a lively history of predigital educational technology, from Sidney Pressey's mechanized positive-reinforcement provider to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist bell-ringing box. Watters shows that these machines and the pedagogy that accompanied them sprang from ideas--bite-sized content, individualized instruction--that had legs and were later picked up by textbook publishers and early advocates for computerized learning. Watters pays particular attention to the role of the media--newspapers, magazines, television, and film--in shaping people's perceptions of teaching machines as well as the psychological theories underpinning them. She considers these machines in the context of education reform, the political reverberations of Sputnik, and the rise of the testing and textbook industries. She chronicles Skinner's attempts to bring his teaching machines to market, culminating in the famous behaviorist's efforts to launch Didak 101, the "pre-verbal" machine that taught spelling. (Alternate names proposed by Skinner include "Autodidak," "Instructomat," and "Autostructor.") Telling these somewhat cautionary tales, Watters challenges what she calls "the teleology of ed tech"--the idea that not only is computerized education inevitable, but technological progress is the sole driver of events.

This fully revised and updated edition of GENETIC SKIN DISORDERS reflects the most current understanding of the diagnosis, treatment, genetic basis, and differential diagnoses of inherited skin disorders. Organized with the needs of busy clinicians in mind, it offers detailed clinical guidance on the signs, symptoms, mode of inheritance, recurrence risk, and diagnosis of over 300 skin disorders, all in an accessible, at-a-glance format. Annotated bibliographies highlight the most relevant and up-to-date medical literature. Newly compiled lists of support groups, both national and international, for patients and their families supplement the ample resources for medical professionals. Informed by the author's extensive clinical experience and suffused with a distinctive, witty voice, GENETIC SKIN DISORDERS is an ideal companion in the laboratory, clinic, or consulting room. FEATURES � Includes both disease-based chapters and an appendix of skin signs that simplifies differential diagnosis for specialists and general practitioners alike � More than 800 color photographs illustrate the full spectrum of hair, skin, and nail abnormalities � Updated to reflect current classification of inherited skin disorders and the molecular underpinnings of these conditions