The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a screening tool called the Listing of Impairments to identify claimants who are so severely impaired that they cannot work at all and thus immediately qualify for benefits. In this report, the IOM makes several recommendations for improving SSA's capacity to determine disability benefits more quickly and efficiently using the Listings.

Designed to meet the needs of clinicians working with adults with congenital heart disease, Diagnosis and Management of Adult Congenital Heart Disease , by Drs. Michael A. Gatzoulis, Gary D. Webb, and Piers E. F. Daubeney, offers essential guidance on the anatomical issues, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment options available to practitioners today. This latest edition features completely updated content, including new information for nurses and nurse practitioners who, now more than ever, are playing an important role in the care of adults with CHD. You'll also access four new chapters, illustrated congenital defects, coverage of long-term outcomes, and much more. - Drs. Gatzoulis, Webb, and Daubeney lead a team of experts ideally positioned to provide state-of-the-art global coverage of this increasingly important topic. - Each disease-oriented chapter is written to a highly structured template and provides key information on incidence, genetics, morphology, presentation, investigation and imaging, and treatment and intervention. - Congenital defects are illustrated with full-color line drawings and by the appropriate imaging modality (for example, EKG, x-ray, echocardiogram, MRI, CT, ). - Provides coverage of long-term outcomes, including the management of pregnant patients and patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery. - Features the addition of four new chapters: A Historic Perspective; Quality of Life in Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension; Psychosocial Issues in ACHD; Supportive and Palliative Care for End-Stage ACHD.

Image Processing for Automated Diagnosis of Cardiac Diseases highlights current and emerging technologies for the automated diagnosis of cardiac diseases. It presents concepts and practical algorithms, including techniques for the automated diagnosis of organs in motion using image processing. This book is suitable for biomedical engineering researchers, engineers and scientists in research and development, and clinicians who want to learn more about and develop advanced concepts in image processing to overcome the challenges of automated diagnosis of heart disease. - Includes advanced techniques to improve diagnostic methods for various cardiac diseases - Uses methods to improve the existing diagnostic features of echocardiographic machines - Develops new diagnostic features for echocardiographic machines

Pathophysiology of Cardiovascular Disease has been divided into four sections that focus on heart dysfunction and its associated characteristics (hypertrophy, cardiomyopathy and failure); vascular dysfunction and disease; ischemic heart disease; and novel therapeutic interventions. This volume is a compendium of different approaches to understanding cardiovascular disease and identifying the proteins, pathways and processes that impact it.

Ideal for cardiologists who need to keep abreast of rapidly changing scientific foundations, clinical research results, and evidence-based medicine, Braunwald’s Heart Disease is your indispensable source for definitive, state-of-the-art answers on every aspect of contemporary cardiology, helping you apply the most recent knowledge in personalized medicine, imaging techniques, pharmacology, interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, and much more! Practice with confidence and overcome your toughest challenges with advice from the top minds in cardiology today, who synthesize the entire state of current knowledge and summarize all of the most recent ACC/AHA practice guidelines. Locate the answers you need fast thanks to a user-friendly, full-color design with more than 1,200 color illustrations. Learn from leading international experts, including 53 new authors. Explore brand-new chapters, such as Principles of Cardiovascular Genetics and Biomarkers, Proteomics, Metabolomics, and Personalized Medicine. Access new and updated guidelines covering Diseases of the Aorta, Peripheral Artery Diseases, Diabetes and the Cardiovascular System, Heart Failure, and Valvular Heart Disease. Stay abreast of the latest diagnostic and imaging techniques and modalities, such as three-dimensional echocardiography, speckle tracking, tissue Doppler, computed tomography, and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Consult this title on your favorite e-reader, conduct rapid searches, and adjust font sizes for optimal readability.

For many years, there has been a great deal of work done on chronic congestive heart failure while acute heart failure has been considered a difficult to handle and hopeless syndrome. However, in recent years acute heart failure has become a growing area of study and this is the first book to cover extensively the diagnosis and management of this complex condition. The book reflects the considerable amounts of new data reported and many new concepts which have been proposed in the last 3-4 years looking at the epidemiology, diagnostic and treatment of acute heart failure.

Chronic diseases are common and costly, yet they are also among the most preventable health problems. Comprehensive and accurate disease surveillance systems are needed to implement successful efforts which will reduce the burden of chronic diseases on the U.S. population. A number of sources of surveillance data-including population surveys, cohort studies, disease registries, administrative health data, and vital statistics-contribute critical information about chronic disease. But no central surveillance system provides the information needed to analyze how chronic disease impacts the U.S. population, to identify public health priorities, or to track the progress of preventive efforts. A Nationwide Framework for Surveillance of Cardiovascular and Chronic Lung Diseases outlines a conceptual framework for building a national chronic disease surveillance system focused primarily on cardiovascular and chronic lung diseases. This system should be capable of providing data on disparities in incidence and prevalence of the diseases by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geographic region, along with data on disease risk factors, clinical care delivery, and functional health outcomes. This coordinated surveillance system is needed to integrate and expand existing information across the multiple levels of decision making in order to generate actionable, timely knowledge for a range of stakeholders at the local, state or regional, and national levels. The recommendations presented in A Nationwide Framework for Surveillance of Cardiovascular and Chronic Lung Diseases focus on data collection, resource allocation, monitoring activities, and implementation. The report also recommends that systems evolve along with new knowledge about emerging risk factors, advancing technologies, and new understanding of the basis for disease. This report will inform decision-making among federal health agencies, especially the Department of Health and Human Services; public health and clinical practitioners; non-governmental organizations; and policy makers, among others.