This unique collection highlights the importance of landscape, politics and piety to our understandings of religion and place. The geographies of religion have developed rapidly in the last couple of decades and this book provides both a conceptual framing of the key issues and debates involved, and rich illustrations through empirical case studies. The chapters span the discipline of human geography and cover contexts as diverse as veiling in Turkey, religious landscapes in rural Peru, and refugees and faith in South Africa. A number of prominent scholars and emerging researchers examine topical themes in each engaging chapter with significant foci being: religious transnationalism and religious landscapes; gendering of religious identities and contexts; fashion, faith and the body; identity, resistance and belief; immigrant identities, citizenship and spaces of belief; alternative spiritualities and places of retreat and enchantment. Together they make a series of important contributions that illuminate the central role of geography to the meaning and implications of lived religion, public piety and religious embodiment. As such, this collection will be of much interest to researchers and students working on topics relating to religion and place, including human geographers, sociologists, religious studies and religious education scholars.

Get a quick, expert overview of the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions in health care. This practical resource compiled by Dr. Olivia Swedberg Yinger provides a concise, useful overview of the profession of music therapy, including a description of each of the research-support practices that occur in the settings where music therapists most commonly work. - Features a wealth of information on music therapy and its relevance in education settings, mental health treatment, medical treatment and rehabilitation, hospice and palliative care, gerontology, and wellness. - Includes a chapter on current trends and future directions in music therapy - Consolidates today's available information and guidance in this timely area into one convenient resource.

The underlying technology and the range of test parameters available are evolving rapidly. The primary advantage of POCT is the convenience of performing the test close to the patient and the speed at which test results can be obtained, compared to sending a sample to a laboratory and waiting for results to be returned. Thus, a series of clinical applications are possible that can shorten the time for clinical decision-making about additional testing or therapy, as delays are no longer caused by preparation of clinical samples, transport, and central laboratory analysis. Tests in a POC format can now be found for many medical disciplines including endocrinology/diabetes, cardiology, nephrology, critical care, fertility, hematology/coagulation, infectious disease and microbiology, and general health screening. Point-of-care testing (POCT) enables health care personnel to perform clinical laboratory testing near the patient. The idea of conventional and POCT laboratory services presiding within a hospital seems contradictory; yet, they are, in fact, complementary: together POCT and central laboratory are important for the optimal functioning of diagnostic processes. They complement each other, provided that a dedicated POCT coordination integrates the quality assurance of POCT into the overall quality management system of the central laboratory. The motivation of the third edition of the POCT book from Luppa/Junker, which is now also available in English, is to explore and describe clinically relevant analytical techniques, organizational concepts for application and future perspectives of POCT. From descriptions of the opportunities that POCT can provide to the limitations that clinician’s must be cautioned about, this book provides an overview of the many aspects that challenge those who choose to implement POCT. Technologies, clinical applications, networking issues and quality regulations are described as well as a survey of future technologies that are on the future horizon. The editors have spent considerable efforts to update the book in general and to highlight the latest developments, e.g., novel POCT applications of nucleic acid testing for the rapid identification of infectious agents. Of particular note is also that a cross-country comparison of POCT quality rules is being described by a team of international experts in this field.

Kentucky has more cancer diagnoses and cancer-related deaths than any other state in the nation, and most of these cases are concentrated in the fifty-four counties that constitute the Appalachian region of the commonwealth. These high rankings can be attributed to factors such as elevated smoking rates, unhealthy eating habits, lower levels of education, and limited access to health care. What is lost in the statistics is just how life-changing cancer can be—something that editors Nathan L. Vanderford, Lauren Hudson, and Chris Prichard have endeavored to address. The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia features essays written by a group of twenty high school and five undergraduate students, all of whom are residents of Kentucky's Appalachian region and are participants in the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center's Appalachian Career Training in Oncology (ACTION) program, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute's Youth Enjoy Science Program. These authentic and candid student essays detail the effects of cancer diagnoses and deaths on individuals, families, friends, and communities, and proclaim these cases as more than nameless statistics. The authors shed light on personal cancer stories in hopes of inspiring readers to avoid cancer-risk behaviors, get involved with cancer-prevention initiatives, give generously, and uplift cancer patients and their loved ones.

Like her art, Marilyn Monroe was rooted in paradox: She was a powerful star and a childlike waif; a joyful, irreverent party girl with a deeply spiritual side; a superb friend and a narcissist; a dumb blonde and an intellectual. No previous biographer has recognized-much less attempted to analyze-most of these aspects of her personality. Lois Banner has. With new details about Marilyn's childhood foster homes, her sexual abuse, her multiple marriages, her affairs, and her untimely death at the age of thirty-six, Marilyn is, at last, the nuanced biography Monroe fans have been waiting for.