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The plague cycle : the unending war between humanity and infectious disease / by Kenny, Charles,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.For four thousand years, the size and vitality of cities, economies, and empires were heavily determined by infection. Striking humanity in waves, the cycle of plagues set the tempo of civilizational growth and decline, since common response to the threat was exclusion-quarantining the sick or keeping them out. But the unprecedented hygiene and medical revolutions of the past two centuries have allowed humanity to free itself from the hold of epidemic cycles-resulting in an urbanized, globalized, and unimaginably wealthy world. However, our development has lately become precarious. Climate and population fluctuations and aspects of our prosperity such as global trade have left us more vulnerable than ever to newly emerging plagues. Greater global cooperation toward sustainable health is urgently required-such as the international efforts to harvest a Covid-19 vaccine-with millions of lives and trillions of dollars at stake. Written as colorful history, The Plague Cycle reveals the relationship between civilization, globalization, prosperity, and infectious disease over the past five millennia. It harnesses history, economics, and public health, and charts humanity's remarkable progress, providing a fascinating and timely look at the cyclical nature of infectious disease.
Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); Communicable diseases; Public health; Globalization;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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All together healthy : a Canadian wellness revolution / by MacLeod, Andrew,1972-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Never before have individuals faced so much conflicting information about how to be healthy: a constant rotation of fad diets, extreme workout regimens and celebrity-endorsed supplements are regularly hyped as the latest cure for all modern ills. We also maintain a massive health care system that absorbs a steadily growing share of public spending. As health has increasingly come to occupy a prominent role in our lives and headlines, however, we've tended to ignore that many of the the most significant contributors to making and keeping us well lie outside both the medical system and our individual control--income, education, employment, housing, environmental factors and social supports. In All Together Healthy, award-winning author Andrew MacLeod digs deep to discover how to build a healthy society, examines inequities within Canada and draws on international comparisons to assess why Canada's high spending on health care has failed to achieve better results. Meticulously researched and enlivened with interviews and personal stories, MacLeod explains the complexities of public health policy in an immediate and approachable way, making a passionate case for how best to maximize the health of the many. In Canada, this is a moment of political optimism, where the path to a healthier society seems possible, but it is uncertain whether promised changes will happen. All Together Healthy defines what's at stake and articulates a vision of a future where the health and well-being of all citizens is of central importance."--
Subjects: Health; Medical policy;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The premonition : a pandemic story / by Lewis, Michael(Michael M.),author.;
"For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about. Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios. Michael Lewis's taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19. The characters you will meet in these pages are as fascinating as they are unexpected. A thirteen-year-old girl's science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm's-eye view to see what the CDC misses, and reveals great truths about American society. A secret team of dissenting doctors, nicknamed the Wolverines, has everything necessary to fight the pandemic: brilliant backgrounds, world-class labs, prior experience with the pandemic scares of bird flu and swine flu ... everything, that is, except official permission to implement their work. Michael Lewis is not shy about calling these people heroes for their refusal to follow directives that they know to be based on misinformation and bad science. Even the internet, as crucial as it is to their exchange of ideas, poses a risk to them. They never know for sure who else might be listening in"--
Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); COVID-19 (Disease); Coronavirus infections;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Owning the sun : a people's history of monopoly medicine from aspirin to COVID-19 vaccines / by Zaitchik, Alexander,1974-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Owning the Sun tells the story of one of the most contentious fights in human history: the legal right to control the production of lifesaving medicines. Medical science began as a discipline geared toward the betterment of all human life, but the merging of research with intellectual property and the rise of the pharmaceutical industry warped and eventually undermined its ethical foundations. Since the Second World War, federally funded research has facilitated most major medical breakthroughs, yet these drugs are often wholly controlled by price-gouging corporations with growing international ambitions. Why does the U.S. government fund the development of medical science in the name of the public, only to relinquish exclusive rights to drug companies, and how does such a system impoverish us, weaken our responses to global crises, and, as in the case of AIDS and COVID-19, put the world at risk? Outlining how generations of public health and science advocates have attempted to hold the line against Big Pharma and their allies in government, Alexander Zaitchik's first-in-kind history documents the rise of medical monopoly in the United States and its subsequent globalization. From the controversial arrival of patent-wielding German drug firms in the late nineteenth century, to present-day coordination between industry and philanthropic organizations-including the influential Gates Foundation-that stymie international efforts to vaccinate the world against COVID-19, Owning the Sun tells one of the most important and least understood histories of our time"--
Subjects: Medical care, Cost of; Medicine;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Health for All A Doctor's Prescription for a Healthier Canada [electronic resource] : by Philpott, Jane.aut; cloudLibrary;
From one of Canada's most respected and high-profile health professionals (and former federal Minister of Health), a timely, practical, ambitious, and deeply personal call for action on health that sets out the roadmap to our future well-being. Jane Philpott has spent her life learning what makes people sick and what keeps people well. She has witnessed miracles in modern medicine. She has also watched children die of starvation in a world that has plenty of food. With Health for All, she sounds a clarion call for a radical disruption in a health care system that is broken—but not beyond repair. The vision is rooted in a deep-seated commitment to health equity. Decades ago, a few visionary Canadian leaders put laws in place to ensure health care insurance for all. But the structures to deliver that care were never fully developed as envisioned. As a result, our health systems are not comprehensive or well-coordinated. In the wake of a pandemic, we risk it all falling apart. More than six million people have no family doctor, nor any other access to primary care. Emergency rooms are routinely closed. Exhausted health workers wonder if it will ever get better. Some say we should hand health care over to the private sector. But to abandon our commitment to publicly funded health care now would only lead to more expensive and less equitable care. Philpott outlines a different solution—an ambitious, once-in-a-generation reset of health systems with universal access to primary care teams. What sets this book apart is that it’s more than a prescription for better medical care. Philpott looks at the big picture of health for all. This includes an intimate look at the personal roots of well-being: hope, belonging, meaning, and purpose. Then, through real-life stories, she examines the impact of the social determinants of health. Finally, she explains that none of this will happen without the political will to do the hard work of rebuilding a healthy society. The remedy we await is serious leadership to implement what we already know and to put the well-being of Canadians at the top of the agenda.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Canadian; Health Care Delivery; Health Policy;
© 2024., McClelland & Stewart,
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Red zone : from the offensive line to the front line of the pandemic / by Duvernay-Tardif, Laurent,1991-author.;
"On July 24, 2020 Laurent Duvernay-Tardif sent shockwaves through the sports world by becoming the first NFL player to opt out of the coming season. The only active player who is also a medical doctor, Laurent spent the months directly after winning the Super Bowl working in a health facility in Quebec on the front lines of the pandemic. As plans for the 2020 NFL season ramped up and daily cases continued to skyrocket, Laurent realized that playing and potentially spreading the virus was antithetical to everything he believed. For the first time in his remarkable career, he couldn't square his twin passions of football and medicine. So he temporarily stepped away from the game he loved, returning to his medical work and enrolling in Harvard to earn his master's in public health, hoping to maximize his celebrity status in order to effect change on a larger scale. But that was just the beginning of this fascinating story. As Laurent settled into his new reality, he quickly came up against a severe COVID outbreak in his hospital unit. Meanwhile, his team, the Kansas City Chiefs entered the playoffs as the #1 seed in the AFC and were favorites to repeat as champions amidst a season that saw countless games postponed due to league-wide outbreaks, including one in his own offensive line group in Kansas City. This fast-paced memoir will take you inside Laurent's life as he grappled with his role as both a medical professional and NFL football player, taking readers on a journey into Duvernay-Tardiff's remarkable personal story, where his insatiable curiosity and work ethic led him from his family's bakery in downtown Montreal to his dual role as both a medical school graduate and championship-winning right guard in the NFL. From the incredible highs of winning the Super Bowl to the incredible sorrow of losing a patient on his ward to Covid, from the high of Super Bowl win to an unexpected trade, RED ZONE is riveting account of Tardiff's incredible intelligence, determination, sacrifice, and conviction. It's also a captivating story of one of the most fascinating and accomplished people in professional sports."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Duvernay-Tardif, Laurent, 1991-; COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-; Football players; Physicians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The vaccine : inside the race to conquer the COVID-19 pandemic / by Miller, Joe(Correspondent),author.; Şahin, Uğur,1965-author.; Türeci, Özlem,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Winners of the Paul Ehrlich Prize The dramatic story of the married scientists who founded BioNTech and developed the first vaccine against COVID-19. Nobody thought it was possible. In mid-January 2020, Ugur Sahin told Özlem Türeci, his wife and decades-long research partner, that a vaccine against what would soon be known as COVID-19 could be developed and safely injected into the arms of millions before the end of the year. His confidence was built upon almost thirty years of research. While working to revolutionize the way that cancerous tumors are treated, the couple had explored a volatile and overlooked molecule called messenger RNA; they believed it could be harnessed to redirect the immune system's forces against any number of diseases. As the founders of BioNTech, they faced widespread skepticism from the scientific community at first; but by the time Sars-Cov-2 was discovered in Wuhan, China, BioNTech was prepared to deploy cutting edge technology and create the world's first clinically approved inoculation for the coronavirus. The Vaccine draws back the curtain on one of the most important medical breakthroughs of our age; it will reveal how Doctors Sahin and Türeci were able to develop twenty vaccine candidates within weeks, convince Big Pharma to support their ambitious project, navigate political interference from the Trump administration and the European Union, and provide more than three billion doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to countries around the world in record time. Written by Joe Miller-the Financial Times' Frankfurt correspondent who covered BioNTech's COVID-19 project in real time-with contributions from Sahin and Türeci, as well as interviews with more than sixty scientists, politicians, public health officials, and BioNTech staff, the book covers key events throughout the extraordinary year, as well as exploring the scientific, economic, and personal background of each medical innovation. Crafted to be both completely accessible to the average reader and filled with details that will fascinate seasoned microbiologists, The Vaccine explains the science behind the breakthrough, at a time when public confidence in vaccine safety and efficacy is crucial to bringing an end to this pandemic"--
Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); Vaccines.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Mind the science : saving your mental health from the wellness industry / by Stea, Jonathan N.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A clinical psychologist who regularly deals with some of society's most vulnerable exposes and debunks the predatory pseudoscience and grift of the multi-trillion-dollar wellness industry and points us towards a better way to take care of our mental health. Can the unbroken gaze of a lone man on a stage in front of hundreds of people truly alleviate their mental distress? Can Berlin Wall pills or a coffee enema cure depression? Can we improve our mental health with past-life regression therapy, cold-water shock therapy, rebirthing therapy ... try none of the above. Wellness grifters and alternative-health snake oil salesmen are everywhere these days, and when our medical systems are under stress (and we are, too!) these costly purveyors of false hope are worse than a waste of money, they can lead us to delay badly needed care from real professionals, exacerbate our conditions and, in the most tragic of cases, even kill us. Today, people looking to care for their mental health face a market with at least 600 "brands" of psychotherapy-and counting. Most are invalid, and many could be harmful. There exist countless unregulated providers of mental-health services in the $4.5 trillion USD wellness industry and alternative medicine community who market themselves as "life coaches," "wellness consultants," and-depending on particular countries and jurisdictions-other various non-legally-protected titles, such as "therapists," "psychotherapists," "counselors," and "practitioners." Looking to exploit people's financial and emotional vulnerabilities, anyone can call themselves a "therapist" without a license. The world of mental healthcare is very much caveat emptor: buyer beware. Having seen so many of his patients hurt by the pseudoscience circulating in the industry, Dr. Jonathan N. Stea is on a mission to expose its harm and protect the public from pseudoscientific mental-health misinformation. In a landscape of rampant burnout and at a time when mental health concerns are at a fever pitch, Mind the Science provides hope and real information to those who have been touched by mental illness, have been misled by false marketing, or are simply curious about the relationship between science and mental health."--
Subjects: Communication in medicine.; Electronic information resource literacy.; Mental health education.; Mental health;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Tai chi fit over 60. [videorecording] / by Ross, David-Dorian,host.; Silver, David,film director,film producer.; YMAA Publication Center,publisher.;
Director of photography, Zach Shapiro; camera and sound, Gabe Twigg.Instructor: David-Dorian Ross.According to experts, including Harvard Medical School, one of the most effective and comprehensive forms of exercise is the ancient Chinese art of tai chi. But how do you begin? What are the moves and exercises you need to know when you are a beginner? And is it important to get all the moves right to avoid injury and receive the benefits? David-Dorian Ross answers these questions and more with this simple TaijiFit routine. Many people believe tai chi is difficult to learn. In reality, a main point of tai chi is to discover how effortless your movements can be. With tai chi, the less effort you apply, the more benefits you'll receive--quite a bit different from the fitness philosophy of "no pain, no gain." Ancient Chinese medicine says that when you exert yourself too much, you build up physical tension and mental anxiety. These create a blockage to the circulation of your life energy, known as qi, which is responsible for your health and well-being. There is nothing to "learn" in this program. You won't have to memorize a complicated routine or perfect any movements. Just smile, relax, and enjoy this simple tai chi workout.E.DVD ; wide screen presentation ; Dolby Digital.
Subjects: Instructional films.; Nonfiction films.; Exercise for older people.; Physical fitness for older people.; Tai chi for older people.; Tai chi.;
For private home use only.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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While you were out : an intimate family portrait of mental illness in an era of silence / by Kissinger, Meg,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."From award-winning journalist Meg Kissinger, a searing memoir of a family besieged by mental illness, as well as an incisive exploration of the systems that failed them and a testament to the love that sustained them. Growing up in the 1960s in the suburbs of Chicago, Meg Kissinger's family seemed to live a charmed life. With eight kids and two loving parents, the Kissingers radiated a warm, boisterous energy. Whether they were spending summer days on the shores of Lake Michigan, barreling down the ski slopes, or navigating the trials of their Catholic school, the Kissingers always knew how to live large and play hard. But behind closed doors, a harsher reality was unfolding. A heavily-medicated mother hospitalized for anxiety and depression, a manic father prone to violence, and children in the throes of bipolar disorder and depression, two of whom would take their own lives. Through it all, the Kissingers faced the world with their signature dark humor and the unspoken family rule--never talk about it. While You Were Out begins as the personal story of one family's struggles, then opens outward as Kissinger details how childhood tragedy catalyzed a journalism career focused on exposing our country's flawed mental health care. Combining the intimacy of memoir with the rigor of investigative reporting, the book explores the consequences of shame, the havoc of botched public policy, and the hope offered by new treatment strategies. This is a story of one family's love and devotion in the face of relentless struggle. It is a book for anyone who cares about someone with mental illness. In other words, it is a book for everyone"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Kissinger, Meg.; Kissinger, Meg; Kissinger family.; Families of the mentally ill; Mental illness; Mentally ill; Photography of families.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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