Intended as the primary text for introductory courses on medical anthropology, this text integrates human biological data relevant to health and disease with both evolutionary theory and the social environments that more often than not produce major challenges to health and survival. Students who take this fastest-growing anthropology course come from a variety of disciplines (anthropology, biology, especially pre-med students, and health sciences, especially), so the text does not assume anything beyond a basic high-school level familiarity with human biology and anthropology. In addition to being the only current text that takes a biocultural approach, it provides a state-of-the-science review of selected topics and looks at the potential application of the biocultural anthropological approach to health interventions/prevention. Among the topics covered are nutrition, infectious disease, stress, reproductive health, behavioral disease, aging, race/racism and health, mental health, and healers andhealing. INDICE: Chapters 2-4 and 6-12 end with a Conclusion.. Preface. Chapter 1: Introduction: A Biocultural Approach to Medical Anthropology. The Culture Concept. A Biocultural Perspective. Looking Ahead. Chapter 2: Anthropological Perspectives on Health and Disease. Definitions of Health. Disease. Illness. Sickness. The Locus of Health: The Body and Society. Biological/Medical Normalcy. Evolutionary Perspectives on Health. Adaptability. Behavioral Adaptability. Cultural Approaches in Medical Anthropology. Power Differentials and Health. Ethnomedical Systems. Interpretive Approaches to Illness and Suffering. Applied Medical Anthropology. Epidemiology. Chapter 3: Healers and Healing. Culture and Healing Systems. Recruitment: How Healers Become Healers. Alternative and Complementary Medicines. Acupuncture. Chiropractic. Navajo Medicine. When Biomedicine is Alternative Medicine. Death as a Biocultural Concept. Alternative Biomedicines. Placebo and Nocebo. Chapter 4: Diet and Nutrition in Health and Disease. Fundamentals of Nutrition. Digestive Physiology. An Evolutionary Approach to Nutrition. Nutrition and Chronic Diseases. Obesity. Diabetes. Lactose Intolerance. Salt and Hypertension. Celiac Disease. Chapter 5: Growth and Development. Life History Theory. Gestation: The First 40 Weeks of Growth and Development. Infancy. Childhood. Small but Healthy?. Is Bigger Better?. Puberty and theOnset of Adolescence. Teenage Pregnancy in the U.S.. Sex, Gender, Growth and Health. Environmental Toxins and Growth. The End of Childhood: Transitions to Adulthood. Chapter 6: Reproductive Health. Medicalization of Women's Health/Reproductive Health. Menstruation. Premenstrual Syndrome. Detriments of Fertility. Infertility. Falling Sperm Counts: Environmental Causes of Male Reproductive Health Problems. Female Genital Cutting. Pregnancy. Birth. Mothering. Menopause. Reproductive Events and Breast Cancer Risk. Chapter 7: Aging. The Aging Body. Physiological Theories of Aging. Somatic Mutations. Free Radicals. Wear and Degeneration. Evolutionary Theories of Aging. The Aging Brain. Extending Life? Caloric Restriction and an Okinawa Case Study. Health, Illness, and the Cultural Construction of Aging. Chapter 8: Infectious Disease: Introduction to Pathogens and the Immune System. Koch's Postulates. Taxonomy of Infectious Disease. Viruses. Bacteria. Protozoa. Fungi. Worms. Prions. How Pathogens Spread. Human Defenses against Pathogens. The Immune Response. How Does the Immune System Recognize Pathogens?. How Does the Immune System Respond to a Recognized Pathogen?. Pathogen Strategies for Avoiding Immune Destruction. Concealment. Antigenic drift and shift. Immunosuppression. Variation in Immune Response. Variation in the MHC. Undernutrition and Immune Response. Allergies and Asthma: Relationship to Infectious Disease Exposure?. The Hygiene Hypothesis. The Helminth Hypothesis. Variation in Pathogen Virulence. Chapter 9: Historical Perspectives on Infectious Disease in Human Populations. Origins of Infections in Humans. Agriculture's Effects on Infectious Disease. The Globalization of Infection. Smallpox. Colonization in the Tropics. Immigration, Ware, and Infection. Bioterrorism and Biological Warfare. The 1918 Influenza Epidemic. Chapter 10: Emerging and Resurging Infections: Biocultural Interactions Between Humans and Pathogens. Emergent and Resurgent Diseases. Malaria: An Early "Emergent" Disease. Malaria Life Cycle and Pathogencity. Genetic Adaptations to Malaria. Behavioral Adaptations to Malaria. Efforts to Control Malaria. Malaria as a Resurgent Disease. Cholera. Genetic Adaptation to Cholera: Cystic Fibrosis Alleles. Ecology of Cholera Resurgence. Dams and Infectious Disease. Onchocerciasis. Schistosomiasis. HIV/AIDS: A New Disease. How HIV Works. Cultural Responses to HIV. Origins of HIV. Tuberculosis: A Resurgent Disease. Biology and Pathogenicityof TB. TB as a Resurgent Disease. Chapter 11: Stress. Social Inequality, and Race and Ethnicity:Implications for Health Disparities. Biology of the Stress Response. The Nervous System Stress Response. The Hormonal Stress Response. Why is Stress Different for Humans?. Stress and Biological Normalcy. Stress and Health. Cardiovascular Disease. Immune Function. Immunosuppression. Autoimmunity. Child Growth. Inequality, Stress, and Health. Relative Status. Social Cohesion. Social Support. Race and Ethnicity and Health in the United States. Chapter 12: Mental Health and Illness. The Medical Model in Biocultural Context. Culture-Bound Syndromes. Eating Disorders. ADHD and Culture. Mood Disorders. Depression. Bipolar Disorder and Creativity. Schizophrenia. Epilogue: The Relevance of Medical Anthropology. What Can I Do Next if I am Interested in Medical Anthropology?. Graduate Programs in Anthropology. Public Health programs. Medical Schools and Clinical Health. Work in Governmental and Non-Governmental Health Agencies. Glossary. References Cited. Index
- ISBN: 978-0-19-530883-9
- Editorial: Oxford University
- Encuadernacion: Rústica
- Páginas: 480
- Fecha Publicación: 21/08/2008
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés