H1N1. Staph aureus. Traveler’s diarrhea. All examples of human interaction with the microbial world, which counts viruses, bacteria, and parasites too numerous to mention. Infectious Disease doctor Mark Crislip has a strange relationship with this world—he spends most of his time trying to kill it, even as he appreciates the vital role microorganisms play in the Earth’s ecosystems. Puswhisperer is a collection of infectious disease anecdotes created from a year’s worth of clinical blog posts from the Medscape blog Rubor, Dolor, Calor, Tumor. Originally intended for residents and fellows, the posts have been compiled, edited, and revised for a non-specialist audience. The tales cover a wide range of diagnostic dilemmas and treatment quandaries. Which infection smells like buttered popcorn? Are some antibiotics “stronger” than others? Is it OK to eat the oysters? Along with clinical insight, the book provides a good dose of humor and insightful, microbe-centered philosophy. The author speculates on what the Earth might look like in five billion years, when animals and plants are gone, but bacteria remain. He also draws attention to the staggering rate of evolution in bacteria, made possible by short generation times and passing of genetic material from one bug to another. Finding a 60-year-old Staph strain in an old wound, Crislip tells us, is like looking out your window and seeing a Neanderthal shuffle by. Recommended for anyone interested in infectious disease and the microorganisms that run our planet.

A second year of clinical tales from the Puswhisperer, Mark Crislip, an infectious disease specialist from Portland, OR. Dr. Crislip kills strep and staph, fights flu, and is always on the lookout for "zebras"?those unusual infections (and sometimes non-infections) that leave all the doctors guessing. Originally intended as a guide for studying for the Boards, these tales have been edited for a lay audience and provide hours of educational entertainment for anyone interested in infectious disease.

In his 30 years of practice he's seen rare bacteria, common bacteria, common bacteria in rare places, complications you can't name, and stories that will make you scrub your hands until they're raw and char your food until it's in cinders. Mycobacteria that cause skin infections can grow in old bomb craters left over from World War II. Acute HIV infection can present as meningoencephalitis. If it's got a flagellum, the Puswhisperer has seen it and tried to kill it. He shares his fourth volume of pearls with anyone who loves infectious disease and the organisms that infect us.

The best of Dr. Mark Crislip's science-based medicine essays dealing with supplements, complementary and alternative medicine (SCAM). This book explains the harm--why SCAM is bad for people, animals, and the environment. It also explains why our powers of logic are often powerless against SCAM. It then covers selected aspects of SCAM in detail: probiotics, herbs and supplements, chiropractic, homeopathy, acupuncture, and vaccine denial. A final section on miscellaneous therapies exposes some unusual treatments, from moxbustion to cranialsacral therapy.

Mark Crislip's alternative history novel explores what the present day might look like if the purveyors of patent medicines had managed to suppress the germ theory. Conflicting models of disease and cure, ranging from balancing humors to homeopathy, form the basis of powerful guilds that control public discourse and stifle discovery. Cholera breaks out in 2017 Portland, Oregon, and all of the medical guilds rush to own a piece of the cure. But an unlikely team of skeptics have heard rumors from Europe that disease is caused by animalcules invisible to the naked eye. With a smuggled microscope and a gradually evolving hypothesis, the skeptics take histories, sample, and examine whatever they can. When the guild leaders find out, the skeptics must race against time and the vagaries of the cholera bacillus itself to keep the outbreak from decimating the city.

This irreverent romp through the worlds of medicine and the military is part autobiography, part social history, and part laugh-out-loud comedy. When the author graduated from medical school in 1970, only 7% of America's doctors were women, and very few of those joined the military. She was the second woman ever to do an Air Force internship, the only woman doctor at David Grant USAF Medical Center, and the only female military doctor in Spain. She had to fight for acceptance: even the 3 year old daughter of a patient told her father, "Oh, Daddy! That¿s not a doctor, that's a lady." She was refused a radiology residency because they subtracted points for women. She couldn¿t have dependents: she was paid less than her male counterparts, she couldn't live on base, and her civilian husband was not even covered for medical care or allowed to shop on base. After spending six years as a General Medical Officer in Franco's Spain, she became a family practice specialist and a flight surgeon, doing everything from delivering babies to flying a B-52. Along the way, she found time to buy her own airplane and learn to fly it (in that order) and to have two babies of her own. She retired as a full colonel. As a rare woman in a male-dominated field, she encountered prejudice, silliness, and even frank disbelief. Her sense of humor kept her afloat; she enlivened the solemnity of her job with antics like admitting a spider to the hospital and singing "The Mickey Mouse Club March" on a field exercise. This book describes her education and career. She tells an entertaining story of what it was like to be a female doctor, flight surgeon, pilot, and military officer in a world that wasn't quite ready for her yet. The title is taken from her first cross-country solo flight: when she closed out her flight plan, the man at the desk said, "Didn't anybody ever tell you women aren't supposed to fly?"

Rev. ed of: How to understand acid-base. c1981.

An all-encompassing guide to skeptical thinking from podcast host and academic neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine Steven Novella and his SGU co-hosts, which Richard Wiseman calls "the perfect primer for anyone who wants to separate fact from fiction." It is intimidating to realize that we live in a world overflowing with misinformation, bias, myths, deception, and flawed knowledge. There really are no ultimate authority figures-no one has the secret, and there is no place to look up the definitive answers to our questions (not even Google). Luckily, The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe is your map through this maze of modern life. Here Dr. Steven Novella-along with Bob Novella, Cara Santa Maria, Jay Novella, and Evan Bernstein-will explain the tenets of skeptical thinking and debunk some of the biggest scientific myths, fallacies, and conspiracy theories-from anti-vaccines to homeopathy, UFO sightings to N- rays. You'll learn the difference between science and pseudoscience, essential critical thinking skills, ways to discuss conspiracy theories with that crazy co- worker of yours, and how to combat sloppy reasoning, bad arguments, and superstitious thinking. So are you ready to join them on an epic scientific quest, one that has taken us from huddling in dark caves to setting foot on the moon? (Yes, we really did that.) DON'T PANIC! With The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, we can do this together. "Thorough, informative, and enlightening, The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe inoculates you against the frailties and shortcomings of human cognition. If this book does not become required reading for us all, we may well see modern civilization unravel before our eyes." -- Neil deGrasse Tyson "In this age of real and fake information, your ability to reason, to think in scientifically skeptical fashion, is the most important skill you can have. Read The Skeptics' Guide Universe; get better at reasoning. And if this claim about the importance of reason is wrong, The Skeptics' Guide will help you figure that out, too." -- Bill Nye

The author, a New York Times reporter, traces the invention and mass distribution of the AK-47 assault rifle, and its effects on war. He traces the invention of the assault rifle, following the miniaturization of rapid-fire arms from the American Civil War, through World War I and Vietnam, to present-day Afghanistan, where Kalashnikovs and their knockoffs number as many as 100 million, one for every seventy persons on earth. It is the weapon of state repression, as well as revolution, civil war, genocide, drug wars, and religious wars; and it is the arms of terrorists, guerrillas, boy soldiers, and thugs. From its inception to its use by more than fifty national armies around the world, to its role in modern-day Afghanistan, he discusses how the deadly weapon has helped alter world history.

Wherever we go, we can't escape the news about the novel Coronavirus. With every day that passes, we get more and more anxious about the virus reaching our community and becoming a threat to the ones we love. However, the situation is not as bad as it seems. With every new case that appears, health officials learn more and more about the virus, bringing us one step closer to medications and treatments that could cure or even prevent the infection. What we can do in the meantime is stay safe. There are many preventive measures available to minimize the risk of getting infected or spreading the disease. Most of those are easy to implement in our daily lives, such as having good hygiene or being aware of our environment and the people around us. This book focuses on presenting all the relevant information available about the novel coronavirus up until this point and giving practical advice on how to stay safe. It's a comprehensive guide on how to survive these difficult times without giving into the overall sense of panic and anxiety. Being alert and informed is the first step in being prepared for what's to come. Table of Contents * Introduction * Chapter 1: The Origin of The Coronavirus * Chapter 2: Symptoms and Treatment * Chapter 3: Practical Advice to Protect Yourself and Your Family * Chapter 4: What The Future Holds * Conclusion