A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie


Kathryn Harkup - 2015
    The popularity of murder mystery books, TV series, and even board games shows that there is an appetite for death, and the more unusual or macabre the method, the better. With gunshots or stabbings the cause of death is obvious, but poisons are inherently more mysterious. How are some compounds so deadly in such tiny amounts?Agatha Christie used poison to kill her characters more often than any other crime fiction writer. The poison was a central part of the novel, and her choice of deadly substances was far from random; the chemical and physiological characteristics of each poison provide vital clues to the discovery of the murderer. Christie demonstrated her extensive chemical knowledge (much of it gleaned by working in a pharmacy during both world wars) in many of her novels, but this is rarely appreciated by the reader.Written by former research chemist Kathryn Harkup, each chapter takes a different novel and investigates the poison used by the murderer. Fact- and fun-packed, A is for Arsenic looks at why certain chemicals kill, how they interact with the body, and the feasibility of obtaining, administering, and detecting these poisons, both when Christie was writing and today.

Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee l Summary & Study Guide


BookRags - 2012
    This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.

Krause's Food & Nutrition Therapy


L. Kathleen Mahan - 2007
    This new edition continues its tradition of providing the most comprehensive and up-to-date content available today. New chapters on medical nutrition therapy for psychiatric disease and developmental disorders spotlight the advances made in these areas. Extensive appendices, tables, illustrations, figures, and clinical insight boxes give practical hands-on procedures and clinical tools with the most current information, including brand-new guidelines on food intake and physical activity, and highlight the inclusion of the new food guide pyramid, MyPyramid, to use in everyday practice.Edited by two leading experts in nutrition, L. Kathleen Mahan and Sylvia Escott-Stump, and written by nationally recognized contributors to ensure that all information is comprehensive and current.Hundreds of full-color illustrations bring nutrition therapy to life and provide a realistic representation of clinical practice.UNIQUE! Pathophysiology algorithms present the cause, pathophysiology, and the medical nutrition management for a variety of disorders and conditions, helping you better understand the illness process and provide optimum nutritional care.Clinical Insight, New Directions, and Focus On... boxes provide additional information and suggest further discussion, study, or research.Clinical Scenarios offer case studies that help you apply what you've learned to real-world situations.Relevant websites direct you to online resources for further information on specific chapter topics.Key Terms are defined at the beginning of each chapter and highlighted within the text to help you focus your study and test your mastery of the information.Evolve Student Resource contains WebLinks and more than 1,000 self-assessment study questions that provide instant feedback.Medical Nutrition Therapy for Psychiatric Conditions chapter explores recent research into the links between nutrition and mental disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, dementia, depression, and schizophrenia.Medical Nutrition Therapy for Developmental Disabilities chapter looks at the unique nutritional needs of individuals with ADHD, Downs syndrome, cerebral palsy, and muscular dystrophy and the role medical nutrition therapy plays in providing effective care.Information on energy, macronutrients, vitamins, and minerals is now summarized in easy-to-read, need-to-know tables and bulleted lists, providing a quick review of basic nutrition.Updated information on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 and MyPyramid presents information on the newest recommendations for nutrients and physical activity throughout the text, while integrating the customizable MyPyramid into plans of care.Sample Nutrition Diagnosis boxes in each chapter present a problem, its etiology, and its signs and symptoms before concluding with a sample nutrition diagnosis, providing you with real-life scenarios you may encounter in practice.Nutritional Facts in the appendices put the content of the chapter into a practical and convenient format that students and dietetics professionals can use in their education of the client on necessary nutritional care.Updated content is provided on the new Dietary Reference Intakes, the 2000 Dietary Guidelines and Healthy People 2010.New information is included on type 2 diabetes and prediabetes.The newest guidelines released by the National Institute of Health to assist with implementing the DASH diet for effective management of hypertension.The latest information is presented on dietary supplementation and integrative care, with cutting-edge evidence of how the nursing care process is changing to provide better care.

The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History


Katherine Ashenburg - 2007
    For the seventeenth-century aristocratic Frenchman, it meant changing his shirt once a day, using perfume to obliterate both his own aroma and everyone else’s, but never immersing himself in – horrors! – water. By the early 1900s, an extraordinary idea took hold in North America – that frequent bathing, perhaps even a daily bath, was advisable. Not since the Roman Empire had people been so clean, and standards became even more extreme as the millennium approached. Now we live in a deodorized world where germophobes shake hands with their elbows and where sales of hand sanitizers, wipes and sprays are skyrocketing.The apparently routine task of taking up soap and water (or not) is Katherine Ashenburg’s starting point for a unique exploration of Western culture, which yields surprising insights into our notions of privacy, health, individuality, religion and sexuality.Ashenburg searches for clean and dirty in plague-ridden streets, medieval steam baths, castles and tenements, and in bathrooms of every description. She reveals the bizarre rescriptions of history’s doctors as well as the hygienic peccadilloes of kings, mistresses, monks and ordinary citizens, and guides us through the twists and turns to our own understanding of clean, which is no more rational than the rest. Filled with amusing anecdotes and quotations from the great bathers of history, The Dirt on Clean takes us on a journey that is by turns intriguing, humorous, startling and not always for the squeamish. Ashenburg’s tour of history’s baths and bathrooms reveals much about our changing and most intimate selves – what we desire, what we ignore, what we fear, and a significant part of who we are.

A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Bali: The Greater Sunda Islands


John MacKinnon - 1993
    This book provides the first complete identification guides to the birds of this teeming tropical paradise. It gives descriptions of 820 regional species, illustrated in 88 specially commissioned color plates accompanied by notes detailing distinctive features and habitats. Entries cover nomenclature, plumage, markings, voice, global range, distribution and regional status, habits, and diet. The main text gives practical information on where to find many exotic species, citing major birdwatching locations. Introductory chapters discuss habitats, climate, land-use, and conservation concerns. Professional ornithologists and amateur bird watchers alike will find this the indispensable bird guide for eastern Malaysia and western Indonesia for many years to come. It is also an unrivalled source of information for casual travellers and ecotourists.