Winner of the 2014 Diamond Anniversary Book Award Finalist for the 2014 National Communications Association Critical and Cultural Studies Division Book of the Year Award In 2000, the National Human Genome Research Institute announced the completion of a “draft” of the human genome, the sequence information of nearly all 3 billion base pairs of DNA. Since then, interest in the hereditary basis of disease has increased considerably. In The Material Gene, Kelly E. Happe considers the broad implications of this development by treating “heredity” as both a scientific and political concept. Beginning with the argument that eugenics was an ideological project that recast the problems of industrialization as pathologies of gender, race, and class, the book traces the legacy of this ideology in contemporary practices of genomics. Delving into the discrete and often obscure epistemologies and discursive practices of genomic scientists, Happe maps the ways in which the hereditarian body, one that is also normatively gendered and racialized, is the new site whereby economic injustice, environmental pollution, racism, and sexism are implicitly reinterpreted as pathologies of genes and by extension, the bodies they inhabit. Comparing genomic approaches to medicine and public health with discourses of epidemiology, social movements, and humanistic theories of the body and society, The Material Gene reworks our common assumption of what might count as effective, just, and socially transformative notions of health and disease.

Materials for Biomedical Engineering: Bioactive Materials for Antimicrobial, Anticancer, and Gene Therapy offers an up-to-date perspective on recent research findings regarding the application and use of these materials for disease treatment and prevention. Various types of currently investigated bioactive materials, including therapeutic nanostructures and antimicrobial hydrogels are discussed, as are their properties, impact and future role in therapeutic applications. The book will be extremely useful for new researchers who want to explore more information on the use of bioactive materials or for more experienced researchers who are interested in new trends and specific applications. - Provides knowledge on the range of bioactive materials available, enabling the reader to make optimal materials selection decisions - Contains detailed information on current and proposed applications of the latest bioactive materials to empower readers to design innovative products and processes - Presents a strong emphasis on chemistry and the physico-chemical characterization of these materials and their application in antimicrobial, anticancer and gene therapy

This book discusses the reality of human being by pointing out some of the very fundamental issues that remain hidden from the eyes of the modern and post-modern western thought. By elaborating Mulla Sadra’s concept of Soul’s origination from the body and its survival through the Spirit, this book explains how the human soul develops stage by stage in a gradual manner from a vegetative body in the womb. By using Mulla Sadra’s principles of causality, this book shows how God and his Angels create man and other species on the Earth without denying Darwin’s evolutionary theory. In this reference, the role of metaphysical worlds in actualizing human knowledge is also discussed. This book also shows how the human life is a journey back towards its origin i.e. towards God and how this journey would continue even after death. In this reference, this book also explains the principles on the basis of which human soul would continue its life in the post-humus world. This book also clarifies the benefits of focusing onto the self and how this focus may lead to the realization of the Eternal Self of God. In this way, it shows how it is not impossible to experience the post-humus conditions even before death. It also specifies what kind of lifestyle may possibly ensure the occurrence of such mystic experiences.

More than 150 key social issues confronting the United States today are covered in this eight-volume set: from abortion and adoption to capital punishment and corporate crime; from obesity and organized crime to sweatshops and xenophobia.

A sharp-eyed exploration of the promise and peril of having children in an age of genetic tests and interventions Is screening for disease in an embryo a humane form of family planning or a slippery slope toward eugenics? Should doctors tell you that your infant daughter is genetically predisposed to breast cancer? If tests revealed that your toddler has a genetic mutation whose significance isn’t clear, would you want to know? In The Gene Machine, the award-winning journalist Bonnie Rochman deftly explores these hot-button questions, guiding us through the new frontier of gene technology and how it is transforming medicine, bioethics, health care, and the factors that shape a family. Rochman tells the stories of scientists working to unlock the secrets of the human genome; genetic counselors and spiritual advisers guiding mothers and fathers through life-changing choices; and, of course, parents (including Rochman herself) grappling with revelations that are sometimes joyous, sometimes heartbreaking, but always profound. She navigates the dizzying and constantly expanding array of prenatal and postnatal tests, from carrier screening to genome sequencing, while considering how access to more tests is altering perceptions of disability and changing the conversation about what sort of life is worth living and who draws the line. Along the way, she highlights the most urgent ethical quandary: Is this technology a triumph of modern medicine or a Pandora’s box of possibilities? Propelled by human narratives and meticulously reported, The Gene Machine is both a scientific road map and a meditation on our power to shape the future. It is a book that gets to the very core of what it means to be human.

Containing 609 encyclopedic articles written by more than 200 prominent scholars, The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science presents an unparalleled history of the field invaluable to anyone with an interest in the technology, ideas, discoveries, and learned institutions that have shaped our world over the past five centuries. Focusing on the period from the Renaissance to the early twenty-first century, the articles cover all disciplines (Biology, Alchemy, Behaviorism), historical periods (the Scientific Revolution, World War II, the Cold War), concepts (Hypothesis, Space and Time, Ether), and methodologies and philosophies (Observation and Experiment, Darwinism). Coverage is international, tracing the spread of science from its traditional centers and explaining how the prevailing knowledge of non-Western societies has modified or contributed to the dominant global science as it is currently understood. Revealing the interplay between science and the wider culture, the Companion includes entries on topics such as minority groups, art, religion, and science's practical applications. One hundred biographies of the most iconic historic figures, chosen for their contributions to science and the interest of their lives, are also included. Above all The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science is a companion to world history: modern in coverage, generous in breadth, and cosmopolitan in scope. The volume's utility is enhanced by a thematic outline of the entire contents, a thorough system of cross-referencing, and a detailed index that enables the reader to follow a specific line of inquiry along various threads from multiple starting points. Each essay has numerous suggestions for further reading, all of which favor literature that is accessible to the general reader, and a bibliographical essay provides a general overview of the scholarship in the field. Lastly, as a contribution to the visual appeal of the Companion, over 100 black-and-white illustrations and an eight-page color section capture the eye and spark the imagination.

The fields of molecular biology and molecular genetics is rapidly changing with new data acquired daily and new insights into well-studied processes presented on a scale of weeks or months rather than years. For decades Lewin's GENES has provided the teaching community with the most cutting edge presentation of molecular biology and molecular genetics, covering gene structure, sequencing, organization, and expression. The latest edition, with a knowledgeable new author team, has enlisted 21 scientists to provide revisions and content updates in their individual fields of expertise, ensuring that Lewin's GENES X is the most current and comprehensive text in the field. Informative new chapters, as well as a reorganization of material, provide a more logical flow of topics and many chapters have been renamed to better indicate their contents. Lewin's GENES X also contains new pedagogical features to help students learn as they read and an online student study guide allows students to test themselves on key material.

Addressing the management of genetic resources, this book offers a new assessment of the contemporary Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) regime. Debates about ABS have moved on. The initial focus on the legal obligations established by international agreements like the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the form of obligations for collecting physical biological materials have now shifted into a far more complex series of disputes and challenges about the ways ABS should be implemented and enforced. These now cover a wide range of issues, including: digital sequence information, the repatriation of resources, technology transfer, traditional knowledge and cultural expressions, open access to information and knowledge, naming conventions, farmers’ rights, new schemes for accessing pandemic viruses sharing DNA sequences, and so on. Drawing together perspectives from an interdisciplinary range of leading and emerging international scholars, this book offers a new approach to the ABS landscape; as it breaks from the standard regulatory analyses in order to explore alternative solutions to the intractable issues for the Access and Benefit Sharing of genetic resources. Addressing these modern legal debates from a perspective that will appeal to both ABS scholars and those with broader legal concerns in the areas of intellectual property, food, governance, Indigenous issues, and so on, this book will be a useful resource for scholars and students as well as those in government and in international institutions working in relevant areas.