'I would recommend it to any doctor with an interest in research who is keen to read about developments in a wide range of medical and surgical specialties' From the British Journal of Hospital Medicine.
Based on the 2009 Advanced Medicine conference at the Royal College of Physicians, this volume uniquely blends clinical updates with scientific insight into cutting edge research. A wide range of topics are covered, ranging from those where pathogenetic mechanisms are only begining to be unravelled, for instance, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, to areas where large multi-centre trials have made a great difference to practice, such as the management of transient ischaemic attacks.
Diseases of the 21st century such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome are also covered, as are conditions which were recognised centuries ago, such as pneumonia, hay fever and allergic respiratory disease. Articles offering a new perspective on topics that repeatedly raise clinical conundrums (such as thyroid disease, preoperative assessment and when to biopsy the liver) are also included. In addition, self-assessment questions associated with the articles are featured, allowing readers to test their understanding of a chapter's key messages.
The volume concludes with lectures that tackle the possibility of reversing steroid resistance in inflammatory lung disease, analyse the alarming rise in multi and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, and examine genetic diversity and the major histocompatability complex.
This unique publication presents essential facts and information on the latest medical developments to a wide range of readers such as the consultant physician, general practitioner or doctor in training, and also those from developing countries.

RHEUMATOLOGY

* Does time matter in the management of rheumatoid arthritis? Paola de Pablo, Andrew D Filer, Karim Raza, and Christopher D Buckley
* Large vessel vasculitis Justin C Mason

PREVENTING ILLNESS

* Preoperative assessment: what the physician needs to know Hugh Montgomery

ENDOCRINOLOGY

* Thyroid disease Anthony Westman
* Metabolic syndrome Kimberly D Bruce and Christopher Byrne

NEUROLOGY

* Advances in epilepsy Sanjay M Sisodiya
* Update in transient ischaemic attack Matthew F Giles and Peter M Rothwell
* Parkinson's disease - an update Roger A Barker

RENAL MEDICINE

* Polycystic kidney diseases Patrick H Maxwell

GASTROENTEROLOGY

* Inflammatory bowel disease Adam Bailey and Simon Travis

HEPATOLOGY

* Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease Christopher P Day
* To perform a liver biopsy or not? Possible non-invasive alternatives Simon D Taylor-Robinson, Jeremy FL Cobbold, Mary ME Crossey and Jane Cox

HAEMATOLOGY

* The significance of minor bleeding symptoms Mike Laffan

INFECTIOUS DISEASES

* Novel therapies for sepsis Jonathan Cohen
* Hepatitis C virus infection from basic science to clinical impact Paul Klenerman
* Pneumococcal pneumonia David H Dockrell

RESPIRATORY

* Allergen immunotherapy for allergic respiratory disease Ellen Pinter, Louisa K James, Martin Penagos and Stephen R Durham
* Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis Moira Whyte
* Lung transplantation Paul A Corris

CARDIOLOGY

* Inflammation and immunity in atherosclerosis Dorian O Haskard

LINACRE LECTURE

* Genetic diversity, the major histocompatability complex and disease: another chapter in a remarkable story Julian Charles Knight

MITCHELL LECTURE

* MDR and XDR-TB: the global rise of multi and extensively drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis Paul P Nunn

CROONIAN LECTURE

* Reversing of steroid resistance in inflammatory diseases: a new therapeutic strategy Peter J Barnes