Basic Medical Endocrinology, Fourth Edition provides up-to-date coverage of rapidly unfolding advances in the understanding of hormones involved in regulating most aspects of bodily functions. The discussion focuses on molecular and cellular aspects of hormone production and action firmly rooted in the context of integrative physiology. Topics are approached from the perspective of a physiologist with over 40 years of teaching experience. This fourth edition is richly illustrated in full color with both descriptive schematic diagrams and laboratory findings obtained in clinical studies. Each of the fourteen chapters starts with an 'Overview' of the topic and ends with a 'Suggested Reading' list. Initial chapters lay a foundation by presenting basic information and principles of hormone structure, secretion, and actions, and the physiological roles of the principal endocrine glands. Subsequent chapters address the role of the endocrine system in solving such physiological problems as the regulation of the volume and composition of body fluids in the face of changing environmental demands, and the regulation of short and longterm energy balance. The final chapters deal with the indispensable role of hormones in growth, development and reproduction. * Strikes an excellent balance between systems/organismal level of overview and cellular/molecular analysis * Richly illustrated with over 250 full color figures, descriptive schematic diagrams, and laboratory findings * All chapters have been thoroughly rewritten and updated, including new discussions of adrenal steroid biosynthesis, the parathyroid in osteoporosis, obesity and metabolism, as well as an entirely new chapter on gastrointestinal hormones * Editor has 45 years of experience teaching endocrinology and physiology to medical students at Harvard and UMass