Vander’s Human Physiology: The Mechanisms of Body Function, 13th Edition

Book Preface

It is with great pleasure that we present the thirteenth edition of Vander’s Human Physiology. The cover of this edition reflects some of the major themes of the textbook: homeostasis, exercise, pathophysiology, and cellular and molecular mechanisms of body function. These themes and others have now been introduced in Chapter 1, called “General Principles of Physiology.” These principles have been integrated throughout the remaining chapters in order to continually reinforce their importance. Each chapter opens with a preview of those principles that are particularly relevant for the material covered in that chapter. The principles are then reinforced when specific examples arise within a chapter. Finally, assessments are provided at the end of each chapter to provide immediate feedback for students to gauge their understanding of the chapter material and its relationship to physiological principles. These assessments tend to require analytical and critical thinking; answers are provided in an appendix.

Users of the book will also benefit from expanded assessments of the traditional type, such as multiple choice and thought questions, as well as additional Physiological Inquiries associated with various key figures. In total, approximately 70 new assessment questions have been added to the textbook; this is in addition to the several hundred test questions available on
the McGraw-Hill Connect site associated with the book. As in earlier editions, there is extensive coverage of exercise physiology (see the special exercise index that follows the detailed Table of Contents), and special attention to the clinical relevance of much of the basic science (see the Index of Clinical Terms in Appendix B). This index is organized according to disease; infectious or causative agents; and the treatments, diagnostics, and therapeutic drugs used to treat disease. This is a very useful resource for instructors and students interested in the extensive medical applications of human physiology that are covered in this book.

As textbooks become more integrated with digital content, we are pleased that McGraw-Hill has provided Vander’s Human Physiology with cutting-edge digital content that continues to expand and develop. Students will again find a Connect Plus site associated with the text. The assessments have been updated and are now authored by one of the author team, Kevin Strang. For the first time we also have Learn- Smart! McGraw-Hill LearnSmart ™ is an adaptive diagnostic tool that constantly assesses student knowledge of course material.

We are always grateful to receive e-mail messages from instructors and students worldwide who are using the book and wish to offer suggestions regarding content. Finally, no textbook such as this could be written without the expert and critical eyes of our many reviewers; we are thankful to those colleagues who took time from their busy schedules to read all or a portion of a chapter (or more) and provide us with their insights and suggestions for improvements.