Preface

It is not unusual that students complain about the complexity of terminology of the numerous structures in human anatomy．The purpose of this book is to describe human structures in a concise manner，with the intention to provide a basic knowledge of anatomy for students in health science，especially those who are studying pharmacy/pharmacology，biomedical science or community medicine．

Some simplified tables and a large number of color figures are used in this textbook to help the students to understand better the various structures of the human body．The terms of relatively important or major structures are printed with characters in bold，and the origins and meanings of some anatomical terms are also mentioned to facilitate comprehension．Cytological and histological aspects are also included throughout the text but limited to certain specific body parts，mainly to help the students to better understand the disease processes．As structure and function are closely related and complementary to each other，emphasis is also given to human body function where appropriate．References to anatomy literature are listed so that students can acquire a deeper knowledge of an area of interest，should they so desire．Our ultimate goal is to help students to understand how human body works and how to utilize the knowledge of anatomy for improving as well as maintaining health．

This book got the support from the grant of Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council and Jinan University in partnership with the foundation of Chinese-English bilingual teaching model courses from Ministry of Education of P.R.C．We thank Dr．Zhong Wenyi for his critical reading of the manuscript．

I welcome your suggestions for improvements in the next edition．

Sanqiang Pan Baogui Su
November 2009