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International symposium on pseudotuberculosis
BOOK REVIEWS International Symposium on Pseudotuberculosis (Proceedings of the 20th Symposium organized by the Permanent Section of Microbiological Standardization, Paris, 24-26 July, 1967) (Symposia Series in Immunobiological Standardization, Vol. 9), by R. H. REGAllY, A. DE BARBIERI,W. HENNESSEN,D. IKI(~, F. T. PERKINS AND J. UNGAR (Eds.), xviii q- 386 pages, 42 illustrations, 124 tables, 4 maps, Karger, Basle, 1968, Sfr/DM 60.-; US $14.40. The past decade or so has revealed the existence of a form of non-tuberculous mesenteric lymphadenitis, diagnosed with increasing frequency as knowledge accumulated, occurring, as the clinical contributions to this symposium show, most often in children, especially boys, and associated with the bacterium known as Yersinia (Pasteurella) pseudotuberculosis. Pathological and aetiological entities have however a tendency to fragment on intensified study, and the picture was subsequently complicated by the detection of a second, closely related agent, Y. enterocolitica, in disease of nearby regions of the bowel, including some cases of mesenteric lymphadenitis and terminal ileitis, but more often in a condition clinically simulating appendicitis, though frequently unaccompanied by marked pathological changes. Both types of infection are categorised, in this important collection of 54 papers, as pseudotuberculosis, though the use of the term for the majority of Y. enterocolitica infections is disputable.
Environmental Influences (Proceedings of a Conference under the Auspices of Russell Sage Foundation and The Rockefeller University, New York, 21-22 April, 1967) (Biology and Behavior, No. 3), by D. C. GLASS(Ed.), xii q- 304 pages, 59 illustrations, 31 tables, The Rockefeller University Press and the Russell Sage Foundation, New York, N.Y., 1968, US 8 7.50. The Russell Sage Foundation in New York has done much through its fellowships and seminar programmes to promote inter-disciplinary communication and research by behavioural scientists. This volume contains 15 papers delivered by biologists studying the ecology of sub-human species; and by doctors, psychologists and sociologists at a conference held in 1967 on the Rockefeller University campus. The papers cover three main themes. The first three are concerned with the effects of early nutritional deficiencies on subsequent behaviour in human, rat and pig populations. They demonstrate that, in all the populations studied, malnutrition was a significant factor not only in poor physical function, but also in cognitive performance.
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The epidemiology of these conditions is still obscure. A number of the papers presented underline the widespread presence of a silvatic form of Y. pseudotuberculosis infection, as well as its occurrence in animals kept in laboratories and zoological gardens, and occasionally in domestic animals; Y. enterocoBtica is also found in animals, but the problem of whether human infections are normally acquired from animal sources or are endogenous in origin, remains open. Other papers deal with aspects of bacteriology, serology and laboratory diagnosis, and two sections are devoted to the taxonomic problem of the relationship of the two organisms to each other and to the agent of bubonic plague, Yersinia (Pasteurella) pestis. The panel of contributors assembled by the symposium's distinguished president, Professor H. H. Mollaret, includes many world authorities in the field, and the publication is of unique value for its comprehensiveness. The English reader may be deterred to find a number of the articles in French or German with the summaries often crudely translated, and the usefulness of some of the papers (especially those by workers in the USSR) has been lessened by withholding the lists of references. Such minor irritations no more than marginally detract from what must remain a key work in its region of scientific and medical knowledge for years to come. J. E. SMITrt
The next four papers report the effect of social isolation on some subhuman species which normally live in groups, and these are followed by four similar papers on the effects of social reinforcement or its absence in human populations. Three papers are concerned with cultural deprivation in humans, and one by Dubos discusses some generally applicable theories to explain the influence of environment on animal behaviour. The papers, unlike some recent publications which have emphasised the similarity in the behaviour patterns of humans and other primates, are neither speculative nor sensational. Indeed, their authors wisely warn against extracting a greater degree of generalisation from their data than these can bean'. They are cautious and warn against the twin dangers of attaching anthropomorphic characteristics to other species, and conversely, of too readily equating the drives of sub-humans to those of man. However, while specialisation is a necessary condition for advance, these conference papers show that those concerned in various branches of the biological and behavioural sciences have much to gain from examining each other's methods and conJ. neurol. Sci., 1970, 11:95-98
Environmental Influences (Proceedings of a Conference under the Auspices of Russell Sage Foundation and The Rockefeller University, New York, 21-22 April, 1967) (Biology and Behavior, No. 3), by D. C. GLASS(Ed.), xii q- 304 pages, 59 illustrations, 31 tables, The Rockefeller University Press and the Russell Sage Foundation, New York, N.Y., 1968, US 8 7.50. The Russell Sage Foundation in New York has done much through its fellowships and seminar programmes to promote inter-disciplinary communication and research by behavioural scientists. This volume contains 15 papers delivered by biologists studying the ecology of sub-human species; and by doctors, psychologists and sociologists at a conference held in 1967 on the Rockefeller University campus. The papers cover three main themes. The first three are concerned with the effects of early nutritional deficiencies on subsequent behaviour in human, rat and pig populations. They demonstrate that, in all the populations studied, malnutrition was a significant factor not only in poor physical function, but also in cognitive performance.
97
The epidemiology of these conditions is still obscure. A number of the papers presented underline the widespread presence of a silvatic form of Y. pseudotuberculosis infection, as well as its occurrence in animals kept in laboratories and zoological gardens, and occasionally in domestic animals; Y. enterocoBtica is also found in animals, but the problem of whether human infections are normally acquired from animal sources or are endogenous in origin, remains open. Other papers deal with aspects of bacteriology, serology and laboratory diagnosis, and two sections are devoted to the taxonomic problem of the relationship of the two organisms to each other and to the agent of bubonic plague, Yersinia (Pasteurella) pestis. The panel of contributors assembled by the symposium's distinguished president, Professor H. H. Mollaret, includes many world authorities in the field, and the publication is of unique value for its comprehensiveness. The English reader may be deterred to find a number of the articles in French or German with the summaries often crudely translated, and the usefulness of some of the papers (especially those by workers in the USSR) has been lessened by withholding the lists of references. Such minor irritations no more than marginally detract from what must remain a key work in its region of scientific and medical knowledge for years to come. J. E. SMITrt
The next four papers report the effect of social isolation on some subhuman species which normally live in groups, and these are followed by four similar papers on the effects of social reinforcement or its absence in human populations. Three papers are concerned with cultural deprivation in humans, and one by Dubos discusses some generally applicable theories to explain the influence of environment on animal behaviour. The papers, unlike some recent publications which have emphasised the similarity in the behaviour patterns of humans and other primates, are neither speculative nor sensational. Indeed, their authors wisely warn against extracting a greater degree of generalisation from their data than these can bean'. They are cautious and warn against the twin dangers of attaching anthropomorphic characteristics to other species, and conversely, of too readily equating the drives of sub-humans to those of man. However, while specialisation is a necessary condition for advance, these conference papers show that those concerned in various branches of the biological and behavioural sciences have much to gain from examining each other's methods and conJ. neurol. Sci., 1970, 11:95-98