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Automated Immunoanalysis—Parts I and II
BOOK REVIEWS
329
Haemostasis and Thrombosis. A Conceptual Approach. JACKHIRSH& ELIZ~ABETH A. BRAIN. 1979. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, London and New York. Australian distributor Longman Cheshire, Melbourne. 104 pp., tables. $10.95.
This book developed from a series of slide-tape shows used at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario within the self-instructional M.D. programme. There are 103 pages of line drawings and tables with short explanatory paragraphs of text referring to each. Self evaluation questions are placed at the end of each of the 11 chapters. The hook sets out to provide a short and authoritative summary of normal haemostasis, the bleeding disorders and the mechanisms and treatment of thrombosis. The authors are to be complimented for compressing so much factual knowledge into such a short volume. As stated in the preface, it is not intended to be used as a textbook, and the student is encouraged to read relevant sections in standard texts. It is difficult to know whether the book would appeal to Australian medical undergraduates and trainee laboratory technologists. Self-teaching programmes are not well developed in our Faculties of Medicine and we usually do not subdivide the curriculum into instructional packages, of which this book is an example. The traditional approach is to learn normal haemostasis in physiology, atheroma and thrombosis in pathology, the bleeding disorders in clinical medicine and therapeutics in clinical pharmacology. Each chapter is set out in the form of a lecture, but does not have the same impact as a lecture as interaction between speaker and audience is not present. The original slide-tape shows must have been very good, but quality seems t o have suffered from the attempt to get to a wider audience. Nevertheless, if a senior undergraduate knew the contents of this book, he would be well equipped to deal with all the bleeding and clotting problems that he might encounter in practice. The hook will be of value to trainee physicians and haematologists who wish to brush up knowledge before examinations. W . R. Pitney Automated Immunoanalysis-Parts I and II, Ed. ROBERTR . RITCHIE. 1978. Marcel Dekker, New York. 304 pp. bound, illustrated. ISBN 0 8247 6679 2 Part 1-$34.50; Part 2-$29.75.
This is a n intriguing multi-authored treatise in two volumes concerned primarily with the theory underlying many of the techniques used in modern immunopathology laboratories. Most ofthe papers are concerned with two major analytical techniques, nephelometry and radioimmunoassay. A major chapter in volume 1 consists of an up-to-date discussion of the 80-yr-old technique of light scattering or nephelometry by Kusnetz and Mansberg. While the authors have supplied us with a state-of-the-art overview of analytical techniques used for a wide variety of protein estimations, this is invariably supported by a concise discussion of the underlying theory. The rate of growth of knowledge and the development of technology in relation to immunochemical techniques has been extraordinary. As Rosen mentions in his foreword to these volumes, none of the subject matter of these books was mentioned ten years ago in Kabat's classical work, Structural Concepts in Immunology ond Immunochemistry. These volumes have been written for experts by experts but even so some of the technology discussed has already been superseded in the market place. The volumes, however, should be standard references in all major pathoiogy services and should be carefully perused by all who are interested in future development planning and research.
P . B. R o w Principles and Methods for Evaluating the Toxicity of Chemicals, Part I (Environmental Health Criteria, Volume 6). 1978. World Health Organization, Geneva. 272 pp. ISBN 92 4 154066 4. Sw.fr. 28.-; US$15.40. French edition in preparation.
This extremely useful pocket-size volume is a combination reference and text-book. The first and major section of the book concerns broad principles of toxicology testing. The subject is discussed in a concise style which permits definition of the many parameters which must be considered in conducting or evaluating toxicology test data. Needless to say each variable is not considered in detail: the volume relies on extensive but not exhaustive references to illustrate each particular problem.
329
Haemostasis and Thrombosis. A Conceptual Approach. JACKHIRSH& ELIZ~ABETH A. BRAIN. 1979. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, London and New York. Australian distributor Longman Cheshire, Melbourne. 104 pp., tables. $10.95.
This book developed from a series of slide-tape shows used at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario within the self-instructional M.D. programme. There are 103 pages of line drawings and tables with short explanatory paragraphs of text referring to each. Self evaluation questions are placed at the end of each of the 11 chapters. The hook sets out to provide a short and authoritative summary of normal haemostasis, the bleeding disorders and the mechanisms and treatment of thrombosis. The authors are to be complimented for compressing so much factual knowledge into such a short volume. As stated in the preface, it is not intended to be used as a textbook, and the student is encouraged to read relevant sections in standard texts. It is difficult to know whether the book would appeal to Australian medical undergraduates and trainee laboratory technologists. Self-teaching programmes are not well developed in our Faculties of Medicine and we usually do not subdivide the curriculum into instructional packages, of which this book is an example. The traditional approach is to learn normal haemostasis in physiology, atheroma and thrombosis in pathology, the bleeding disorders in clinical medicine and therapeutics in clinical pharmacology. Each chapter is set out in the form of a lecture, but does not have the same impact as a lecture as interaction between speaker and audience is not present. The original slide-tape shows must have been very good, but quality seems t o have suffered from the attempt to get to a wider audience. Nevertheless, if a senior undergraduate knew the contents of this book, he would be well equipped to deal with all the bleeding and clotting problems that he might encounter in practice. The hook will be of value to trainee physicians and haematologists who wish to brush up knowledge before examinations. W . R. Pitney Automated Immunoanalysis-Parts I and II, Ed. ROBERTR . RITCHIE. 1978. Marcel Dekker, New York. 304 pp. bound, illustrated. ISBN 0 8247 6679 2 Part 1-$34.50; Part 2-$29.75.
This is a n intriguing multi-authored treatise in two volumes concerned primarily with the theory underlying many of the techniques used in modern immunopathology laboratories. Most ofthe papers are concerned with two major analytical techniques, nephelometry and radioimmunoassay. A major chapter in volume 1 consists of an up-to-date discussion of the 80-yr-old technique of light scattering or nephelometry by Kusnetz and Mansberg. While the authors have supplied us with a state-of-the-art overview of analytical techniques used for a wide variety of protein estimations, this is invariably supported by a concise discussion of the underlying theory. The rate of growth of knowledge and the development of technology in relation to immunochemical techniques has been extraordinary. As Rosen mentions in his foreword to these volumes, none of the subject matter of these books was mentioned ten years ago in Kabat's classical work, Structural Concepts in Immunology ond Immunochemistry. These volumes have been written for experts by experts but even so some of the technology discussed has already been superseded in the market place. The volumes, however, should be standard references in all major pathoiogy services and should be carefully perused by all who are interested in future development planning and research.
P . B. R o w Principles and Methods for Evaluating the Toxicity of Chemicals, Part I (Environmental Health Criteria, Volume 6). 1978. World Health Organization, Geneva. 272 pp. ISBN 92 4 154066 4. Sw.fr. 28.-; US$15.40. French edition in preparation.
This extremely useful pocket-size volume is a combination reference and text-book. The first and major section of the book concerns broad principles of toxicology testing. The subject is discussed in a concise style which permits definition of the many parameters which must be considered in conducting or evaluating toxicology test data. Needless to say each variable is not considered in detail: the volume relies on extensive but not exhaustive references to illustrate each particular problem.