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Biomechanics
INSTRUMENTATION
FOR CORONARY CARE
S.L. Grandis
Cambridge
University Press. pp. 133. 216.
(Paperback
This book covers more ground than its title suggests and the Author has obviously had considerable nursing and technical experience in all the procedures described. It is primarily aimed at nursing staff and is full of minute detail of the preparation of equipment for various cardiological manoeuvres. The first chapter entitled ‘Basics’, although it is not intended to teach the full interpretation of electrocardiographs, could well have contained a little more information about the complexes depicted. Some difficulty was found in relating the information in the text to the relevant diagrams of the ECG traces. This may to some extent have been due to lack of knowledge of the reader who is not a specialist in cardiology. Nevertheless more detail in the annotation of the ECG traces would greatly have enhanced the information which they might convey to the new-comer to the subject. These criticisms are offset to a large extent by the extreme care which has obviously been taken in the preparation of this work. Although it was never intended to be a technical manual, this book will undoubtedly be of much help to staff who have recently joined a coronary care or an intensive
version available) care unit and to those starting work in a cardiac catheter laboratory. Besides electrocardiography, the subject of defibrillators and all types of artifical cardiac pacemaker are well covered and there is a refreshing amoung of space devoted to the well-being of the patient, which is so important in this context. The subject of electrical safety for the patient is dealt with in detail, and there is a most interesting and instructive chapter on the Intra Aortic Balloon Pump. There is a comprehensive section devoted to the applications of various forms of intravascular and intracardiac pressure measurement, but some of the important precautions to ensure a high fidelity recording are given rather scant considerations. However, the list of articles and books for suggested further reading at the end of the chapter serves to rectify this omission. Despite the criticisms this book will be of value to nurses, medical students and junior doctors in their introduction to cardiology. It is full of sound, practical advice which is not easy to find elsewhere. A. J.H. Hewer
BIOMECHANICS Y.C.
Fung
Springer
Verlag, Berlin,
1981,
pp 433, DM 68.00
The sub-title of this book is ‘Mechanical properties of living tissue’ and it deals with the area of work to which Professor Fung has made such a notable contribution. The author suggests it would be useful as an instructional textbook for students of bioengineering, physiology and mechanics. The text begins with a brief historical outline of the growth of biomechanics and the contribution it has made to health care, which provides a valuable background to the subsequent chapters. The second chapter discusses the meaning of constitutive equations for living tissues. This is the main subject of the remainder of the book. The treatment is entirely in terms of continuum mechanics, and the reader is assumed to have a reasonable degree of mathematical competence. The author suggests a basic understanding of mechanics equivalent to the majority of his ‘A first course in continuum mechanics’ is required, and this is likely to limit the number of readers who will use the book.
258
J. Biomed. Eng. 1982, Vol. 4, July
There follow three chapters on the flow properties of blood, the red blood cells and their deformability, and the rheology of blood in small vessels. The chapters cover studies both of blood and model experiments. Taken as a whole these chapters form a very valuable review of the field. The next chapter briefly reviews other biological fluids and this section on mucus and other rather unpleasant fluids is of considerable interest and importance. The remainder of the book deals with biological solids. The first chapters deal with the soft connective tissues, such as tendon, skin and blood vessels, and are strongly based on the work of Professor Fung and his collaborators. It is in these sections that the greatest demands are made on the reader’s mathematics, particularly in the discussion of the response of skin and blood vessels to biaxial load. There follows a further three chapters on muscular tissue - one each on skeletal, heart and smooth muscles. The tissues are treated both as passive and active materials.
The final chapter is on bone and cartilage. It is noticeable, however, that only compact bone is discussed in any detail. The author emphasises that bone is a living material showing growth or resorption when subjected to stress. A short account is given of a theoretical model to describe the functional adaptation of bone and, although this is extremely interesting from a theoretical viewpoint, the lack of experimental validation seriously detracts from its value. The book contains a valuable selected bibliography. Most of the chapters also contain examples to be worked by the reader. These examples require the formulation and solution of descriptive problems in a quantitative manner and the majority are both useful and thought-provoking. It is always easy to suggest what the author should have included, in addition to what he actually wrote, and the reviewer felt that there were two main defects in the book. Despite the sub-title of the book, almost all the work described has been carried out on tissues which have been removed from the body. Some discussion of the relationship between
the properties of excised and living tissues would be extremely valuable. The second problem is that the treatment of the mechanical properties of the tissue is almost entirely in terms of continuum theory. The tissues have, however, a structure and there has been considerable work on the relationship between tissue structure and mechanical properties. This important topic is discussed in a perfunctory manner. A minor irritation in a book designed for teaching is the widespread use of non SI units - both cgs and Imperial units being extensively used. These minor defects of the text are very small compared to its value and all who have a serious interest in the mechanical properties of the body tissues will find much of value and interest. The author promises two further volumes - one on the mechanics of the circulation and respiration, and a second on advanced biomechanics. The reviewer looks forward to these subsequent volumes with keen interest.
J. G. Barbenel
HUNTLEIGH MEDICAL WINS QUEEN’S AWARD Congratulations to Huntleigh Medical Limited, manufacturers of Alphabed Ripple Beds, Flowtron intermittent compression systems and Doppler ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, who have been awarded a 1982 Queen’s Award to Industry for Export AchieveAchievement. The company’s products relate particularly to the elderly, disabled and long-term illness patients. They embrace intermittent compression devices (for improving circulation, reducing oedema, preventing post-surgical deep-vein thrombosis and treating certain arterial conditions): alternating pressure mattresses and seat cushions (for the prevention of bed sores): ultrasonic diagnostic equipment (for blood flow monitoring and foetal heart detection). Over 80 per cent of the firm’s medical products are sold in more than 40 countries including Japan, Western Europe, Australasia and, the US and Canada. Huntleigh Medical’s managing director, Mr John Wotton, joined the company just over three years ago, since when the emphasis has been placed on overseas markets, In the expanding the existing product ranges utilizing available in-house technology. three year period covered by the award, exports were up 88 per cent, 44 per cent and 67 per cent respectively.
BRITISH OPTHALMIC INSTRUMENT DESIGN AWARD A certificate will be awarded for an ophthalmic instrument designed by a U.K. company during the past 5 years. The application should be submitted by 30 November 1982 for consideration in February 1983, and should include a full description of the instrument design, development and manufacture together with the role which the distributor expects the instrument to play in British Ophthalmic practice. For further details please contact: at The Royal College of Surgeons,
Miss M.M. Hallendorff, Faculty of Ophthalmologists 35/43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 2PN, UK.
J. Biomed. Eng. 1982, Vol. 4, July
259
FOR CORONARY CARE
S.L. Grandis
Cambridge
University Press. pp. 133. 216.
(Paperback
This book covers more ground than its title suggests and the Author has obviously had considerable nursing and technical experience in all the procedures described. It is primarily aimed at nursing staff and is full of minute detail of the preparation of equipment for various cardiological manoeuvres. The first chapter entitled ‘Basics’, although it is not intended to teach the full interpretation of electrocardiographs, could well have contained a little more information about the complexes depicted. Some difficulty was found in relating the information in the text to the relevant diagrams of the ECG traces. This may to some extent have been due to lack of knowledge of the reader who is not a specialist in cardiology. Nevertheless more detail in the annotation of the ECG traces would greatly have enhanced the information which they might convey to the new-comer to the subject. These criticisms are offset to a large extent by the extreme care which has obviously been taken in the preparation of this work. Although it was never intended to be a technical manual, this book will undoubtedly be of much help to staff who have recently joined a coronary care or an intensive
version available) care unit and to those starting work in a cardiac catheter laboratory. Besides electrocardiography, the subject of defibrillators and all types of artifical cardiac pacemaker are well covered and there is a refreshing amoung of space devoted to the well-being of the patient, which is so important in this context. The subject of electrical safety for the patient is dealt with in detail, and there is a most interesting and instructive chapter on the Intra Aortic Balloon Pump. There is a comprehensive section devoted to the applications of various forms of intravascular and intracardiac pressure measurement, but some of the important precautions to ensure a high fidelity recording are given rather scant considerations. However, the list of articles and books for suggested further reading at the end of the chapter serves to rectify this omission. Despite the criticisms this book will be of value to nurses, medical students and junior doctors in their introduction to cardiology. It is full of sound, practical advice which is not easy to find elsewhere. A. J.H. Hewer
BIOMECHANICS Y.C.
Fung
Springer
Verlag, Berlin,
1981,
pp 433, DM 68.00
The sub-title of this book is ‘Mechanical properties of living tissue’ and it deals with the area of work to which Professor Fung has made such a notable contribution. The author suggests it would be useful as an instructional textbook for students of bioengineering, physiology and mechanics. The text begins with a brief historical outline of the growth of biomechanics and the contribution it has made to health care, which provides a valuable background to the subsequent chapters. The second chapter discusses the meaning of constitutive equations for living tissues. This is the main subject of the remainder of the book. The treatment is entirely in terms of continuum mechanics, and the reader is assumed to have a reasonable degree of mathematical competence. The author suggests a basic understanding of mechanics equivalent to the majority of his ‘A first course in continuum mechanics’ is required, and this is likely to limit the number of readers who will use the book.
258
J. Biomed. Eng. 1982, Vol. 4, July
There follow three chapters on the flow properties of blood, the red blood cells and their deformability, and the rheology of blood in small vessels. The chapters cover studies both of blood and model experiments. Taken as a whole these chapters form a very valuable review of the field. The next chapter briefly reviews other biological fluids and this section on mucus and other rather unpleasant fluids is of considerable interest and importance. The remainder of the book deals with biological solids. The first chapters deal with the soft connective tissues, such as tendon, skin and blood vessels, and are strongly based on the work of Professor Fung and his collaborators. It is in these sections that the greatest demands are made on the reader’s mathematics, particularly in the discussion of the response of skin and blood vessels to biaxial load. There follows a further three chapters on muscular tissue - one each on skeletal, heart and smooth muscles. The tissues are treated both as passive and active materials.
The final chapter is on bone and cartilage. It is noticeable, however, that only compact bone is discussed in any detail. The author emphasises that bone is a living material showing growth or resorption when subjected to stress. A short account is given of a theoretical model to describe the functional adaptation of bone and, although this is extremely interesting from a theoretical viewpoint, the lack of experimental validation seriously detracts from its value. The book contains a valuable selected bibliography. Most of the chapters also contain examples to be worked by the reader. These examples require the formulation and solution of descriptive problems in a quantitative manner and the majority are both useful and thought-provoking. It is always easy to suggest what the author should have included, in addition to what he actually wrote, and the reviewer felt that there were two main defects in the book. Despite the sub-title of the book, almost all the work described has been carried out on tissues which have been removed from the body. Some discussion of the relationship between
the properties of excised and living tissues would be extremely valuable. The second problem is that the treatment of the mechanical properties of the tissue is almost entirely in terms of continuum theory. The tissues have, however, a structure and there has been considerable work on the relationship between tissue structure and mechanical properties. This important topic is discussed in a perfunctory manner. A minor irritation in a book designed for teaching is the widespread use of non SI units - both cgs and Imperial units being extensively used. These minor defects of the text are very small compared to its value and all who have a serious interest in the mechanical properties of the body tissues will find much of value and interest. The author promises two further volumes - one on the mechanics of the circulation and respiration, and a second on advanced biomechanics. The reviewer looks forward to these subsequent volumes with keen interest.
J. G. Barbenel
HUNTLEIGH MEDICAL WINS QUEEN’S AWARD Congratulations to Huntleigh Medical Limited, manufacturers of Alphabed Ripple Beds, Flowtron intermittent compression systems and Doppler ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, who have been awarded a 1982 Queen’s Award to Industry for Export AchieveAchievement. The company’s products relate particularly to the elderly, disabled and long-term illness patients. They embrace intermittent compression devices (for improving circulation, reducing oedema, preventing post-surgical deep-vein thrombosis and treating certain arterial conditions): alternating pressure mattresses and seat cushions (for the prevention of bed sores): ultrasonic diagnostic equipment (for blood flow monitoring and foetal heart detection). Over 80 per cent of the firm’s medical products are sold in more than 40 countries including Japan, Western Europe, Australasia and, the US and Canada. Huntleigh Medical’s managing director, Mr John Wotton, joined the company just over three years ago, since when the emphasis has been placed on overseas markets, In the expanding the existing product ranges utilizing available in-house technology. three year period covered by the award, exports were up 88 per cent, 44 per cent and 67 per cent respectively.
BRITISH OPTHALMIC INSTRUMENT DESIGN AWARD A certificate will be awarded for an ophthalmic instrument designed by a U.K. company during the past 5 years. The application should be submitted by 30 November 1982 for consideration in February 1983, and should include a full description of the instrument design, development and manufacture together with the role which the distributor expects the instrument to play in British Ophthalmic practice. For further details please contact: at The Royal College of Surgeons,
Miss M.M. Hallendorff, Faculty of Ophthalmologists 35/43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 2PN, UK.
J. Biomed. Eng. 1982, Vol. 4, July
259