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Chimie Generale — Travaux Dirigés Vol 1 Equilibres (pp 244) Vol 2 Structure — Cinétique — Thermodynamique (pp 224)
159 I have little doubt that this will be as successful as the previous edition. It will be particularly useful for clinical biochemists and chemical pathologists, for physicians in general, for teachers of biochemistry especially in medical schools and where integrated or systems-based curricula are followed, and for medical students throughout their training. F Vella
Chimie Generale m Travaux Dirig6s Vol 1 Equilibres (pp 244) V o l 2 Structure m Cin6tique ~ (pp 224)
Thermodynamique
by G M L D u m a s , M G r o s a n d L Shriver. H e r m a n n , Paris. 1986. E a c h F F 9 4 ISBN 2-7056-6020-8 and 2-7056-6038-0 These two books, written in French, are devoted to general chemistry. They have been especially conceived for medical and pharmaceutical students at the undergraduate level. After a brief introduction on the basic concepts of each area, problems (with detailed answers) are developed to allow the student to understand and apply the theory. The first volume covers three different chapters on: thermodynamics of chemical equilibria, aqueous acid-base equilibria, oxido-reduction equilibria. The second volume is also organized into three chapters on: atomistics, chemical kinetics and chemical thermodynamics. A great number of the examples of the problems that have been chosen use molecules of biochemical or medical interest, and many developments have classical biochemical support (enzymology as an example for kinetics, or amino-acid titration for acid-base equilibria). The books are easy to read, the explanations are very clear and the progressive levels of difficulties in the problems allow the student to test his own level. These volumes will be very useful for understanding general chemistry and for giving adequate basis for future understanding of biochemistry, especially on a structural point of view. J Wallach
Spectrophotometry and Spectrofluorimetry A Practical Approach E d i t e d by D A H a r r i s a n d C L B a s h f o r d . p p 176. I R L Press, O x f o r d . 1987. £25 o r £15.50 ( p b k ) ISBN 0-947946-69-1 or-46-2 (pbk) This is another addition to the Practical Approach series. It is aimed at the research level and would be valuable reading for students commencing a research project. It would also be useful in preparing lectures on techniques. This volume differs somewhat from others in the Series in that, as might be expected, few recipes or procedures are given. Instead it gives some background, many helpful hints on spectrophotometry and spectrofluorimetry. I suspect many of our students are totally ignorant of many of these and have never given any serious thought to what is happening in their spectrophotometer. This will only get worse as more instruments that are controlled by microchip come into use. The first chapter is an introduction to the theory and to the various instrumental layouts, and the second is on spectra. There is some overlap here and the two chapters might with advantage have been combined. Chapter 3 deals with assays
B I O C H E M I C A L E D U C A T I O N 15(3) 1987
performed by spectrophotometry. It covers quite a wide range, but, like the rest of the book, it is sometimes difficult to find the answer to your particular problem rapidly. Chapter 4 deals with the measurement of ligand binding to proteins and Chapter 5 with spectrophotometry and spectrofluorimetry of cellular components. Chapter 6 is on stopped-flow. It offers a very straightforward practical approach and will be most valuable: I could not help wishing that temperature-jump had been included too. The final, very short chapter deals with photochemical action spectra. On the whole the book is well written and illustrated, and there are some interesting examples given which would serve as very revealing class practical experiments. I thought that it might have been more forward looking in terms of considering likely developments in instrumentation. For example gel-scanners are more often than not purpose-built (laser) instruments these days, and surely we will see more diode-array scanning spectrophotometers in the near future. However this does not detract from its overall usefulness. P B Blakemore
Enzymes in Industry and Medicine by G H Bickerstaff. p p 98. E d w a r d A r n o l d , L o n d o n . 1987. £4.95 ISBN 0-7131-2935-2 (pbk) The 'Studies in Biology' Series has been going for a long time now (20 years), and this small volume is one of the series but appears in a slightly different format and is a little larger, being one of the first of the 'New Studies in Biology'. Succeeding volumes in this very successful series will appear in this format. The price is still reasonable, putting the books within the range of highschool libraries as well as individual students. The format also allows rapid updating of volumes when appropriate, and this feature is no more clearly shown than with the present volume which covers a large area of biotechnology. The level is at highschool or first year at university, giving good coverage of a range of topics but not great depth. It will especially be welcomed by school teachers with the present emphasis in syllabuses towards 'relevant' and applied aspects of biochemistry within the school biology and chemistry courses. A brief introduction outlines the catalytic properties of enzymes, with no kinetics and little on the properties of proteins, and then chapter 2 deals with immobilized enzymes. The next three chapters constitute the major part of the book, dealing with enzymes as analytical tools, enzymes in medical therapy, and finally industrial applications. I found the text readable and potentially difficult points well explained. In general the author deals with most of the relevant points, but sometimes fails to distinguish clearly between exciting potentialities and successful things already in commercial production. In the section on pregnancy testing using antibodies to HCG, more might have been made of the ease of home test-kits (surely of keen interest to many of the potential readers) and of how colloidal gold is used in the recently produced kits. Occasional oversimplification (eg that Sepharose is a 'trade name' for agarose) are forgiveable in the light of the level of the intended readership. There are only two pages on recombinant D N A technology, and a good deal of these are taken up with explaining restriction enzymes. The production of enzymes by recombinant D N A technology is already happening and I would have thought that more space for this topic might have been appropriate. Overall, nevertheless, a volume that will surely be welcomed by students and teachers at this level. W Holmes
Chimie Generale m Travaux Dirig6s Vol 1 Equilibres (pp 244) V o l 2 Structure m Cin6tique ~ (pp 224)
Thermodynamique
by G M L D u m a s , M G r o s a n d L Shriver. H e r m a n n , Paris. 1986. E a c h F F 9 4 ISBN 2-7056-6020-8 and 2-7056-6038-0 These two books, written in French, are devoted to general chemistry. They have been especially conceived for medical and pharmaceutical students at the undergraduate level. After a brief introduction on the basic concepts of each area, problems (with detailed answers) are developed to allow the student to understand and apply the theory. The first volume covers three different chapters on: thermodynamics of chemical equilibria, aqueous acid-base equilibria, oxido-reduction equilibria. The second volume is also organized into three chapters on: atomistics, chemical kinetics and chemical thermodynamics. A great number of the examples of the problems that have been chosen use molecules of biochemical or medical interest, and many developments have classical biochemical support (enzymology as an example for kinetics, or amino-acid titration for acid-base equilibria). The books are easy to read, the explanations are very clear and the progressive levels of difficulties in the problems allow the student to test his own level. These volumes will be very useful for understanding general chemistry and for giving adequate basis for future understanding of biochemistry, especially on a structural point of view. J Wallach
Spectrophotometry and Spectrofluorimetry A Practical Approach E d i t e d by D A H a r r i s a n d C L B a s h f o r d . p p 176. I R L Press, O x f o r d . 1987. £25 o r £15.50 ( p b k ) ISBN 0-947946-69-1 or-46-2 (pbk) This is another addition to the Practical Approach series. It is aimed at the research level and would be valuable reading for students commencing a research project. It would also be useful in preparing lectures on techniques. This volume differs somewhat from others in the Series in that, as might be expected, few recipes or procedures are given. Instead it gives some background, many helpful hints on spectrophotometry and spectrofluorimetry. I suspect many of our students are totally ignorant of many of these and have never given any serious thought to what is happening in their spectrophotometer. This will only get worse as more instruments that are controlled by microchip come into use. The first chapter is an introduction to the theory and to the various instrumental layouts, and the second is on spectra. There is some overlap here and the two chapters might with advantage have been combined. Chapter 3 deals with assays
B I O C H E M I C A L E D U C A T I O N 15(3) 1987
performed by spectrophotometry. It covers quite a wide range, but, like the rest of the book, it is sometimes difficult to find the answer to your particular problem rapidly. Chapter 4 deals with the measurement of ligand binding to proteins and Chapter 5 with spectrophotometry and spectrofluorimetry of cellular components. Chapter 6 is on stopped-flow. It offers a very straightforward practical approach and will be most valuable: I could not help wishing that temperature-jump had been included too. The final, very short chapter deals with photochemical action spectra. On the whole the book is well written and illustrated, and there are some interesting examples given which would serve as very revealing class practical experiments. I thought that it might have been more forward looking in terms of considering likely developments in instrumentation. For example gel-scanners are more often than not purpose-built (laser) instruments these days, and surely we will see more diode-array scanning spectrophotometers in the near future. However this does not detract from its overall usefulness. P B Blakemore
Enzymes in Industry and Medicine by G H Bickerstaff. p p 98. E d w a r d A r n o l d , L o n d o n . 1987. £4.95 ISBN 0-7131-2935-2 (pbk) The 'Studies in Biology' Series has been going for a long time now (20 years), and this small volume is one of the series but appears in a slightly different format and is a little larger, being one of the first of the 'New Studies in Biology'. Succeeding volumes in this very successful series will appear in this format. The price is still reasonable, putting the books within the range of highschool libraries as well as individual students. The format also allows rapid updating of volumes when appropriate, and this feature is no more clearly shown than with the present volume which covers a large area of biotechnology. The level is at highschool or first year at university, giving good coverage of a range of topics but not great depth. It will especially be welcomed by school teachers with the present emphasis in syllabuses towards 'relevant' and applied aspects of biochemistry within the school biology and chemistry courses. A brief introduction outlines the catalytic properties of enzymes, with no kinetics and little on the properties of proteins, and then chapter 2 deals with immobilized enzymes. The next three chapters constitute the major part of the book, dealing with enzymes as analytical tools, enzymes in medical therapy, and finally industrial applications. I found the text readable and potentially difficult points well explained. In general the author deals with most of the relevant points, but sometimes fails to distinguish clearly between exciting potentialities and successful things already in commercial production. In the section on pregnancy testing using antibodies to HCG, more might have been made of the ease of home test-kits (surely of keen interest to many of the potential readers) and of how colloidal gold is used in the recently produced kits. Occasional oversimplification (eg that Sepharose is a 'trade name' for agarose) are forgiveable in the light of the level of the intended readership. There are only two pages on recombinant D N A technology, and a good deal of these are taken up with explaining restriction enzymes. The production of enzymes by recombinant D N A technology is already happening and I would have thought that more space for this topic might have been appropriate. Overall, nevertheless, a volume that will surely be welcomed by students and teachers at this level. W Holmes