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Immunopathology of the Renal Glomerulus
210
BOOK REVIEWS
Pathology (1974), 6, April
Immunopathology of the Renal Glomerulus, FREDERICK G. GERMUTH JR & EUGENE RODRIGUEZ.1973. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. 227 pp., 157 figs. AS18.50. Since acceptance of percutaneous renal biopsy as providing adequate early sampling, the study of renal disease in the last 10 years had been progressively retarded by the chasm that has developed between experimental work and the useful clinical interpretation of an individual biopsy. The technical advance of the experimental work and the florid style of some of its performers, has set a pathogenetic mould into which many may have felt obliged to force the clinical entities. This book is no exception. It begins with a fairly broad and well balanced survey of the experimental forms of glomerular disease and the immunological hinterland. This is done by these two widely respected research authorities more effectively and lucidly than'in some previous reviews. The second half takes a rather limited collection of human biopsy material and distributes it into a classification based on the pathogenetic hypotheses derived from experimental animal glomerulopathies. The biopsies were studied by light and electron microscopy as well as standard immunofluorescence procedures. The ultrastructural studies are technically mediocre, but the light and immunofluorescence photographs are effective illustrations of their theories. Clinical information is very scanty and the validity of the groups as a classification in terms of prognosis, response to treatment and change on follow-up is seldom discussed. In the final chapters, some attempt is made at re-assessment of the place of the experimental diseases in elucidation of human disease, but this section is brief and could with profit have been the preface for a second volume. Though of interest to immunologists and immunopathologists, the classification is unlikely to be of great aid to a clinician or a clinical pathologist, as there is little attempt to indicate how these correlations can resolve some of the more difficult clinical quandaries in renal disease. John Hobbs Basic Haematology, ARTHUR SIMMONS.1973. Charles C Thomas, Illinois. 278 pp., 58 figs. USS12.75. Professor Simmons sets out to write a concise account of haematology for medical technologists and paramedical workers and in this he has achieved success. What is important and interesting has been expressed whilst what is of lesser importance and redundant to every day laboratory practice is left out. Together with a writing style which is easily read, the result is a clear and uncluttered expression of thought. The book is divided into 7 parts. Firstly a short section on the function of blood and origin of blood cells, secondly a large section on the formation, morphology and some abnormalities of the cells. A minor criticism here is the difficult terminology used to describe stages of normoblast maturation compared with megaloblast maturation. A short section on staining follows which, typical of the book, deals with the rationale of staining and excludes recipes, since these are available in other texts whose references are given. The fourth section deals with haemoglobin metabolism and measurement. It includes concise accounts of the haemoglobinopathies,
BOOK REVIEWS
Pathology (1974), 6, April
Immunopathology of the Renal Glomerulus, FREDERICK G. GERMUTH JR & EUGENE RODRIGUEZ.1973. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. 227 pp., 157 figs. AS18.50. Since acceptance of percutaneous renal biopsy as providing adequate early sampling, the study of renal disease in the last 10 years had been progressively retarded by the chasm that has developed between experimental work and the useful clinical interpretation of an individual biopsy. The technical advance of the experimental work and the florid style of some of its performers, has set a pathogenetic mould into which many may have felt obliged to force the clinical entities. This book is no exception. It begins with a fairly broad and well balanced survey of the experimental forms of glomerular disease and the immunological hinterland. This is done by these two widely respected research authorities more effectively and lucidly than'in some previous reviews. The second half takes a rather limited collection of human biopsy material and distributes it into a classification based on the pathogenetic hypotheses derived from experimental animal glomerulopathies. The biopsies were studied by light and electron microscopy as well as standard immunofluorescence procedures. The ultrastructural studies are technically mediocre, but the light and immunofluorescence photographs are effective illustrations of their theories. Clinical information is very scanty and the validity of the groups as a classification in terms of prognosis, response to treatment and change on follow-up is seldom discussed. In the final chapters, some attempt is made at re-assessment of the place of the experimental diseases in elucidation of human disease, but this section is brief and could with profit have been the preface for a second volume. Though of interest to immunologists and immunopathologists, the classification is unlikely to be of great aid to a clinician or a clinical pathologist, as there is little attempt to indicate how these correlations can resolve some of the more difficult clinical quandaries in renal disease. John Hobbs Basic Haematology, ARTHUR SIMMONS.1973. Charles C Thomas, Illinois. 278 pp., 58 figs. USS12.75. Professor Simmons sets out to write a concise account of haematology for medical technologists and paramedical workers and in this he has achieved success. What is important and interesting has been expressed whilst what is of lesser importance and redundant to every day laboratory practice is left out. Together with a writing style which is easily read, the result is a clear and uncluttered expression of thought. The book is divided into 7 parts. Firstly a short section on the function of blood and origin of blood cells, secondly a large section on the formation, morphology and some abnormalities of the cells. A minor criticism here is the difficult terminology used to describe stages of normoblast maturation compared with megaloblast maturation. A short section on staining follows which, typical of the book, deals with the rationale of staining and excludes recipes, since these are available in other texts whose references are given. The fourth section deals with haemoglobin metabolism and measurement. It includes concise accounts of the haemoglobinopathies,