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Industrialization of Indigenous Fermented Foods
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Book Reviews Experimental Biochemistry by R L D r y e r a n d G F L a t a . p p 514. O x f o r d U n i v e r s i t y Press. 1989. £22.50 ISBN 0-19-505083-5 The origin of this text is two volumes connected with the Biochemistry course at the University of Iowa, and the book is dedicated to the memory of Professor Dryer, who died in 1984. The two-volume origin is reflected in the division of the book into the first two-thirds (Theory), and the remaining third (Experiments). In the Introduction the authors say that although Biochemistry is an experimental science, students these days get an all too limited exposure to basic laboratory science, largely because courses are time-consuming for both staff and students, as well as very expensive to mount properly. One can only support their contention that experimental work must form the basis of all later professional work. To put it bluntly the trained Biochemists, BSc or PhD, should know their stuff. Section I, Theory, has 12 chapters dealing in detail with all the various aspects of experimental biochemistry including radioactive decay, buffers, ligand binding, electrophoresis, centrifugation, chromatography, immunochemical methods, statistics, as well as an introduction to the methodology of molecular biology. This is an enormous amount, and I found it well written and very sound. I wondered how students would take to it, because the soundness errs in the direction of being exhaustive. There is a very delicate balance to be struck here. Students must be properly informed of why things have to be (should be?) done in certain ways, but they should not be bored. The balance is between learning things from the book and learning them whilst actually doing laboratory work, when the mind might be more receptive. I do not believe that proper technical competence should be learned by trial and error, but there is a lot to be said for having someone tell you how to do something and the reasons why it should be done that way, whilst you are actually doing it. Consequently students might find the first part of the book is a very useful reference and resource rather than a text to be read through. As a lecturer I will find this first section extremely useful. The content is, on the whole, reasonably up to date. Certain historical aspects are included, such as the Tiselius apparatus (p 114). These are interesting but of little relevance in a practical laboratory course today. There is a whole chapter on lyophilisation, which was very interesting. Most people just slap things in the freeze-drier without thinking about what is happening. Here again, the chapter will be a valuable reference for students and research workers, if only for trouble-shooting. I found the theory of chromatography section to have rather a chemical flavour, and would have preferred to read more about overall strategies for purifying proteins than was given. Page 199 has a very curious gradient mixer: most people would use the 'two cylinder' model shown on p 382, although even this does not have an easy way of making the syphon between the two compartments. It would have been good to see more emphasis given to Good buffers in the section on choosing buffer. It is excellent to have a chapter on ligand binding equilibria. Few texts, either theoretical or practical, have such a chapter, and yet this is something that almost everyone has to think about at some stage in their careers. There should perhaps have been more of a caution about the indiscriminate use of Scatchard plots, however (see TIBS, August 1989, p 314). Section II, the experiments, starts with a guide. This is obviously taken from the material handed to students and is addressed directly to the student: "You will have the opportunity to purify . . ." etc.
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 17(4) 1989
There are 22 experiments given in this section, from the simple to the complicated. They are well documented and would provide a reasonably balanced course. They include protein determination, scintillation counting, affinity chromatography, enzyme experiments (not too many!) and restricting mapping. This section or experiments from it, could be used directly, or could be used as a source of ideas, depending upon local conditions. In some of the experiments the instructions are exhaustive. There are, for example, four pages on how to use the pH meter (this does not include theory). Not much room is left for individual self-expression here - - but perhaps that is how it should be! It might invite anarchy though! More generally one has to ensure that students are thoroughly trained in technical matters and the art of experimentation without the natural creativity being inhibited. Rigid protocols or recipes are important: one of the tests of a successful student in whether he or she can follow a recipe. However, there is the danger of producing graduates who cannot proceed unless they have a recipe. Therefore one should be looking for ways of setting students to plan experiments and design protocols, and for open-ended project-type experiments, where the experiment is designed to test something rather than demonstrate a point. A couple of minor annoyances should be mentioned. Some of the instructions given (eg for the liquid scintillation counter) refer to a specific instrument. This is obviously essential for a given institution but these would have to be modified for other users. The sections on the reticulocyte lysate system are a little confusing. The theory section suggests that polysomes are prepared from the lysate and then a system put back together for use following cleaning up the post-ribosomal supernatant on DEAE-cellulose (p 286), whereas the experimental part just uses commercially-available lysate. Outdated blood-bank blood is used as a starting material for a haemoglobin preparation (p 378) which might pose safety questions these days. However, these are minor quibbles. The text as a whole is very good. No practical book will suit all institutions and probably a given practical book can only be used in toto in its home institution. Nevertheless practical books are useful. Experiments can be taken, or taken and modified, or may provide germ of an idea for a 'good' practical lab perhaps at a lower or higher level in a different course, university or country. This book is well written and will prove to be a valuable resource both for this reason and for the reason that it has a very sound theoretical section. The price is so reasonable that individuals may purchase their own copies. E J Wood
Industrialization of Indigenous Fermented Foods E d i t e d by K H S t e i n k r a u s . p p 439. M a r c e l D e k k e r , N e w Y o r k . 1989. $99.75 ISBN 0-8247-8074-4 This is a very interesting collection of articles. It is really of more interest to the biotechnologist, microbiologist or food scientist than the biochemist, but nonetheless there is a wealth of interesting facts and figures in it as well as history, plus some very amusing and entertaining photographs and diagrams. It would be a good source of examples and a useful resource to indicate to potential students that biochemistry and its related disciplines are not merely academic. The chapters deal with the manufacture of soy sauce, Japanese miso, sake, tapai (Malaysia), African beer, S African mageu (a sour maize beverage), ogi (fermented starch cake), gari (a dry starch food produced from cassava in Nigeria), with a final chapter on the industrialization of indigenous fermented food processes from the points of view of biotechnology. J Oddy
Book Reviews Experimental Biochemistry by R L D r y e r a n d G F L a t a . p p 514. O x f o r d U n i v e r s i t y Press. 1989. £22.50 ISBN 0-19-505083-5 The origin of this text is two volumes connected with the Biochemistry course at the University of Iowa, and the book is dedicated to the memory of Professor Dryer, who died in 1984. The two-volume origin is reflected in the division of the book into the first two-thirds (Theory), and the remaining third (Experiments). In the Introduction the authors say that although Biochemistry is an experimental science, students these days get an all too limited exposure to basic laboratory science, largely because courses are time-consuming for both staff and students, as well as very expensive to mount properly. One can only support their contention that experimental work must form the basis of all later professional work. To put it bluntly the trained Biochemists, BSc or PhD, should know their stuff. Section I, Theory, has 12 chapters dealing in detail with all the various aspects of experimental biochemistry including radioactive decay, buffers, ligand binding, electrophoresis, centrifugation, chromatography, immunochemical methods, statistics, as well as an introduction to the methodology of molecular biology. This is an enormous amount, and I found it well written and very sound. I wondered how students would take to it, because the soundness errs in the direction of being exhaustive. There is a very delicate balance to be struck here. Students must be properly informed of why things have to be (should be?) done in certain ways, but they should not be bored. The balance is between learning things from the book and learning them whilst actually doing laboratory work, when the mind might be more receptive. I do not believe that proper technical competence should be learned by trial and error, but there is a lot to be said for having someone tell you how to do something and the reasons why it should be done that way, whilst you are actually doing it. Consequently students might find the first part of the book is a very useful reference and resource rather than a text to be read through. As a lecturer I will find this first section extremely useful. The content is, on the whole, reasonably up to date. Certain historical aspects are included, such as the Tiselius apparatus (p 114). These are interesting but of little relevance in a practical laboratory course today. There is a whole chapter on lyophilisation, which was very interesting. Most people just slap things in the freeze-drier without thinking about what is happening. Here again, the chapter will be a valuable reference for students and research workers, if only for trouble-shooting. I found the theory of chromatography section to have rather a chemical flavour, and would have preferred to read more about overall strategies for purifying proteins than was given. Page 199 has a very curious gradient mixer: most people would use the 'two cylinder' model shown on p 382, although even this does not have an easy way of making the syphon between the two compartments. It would have been good to see more emphasis given to Good buffers in the section on choosing buffer. It is excellent to have a chapter on ligand binding equilibria. Few texts, either theoretical or practical, have such a chapter, and yet this is something that almost everyone has to think about at some stage in their careers. There should perhaps have been more of a caution about the indiscriminate use of Scatchard plots, however (see TIBS, August 1989, p 314). Section II, the experiments, starts with a guide. This is obviously taken from the material handed to students and is addressed directly to the student: "You will have the opportunity to purify . . ." etc.
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 17(4) 1989
There are 22 experiments given in this section, from the simple to the complicated. They are well documented and would provide a reasonably balanced course. They include protein determination, scintillation counting, affinity chromatography, enzyme experiments (not too many!) and restricting mapping. This section or experiments from it, could be used directly, or could be used as a source of ideas, depending upon local conditions. In some of the experiments the instructions are exhaustive. There are, for example, four pages on how to use the pH meter (this does not include theory). Not much room is left for individual self-expression here - - but perhaps that is how it should be! It might invite anarchy though! More generally one has to ensure that students are thoroughly trained in technical matters and the art of experimentation without the natural creativity being inhibited. Rigid protocols or recipes are important: one of the tests of a successful student in whether he or she can follow a recipe. However, there is the danger of producing graduates who cannot proceed unless they have a recipe. Therefore one should be looking for ways of setting students to plan experiments and design protocols, and for open-ended project-type experiments, where the experiment is designed to test something rather than demonstrate a point. A couple of minor annoyances should be mentioned. Some of the instructions given (eg for the liquid scintillation counter) refer to a specific instrument. This is obviously essential for a given institution but these would have to be modified for other users. The sections on the reticulocyte lysate system are a little confusing. The theory section suggests that polysomes are prepared from the lysate and then a system put back together for use following cleaning up the post-ribosomal supernatant on DEAE-cellulose (p 286), whereas the experimental part just uses commercially-available lysate. Outdated blood-bank blood is used as a starting material for a haemoglobin preparation (p 378) which might pose safety questions these days. However, these are minor quibbles. The text as a whole is very good. No practical book will suit all institutions and probably a given practical book can only be used in toto in its home institution. Nevertheless practical books are useful. Experiments can be taken, or taken and modified, or may provide germ of an idea for a 'good' practical lab perhaps at a lower or higher level in a different course, university or country. This book is well written and will prove to be a valuable resource both for this reason and for the reason that it has a very sound theoretical section. The price is so reasonable that individuals may purchase their own copies. E J Wood
Industrialization of Indigenous Fermented Foods E d i t e d by K H S t e i n k r a u s . p p 439. M a r c e l D e k k e r , N e w Y o r k . 1989. $99.75 ISBN 0-8247-8074-4 This is a very interesting collection of articles. It is really of more interest to the biotechnologist, microbiologist or food scientist than the biochemist, but nonetheless there is a wealth of interesting facts and figures in it as well as history, plus some very amusing and entertaining photographs and diagrams. It would be a good source of examples and a useful resource to indicate to potential students that biochemistry and its related disciplines are not merely academic. The chapters deal with the manufacture of soy sauce, Japanese miso, sake, tapai (Malaysia), African beer, S African mageu (a sour maize beverage), ogi (fermented starch cake), gari (a dry starch food produced from cassava in Nigeria), with a final chapter on the industrialization of indigenous fermented food processes from the points of view of biotechnology. J Oddy