Lecture Notes on Medical Entomology

Pathology (1987). 19, January gist of each. It is therefore unfortunate that over half of the chapters, including the longest, lack summaries and conclusions. Although perhaps too costly for individuals to buy, I believe the book should be recommended for purchase by the library of every major pathology centre, where it deserves to be prominently displayed for the messages it carries. E. S . Finckh Blackwell Lecture Notes on Medical Entomology. M. W. SERVICE. Scientific Publications, 1986. $37.50. ISBN 0-632-01525-X. Lecture Notes on Medical Entomology reads like a familiar book. This is hardly surprising as it is essentially a shortened and simplified version of the author’s previous book, “A Guide to Medical Entomology” which is now out of print. Many of the diagrams and much of the text are common to both books. Lecture notes on Medical Entomology contains 20 chapters which deal with such medically important groups as mosquitoes, biting midges, blackflies, tsetse flies, house flies, fleas, lice, bugs and cockroaches as well as ticks and mites. There is also a short section on myiasis. The distribution, external morphology, life cycle, behaviour, medical importance and means of control are briefly discussed for each group of animals. In the case of vector-borne diseases, there is also a short description of the development of the parasite within the vector. The text is liberally illustrated with very good, clear diagrams, only one or two of which suffer from having been reduced to fit the small page size of the book. A brief list of text books introduces the reader to more detailed source material. Rather surprisingly, venomous arthropods are not discussed. Otherwise these books provide a comprehensive introduction to medical entomology which would be valuable to medical students in tropical countries and to those interested in tropical public health. However, a basic knowledge of biology is necessary for anyone wishing to understand this book. The claim on the back cover that “the drawings and photographs allow for ready identification of the insects described” is unjustified but I am sure that this claim would not have been made by the author. Unfortunately, a number of errors which originally occurred in “The Guide to Medical Entomology” are perpetuated in this book. For example, Australia is included in those countries in which filariasis, caused by Wuchereria bancrofti, occurs. Personally, I am disappointed with this book which seems to be the Readers Digest equivalent of “A Guide to Medical Entomology” and a new edition of the Guide would have been preferable. Undoubtedly the Guide would be more expensive than the Lecture Notes, but as the latter is priced at $37.50 it is not cheap. Joan Bryan

Investigation of Cell Mediated Immunity. Edited by T. YOSHIDA. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 1986. $104.95. ISBN 0443-032-36X, pp. 194. This book is the ninth volume in the “Practical Methods in Clinical Immunology” series and like the other books from the series I have read it is somewhat disappointing. Unfortunately, it was probably difficult to write about the investigation of cellular immunity at the same time that AIDS and its associated sequelae of HTLV-IIVLAV infection exploded upon the clinical immunology scene. The chapter on analysis of human T cell populations although it contains some attractive tables summarising T cell subset changes unfortunately makes no attempt to be critical and includes a number of inaccuracies. The detection of T cells in tissues was described in greater depth and the methods in both of these chapters could be easily followed, were up to date and standard. The three chapters on the various cytotoxic assays again contained methods that were easily followed but the assays were presented without critical assessment of their indications. Macrophages manifest a veritable legion of functions and the two chapters on their assessment were disappointing in their scope. The chapter on the separation of lymphocyte subpopulations seemed totally out of place as an isolated rodent oriented chapter in a book largely

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aimed at human immunology. This was particularly disappointing when there are a number of well described separation techniques that are available for human systems and are close to being of clinical value in the dissection of immune abnormalities in patients. Conventional lymphocyte activation was well but again uncritically described, in contrast to the chapters on cytokines which were dated and disappointing. Delayed type hypersensitivity was covered well but to do so without reference to the widely used Multitest is unfortunate. All in all this book is sometimes a useful set of laboratory instructions, occasionally with some useful background analysis, but often without critical analysis of the role of the assays being described. For what is obtained the price is high and the book compares unfavourably with the much more comprehensive and cheaper Manual of Clinical Immunology, published by the American Society of Microbiology. This together with the many free sources of information about these techniques, often supplied with reagents make the place of the book somewhat limited. Paul A. Gatenby

Nuclear Submicroscopy. Edited by G. JASMIN AND R. SIMARD. Karger, Basel, 1986. US$122.25. ISBN 3-8055-4137-6,pp. 304, illustrated. This is a compilation of nine chapters which relate to an area of investigation which presently seems somewhat remote to the diagnostic pathologist - the study of the complex organization of the cell nucleus. The contributors present recent progress and techniques on the use of nuclear submicroscopy in determining the structure and function of nuclear components at the subcellular level. They discuss the possibility of three dimensional analysis of the nucleolus, nucleoskeleton and nuclear inclusions. It is shown that computer reconstructions can quantify the number, amplitude and direction of nuclear rotations. This technique can be enhanced by time-lapse cinematography. Other chapters discuss the recent developments which result from the biochemical dissection of cell components which has led to the disclosure of another level of organization, providing a backbone for the integration of nuclear structures and functions. The detection and importance of autoantibodies in systemic rheumatic diseases is also reviewed and the use of human antibodies for the study of chromosome organisation is discussed. While the book has some fine electron micrographs as illustrations, some of the descriptions are very technical. It does achieve the aim of highlighting an area of investigation which is very specialized but we are probably a long way yet from establishing precise correlations between ultrastructural lesions observed in transformed cells and cancer cells, and disturbances in nuclear function. This book does “suggest at least a hazy outline of the horizon for future research on the molecular organization of the nucleolus”. Anthony S- Y Leong Modern Trends in Human Leukaemia VI: New Results in Clinical and Biological Research including Paediatric Oncology. Edited by R. NETH, R. GALLO,M. GREAVESAND G. JANKA. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1985. $72.00. ISBN 3-540-15329-2, pp. 521. This book contains the proceedings of the sixth biennial conference on Modern Trends in Human Leukemia held at Wilsede Luneberg Heath near Hamburg, Germany, in June 1984. The 169 participants include some of the most well-respected names in the fields of leukemia and cancer research, representing both the clinical and biological arenas. In addition to 2 Frederick Stohlman Jr Memorial lectures, the book contains 100 papers grouped under the following headings: New Strategies in Leukemia Diagnosis and Therapy, Mechanism of Malignant Transformation, Cell Biology, and Immunological Aspects in Malignancy. The papers vary in quality from brief superficial reports and reviews to in depth manuscripts describing elegant experimental studies of the molecular biology of oncogenes, retroviruses, growth factors, immunoregulation and cell differentiation. The Stohlman Memorial lecture by Duesberg et at. entitled “Are Activated Proto-onc Genes Cancer Genes?” is an excellent example of some of the thought-