Methods of enzymatic analysis, volumes X and XI antibodies and antigens, 1 and 2

111 fers), bacterial genetics, D N A in detail (ie its structures, replication, recombination, and mutability), the steps in protein biosynthesis (ie transcription and translation of the genetic code), regulation of gene function in bacterial cells, and then on to eukaryotic cells, and the functioning of eukaryotic chromosomes. Volume II contains three parts which comprise chapters on the molecular biology of development, the generation of immunological specificity, eukaryotic viruses, control of cell proliferation, the genetic basis of cancer, the origins of human cancer, and the origin of life. In each chapter the authors are concerned with providing a clear description and explanation of the current understanding of the topic. They supply the relevant experimental evidence for most of the factual statements they make, and frequently point out what still needs to be done to complete the understanding and description. A summary and lists of general and cited references conclude each chapter. The writing is exquisitely clear, explanatory and engaging. Concept headings, highlighting of key terms, and a profusion of color illustrations make these books very attractive. Each volume contains an extensive index, that of the second covering both volumes. This edition should increase the attraction for a wide readership which the previous editions had. Its readers will include practising biologists of many, and varied, interests, and students (undergraduate and graduate) especially of biology, biochemistry, microbiology, and genetics, to whom the two volumes are highly recommended. F Vella

The Teaching Professor Editor: M E Weiner. M a g n a Publications Inc, 2718 D r y d e n Drive, M a d i s o n M I 53704, U S A . A n n u a l subscription (12 issues) $39 This monthly newsletter is dedicated to the principle that valuable relevant information that could better inform and indeed improve the practice of college teaching exists, and, if brought to the attention of teaching professors, would help improve the quality and effectiveness of their teaching. Small (6 or 8 pages per issue) well-written, varied (6 to 10 items per issue), and interesting, it does not demand much time from the reader. However, it delivers very strong impressions of useful ideas, practical approaches, and research results about teaching at college and university levels that make the reader take note, and even become encouraged, enthused, uplifted or inspired ~to try something new to improve his/her teaching style. A listing of the contents of two issues, from the ten that I have seen, gives a taste of the editor's concerns. In the third issue, these were: Theories of Teaching, The Lecture Method, It's a Myth - - Nobody Knows What Makes Teaching Good, Let the Students Grade the Exam, Humor in the Classroom, Improve Teaching Under the Sun, and "Growing" Students. The seventh issue contained: Professors and the Participation Blues, So You Think You Might Like to be a Student?, Professors Part of the Problem?, Successful Participation Strategies, and Fielding Questions. Some titles from the other issues are: What Teachers Should Know, Advice on Studying That Students Need, Openended Questions and Instructional Evaluation, How Do You Teach?, Cheating, and Teaching Awards. Many items summarize and comment on, published material (papers or books), or on opinions, statements, and research results that relate to teaching/learning activities. All reflect the editor's dedication, enthusiasm, and concern for the teaching enterprise. A variety of new topics will have to be included in future issues if the newsletter is to maintain its current appeal,

BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 16(2) 1988

and to broaden its readership across the disciplines. This will be a great challenge but one which it appears the editor will be able to meet with success. The relatively high price for a single subscription falls very sharply for bulk mailings of ten or more to the same address. F Vella

Bergmeyer: Methods of Enzymatic Analysis (Third Edition) IX Proteins and Peptides V C H Verlagsgesellschaft, P O B o x 1260/1280, D-6940 W e i n h e i m , F D R . pp 571. 1986. D M 310 This volume is devoted to the estimation of biologically important proteins with no known enzyme activity as well as of hormonally active proteins and peptides largely using enzymelinked immunoassays. There is a great deal to be said for such assays when compared with radioimmunoassays, including avoiding the need to work with expensive, hazardous and shortlived radioisotopes and the need for expensive counting equipment. Consequently it is potentially possible to run such assays in relatively less well-equipped and funded laboratories. The range of proteins and peptides covered is large and to some extent arbitrary, with grouping into Transport Proteins, Structural and Regulatory Proteins, and Hormonal Proteins and Peptides. It includes albumin, retinol binding protein, ferritin, thyroglobulin (and autoantibodies), ax-fetoprotein, collagen, fibronectin, myoglobin, interferon, calmodulin, ACTH, hGH, FSH, LH, LCG, glucagon, insulin, calcitonin, T 3 and T4, and angiotensin. The clinical interest in these 'analytes' will be obvious from this list: most methods are for measuring serum levels. Also obvious will be the need, for many research purposes, to determine biological activity as well: such assays are not described in this volume. As with other volumes in this seris, the technical details are fully described, each section giving 1-2 pages of background, a set of references and a few paragraphs on 'Validation of Method', which includes consideration of precision, accuracy, detection limit, sensitivity, sources of error, specificity and reference ranges. E J Wood

Methods of Enzymatic Analysis, Volumes X and XI Antibodies and Antigens, 1 and 2 H a n s Ulrich B e r g m e y e r . pp 509 and 500. V C H Verlagsgesellschaft, P O Box 1260/1280, W e i n h e i m , F D R and V C H Publishers, 220 East 23rd Street, Suite 909, N e w Y o r k N Y 10010, U S A . 1986. D M 295 each Volume X and XI are concerned with the assay of antigens and antibodies. The first chapter of Volume X deals with problems in the standardization of enzyme immunoassays, and is crucial, since almost all of the assays described in great detail in the two volumes deal with enzyme-linked immunoassays of one type or another. Although there are many ways of assaying the various 'analytes' (as they are called) using immunological techniques (precipitin tests, complement fixation, haemagglutination, radioimmunoassay, etc), these are not described - - as is appropriate for a series entitled Method of Enzymatic Analysis. This perhaps gives a somewhat biased view of immunological determinations, but set against this must be the fact that enzymelinked solid phase methods frequently are the most sensitive. Volume X gives general methods for screening monoclonal antibodies, method for IgG subclasses, as well as IgM, IgA and IgE, immune complexes (by solid phase/immobilized Clq), and

112 autoantibodies. Many of these will be of importance in clinical diagnosis of haemolytic disease, systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatism. The final section deals with animal viral diseases including HSV, EBV, cytomegalovirus, adenovirus, rubella, influenza, mumps, measles and FMDV, and the very last chapter deals with HTLV III antibodies. No doubt we shall see a great proliferation of assays in this area in the next few years. Comments about safety precautions are sparse. Presumably those working in viral diagnostic laboratories do not need to be told to be careful. So, the major thrust of this volume (X) is towards diagnosis of human disease, and the book will be extremely useful in the chemical pathology and virology laboratories notwithstanding the bias mentioned above. Volume XI, Antigens and Antibodies 2, deals with the determination of antigens and/or antibodies relating to Chlamydial and bacterial diseases, fungal and parasitic diseases, and plant viruses. The collection of methods is not, says the Preface, intended to be comprehensive, although each is very clearly described, but rather to describe unpublished methods for the determination of the 'most important' analytes. The inclusion of methods for plant viruses is especially valuable in view of the economics of losses due to virus-induced disease in agriculture. There is some redundancy in the descriptions (in both X and XI) and in the diagrams illustrating the overall strategies of the assays, but on the whole this makes life easier for the laboratory worker (and trouble-shooter?) and is to be welcomed. The majority of the assays here again are solid phase - - gone are titrations in animals and haemagglutination tests - - including ELISA, the use of alkaline phosphatase and peroxidase, and the use of monoclonal antibodies where available. Some of the assays will obviously compete with commercially-available kits. Volume XI will be useful for specific assays and as an ideas source book, although many laboratories will still continue to use other established methods not involving enzymes. J Oddy

Methods of Enzymatic Analysis: Drugs and Pesticides: Volume XII by H U B e r g m e y e r , pp 498. V C H Verlagsgesellschaft, P O Box 1260/1280, W e i n h e i m , F D R . 1986. D M 315 The final volume of the Third English Edition of Bergmeyer deals with Drugs Monitored During Therapy, Drugs of Abuse, and Pesticides. The majority of the assays use the enzymemultiplied immunoassay technique (EMIT) or a fluorescence assay coupled to the use of antibodies, although there are a few exceptions to this. The book is a recipe book and many of the assays are very similar to one another: however, the details given are ample for those working in the laboratory. The first section deals with the determination of such compounds as caffeine, theophylline, phenobarbital, carbamazepim, digoxin and methotrexate (in fact the methotrexate assay offered is inhibition of DHFR), and a number of antibiotics (ampicillin, gentamycin, etc) these latter being determined by a double antibody EIA. The second section deals with drugs of abuse including amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepine, methadone, morphine, cannabis derivatives, paracetamol, all by immunoassay except that an alternative aryl acylamidase assay is offered for paracetamol. For educators, there should be an abundance of interesting material for medic tutorials here. The first section on pesticides includes a whole group of cholinesterase inhibitors, assayed by this property as well as by EMIT and other interesting compounds such as paraquat, assayed by anti-paraquat monoclonal antibodies. B N Cole

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Teaching Tips: A Guidebook for the Beginning College Teacher 8th Edition by W J McKeachie. pp 353. D C H e a t h , Lexington, Mass. 1986 ISBN 0-669-06752-0 The majority of teachers in tertiary-level educational institutions have little or no formal training in the basics of educational psychology or methodology. This is as true of Biochemistry as of any other scientific discipline. On appointment, they are assigned teaching responsibilities for which their only preparation is their experience or recollection of their own student days. Since university faculty rarely discuss didactic methods or matters relating to their teaching skills with their colleagues, it is useful for them to have, in printed form, advice from someone who, while not a biochemistry teacher, has extensive experience of university teaching and of research on it. Such advice could simplify their task. It would also offer enlightenment as to how, and perspectives from which, they may undertake to improve their classroom, and other, teaching skills. This book provides such advice. With this edition, the author will conclude almost four decades as a successful and respected source of help to university teachers. The book is organized into six parts: Getting Started; Discussion Methods; Basic Skills: Lecturing, Testing and Grading; Teaching Techniques Tools and Methods; Teaching Large Classes; Perspectives on Teaching and The Teaching Environment. Many of the 31 chapters will provide useful insights to beginners and established teachers alike. These include the two chapters on Discussion Methods, and those on Lecturing, Tests and Examinations, Assigning Grades, Teaching Large Classes, Learning and Cognition and Personalizing Education. The author's philosophy, as summarized in the first chapter, can be described in five statements: (1) Education is a cooperative enterprise, (2) Students are adults, (3) Instructors can occasionally be wrong, (4) Not the least of the goals of tertiary-level education is to increase the student's motivation and ability to continue learning, (5) Most student learning occurs outside the classroom. Clearly written and well organized, most of the chapters are concise and do not take long to read. There are thirty pages of references to research reports and a useful appendix which is a questionnaire on Student Perceptions of Teaching and Learning. If you have not yet read a book on teaching, this is a very good beginner. F Vella

Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of Proteins by A P D e m c h e n k o . pp 312. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. 1986. D M 198 ISBN 3-540-16013-2 This book is an enthusiastically written introduction to the theory and practice of ultraviolet absorption and intrinsic fluorescence spectroscopy of proteins. Its stated aim is to give a comprehensive description of basic methods, to discuss new trends and developments, and to analyze applications in the study of protein structure and dynamics. It is a book that whets the appetite and for this alone it can be recommended to research students, particularly those starting in the happy hunting ground, to use Dale's phrase for it (Dale R E (1987) Studia Biophys 121, 5-24), of time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. The book has useful references to mainstream Russian and Western literature. A curious omission is Aleksander Jablonski: fluorescence emission anisotropy (p 199) is associated with his name. W H Bannister