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Microsomes and Drug Oxidations
93
Structure Determination by X-ray Crystallography (Second Edition) by M F C L a d d a n d R A P a l m e r . p p 502. P l e n u m Press, N e w Y o r k . £39.50 ISBN 0-306-41878-9 The fact that this book has required a second edition after only eight years is a measure of its popularity with those studying Xray crystallography. The authors have taken the opportunity to add material to some topics such as direct methods of phase determination and refinement of the structure. It still retains the "non-mathematical" treatment of basic X-ray crystallography. Vectors are used extensively but matrix representation of symmetry operators is omitted. The diagrams are excellent, though Fig. 3.30, of a typical Weissenberg photograph, appears to have lost a slice from the upper half, thus missing some spots which appear on the lower portion. Citations are patchy and unbalanced. Many, to the authors own work, are justified by use of their own published structure determinations as examples at the end of each chapter, but some omissions, eg for the equation 7.108, due to Cruickshank, stand out. The sections on direct methods of phasing are clear and thorough and add enough to the overall coverage of the book for it to be recommended as a basic practical textbook for undergraduate or postgraduate courses on X-ray structure determination. The price appears to compare favourably with similar books by present-day standards. B Sheldrick
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring E d i t e d by B W i d d o p . p p 359. Churchill L i v i n g s t o n e , ISBN 0-443-02686-6 E d i n b u r g h . 1985. £32 This book is a compilation of articles by a number of experienced workers in the field and aims to offer guidance on all aspects of therapeutic drug monitoring. The first section of the book deals with theoretical and practical aspects of drug assays and the second half deals with specific drugs. Those drugs that are dealt with in detail are antiepileptics, anti-arrhythmic drugs, digoxin, tricyclic antidepressants, oral anticoagulants, antibiotics, antitumour agents, lithium and theophylline. The book should be of benefit to all those involved in. this particular area of clinical medicine. A J Turner
Developments in Cell Biology 1: Secretory Processes E d i t e d by R T D e a n a n d P Stahl. p p 234. B u t t e r w o r t h s , S e v e n o a k s , K e n t , U K . 1985. £36 ISBN 0-407-00830-6 This is the first volume of a new series. It is claimed that people in different areas of cell biology cannot afford ". , . to lose touch with developments in the others, and [that] a wide-ranging series such as this can thus contribute broadly to the understanding and utility of the subject". This first volume concentrates on secretory processes and indeed does contain a wide range of articles. These are mostly short (10-20 pages) and the book is divided into three major sections: Exocytosis:mechanisms, Exocytosis:physiology, and Non-vesicular release. The articles range over the animal and plant kingdoms, and include medical and biotechnological aspects. The Editors have succeeded reasonably well in their aims. There is a lot of information in the book, and as a measure of topicality, most reference lists cite some 1983 articles. Whether one would get more from TIBS, etc, I am not sure, and whether
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 14(2) 1986
one would tend to look for things in this series, remainsto be seen depending on how well the series establishes itself. For example, would you expect to find a chapter entitled 'Regulation of the synthesis of arachidonic acid oxygenation products with particular reference to mononuclear phagocytes' in a book with this title? No indication is given as to how frequently additions to the series may be expected. The book would be useful to those writing lectures and to students, but will only be purchased by libraries I suspect. A Kent
Microsomes and Drug Oxidations E d i t e d by A R B o o b i s , J C a l d w e l l , F D e M a t t e i s a n d C R E l c o m b e . p p 428. T a y l o r & F r a n c i s , L o n d o n a n d Philad e l p h i a . 1985. £40 ISBN 0-85066-282-6 This book contains the Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on the subject held at Brighton, Sussex, UK during August 1984. There are 40 articles divided into 7 sections: Chemistry and Physics of cytochrome P-450, role of cytochrome P-450 in metabolism of endogenous substrates, Molecular biological studies on cytochrome P-450 and related enzymes, Post-oxidation enzymes, Microsomal enzymes and toxicity, Microsomal enzymes and Chemical carcinogenesis, Drug oxidations in man. The titles of these are reproduced here in order to indicate the scope of the presentations. It is obvious that the work in the field is overwhelmingly on cytochrome P-450. Other types of oxidations in microsomes, flavin or other heme and irondependent types, have only been recognized in the last few years. It is obvious that microsomal oxidations have become a vigorous field and one which is expanding. It is no longer concentrated solely on xenobiotics. These oxidations have an important task to perform in utilizing endogenous substrates and have a versatility that can be compared with the immune system. Being the proceedings of a series of continuing symposia, this book embodies a progress report on the subject. Each group updated their contributions in a summary form of about 10 pages reproduced by photo-offset method. Yet the time lapse between the conference and the availability of the book is over a year. This diminishes the advantage of publishing such proceedings, albeit in most cases the material presented would appear in original papers elsewhere. This book however, serves the purpose of giving status to this fast-moving field, with a short life of utility as any other conference proceedings. T Ramasarma
Cerebral Energy Encephalopathy
Metabolism
and
Metabolic
E d i t e d by D W M c C a n d l e s s . p p 455. P l e n u m Press, N e w Y o r k . 1985. $65 ISBN 0-306-41797-9 Techniques such as the 2-deoxyglucose method have renewed interest in the field of brain energy metabolism and have revealed marked regional differences in metabolic rates following cerebral injury. The present book begins by reviewing the biochemistry of cerebral energy metabolism and the individual chapters then review animal and human studies of energy metabolism in relation to encephalopathies induced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors such as CO2, ammonia, vitamin deficiencies, alcohol, heavy metals and anaesthesia. The effects of hypoglycaemia, hypoxia and ischaemia are considered in detail as are the neurochemical effects of epilepsy and viral infections of the central nervous system. Although this timely book will be primarily of use to the clinician, it also has some interesting topics that will appeal to those interested generally in metabolic regulation or neurochemistry. A J Turner
Structure Determination by X-ray Crystallography (Second Edition) by M F C L a d d a n d R A P a l m e r . p p 502. P l e n u m Press, N e w Y o r k . £39.50 ISBN 0-306-41878-9 The fact that this book has required a second edition after only eight years is a measure of its popularity with those studying Xray crystallography. The authors have taken the opportunity to add material to some topics such as direct methods of phase determination and refinement of the structure. It still retains the "non-mathematical" treatment of basic X-ray crystallography. Vectors are used extensively but matrix representation of symmetry operators is omitted. The diagrams are excellent, though Fig. 3.30, of a typical Weissenberg photograph, appears to have lost a slice from the upper half, thus missing some spots which appear on the lower portion. Citations are patchy and unbalanced. Many, to the authors own work, are justified by use of their own published structure determinations as examples at the end of each chapter, but some omissions, eg for the equation 7.108, due to Cruickshank, stand out. The sections on direct methods of phasing are clear and thorough and add enough to the overall coverage of the book for it to be recommended as a basic practical textbook for undergraduate or postgraduate courses on X-ray structure determination. The price appears to compare favourably with similar books by present-day standards. B Sheldrick
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring E d i t e d by B W i d d o p . p p 359. Churchill L i v i n g s t o n e , ISBN 0-443-02686-6 E d i n b u r g h . 1985. £32 This book is a compilation of articles by a number of experienced workers in the field and aims to offer guidance on all aspects of therapeutic drug monitoring. The first section of the book deals with theoretical and practical aspects of drug assays and the second half deals with specific drugs. Those drugs that are dealt with in detail are antiepileptics, anti-arrhythmic drugs, digoxin, tricyclic antidepressants, oral anticoagulants, antibiotics, antitumour agents, lithium and theophylline. The book should be of benefit to all those involved in. this particular area of clinical medicine. A J Turner
Developments in Cell Biology 1: Secretory Processes E d i t e d by R T D e a n a n d P Stahl. p p 234. B u t t e r w o r t h s , S e v e n o a k s , K e n t , U K . 1985. £36 ISBN 0-407-00830-6 This is the first volume of a new series. It is claimed that people in different areas of cell biology cannot afford ". , . to lose touch with developments in the others, and [that] a wide-ranging series such as this can thus contribute broadly to the understanding and utility of the subject". This first volume concentrates on secretory processes and indeed does contain a wide range of articles. These are mostly short (10-20 pages) and the book is divided into three major sections: Exocytosis:mechanisms, Exocytosis:physiology, and Non-vesicular release. The articles range over the animal and plant kingdoms, and include medical and biotechnological aspects. The Editors have succeeded reasonably well in their aims. There is a lot of information in the book, and as a measure of topicality, most reference lists cite some 1983 articles. Whether one would get more from TIBS, etc, I am not sure, and whether
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 14(2) 1986
one would tend to look for things in this series, remainsto be seen depending on how well the series establishes itself. For example, would you expect to find a chapter entitled 'Regulation of the synthesis of arachidonic acid oxygenation products with particular reference to mononuclear phagocytes' in a book with this title? No indication is given as to how frequently additions to the series may be expected. The book would be useful to those writing lectures and to students, but will only be purchased by libraries I suspect. A Kent
Microsomes and Drug Oxidations E d i t e d by A R B o o b i s , J C a l d w e l l , F D e M a t t e i s a n d C R E l c o m b e . p p 428. T a y l o r & F r a n c i s , L o n d o n a n d Philad e l p h i a . 1985. £40 ISBN 0-85066-282-6 This book contains the Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on the subject held at Brighton, Sussex, UK during August 1984. There are 40 articles divided into 7 sections: Chemistry and Physics of cytochrome P-450, role of cytochrome P-450 in metabolism of endogenous substrates, Molecular biological studies on cytochrome P-450 and related enzymes, Post-oxidation enzymes, Microsomal enzymes and toxicity, Microsomal enzymes and Chemical carcinogenesis, Drug oxidations in man. The titles of these are reproduced here in order to indicate the scope of the presentations. It is obvious that the work in the field is overwhelmingly on cytochrome P-450. Other types of oxidations in microsomes, flavin or other heme and irondependent types, have only been recognized in the last few years. It is obvious that microsomal oxidations have become a vigorous field and one which is expanding. It is no longer concentrated solely on xenobiotics. These oxidations have an important task to perform in utilizing endogenous substrates and have a versatility that can be compared with the immune system. Being the proceedings of a series of continuing symposia, this book embodies a progress report on the subject. Each group updated their contributions in a summary form of about 10 pages reproduced by photo-offset method. Yet the time lapse between the conference and the availability of the book is over a year. This diminishes the advantage of publishing such proceedings, albeit in most cases the material presented would appear in original papers elsewhere. This book however, serves the purpose of giving status to this fast-moving field, with a short life of utility as any other conference proceedings. T Ramasarma
Cerebral Energy Encephalopathy
Metabolism
and
Metabolic
E d i t e d by D W M c C a n d l e s s . p p 455. P l e n u m Press, N e w Y o r k . 1985. $65 ISBN 0-306-41797-9 Techniques such as the 2-deoxyglucose method have renewed interest in the field of brain energy metabolism and have revealed marked regional differences in metabolic rates following cerebral injury. The present book begins by reviewing the biochemistry of cerebral energy metabolism and the individual chapters then review animal and human studies of energy metabolism in relation to encephalopathies induced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors such as CO2, ammonia, vitamin deficiencies, alcohol, heavy metals and anaesthesia. The effects of hypoglycaemia, hypoxia and ischaemia are considered in detail as are the neurochemical effects of epilepsy and viral infections of the central nervous system. Although this timely book will be primarily of use to the clinician, it also has some interesting topics that will appeal to those interested generally in metabolic regulation or neurochemistry. A J Turner