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Molecular Aspects of Sickle Cell Hemoglobin: Clinical Applications
Pathology (1972), 4, pp. 243-6
Histological Typing of Oral and Oropharyngeal Turnours, P. N. WAHI,B. COHEN, USHAK. LUTHRA & H. TORLONI. 1971 World Health Organisation, Geneva. 48 pp., illustrated. Af15.30. E5. USf16.75.
Book only Af4.70 approx.
This little book is the fourth of the WHO Series entitled ‘International Histological Classification of Turnours’. It has the same format as its predecessors (Lung, Breast and Soft Tissues) with 52 colour plates and a tumour classification followed by succinct descriptions of the histopathology of the tumours selected for illustration. There is an optional set of colour transparencies to match the plates in the book. The main purpose of these publications is to unify tumour terminology all over the world. They are not textbooks, the descriptions are confined to histological appearances, and references are rarely provided. The content of this particular book is small, as tumours not peculiar to the mouth and oropharynx are merely listed in the classification and are not presented. An exception is the squamous carcinoma; the 40 half-page colour plates cover only 21 types of tumour, yet squamous carcinoma of all grades and in all its histological variants is abundantly illustrated with high and lower power views in 14 plates. It is a pity that only one of these plates illustrates the lympho-epithelioma, a tumour which can cause some difficulties in identification. (The authors use the term ‘lympho-epithelioma’ reluctantly, but have accepted it because of its widespread use.) The important ‘tumour-like conditions’ are all included, but there are some disappointing omissions amongst tumours themselves. The lymphomas of the oropharynx, and carcinomas of minor salivary glands in the mouth are surely more commonly encountered than the neurofibromatosis and alveolar soft-part sarcoma illustrated. The precancerous lesions (leukoplakia etc.) are referred to briefly in the text; full coverage is to appear in a future publication. The illustrations are very good, with the exception of one or two of the low-power views, which are however better when viewed as projected transparencies. The brief explanatory notes for each illustration are excellent. Jocelyn Farnsworth Molecular Aspects of Sickle Cell Hemoglobin: Clinical Applications, ed. ROBERT M. NALBANDIAN.1971. Charles C Thomas, Springfield, Illinois.
199 pp., illustrated.
USf15.75. The focal point of this book, the Murayama hypothesis, states that the fundamental molecular abnormality in haemoglobin S allows the formation of hydrophobic bonds and, with this, tetramer tetramer interaction in such a way as to allow head to tail molecular stacking by a
244
Pathology (1972), 4, July
BOOK REVIEWS
lock and key arrangement, but only when haemoglobin is deoxygenerated. Murayama, himself, describes this hypothesis in the first chapter and sets a high standard of presentation. In the second chapter Nalbandian extends this hypothesis to the development of a simple, specific test for haemoglobin S, the Murayama test, and introduces a concept of treatment based on the use of chemicals capable of attacking the implicated hydrophobic bonds. The effectiveness of urea in both inhibiting and reversing sickling is described by Barnhart in an impressive third chapter and a brief description by Orten and Nalbandian of current experimental work on the effects of urea at molecular level follows. Applying the preceding information to the clinical situation, Nalbandian then describes the use of intravenous urea in invert sugar for the treatment of sickle cell crises and of continuous oral, prophylactic urea to minimize attacks. The problems of confusing haemoglobin S with other non-S sickling haemoglobins and the need fully to investigate atypical cases of sickle cell disease are considered by Nalbandian and Henry in the closing chapters. Two further specific tests for haemoglobin S both based on a modified Sickledex test are described. This book is valuable to those concerned with the laboratory and clinical aspects of the abnormal haemoglobins. Also, on a broader historical plane, it is the first clear description of a disease in which pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment are all presented at a molecular level. As the epilogue states, the authors have inhibited the lethal molecular property of sickling by chemical manipulation without interfering with the critical physiological function of oxygen transport and in so doing they have provided ‘a model for the conquest of other genetic diseases before the era of cellular engineering’. Kevin Cheney Immunology for Undergraduates, D. M.WEIR. 1970.
E. & S. Livingstone, Edinburgh and London.
140 pp., 30 figs.
A82.75. 75p stg. This addition to the rapidly increasing number of textbooks on immunology will certainly be welcomed by the undergraduates for whom it was written and by teachers of immunology. It is generally lucid and accurate, it is brief and it is cheap. The opening chapter deals very briefly with the scope of modern immunology. The second chapter surveys non-specific mechanisms of resistance to infection. This is a common starting point for courses in immunology, although many immunobiologists may feel that the apron strings tying this subject to microbiology could well be abandoned. A brief chapter on the nature of antigens is followed by the longest chapter, which deals with the nature and mechanisms of immune responses. There are short chapters on immunodeficiencies, hypersensitivity (the useful classification of Gel1 & Coombs is used), transplantation, acquired resistance to infection, auto-immunity, immunohaematology, and malignant disease. A longer chapter at the end of the book deals with antigen-antibody reactions commonly used in vitro. Each chapter contains a well-selected list of references ;facts and concepts are presented clearly and the figures are well designed to illustrate the text. On finishing this book, a reader with only a general medical or biological background would have a very fair picture of what modern immunology is all about. As with all short texts, individual reviewers will find different points at which to carp. I was disappointed that there is no discussion of the nature of receptors on lymphocytes,
Histological Typing of Oral and Oropharyngeal Turnours, P. N. WAHI,B. COHEN, USHAK. LUTHRA & H. TORLONI. 1971 World Health Organisation, Geneva. 48 pp., illustrated. Af15.30. E5. USf16.75.
Book only Af4.70 approx.
This little book is the fourth of the WHO Series entitled ‘International Histological Classification of Turnours’. It has the same format as its predecessors (Lung, Breast and Soft Tissues) with 52 colour plates and a tumour classification followed by succinct descriptions of the histopathology of the tumours selected for illustration. There is an optional set of colour transparencies to match the plates in the book. The main purpose of these publications is to unify tumour terminology all over the world. They are not textbooks, the descriptions are confined to histological appearances, and references are rarely provided. The content of this particular book is small, as tumours not peculiar to the mouth and oropharynx are merely listed in the classification and are not presented. An exception is the squamous carcinoma; the 40 half-page colour plates cover only 21 types of tumour, yet squamous carcinoma of all grades and in all its histological variants is abundantly illustrated with high and lower power views in 14 plates. It is a pity that only one of these plates illustrates the lympho-epithelioma, a tumour which can cause some difficulties in identification. (The authors use the term ‘lympho-epithelioma’ reluctantly, but have accepted it because of its widespread use.) The important ‘tumour-like conditions’ are all included, but there are some disappointing omissions amongst tumours themselves. The lymphomas of the oropharynx, and carcinomas of minor salivary glands in the mouth are surely more commonly encountered than the neurofibromatosis and alveolar soft-part sarcoma illustrated. The precancerous lesions (leukoplakia etc.) are referred to briefly in the text; full coverage is to appear in a future publication. The illustrations are very good, with the exception of one or two of the low-power views, which are however better when viewed as projected transparencies. The brief explanatory notes for each illustration are excellent. Jocelyn Farnsworth Molecular Aspects of Sickle Cell Hemoglobin: Clinical Applications, ed. ROBERT M. NALBANDIAN.1971. Charles C Thomas, Springfield, Illinois.
199 pp., illustrated.
USf15.75. The focal point of this book, the Murayama hypothesis, states that the fundamental molecular abnormality in haemoglobin S allows the formation of hydrophobic bonds and, with this, tetramer tetramer interaction in such a way as to allow head to tail molecular stacking by a
244
Pathology (1972), 4, July
BOOK REVIEWS
lock and key arrangement, but only when haemoglobin is deoxygenerated. Murayama, himself, describes this hypothesis in the first chapter and sets a high standard of presentation. In the second chapter Nalbandian extends this hypothesis to the development of a simple, specific test for haemoglobin S, the Murayama test, and introduces a concept of treatment based on the use of chemicals capable of attacking the implicated hydrophobic bonds. The effectiveness of urea in both inhibiting and reversing sickling is described by Barnhart in an impressive third chapter and a brief description by Orten and Nalbandian of current experimental work on the effects of urea at molecular level follows. Applying the preceding information to the clinical situation, Nalbandian then describes the use of intravenous urea in invert sugar for the treatment of sickle cell crises and of continuous oral, prophylactic urea to minimize attacks. The problems of confusing haemoglobin S with other non-S sickling haemoglobins and the need fully to investigate atypical cases of sickle cell disease are considered by Nalbandian and Henry in the closing chapters. Two further specific tests for haemoglobin S both based on a modified Sickledex test are described. This book is valuable to those concerned with the laboratory and clinical aspects of the abnormal haemoglobins. Also, on a broader historical plane, it is the first clear description of a disease in which pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment are all presented at a molecular level. As the epilogue states, the authors have inhibited the lethal molecular property of sickling by chemical manipulation without interfering with the critical physiological function of oxygen transport and in so doing they have provided ‘a model for the conquest of other genetic diseases before the era of cellular engineering’. Kevin Cheney Immunology for Undergraduates, D. M.WEIR. 1970.
E. & S. Livingstone, Edinburgh and London.
140 pp., 30 figs.
A82.75. 75p stg. This addition to the rapidly increasing number of textbooks on immunology will certainly be welcomed by the undergraduates for whom it was written and by teachers of immunology. It is generally lucid and accurate, it is brief and it is cheap. The opening chapter deals very briefly with the scope of modern immunology. The second chapter surveys non-specific mechanisms of resistance to infection. This is a common starting point for courses in immunology, although many immunobiologists may feel that the apron strings tying this subject to microbiology could well be abandoned. A brief chapter on the nature of antigens is followed by the longest chapter, which deals with the nature and mechanisms of immune responses. There are short chapters on immunodeficiencies, hypersensitivity (the useful classification of Gel1 & Coombs is used), transplantation, acquired resistance to infection, auto-immunity, immunohaematology, and malignant disease. A longer chapter at the end of the book deals with antigen-antibody reactions commonly used in vitro. Each chapter contains a well-selected list of references ;facts and concepts are presented clearly and the figures are well designed to illustrate the text. On finishing this book, a reader with only a general medical or biological background would have a very fair picture of what modern immunology is all about. As with all short texts, individual reviewers will find different points at which to carp. I was disappointed that there is no discussion of the nature of receptors on lymphocytes,