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Neuromethods, volume 14, neurophysiological techniques: Basic methods and concepts
Journal ~,f the Neuroto~:wm Sciences. lt)l ~1991 j | 24- t 26
l'lsevici
124
Book reviews
Cellular and Molecular Biology of Myelination, by G. J eserich, H. h. Althaus, T. V. Waehneldt (editors), NATO ASI Series H: Cell Biology, vol. 43, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, t990, 565 pages, DM 298.00 This monograph contains the Proceedings of a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Cellular and Molecular Biology, near Osnabrtick, September 1989. The structure and chemistry of oligodendroglia as myelin-generating ceils was the main topic, approached with the aid of methods such as recombinant DNA technology, cell transfection, cell culture and cytoimmunochemistry. In spite of a wealth of detail presented on (rc-)myelination, the part played by specific growth factors, their receptors, and of proteinkinases, as well as the structure and regulation of myelin-protein coding genes (myelin basic protein and proteolipid protein) a synthetic view of the molecular biology of oligoglial myelination proved not yet feasible. A wealth of detailed information is gathered in 35 chapters, ranging from the 0-2A progenitor via ion-channels, protein kinases,/J-galactosidase gene, growth factors, GTP-binding proteins, to the myelination cascade. For those neurologists and neuroscientists specialising in CNSdevelopment and demyelinating disease, this monograph offers an absorbing read. G.W. BRUYN Department of Neurology Academic Hospital Leiden Leiden, The Netherlands
Neuromethods, Volume 14, Neurophysiological Techniques: Basic Methods and Concepts, by A. A. Boulton, G. B. Baker and C.H. Vanderwolf (editors), The Humana Press Inc., Clifton, NJ, 1990, 408 pages, US $ 79.50 This volume of the well-known series is devoted to a full coverage of the methods for (in vivo and in vitro) intracellular recordings, single ion channel current recordings, microvoltage clamp techniques, membrane potential measurements, ion-selective microelectrodes, and the field of voltammetry which has proven its value in neuropharrnacology and neurochemistry. The techniques, the errors (and how to avoid them) and interpretation-conditions of the results are lucidly and comprehensively dealt with. For the experimental neurophysiologist, and neurologist not only an absorbing "read", but a "must" near the work-bench in the laboratory. The reasonable price is a pleasant surprise. G.W. BRt:VN Department of Neurology Academic Hospital Leiden Leiden, The Netherlands
The Right Cerebral Hemisphere and P.~vchiatricDisorders, by John Cutting, Oxford University Press, Oxford. 1990. vii1 - 479 pages. ISBN 0 19 261764 8. £45.00 In the introduction to this monograph. John Cutting clearly describes his hypotheses and biases. He sets out to show thal the major psychiatric disturbances are focal brain disorders with consistent patterns of brain dysfunction. He takes a step forward to state that any disturbance in right hemisphere function is a potential cause of psychiatric illness. A giant step is taken next to declare that overwhelming evidence suggests that right hemisphere dysfunction underlies schizophrenia. This monograph is undertaken "in hope of convincing people that I am right" and is inspired by the work of Stephen Kosslyn. whose influential paper of 1987 on perception and memory will be referenced every several pages in the first half of the present work. Cutting will take on the role of champion of the right hemisphere and will succeed m many, though not all. of his objectives. The first section of this book is a review of the differential tunctions of the left and right cerebral hemispheres. An historical overview is offered first, and this is a considered, and at times witty review of the discoveries of localization of higher cortical functions and the functional relationships of the two hemispheres. A chapter on language and thought is an integrative approach to the older dicta and newer studies, including the release phenomena of the injured right hemisphere. This is a refresh,ng approach to the topic, and is actually less polemical than the preface suggests. That the left and right hemispheres approach the same experiences in different ways, using functional processes based on neurobiological development and experience, is cogently argued. An overview of perception and memory is equally stimulating and thought provoking. In a chapter on attention and consciousness. Cutting offers an explication of hemispheric co-operatJvity that is aesthetically pleasing, intellectually satisfying, yet disappointingly untestabte. Discussions of emotion, movement, and individual differences, round out the section. The differential rates of hemispheric development m males and females are addressed briefly, though despite his reliance on references through 1990. the Geschwind and Galaburda papers on the possible intrauterine role of testosterone on cerebral dominance are not included. Ho~vever. Cutting's formulation of the importance of age. sex. handedness, and loci of dominance for speech and spatial functions ~s qmte relevant for neurobiologic research. The next section delves into the focal neuropsychiatric syndromes in light of differential hemispheric functioning. It is here that Cutting promulgates his thesis that schizophrenia, psychotic depression, and mania are neuropsychiatric disorders based upon a disturbance of focal brain disturbance. Here we are on less solid ground, since these diagnoses tend to be overinclusive, and each ma) serve as a final common pathway for alternate routes producing similar clinical phenomena. Cutting's reliance on Jasper's phenomenologic classification of "'morbid psychic life" is especially helpful to neuropsychiatrists and behavioral neurologists in describing the clinical signs and symptoms of interest. On the other hand. the author's conceptualization of the functional forms of multiple personality disorder is outdated, ignoring the dissociative states literature since 1980
l'lsevici
124
Book reviews
Cellular and Molecular Biology of Myelination, by G. J eserich, H. h. Althaus, T. V. Waehneldt (editors), NATO ASI Series H: Cell Biology, vol. 43, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, t990, 565 pages, DM 298.00 This monograph contains the Proceedings of a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Cellular and Molecular Biology, near Osnabrtick, September 1989. The structure and chemistry of oligodendroglia as myelin-generating ceils was the main topic, approached with the aid of methods such as recombinant DNA technology, cell transfection, cell culture and cytoimmunochemistry. In spite of a wealth of detail presented on (rc-)myelination, the part played by specific growth factors, their receptors, and of proteinkinases, as well as the structure and regulation of myelin-protein coding genes (myelin basic protein and proteolipid protein) a synthetic view of the molecular biology of oligoglial myelination proved not yet feasible. A wealth of detailed information is gathered in 35 chapters, ranging from the 0-2A progenitor via ion-channels, protein kinases,/J-galactosidase gene, growth factors, GTP-binding proteins, to the myelination cascade. For those neurologists and neuroscientists specialising in CNSdevelopment and demyelinating disease, this monograph offers an absorbing read. G.W. BRUYN Department of Neurology Academic Hospital Leiden Leiden, The Netherlands
Neuromethods, Volume 14, Neurophysiological Techniques: Basic Methods and Concepts, by A. A. Boulton, G. B. Baker and C.H. Vanderwolf (editors), The Humana Press Inc., Clifton, NJ, 1990, 408 pages, US $ 79.50 This volume of the well-known series is devoted to a full coverage of the methods for (in vivo and in vitro) intracellular recordings, single ion channel current recordings, microvoltage clamp techniques, membrane potential measurements, ion-selective microelectrodes, and the field of voltammetry which has proven its value in neuropharrnacology and neurochemistry. The techniques, the errors (and how to avoid them) and interpretation-conditions of the results are lucidly and comprehensively dealt with. For the experimental neurophysiologist, and neurologist not only an absorbing "read", but a "must" near the work-bench in the laboratory. The reasonable price is a pleasant surprise. G.W. BRt:VN Department of Neurology Academic Hospital Leiden Leiden, The Netherlands
The Right Cerebral Hemisphere and P.~vchiatricDisorders, by John Cutting, Oxford University Press, Oxford. 1990. vii1 - 479 pages. ISBN 0 19 261764 8. £45.00 In the introduction to this monograph. John Cutting clearly describes his hypotheses and biases. He sets out to show thal the major psychiatric disturbances are focal brain disorders with consistent patterns of brain dysfunction. He takes a step forward to state that any disturbance in right hemisphere function is a potential cause of psychiatric illness. A giant step is taken next to declare that overwhelming evidence suggests that right hemisphere dysfunction underlies schizophrenia. This monograph is undertaken "in hope of convincing people that I am right" and is inspired by the work of Stephen Kosslyn. whose influential paper of 1987 on perception and memory will be referenced every several pages in the first half of the present work. Cutting will take on the role of champion of the right hemisphere and will succeed m many, though not all. of his objectives. The first section of this book is a review of the differential tunctions of the left and right cerebral hemispheres. An historical overview is offered first, and this is a considered, and at times witty review of the discoveries of localization of higher cortical functions and the functional relationships of the two hemispheres. A chapter on language and thought is an integrative approach to the older dicta and newer studies, including the release phenomena of the injured right hemisphere. This is a refresh,ng approach to the topic, and is actually less polemical than the preface suggests. That the left and right hemispheres approach the same experiences in different ways, using functional processes based on neurobiological development and experience, is cogently argued. An overview of perception and memory is equally stimulating and thought provoking. In a chapter on attention and consciousness. Cutting offers an explication of hemispheric co-operatJvity that is aesthetically pleasing, intellectually satisfying, yet disappointingly untestabte. Discussions of emotion, movement, and individual differences, round out the section. The differential rates of hemispheric development m males and females are addressed briefly, though despite his reliance on references through 1990. the Geschwind and Galaburda papers on the possible intrauterine role of testosterone on cerebral dominance are not included. Ho~vever. Cutting's formulation of the importance of age. sex. handedness, and loci of dominance for speech and spatial functions ~s qmte relevant for neurobiologic research. The next section delves into the focal neuropsychiatric syndromes in light of differential hemispheric functioning. It is here that Cutting promulgates his thesis that schizophrenia, psychotic depression, and mania are neuropsychiatric disorders based upon a disturbance of focal brain disturbance. Here we are on less solid ground, since these diagnoses tend to be overinclusive, and each ma) serve as a final common pathway for alternate routes producing similar clinical phenomena. Cutting's reliance on Jasper's phenomenologic classification of "'morbid psychic life" is especially helpful to neuropsychiatrists and behavioral neurologists in describing the clinical signs and symptoms of interest. On the other hand. the author's conceptualization of the functional forms of multiple personality disorder is outdated, ignoring the dissociative states literature since 1980