- Email: [email protected]
Product safety evaluation handbook
394
Book Reviews
lemia; rickets; Cushing's syndrome; essential fatty acid deficiency; anaphylaxis; chronic granulomatous disease; angiotensin converting enzyme and hypertension. Each chapter has a detailed case history, laboratory findings, diagnosis, biochemical perspective, and therapy. The book will make biochemistry much more relevant to Medical students and will be an excellent supporting volume to the standard textbook of biochemistry. Product Safety Evaluation Handbook--Edited by S. C. Gad. 638 pp. 1988. Marcel Dekker. New York ($145 U.S.A. and Canada) $174. This is Volume 6 in a series on Drugs and Chemical Toxicology. The topics discussed are; product safety assessment; toxicology information sources; acute system toxicity testing; dermal and ocular irritation; hypersentivity responses; practical mutagenicity testing; repeated dose toxicity studies; neurological and behaviour toxicology testing; evaluation of hazards of inhaled products; reproductive hazards; developmental toxicology (teratrology and post-natal development); practical statistical analysis; monitoring toxicity tests; hazards and risk assessment. Now, when many of the chemicals commonly used in laboratories twenty-five years ago, are considered to be toxic or mutagenic, it is important to be aware of how to test if a compound commonly used in your laboratory is toxic at specified levels. This volume will be very useful in making these decisions. Medicinal Chemistry: A Biochemical Approach, 2nd edn. Thomas Nogrady. 514 pp. 1988. Oxford University Press, New York. Cloth $49.95/Paper $32.50. The chapter headings are: Physicochemical properties of drug action; Receptor-effector theories; Methods of receptor classification; Drugs acting on neurotransmitters and their receptors; Drugs acting on hormones, neurohormones and their receptors; Non-messenger targets for drug action; Drug distribution and metabolism; Principles of drug design; Drugs arranged by their pharmacological activity. This second edition has more on PI3, tyrosine-phosphorylase, role of oncogene products on transmembrane signalling, co-transmitters, adenosine receptors, calcium channel blockers, atrial natriuretic factors, antiarrhythmic drugs, DNA topoisomerase inhibitory mechanism of antitumor and antibacterial agents, and drug design using numerical techniques and computer graphics. The text is very readable and each chapter has a bibliography for further reading. The book will be very useful for those wishing to understand the mechanism of drug action and how to design new drugs.
tion; excretion; digestion; skeleton; skin and connective tissue; pharmacokinetics; diet; rehabilitation medicine). At ages 50-55 neoplasms are responsible for 20-30% of deaths; cardiovascular disease responsible for 50% of male deaths and 40% of female deaths. After the age of 80, cancer mortality declines to less than 10% and cardiovascular mortality increases to 60% for both sexes. The book provides interesting and important information since most physiology textbooks are concerned with the normal 21 year old ideal person. Twenty percent of the population are elderly and have the physiology and biochemistry described in this book. Although the average life expectation has been increased by a few years, there are some people capable of living a healthy life up to the age of 90 + and the question is what is so special about these people and can this be extended to more of the population? Frontiers of Neuroendocrinology, Vol. l(k-Edited by L. Martini and W. F. Ganong. 357 pp. 1988. Raven Press, New York. $120, This multi-authored volume has reviews on the neuropeptides in the brain; atrial natriuretic factor; atriopeptide; renin-angiotensin system; propiomelanocortin; arginine vasopressin and oxytocin in organs outside the CNS; gonadotropin releasing hormone; inhibins and activins; hormonal organization of neural circuits; GnRH and its analogs; clinical consideration of growth hormone and GHRH. Whilst physicists try to develop a unified field theory, it is clear that endocrinologists have developed a unified peptide theory; most peptides are not restricted to one single body tissue but can be synthesised in many different organs of the body. This volume summarises much of the data and gives insight into the mechanisms of action and integration. Oxygen Transport to Tissue. Vol. IX--Edited by I. A. Silver and A. Silver. 402 pp. 1987. Plenum Press, New York. $75. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, Vol. 215. This is a symposium volume of the International Society on oxygen transport to tissue. The papers are grouped into sections; methods (morphometric analysis of capillaries, imaging red blood cell dispersions in brain cortex, fluorescent optical sensors for blood gases, oxygen quenching of phosphorescence); blood substitutes (fluorocarbons, polymerized hemoglobin); modelling; physiology OaAFacether, hypoxia, infra red monitoring, ventricular fibrillation, diffusion in lung, surfactant, xanthine oxidase, hypoxia); tumours. The book provides a useful survey of the research fronf in oxygen transport.
Physiological Basis of Geriatrics---Edited by P. S. Timras. 467 pp. 1988. Macmillan, New York. $49.95.
Calcium and Calcium Binding Proteins--Edited by Ch. Gerday, L. Bolis and R. Gilles. 259 pp. 1988. Springer, Berlin. DM118.
The different theories of ageing are discussed and the way in which age affects various physiological systems (enzymatic activity; oxygen radicals; immune system; nervous system-structure, biochemistry, function, sensory changes, adrenals and pituitary; reproductive system; thyroid and basal metabolism; pancreas; cardiovascular system; respira-
This multi authored volume has an introductory review on inositol lipids, G proteins and signal transduction. The remaining papers are grouped into sections; calcium binding proteins in muscle tissue; calcium binding proteins in nonmuscle tissues; calmodulin in the regulation of cellular activity; calcium in different biological systems.
Book Reviews
lemia; rickets; Cushing's syndrome; essential fatty acid deficiency; anaphylaxis; chronic granulomatous disease; angiotensin converting enzyme and hypertension. Each chapter has a detailed case history, laboratory findings, diagnosis, biochemical perspective, and therapy. The book will make biochemistry much more relevant to Medical students and will be an excellent supporting volume to the standard textbook of biochemistry. Product Safety Evaluation Handbook--Edited by S. C. Gad. 638 pp. 1988. Marcel Dekker. New York ($145 U.S.A. and Canada) $174. This is Volume 6 in a series on Drugs and Chemical Toxicology. The topics discussed are; product safety assessment; toxicology information sources; acute system toxicity testing; dermal and ocular irritation; hypersentivity responses; practical mutagenicity testing; repeated dose toxicity studies; neurological and behaviour toxicology testing; evaluation of hazards of inhaled products; reproductive hazards; developmental toxicology (teratrology and post-natal development); practical statistical analysis; monitoring toxicity tests; hazards and risk assessment. Now, when many of the chemicals commonly used in laboratories twenty-five years ago, are considered to be toxic or mutagenic, it is important to be aware of how to test if a compound commonly used in your laboratory is toxic at specified levels. This volume will be very useful in making these decisions. Medicinal Chemistry: A Biochemical Approach, 2nd edn. Thomas Nogrady. 514 pp. 1988. Oxford University Press, New York. Cloth $49.95/Paper $32.50. The chapter headings are: Physicochemical properties of drug action; Receptor-effector theories; Methods of receptor classification; Drugs acting on neurotransmitters and their receptors; Drugs acting on hormones, neurohormones and their receptors; Non-messenger targets for drug action; Drug distribution and metabolism; Principles of drug design; Drugs arranged by their pharmacological activity. This second edition has more on PI3, tyrosine-phosphorylase, role of oncogene products on transmembrane signalling, co-transmitters, adenosine receptors, calcium channel blockers, atrial natriuretic factors, antiarrhythmic drugs, DNA topoisomerase inhibitory mechanism of antitumor and antibacterial agents, and drug design using numerical techniques and computer graphics. The text is very readable and each chapter has a bibliography for further reading. The book will be very useful for those wishing to understand the mechanism of drug action and how to design new drugs.
tion; excretion; digestion; skeleton; skin and connective tissue; pharmacokinetics; diet; rehabilitation medicine). At ages 50-55 neoplasms are responsible for 20-30% of deaths; cardiovascular disease responsible for 50% of male deaths and 40% of female deaths. After the age of 80, cancer mortality declines to less than 10% and cardiovascular mortality increases to 60% for both sexes. The book provides interesting and important information since most physiology textbooks are concerned with the normal 21 year old ideal person. Twenty percent of the population are elderly and have the physiology and biochemistry described in this book. Although the average life expectation has been increased by a few years, there are some people capable of living a healthy life up to the age of 90 + and the question is what is so special about these people and can this be extended to more of the population? Frontiers of Neuroendocrinology, Vol. l(k-Edited by L. Martini and W. F. Ganong. 357 pp. 1988. Raven Press, New York. $120, This multi-authored volume has reviews on the neuropeptides in the brain; atrial natriuretic factor; atriopeptide; renin-angiotensin system; propiomelanocortin; arginine vasopressin and oxytocin in organs outside the CNS; gonadotropin releasing hormone; inhibins and activins; hormonal organization of neural circuits; GnRH and its analogs; clinical consideration of growth hormone and GHRH. Whilst physicists try to develop a unified field theory, it is clear that endocrinologists have developed a unified peptide theory; most peptides are not restricted to one single body tissue but can be synthesised in many different organs of the body. This volume summarises much of the data and gives insight into the mechanisms of action and integration. Oxygen Transport to Tissue. Vol. IX--Edited by I. A. Silver and A. Silver. 402 pp. 1987. Plenum Press, New York. $75. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, Vol. 215. This is a symposium volume of the International Society on oxygen transport to tissue. The papers are grouped into sections; methods (morphometric analysis of capillaries, imaging red blood cell dispersions in brain cortex, fluorescent optical sensors for blood gases, oxygen quenching of phosphorescence); blood substitutes (fluorocarbons, polymerized hemoglobin); modelling; physiology OaAFacether, hypoxia, infra red monitoring, ventricular fibrillation, diffusion in lung, surfactant, xanthine oxidase, hypoxia); tumours. The book provides a useful survey of the research fronf in oxygen transport.
Physiological Basis of Geriatrics---Edited by P. S. Timras. 467 pp. 1988. Macmillan, New York. $49.95.
Calcium and Calcium Binding Proteins--Edited by Ch. Gerday, L. Bolis and R. Gilles. 259 pp. 1988. Springer, Berlin. DM118.
The different theories of ageing are discussed and the way in which age affects various physiological systems (enzymatic activity; oxygen radicals; immune system; nervous system-structure, biochemistry, function, sensory changes, adrenals and pituitary; reproductive system; thyroid and basal metabolism; pancreas; cardiovascular system; respira-
This multi authored volume has an introductory review on inositol lipids, G proteins and signal transduction. The remaining papers are grouped into sections; calcium binding proteins in muscle tissue; calcium binding proteins in nonmuscle tissues; calmodulin in the regulation of cellular activity; calcium in different biological systems.