- Email: [email protected]
Textbook of Adverse Drug Reactions. Fourth edition
TiPS - November 1991[Vol. 121
43s that some background knowledge of microbiology and biochemistry wilt help in understanding and folkwing the protocols presented. This first volume in the series extends from the basics of setting up a molecular biology laboratory and growing bacterial cultures through to the construction of recombinant DNA molecules and transformation of bacterial cells. Further specifics of library construction and screening are covered in Volume II. Volume 1is divided into nine chapters plus appendices. The chapters are written by different experts in the field, each chapter having the general format of an introduction to the subject to be covered (e.g. RNA isolation or gel electrophoresis) followed by a series of specific protocols interwoven with concise explanatory passages. The introductory preamble to the chapters is generally well presented and should help the reader in assessing the relevance of the protocols. Some chapters include trouble-shooting guides and the inexperienced molecular biologist should find these chapters to be the most consistently useful. The first chapter is written by the series editor, T. A. Brown. It provides both a general introduction to the requirements of molecular biological research and a simple presentation of the steps involved in cloning a recombinant molecule. The advice given in this chapter i+ both sensible and useful. One quibble with the presentation here, and elsewhere in the book, is the limited detail given on safety in the molecular biology laboratory. Although the author refers the readers to their respective institutional safety departments, more safety detail in the text (or in the Safety Appendix) would more likely lead to the implementation of safe laboratory practice when experiments are initiated. Following Chapter One is a series of chapters dealing with basic experimental methods required for recombinant DNA work: microbiological technique, purification of RNA and DNA, electrophoresis of nudeic acids, and recovery of DNA from gels. This is followed by two chapters describing the construction of recombinant DNA molecules and
the generation and identification of recombinant clones. The final chapter is a lengthy discussion of cloning vectors. Each technical chapter attempts to provide a succinct description of a number of well-tested protocols. The chapters on purification of RNA by M. Wilkinson and on the manipulation of recombinant clones by T. A. Brown are particularly well-organized and presented. The novice should find them easy to follow. Some chap ters, such as the one dealing with the recovery of DNA from gels, may seem confusing because of the number of different technical approaches described. However, this is an accurate reflection of an experimental area in which no one technique (or even two) is universally acclaimed. One small complaint is the absence of any newer methodologies that are equally accessible to the novice - for instance, there is no discussion of the use of acid phenol for extraction of RNA from multiple samples nor is the use of magnetic separation techniques for mRNA purification considered. These are both examples of procedures that could potentially make life easier for the novice. Electrotransformation of bacteria is similarly neglected. Some of the appendices seem a little superfluous, such as the computergenerated restriction enzyme
New editions Textbook of Adverse Drug Reactions. Fourth edition edited by D. M. Davies, Oxford UIiiversity Press, 1992.f95.00 (xiv -I879 pages) ISBN 0 29 262045 2 In order to allow inclusion of the new body of data on adverse reactions, the major change since the third edition has been the removal of information now readily available elsewhere -_gone are the chapters on quality and safety of drugs, detection and investigation of adverse drug reactions and medico-legal implications, and also the appendix on adverse reactions attributed to excipients. An appendix in the third edition, listing adverse reactions discussed elsewhere in the text, has been upgraded to a chapter, to allow a
digest patterns of phage and piasmid DNA in Appendix Five. The value of this volume is that it is succinct and direct. A review of pertinent technology for a particular application is covered in a minimal number of pages (the overly detailed chapter on the electrophoresis of nudeic acids is an exception). F%tocols are presented in a straightforward numbered style that makes them easy to follow. These attributes should make this book useful to the novice who wants to get recombinant DNA experiments ‘up and going’ in the laboratory. However, this same succinctness and simplicity mean that there is limited discussion of why things work the way they do or what to do when something goes awry. When things do go wrong (and they occasionally will), it will probably be necessary to refer to other, more thorough texts (or to seek out your local molecular biologist). In addition, there are two errors on p. 63: in Protocol 13, step 6, ‘15Opl phenol’ should read ‘an equal volume of phenol’; and in Section 4.2, second pa?agmph, ‘400 and 3000 mg’ should read ‘400 and 3ooo Irg’. CHRISTINA HARRINGTON AND NOEL J. BUCKLEY
N&nd Mitute for Medico1 Rmwh, The Ridgrway, MillHill, London NW7 MA, UK.
more detailed dissection of dfnitally important interactions from mainly theoretical ones. All remaining chapters have been revised and many completely rewritten, some by new authors. USAN and the USP dictionary of drug names. 1992, twenty-ninth edition Tire United States Pharmacopeial Convention, 1991. $90&I USA and Canada, $130.00 rest of world (824 pages) lSBN 0 913595 GO8 The definitive source of established names for drugs in the USA, covering all lntematlonal Nonproprietary Names, graphic formulae, brand names of research-oriented firms, investigational drug codes and official names of substances in the United States Pharmacopeia and the National Formulary.
43s that some background knowledge of microbiology and biochemistry wilt help in understanding and folkwing the protocols presented. This first volume in the series extends from the basics of setting up a molecular biology laboratory and growing bacterial cultures through to the construction of recombinant DNA molecules and transformation of bacterial cells. Further specifics of library construction and screening are covered in Volume II. Volume 1is divided into nine chapters plus appendices. The chapters are written by different experts in the field, each chapter having the general format of an introduction to the subject to be covered (e.g. RNA isolation or gel electrophoresis) followed by a series of specific protocols interwoven with concise explanatory passages. The introductory preamble to the chapters is generally well presented and should help the reader in assessing the relevance of the protocols. Some chapters include trouble-shooting guides and the inexperienced molecular biologist should find these chapters to be the most consistently useful. The first chapter is written by the series editor, T. A. Brown. It provides both a general introduction to the requirements of molecular biological research and a simple presentation of the steps involved in cloning a recombinant molecule. The advice given in this chapter i+ both sensible and useful. One quibble with the presentation here, and elsewhere in the book, is the limited detail given on safety in the molecular biology laboratory. Although the author refers the readers to their respective institutional safety departments, more safety detail in the text (or in the Safety Appendix) would more likely lead to the implementation of safe laboratory practice when experiments are initiated. Following Chapter One is a series of chapters dealing with basic experimental methods required for recombinant DNA work: microbiological technique, purification of RNA and DNA, electrophoresis of nudeic acids, and recovery of DNA from gels. This is followed by two chapters describing the construction of recombinant DNA molecules and
the generation and identification of recombinant clones. The final chapter is a lengthy discussion of cloning vectors. Each technical chapter attempts to provide a succinct description of a number of well-tested protocols. The chapters on purification of RNA by M. Wilkinson and on the manipulation of recombinant clones by T. A. Brown are particularly well-organized and presented. The novice should find them easy to follow. Some chap ters, such as the one dealing with the recovery of DNA from gels, may seem confusing because of the number of different technical approaches described. However, this is an accurate reflection of an experimental area in which no one technique (or even two) is universally acclaimed. One small complaint is the absence of any newer methodologies that are equally accessible to the novice - for instance, there is no discussion of the use of acid phenol for extraction of RNA from multiple samples nor is the use of magnetic separation techniques for mRNA purification considered. These are both examples of procedures that could potentially make life easier for the novice. Electrotransformation of bacteria is similarly neglected. Some of the appendices seem a little superfluous, such as the computergenerated restriction enzyme
New editions Textbook of Adverse Drug Reactions. Fourth edition edited by D. M. Davies, Oxford UIiiversity Press, 1992.f95.00 (xiv -I879 pages) ISBN 0 29 262045 2 In order to allow inclusion of the new body of data on adverse reactions, the major change since the third edition has been the removal of information now readily available elsewhere -_gone are the chapters on quality and safety of drugs, detection and investigation of adverse drug reactions and medico-legal implications, and also the appendix on adverse reactions attributed to excipients. An appendix in the third edition, listing adverse reactions discussed elsewhere in the text, has been upgraded to a chapter, to allow a
digest patterns of phage and piasmid DNA in Appendix Five. The value of this volume is that it is succinct and direct. A review of pertinent technology for a particular application is covered in a minimal number of pages (the overly detailed chapter on the electrophoresis of nudeic acids is an exception). F%tocols are presented in a straightforward numbered style that makes them easy to follow. These attributes should make this book useful to the novice who wants to get recombinant DNA experiments ‘up and going’ in the laboratory. However, this same succinctness and simplicity mean that there is limited discussion of why things work the way they do or what to do when something goes awry. When things do go wrong (and they occasionally will), it will probably be necessary to refer to other, more thorough texts (or to seek out your local molecular biologist). In addition, there are two errors on p. 63: in Protocol 13, step 6, ‘15Opl phenol’ should read ‘an equal volume of phenol’; and in Section 4.2, second pa?agmph, ‘400 and 3000 mg’ should read ‘400 and 3ooo Irg’. CHRISTINA HARRINGTON AND NOEL J. BUCKLEY
N&nd Mitute for Medico1 Rmwh, The Ridgrway, MillHill, London NW7 MA, UK.
more detailed dissection of dfnitally important interactions from mainly theoretical ones. All remaining chapters have been revised and many completely rewritten, some by new authors. USAN and the USP dictionary of drug names. 1992, twenty-ninth edition Tire United States Pharmacopeial Convention, 1991. $90&I USA and Canada, $130.00 rest of world (824 pages) lSBN 0 913595 GO8 The definitive source of established names for drugs in the USA, covering all lntematlonal Nonproprietary Names, graphic formulae, brand names of research-oriented firms, investigational drug codes and official names of substances in the United States Pharmacopeia and the National Formulary.