Textbook of immunopharmacology. Second edition

T i P S - June 1989 [Vol. 10] (biotinylated insulins) to clinical studies aimed at pinning down the role that the receptor plays in insulin-resistant states. The strength of the books lies in the breadth of information that is summarized. It is of particular value tha~ they portray well tho diversity of systems in which insulin receptor function has been studied, from traditional target tissues like hepatocytes and adipocytes, to less well appreciated targets like lymphocytes, microvascular cells and brain tissue. It is also a strength that the editors have seen fit to devote two chapters to the heterogeneity of the insulin and IGF-I receptors; only recently has it become apparent that, just as for the adrenoceptor system, there are also receptor subtypes for peptide hormones. True to the title of the series, each chapter does contain, to a greater or lesser degree, methodological details related to the data presented. However, the volumes do not pretend to be a laboratory manual, but are rather a guide to the interested experimentalist. The value is clearly in the overviews provided rather than in the details recorded. For the impecunious, it is an economic advantage that the information is divided into two volumes: Volume 12A, for example, can stand alone as a coherent and adequate portrayal of most of the experimental approaches used for insulin receptor studies. However, those purchasing only ~his volume will miss the interesting (albeit limited) information relating to insulin receptor studies done in the context of human pathophysiology. The second volume, which is less coherent in terms of subject matter than the first volume, also contains interesting chapters dealing with IGF-I receptors, adipocyte glucose transporters and putative mediators of insulin action. S~gnificanfly absent from both volumes is any information related to the cloning and sequencing of the IGF-I and insulin receptors. This information, along with the site-directed mutagenesis studies and the sequencing of receptors from normal and insulin-resistant individuals, was undoubtedly well known to the editors when they cast their author net, and may have been purposefully omitted from

253 Volume 12 so as to form the basis of a future volume for this worthwhile series on receptor biochemistry and methodology. Thus, this two volume set produces a synoFsis, more or less, of anything one may have wished to know about insulin and IGF-I receptors up until about 1984--1985, when the first information about tk,e receptor sequences began to

appear. Clearly, there is much more in the wings that the editors have decided to leave for future consideration.

New editions

with earlier editions, the eleventh edition is composed of monographs dealing with drug groups, supplemented by information on individual members of the group where their side effects differ from the general pattern.

Textbook of Immunopharmacology. Second edition edited by M. Maureen Dale and John C. Foreman, Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1989. £19.95 (x + 384 pages) ISBN 0 632 01948 4 This UK-oriented book is aimed primarily at final-year undergraduate students, but is also intended to serve as an introduction to the field for postgraduate scientists in other disciplines, particularly chemistry. In the second edition, major advances in the understanding of signal transduction are incorporated, and a new chapter on the endothelial cell has been included.

Biochemistry of Antimicrobial Action. Fourth edition by T. J. Franklin and G.A. Snow, Chapman and Hall 1989. £12.95 (viii + 216 pages) ISBN 0 412 30260 8 Recent developments in ~3-1actam drugs, the chemotherapy of fungal and viral infections (largely prompted by the AIDS epidemic), the permeability of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria and resistance to antimicrobial drugs are included in this edition. Meyler's Side Effects of Drugs (An Encyclopedia of Adverse Reactions and Interactions). Eleventh edition edited by M. N. G. Dukes, Elsevier, 1988. $223.75/Dfl. 425.00 (xxii + 1129 pages) ISBN 0 444 90484 0 This book, which has taken on the role of arbiter and assessor on the adverse effects of drugs, has been compiled by an international team of editors and contributors. As

MORLEY D. HOLLENBERG

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW. Calgary, Canada T2N 4N1.

Immunotoxicology of Drugs and Chemicals. Second edition edited by J. Descotes, Elsevier, 1988. US$158.00/Dfl.300.00 (xiii + 444 pages) ISBN 0 444 90496 4 This book aims to give comprehensive and critical evaluation of evidence on the immunotoxic properties of drugs and chemicals. To this end, all sections included in the first edition have been brought up-to-date, and new sections have been added on polypeptides, quinolones, antiestrogens, inhibitors of platelet aggregation, manganese and diesel engine emissions. Four hundred new references are also included, bringing the total number cited to more than 2400, covering both animal and human studies.

Errata Distance Geometry and Molecular Conformation, by G. M. Crippen and T. F. Havel, 1988 (TIPS, April 1989). This book was published by Research Studies Press, and is marketed and distributed by John Wiley & Sons. The ISBN given in the review is incorrect. It should read: ISBN 86380 073 4. We apologize for these errors.