Review Readers Research Articles

The Epilepsies: Modern Diagnosis and Treatment.

The authors intend this brief monograph, The Epilepsies for medical students and physicians not primarily involved in the neurological specialties. They have produced a concise and readable review of the subject, but the cost ($6) seems excessive for such a small offering. Some of the drugs recommended are not available in the United States (sulthiame [Ospolot] and nitrazepam [Mogadon]); carbamazepine (Tegretol) is marketed only for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. The dosage of diphenylhydantoin (Dilantin) recommended for children under one year of age (20 mg two or three times daily) would be quite likely to result in toxicity. This drug is difficult to use in the treatment of young children because of the narrow margin between therapeutic and toxic dosage. Phenobarbital is not given the prominent position which I feel it deserves, as a keystone in seizure prevention and as a major agent for treatment of status epilepsy. One might

Hamodialyse und Peritonealdialyse.

This is a most useful book. The authors have presented the subject effectively, applying the traditional approach of German medical textbooks. It is a comprehensive and readable review. Many details of normal and abnormal physiology, often not readily at hand for the busy clinician, are included in the text. The literature is exhaustively reviewed (2,036 references) and includes journals published in languages other than German and English. Only the section on the social and legal aspects of dialysis was disappointing. Here, a more thoughtful approach with amplification of the ethical and psychological problems by more philosophically oriented collaborators could enhance the value of the book. To this reviewer's knowledge, no comparable book is available in English. Therefore, translation of this book would not only enlarge its audience but also add a valuable text to the literature of English-speaking people.

Progress in the Biological Sciences in Relation to Dermatology

An excellent symposium concerning investigative dermatology was held in Cambridge, England, in the autumn of 1963 and was attended by many fluent, thoughtful, and stimulating investigators. They discussed collagen, capillaries, fat, keratin, hair, blisters, repair, aging, and epidermal barrier and reviewed some new techniques in research; they contributed 46 uniformly commendable papers. Because each section is introduced by a thorough review of the problem, the book may be especially useful to students of clinical dermatology. The reader is not required to have a detailed knowledge of research methods. For example, Spearman's introduction to the genetics of keratinization and Breathnach's discussion of the dermo-epidermal junction are cogent and readable reviews. Lasnitzki has summarized recent applications of organ-culture methods to the study of the skin. The treatment of explanted epidermis with hydrocortisone, vitamin A, or certain allergens or carcinogens produced interesting results, most of which were published in journals not regularly con

Genetical Variation in Human Populations; Symposia of the Society for the Study of Human Biology

ABSTRACT This is the fourth symposium volume put out by the Society for the Study of Human Biology in Great Britain, the membership of which consists largely of physical anthropologists, human biologists and geneticists, as well as medical scientists. This volume may be read in conjunction with the second symposium volume (1959) entitled Natural Selection in Human Populations.This little book contains 6 readable reviews by distinguished authors in their respective fields: (1) blood groups by Mourant, (2) hemoglobins and enzyme deficiency by Allison, (3) haptoglobins and transferrins by Barnicot, (4) urinary amino acids by Gartler, ( 5 ) dermatoglyphic patterns by Holt, and (6) pigmentation by Harrison.The general theme is to study human genetic polymorphism. The traits mentioned above are all genetically determined, some of which cause serious diseases while others have only very minor effects. The present papers are essentially dealing with the world geographic and racial distribution of the

Functional Disorders of the Large Intestine.

Buckstein has compiled a concise, readable review of the functional disorders of the bowel, which is enriched not only by a comprehensive bibliography but also by his own wide experience in this field. As in former works by this author, there are many excellent illustrations, particularly the series of roentgenograms. Details of diets and exercises, which in many books are left to one's imagination, are included. The author has summarized various opinions on such subjects as ileal and cecal stasis, enteroptosis, intestinal flora and autointoxication. The text leaves one with the impression that such conditions may cause more trouble than is usually held by many workers in this field. It is regrettable that colonic irrigations for mucous colitis should be included in the discussion of treatment, although in another section routine irrigation is properly condemned. Probably for completeness, various types of diarrhea are included, but necessarily too briefly for the

Diagnostische UND THERAPEUTISCHE Irrtümer UND DEREN Verhütung — Innere Medizin; Erstes Heft, Krankheiten DES Stoffwechsels. Zweite, VOLLKOMMEN NEW BEARBEITETE Auflage.

A condensed but complete and readable review of certain metabolic diseases is presented in this second edition under the title given. Of the conditions dealt with by the author, obesity and diabetes mellitus are given the largest amount of space and by far the best handling. From the point of view of the general practitioner, to whom the book is addressed, it would be difficult to find a saner or more helpful discussion of the theoretical and practical problems involved in the diagnosis and treatment of obesity and diabetes mellitus. Undernutrition, diabetes insipidus and gout are also taken up. The large clinical experience of the author and his familiarity with the literature, combined with good judgment in therapeutics, make this book a valuable reference for the practicing physician. Translation into English would seem desirable.

The Compton Effect

APROPOS of the very readable review of the discussion on scattered X-rays at the Toronto meeting of the British Association, published in NATURE of October 25, p. 627, we presume your readers may be interested in a bit of new evidence on the reality of the Compton effect, obtained since that meeting.