BOOKREVIEWS
l l a r c h 1970
337
Book Reviews The three types of drugs whose pharmacological and clinical Principles of Drug Action. The Basis of Pharmacology. By h V R . i M GOLDSTEIX, LE\VIS .4RONO\V, and SUMNER 11.KALRIAN. performance are discussed are coronary dilators. aiitihypertensives, and analeptics. Two papers stem from American universiHoeber Aledical Divisioii, Harper and Row, Xew Tork, 5 . T. ties, arid 33 from Eiiropean academic aiid iitdustrial laboratories. 1969. xii XX4 pp. 16.5 X 24 cm. $18.50. All papers are in English. Without wishing t o detract from the T h e principal textbooks of pharmacology most widely used in many inventive methodological aiid new cliiiical data, much of the North America medical curricula and in the graduate training content of the symposium volume has appeared in previous of pharniacologists all have their roots in applied physiology. publications. There is much new silpportive evidence for ac3Iolecular pharmacology has crept into some of the reeditions cepted kiiowledge, siich as the negligible direct cardiac action of but has not affected the framework of these texts nor the strucanaleptic agents which has been in Goodmall aiid Gilnian's textture of the medical school courses in which they are being taught. book fur 13 years. K e w e d to hear about the TVashiiigton cockN o \vender that in all too many medical schools the position of tail circiiit, arid i t seems that pharmacologi-t,, not t o be outdone pharmacology per. se has been questioned. A few institutions by politiciaiis, have gone on a ,symposiiim circuit pre.-eiitiiig their have eveii seriorisly considered abolishing their Departments of fiiidiiigs at different places and coiidiiniiiig-riio-tl~ ItaliaiiPharmacology, and letting the course content be divided up cocktails at the official banquets as their reward. The slender between biochemistr:. and physiology. Such intentions were book, vastly overpriced by the publishers, \Till be of interest to misled by the notion that enough biochemists and physiologists cardiovasciilar pharmacologists, provided that. after thumbing ai'e concerned ivith mechani.ms of drug action, while actually through it, they decide they have not read the .ame iiiiorniatioii iti the interest of most of them lies with mechanisms of normal biothe origiiial literatiire. chemical and 'or phvsiological events. ALFRICD BURGER Two facts have coiitributed substantially to these dilemmas. First, the lusty growth of molecular pharmacology presented the more physiologically inclined pharmacologists with a plethora of chemical data Tyith which they were not too familiar. Second, the need for more clinical pharmacologists is rising daili- through the demands of the FDA for more clinical information on new Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Part I1 : Inorganic. 11. L. aiid old drugs, arid these demand? have in turn called for more SCHKOFF.Satioiial Book Centre, Calclitta. 1968. xvi TOO t i,aining of cliiiical pharmacologists in the medical schools. A pp. 22 :.< 15 cm. $10.00. textbook covering both molecular arid clinical pharmacology has therefore become a iieceasitv, and the present book fills this gap This is a first-year chemistry text in as ail importaiit and timely teaching aid in these areas. chemistry applied to pharmacy. Tarious elemeiits and inorganic In a field moviiig as rapidly as pharmacology, it would be uncompounds used in medicine are discussed, and cpecial chapters tematic catalog of the perimeters and pecuare devoted to pharmacological classificatioiis of aiich substances. 11 drug. Therefore, the present volume will Analytical methods and cook-book directioii. fur selected com.serve a? a basic text of fiuidameiital concepts to familiarize the poiiiids are iiicliided; a few simple organic conipoiuids have crept reader with principles, illustrated by means of different drugs. iiiadvertently into the text. There is a good .ectioii oti radioisoAfter an iiitrodtictory chapter on drug-receptor iiiteuaction, topes. Standards are meahwed as reconimelided by t-,S.P. excellently illiistrated with fact and fancy conceniiiig almost me thods. everything experiment and speculation h There is a lack of interest in iiiorgaiiic pharniaceriticals in receptors, three broad chapter> on drug t r academic circles, but an eiiormoiis market for Filch materials, and lism follow. The factors that determine t h the pharmacist's stock i n this subject is not iiegligible. Alaybe action are considered n e s t ; no holds are barred in chemistrJ- or this book will kiiidle a little scientific iiiterest iii thi. field. kinetics, aiid the medical student or physician who majored in . ~ L F R I .BURGER .D UNIVERSITY OF YIRGIR'I I history or religion before entering the professional school will CHIRLOTTI:STILLE, VIRGIN4 experience pangs of regret about his lack of preparation. Eight chapters deal with adverse effects of drug, and the mechanisms rehponsible. -4iitidotes, quantitation of toxicity, drug idiosyncrasy, and the immuiiochemical basis of drug allergy follow the.-e topics. 1)rug resistance in lower cell specie5 arid higher Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure 1969. Edited by animals is bi,ouglit uiider oiie heading, unifying the age-old di~ I A R G A0 R.EDAYHOFF. T Sational Biomedical Re.earch Fomidachotomie-: separating the concepts of microbiologists and function, Silver Spring. >Iarylaiid, 1969. xxiv :36l pp. paperback. tional pharmacologists. Ilrug tolerance, physical dependence, 2T.5 x 21.5 cm. $12.50. chemival mrttageiiesi.q, caixitiogeneris, and teratogenesis are conride:~edas biochemical phenomena with their varied sociological The literatiire of the strrictures of proteiiis (riot small or aiid legal implicat ioii .-. Theii finally, the medicinal chemist will medium-sized polypeptides) is scattered throiigh ho many joiirfind a brilliaiit chaptei, on drrg design, and the cliiiiciati will read tials dealing with organic chemistry, biochemistry, crystalloair equally good aurvej of cliiiical trial, iii humaiih, with all its graphy, kinetics, etc., that eveii the expert cniiiiot keep abreast of t,estrictions aiid pitfalls. all significant developments. The preheiit book, pitblished This book will become a iiece3sity f O l . all of u s who have to reelegantly at ail iuibelievably low price by a bearitifiil offset prolearii a field every so often, aiid it will be an exciting iiivitation cess, ha> collected virtiially all pertinetit data oii protein striicto scienve-niiiided htiiderits t o elitel, the field of pharmacologv. tiire in a critical .siirvey aiid catalog. 111 the data section, the ALFREDBCKGER naming of proteiiia, the abbreviation of amiiio acid,, methods of punctuation iii line formidas, and conimeiiti ~ i the i reliability of sequence information prepare the reader for the discussion of hidividual proteins. Among the latter are the following: c)-tochromes c arid other respiratory proteins: globins: fibriiiogen and fibritiopeptides; immiuioglobiiliiis; enz>-nie.: of know1 or fragmeiitarily known stritetiire: trypsiii inhibitors: proteiii hormones (virtiiallj- complete) and toxins; ririi- coat aiid fibrciris Circulatory Drugs, Pharmacological and Clinical Approach to proteins; and a niimber of miscellaneous protein. whose amitio the Detection and Evaluation of New Circulatory Drugs. acid sequences are wholly or partially known. Iii addition, there Proceedings of an ititeriiational symposium, M l a n , Ilecemher 1967. Edited by A. BKRTELLI.Imported from Piorthare sections on rRXA sequences and t R S - 4 .equeiices to aid Holland Publishing Co. by John Wiley & Sons, New Tork, with insight into protein biosynthesis. s.I-. 1969. ix 332pp. 15.5 X 23 cm. $17.30. These discussions aiid illiistrations are iniplemeiited h:- 20
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