Blackwell Publishing

Endothelial dysfunctions and vascular disease.

In an effort to produce more and better clinical applications, including earlier diagnostic tests, more targeting therapies and means of prevention, the contributors of these 26 articles describe their current research in such topics as the basis of endothelial involvement in vascular disease, the endothelium and cardiovascular risk factors, diagnostic tools and markers of endothelial functions, and endothelium-related prevention and therapy. Specific topics include function and dysfunction, endothelial activation and the initiation of atherosclerosis, high-density lipoprotein and atheroprotection, infections and vascular disease, endothelial vasodilatory dysfunction in early life, vascular function and diabetes mellitus, treatment by cholesterol, and stem cell research. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Estuaries; monitoring and modeling the physical system.

Hardisty (environmental physics, U. of Hull) examines the complex elements of estuary systems, including constantly changing depths, rapidly reversing currents, and capability of transporting cast quantities of salt, heat and sediment. Working from a computer model on the website provided by the publisher, Hardisty introduces estuary systems and their classifications, then describes monitoring those systems, understanding and modeling their bathymetry, tracking and modeling tides and currents, measuring and modeling salinity and temperature, and creating a model for particulate matter. He provides a model validation for each section, dynamic Internet references, Excel routines for individual formulae and diagrams, and full coding for the estuary model. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Ethics and infectious disease.

A special edition of the journal Bioethics (vol. 19, no. 4, August 2005) is here expanded with original and reprinted articles to provide a broad reference useful in classrooms, clinics, and policy-making institutions. The topics include how infectious diseases got left out of the bioethics discussion, quarantine as a response to global infectious disease, the public health problem of hepatitis C, medication practice and feminist thought, polio eradication programs in India, social values embedded in the health systems of Mexico and Cuba, and the ethics of biodefense. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Fermented milks.

Food and agriculture scientists review a range of fermented diary products, among them yoghurt, Nordic and Scandinavian products, and kefir and koumiss. They discuss processing techniques, microbiology, characteristics, and other matters. Other chapters consider such topics as starter cultures and mechanization and automation. The series is produced by the British-based Society of Dairy Technology for practicing dairy scientists and technologists. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Fish cognition and behavior.

Brown (Macquarie U., Australia), Laland (U. of St. Andrews, UK), and Krause (U. of Leeds, UK) present 14 synthetic reviews of the scientific literature on the role of cognition in fish biology. The papers address the learning of foraging skills, learned defenses and counter-defenses in predator-prey interactions, chemical alarm cues and the assessment of predation risk, learning and mate choice, learning and spatial orientation, modulating aggression behavior through experience, and learned recognition of others of the same species. Other topics discussed include social organization and information transfer in schooling fishes, social learning, cooperation and cognition, neural mechanisms of learning in teleost fishes, social strategic behavior ("Machiavellian intelligence"), and the role of fish learning skills in fisheries and aquaculture (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Food irradiation research and technology.

Food and radiation scientists from universities and industries in North America, Europe, and Korea provides scientifically sophisticated but non-specialist readers with information on food safety and processing technologies related to irradiating food. Their topics include the regulation of irradiated foods and packaging, dosimetry, irradiation as a phytosanitary treatment, eggs, nuts, irradiated ground beef for the National School Lunch Program, and other potential applications of ionizing radiation. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Forages; the science of grassland agriculture, 6th ed.; v.2.

This supplement to the first volume in the series, Forages: An Introduction to Grassland Agriculture, Sixth Edition, serves as a reference to the biological and environmental fundamentals of managing forages and grasslands in the context of social and sustainable values. Specific sections cover forage plants, ecology, species, systems, production and management, improvement, quality, harvesting and utilization, and pasture management. Barnes et al. (American Society of Agronomy, and agronomy, Iowa State U., U. of Missouri, and Mississippi State U.) bring together 46 chapters by researchers in agronomy, animal science, plant sciences, agriculture, and related fields from the US and Canada. This edition has been reorganized into nine sections and is aimed at practitioners, researchers, and advanced students. Knowledge of basic principles and terminology is assumed. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Fundamentals of rock mechanics, 4th ed.

First published in 1969, this text for students in geology, geophysics, and geotechnical engineering covers classical topics of solid mechanics, such as stress and strain, linear elasticity, and elastic wave propagation, in addition to topics that are unique to rocks, such as friction along rough surfaces, degradation and failure under compressive loads, and the effect of fractures and joints on large-scale rock behavior. This fourth edition contains expanded material on poroelasticity, wave propagation, and subsurface stresses, as well as new chapters on rock fractures and micromechanical models of rock behavior. Mathematical tools used are those that would typically be learned by undergraduates in engineering or the physical sciences. For instance, matrix methods are now used in the discussion of stress and strain, as these have become a standard part of the undergraduate curriculum. Jaeger was a professor at the University of Tasmania in Australia. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Handbook of clinical obstetrics; the fetus & mother, 2d ed.

Reece (U. of Maryland School of Medicine) and Hobbins (obstetrics and gynecology, U. of Colorado School of Medicine) provide a quick reference for obstetricians, gynecologists, and primary care physicians that complements the parent textbook Clinical Obstetrics: The Fetus & Mother. They compile 65 chapters by an international group of specialists in obstetrics, gynecology, and other fields. Information in the handbook is presented concisely so that physicians can facilitate diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment, from conception to birth. Topics such as medicosocial considerations in pregnancy, fetal therapy, maternal and fetal diseases, fetal development biology, and fetal infections and teratogenesis are covered. This edition has been revised and has a strong clinical emphasis. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Handbook of meat, poultry and seafood quality.

Nollet (biotechnology, U. College Ghent, Belgium) presents this text discussing the factors contributing to the quality of muscle foods (meat, poultry, and seafood), both from a general perspective and from a product-specific point of view. In this case, food quality refers both to health and safety considerations as well as to consumer preference, so coverage includes the sensory attributes of muscle foods, and fundamentals of flavors. For each type of muscle food, chapters dedicated to microbiological properties, tainting, shelf life, analysis methods, and other topics, are offered. Intended audience includes food science students, food quality researchers, and those in the muscle food industries. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Heart disease in pregnancy, 2d ed.

Pregnant women with heart problems are disinclined to travel long distances to see specialists, so it is important that local primary-care physicians and nurses have the necessary information to deal with the condition. Cardiologists and other specialists provide practical guidance to clinicians caring for patients in pregnancy and the puerperium who have heart disease or may be at risk of cardiac problems. After reviewing physiological changes in pregnancy and examination and diagnosis, they consider various heart problems in turn. They also discuss genetic counseling and contraception for cardiac patients. The first edition was published in 1996 by BMJ Publishing. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Imaging and the aging brain.

The three editors of this book helped coordinate a conference of the same name in 2006, the 100th anniversary of Alois Alzheimer's presentation of his first case. The 25 papers collected here deal with current studies in in vivo imaging of human and animal brains and diagnosis of that disease and other age-related conditions of cognitive impairment. Sample topics include: the role of the hippocampus in new associative learning, how synaptic and mitochondrial morphometry provide structural correlates of successful brain aging, and the stratification of dementia diagnosis using MRI. This book contains an author index only. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Imaging science.

Undergraduates and others training in diagnostic radiography will appreciate this well-organized textbook that emphasizes maximum image quality while minimalizing the potentially harmful effects of exposure to ionizing radiation. Carter (formerly of Shaffield Halam U.) begins by describing x-ray imaging, including its properties and principles, then moves to the science behind the formation of the incident beam and its production efficiency, the formation of the emergent beam, including its influence on body tissue, the formation of a visible image, including a range of receptors, computed tomography, including descriptions of equipment and processing, radionuclide imaging, ultrasound imaging, and magnetic resonance imaging. In each case he provides safety and quality assurance information along with an assessment of future developments in the technology and processes. The illustrations are clear and helpful. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Induced resistance for plant defence; a sustainable approach to crop protection.

Plant pathologists, crop protectionists, agronomists, and other researchers summarize the current thinking and practices related to increasing the resistance of crop plants to pathogens — as an alternative to attempts to eradicate plant diseases. Taking a practical approach, they discuss such topics as agents that can induce resistance, genomics, signaling cascades, exploiting interactions in natural ecosystems and pathogen population biology, trade offs, integrating induced resistance into crop production, and a commercial perspective. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Infectious diseases of wild birds.

The plan was to revise Davis, et al. Infectious and Parasitic Diseases of Wild Birds, which became the standard reference after it was published in 1971, even as it became increasingly out of date. But the plan flew the coop, and though the basic pattern remains, the material is all new, and devoted to infectious diseases of wild, free-living birds and the agents that cause them. The contributors are specialists in bird diseases, and write for scientists and practitioners engaged with either birds or pathology. The arrangement is by disease, first viral, then bacterial and fungal, and finally biotoxins. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Light and plant development.

Photomorphogenesis, the sensitive developmental responses of higher plants to light, compensates for their immobility. Whitelam (botany, U. of Leicester, UK) and Halliday (biological sciences, U. of Edinburgh) introduce a dozen chapters by international scientists enlightening students and researchers in plant molecular biology and related fields with the latest understanding of the major classes of plant regulatory receptors and their interactions in complex signal transduction networks. A primary focus is on Arabidopsis thaliana (a relative of cabbage and mustard) as a model used in genetic, biochemical, and molecular studies that have led to the identification and characterization of these processes. Commercial applications are considered. Color plates feature the responses of plants under different photoselective greenhouse films. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Lobsters; biology, management, aquaculture, and fisheries.

Inspired by the approach of Holdich's 2002 Biology of Freshwater Crayfish, biologists provide information useful to the commercial production of marine lobsters by genera, rather than by fishery, country, or practical topics as existing guides do. First for lobsters as a whole, then specifically for each genus, they consider such topics as growth, nutrition, reproduction, and behavior. The chapters were written separately, so there is some overlap between them as the same information is encountered in different contexts. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Manual for treatment and control of lameness in cattle.

Van Amstel (large animal clinical sciences, U. of Tennessee) and Shearer (large animal clinical sciences, U. of Florida) offer veterinarians, animal/dairy scientists, commercial hoof trimmers, dairy farmers, and dairy health technicians a guide to the treatment and control of lameness, one of the single most important health problems in cattle. Following an introductory overview of the topic, the text addresses horn formation and growth; nutrition and claw health; biomechanics of weight/load bearing and claw trimming; laminitis; pain management; upper leg lameness; infectious claw diseases; cattle behavior, cow- friendly facilities, and proper handling; footbaths for the management of infectious skin disorders of the foot and hoof; and hoof knife sharpening. Illustrated throughout with b&w photographs and diagrams. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Manual of animal technology.

For laboratory staff and students taking the Institute of Animal Technology exams, this guide describes the care of animals used in scientific procedures. Forty-two chapters by researchers from the UK and US cover aspects such as the supply and production of protected animals, ethical and legal matters in the UK, the principles of good practice, surgery, anesthesia, and husbandry. Several chapters are devoted to individual species in common use in biomedical research — mammals, birds, fish, and amphibians — and their husbandry, environmental needs, nutrition and breeding requirements. The book was prepared at the request of the Institute of Animal Technology. Barnett, vice president of the organization, has taught at the City of Westminster College, London, and worked as an independent education consultant. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Management of complex cardiovascular problems; the evidence-based medicine approach, 3d ed.

Sixty international specialists contribute 14 chapters to a text for practicing cardiologists identifying the most clinically relevant questions likely to be encountered during daily rounds, and offering a wide range of the most up-to-date conventional and investigational solutions. Topics addressed include acute coronary syndrome, ST segment elevation myocardial infarction, hypotension and shock in acute myocardial infarction, patient care for coronary artery bypass surgery and for non-cardiac surgery, pulmonary hypotension, heart failure, ventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, mitral regurgitation, ischemic stroke, syncope, and congenital heart disease in adults. The updated third edition contains a new, reader-friendly feature: boxes distilling the information in the text into several categories, including new concepts, key results of clinical trials, the application of new information to improve practice, advice from master clinicians, "real world" questions, and succinct chapter summaries. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)