Category: Reviews & Views

M. Afzal Mir W.B. Saunders Company, 55 Horner Ave, Toronto, ON M8Z 4X6 1995/266 pp Strengths Practical, excellent illustrations Audience Medical students and practitioners This book aims to provide medical students and practitioners with a comprehensive survey of clinical signs organized by external body parts. The underlying assumption is that most diagnoses from clinical signs are based on pattern recognition, so the book is a rich collection of colour illustrations of common, rare, and esoteric conditions. Using arrows to highlight the more subtle signs would help readers, like me, who need more guidance. The organization of the book is excellent with a logical approach to each external body part; for …

John M.C. Gutteridge, Barry Halliwell Oxford University Press, 70 Wynford Dr, Don Mills, ON M3C 1J9 1994/143 pp Strengths Summarizes current thought on free radicals and antioxidants. A clear, pithy, scientific, informative text Audience Physicians, medical students, nurses, biologists, nutritionists, and chemists The authors have written a short textbook introducing antioxidants to clinical practice. They also refresh readers with a review of the basic clinical sciences. A short, informative preface asks succinct questions on using antioxidants for treating heart disease, cancer, and degenerative illnesses. The authors answer their questions with sufficient information on free radicals, cholesterol, and oxidative stress for readers to use in laboratories and practices. A historical discussion …

James McCormack, Glen Brown, Marc Levine, Robert Rangno, John Ruedy W.B. Saunders Company, 55 Horner Ave, Toronto, ON M8Z 4X6 1996/550 Strengths Evidence-based approach for making drug therapy decisions Weaknesses Missing key information Audience Any clinician who prescribes drug therapy, particularly useful for teaching practices This book is not just another multi-authored reference book. It is designed to wean clinicians away from “habitual or intuitive solutions” and to encourage decisions based on explicit factors. To achieve these goals, the book has a section on drug therapy for disease states to help readers make therapeutic choices that are reasonable if not optimal and to provide information on initiating, altering, or terminating a …

Handbook of Substance Abuse: Neurobehavioral Pharmacology. Robert T. Ammerman, Ralph E. Tarter, Peggy J. Ott (eds). 1998. (602 pp). ISBN 0306458845 (hard). To help illuminate the causes and natural history of substance abuse disorders, and given increasing interest in drug therapy for the treatment of addiction, this reference volume provides a comprehensive technical review of the pharmacology of each type of drug known to induce abuse or dependence. Sections correspond to drug classes listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s 1994 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV): alcohol; caffeine; cannabis; cocaine; hallucinogens; inhalants; nicotine; opiates; sedatives, hypnotics, and anxiolytics; and amphetamines. A final section addresses other substances of …

Introduction to Psychosexual Medicine. For doctors, nurses, students, and other health professionals R L Skrine (ed) Montana Press, Carlisle 1989, 211 pages If a woman patient innocently remarked, ‘I would not have your job for anything’, just as her doctor was about to perform a vaginal examination, then she may be in need of psychosexual counselling. If you accept this concept then Introduction to psychosexual medicine will be of service as it is predominently Freudian in content. It discusses how a general practitioner can be aware of patients’ hidden sexual problems during routine consultations. It certainly cannot be regarded as a good reference book for non-Freudians. The field of psychosexual counselling …

Managing Side Effects of Psychotropic Drugs. A Clinical Handbook for Health Care Professionals L. Kola Oyewumi, Renee de Wit Zxmaxx Communications, Suite 604, 695 Richmond St, London, ON N6A 5M8 1998/264 pp Strengths Deals with an important yet neglected area Weaknesses Poorly organized; hard to use or find information; no advantages compared with other sources Audience Physicians, pharmacists, other health care workers, patients, families The authors hope this book will be used as a reference manual on the side effects of psychotropics. It is organized on the basis of side effects rather than by classes of medications. The authors believe that this allows them to better address their subject matter while …