Company Canada, Ltd., Toronto,. 1980. $31.20. ISBN 0-7216-6733-3 ... F.A. Davis Company, Philadelphia,. 1980. $20. ISBN 0-8036-1260-5. This book is ...
BOOK REVIEWS
REFERENCE SHELF Mortality Atlas of Canada. Repartition G.ographique de la Mortalit. au Canada. Volume 1: Cancer. Published by authority of the Minister of National Health and Welfare and the President of the Treasury Board. 107 pp. Illust. Supply and Services Canada, Ottawa, 1980. $18.25, paperbound. ISBN 0-660-50443-X This atlas is the product of cooperation between the Department of National Health and Welfare and Statistics Canada. Volume I shows The Adrenal Cortex: Physiological Function and Disease. Volume XVIII in the series Major Problems in Internal Medicine. Don H. Nelson. 281 pp. Illust. W.B. Saunders Company Canada, Ltd., Toronto, 1980. $31.20. ISBN 0-7216-6733-3
The author of this monograph is an experienced, internationally respected endocrinologist with a longstanding interest in disorders affecting the adrenal cortex. The 13 chapters cover basic adrenocortical biochemistry and physiology in detail and describe the diseases related to adrenocortical hyper- and hypofunction. The volume does have some inadequacies. In the biochemistry chapters there is no mention of the importance of the cortoic acid metabolites of cortisol, nor any comment about the skeletal muscle receptors for testosterone that have been described in the last few years. In the chapter on Addison's disease the diagnostic procedures outline the use of biologic rather than newer synthetic adrenocorticotropic hormone preparations. However,
the mortality for different types of cancer by census division from 1966 to 1976. Thus, it pinpoints certain places where the cancer mortality is high. This will help health educators, health planners, collectors of health data and investigators who want to plan epidemiologic research to identify causal factors. Age-standardized rates were used to compile the maps. Areas of high mortality are marked in red. A high rate for cancer of the prostate,
for example, is found in rural Manitoba, east of Montreal on the Ile de Montr6al and on the south side of the St. Lawrence River. This volume will be useful to researchers studying the areas of high risk and the general patterns of cancer. A second volume will deal with rates of death from all causes.
the chapter on Cushing's syndrome is outstanding. In general this monograph, although excellent, is too detailed for general practitioners. It should, however, be in the personal library of endocrinologists, internists and those training in endocrinology. Residents and interns should have access to this book in a university or hospital library. It would also be useful for those who teach endocrinology at both basic and clinical levels.
valuable service of compiling expert opinions on all aspects of the cardiac patient undergoing major noncardiac surgery. This distilled wisdom represents current thinking on the optimum way to manage such patients. It is refreshing to find experts freely admitting that the evidence for their conclusions is often tenuous and emphasizing the need for further epidemiologic research in controversial areas. With many contributors some repetition is inevitable, but the editor has reduced this to a minimum so that only the important points are reinforced and emphasized. Successive chapters review the effects of anesthetics on the heart, the recommendations for the amount of monitoring required for different categories of cardiac patients, the hemodynamics of congenital cardiac disease and the prognosis following surgery for patients with heart disease. Ischemic heart disease and essential hypertension are considered separately, and limits are suggested for the hypotension that occurs with anesthesia. Controversies concerning anesthesia for
ALBERT F. CLARK, PH D
Professor of biochemistry CHARLES E. BIRD, PH D, FACP, FRCP[C]
Professor of medicine Queen's University Kingston, Ont.
Anesthesia and the Patient with Heart Disease. Edited by Burnell R. Brown, Jr. 193 pp. Illust. F.A. Davis Company, Philadelphia, 1980. $20. ISBN 0-8036-1260-5 This book is addressed primarily to anesthetists who do not regularly perform anesthesia for cardiac surgery and who practise outside major medical centres. It provides the
ANDREW SHERRINOTON, MA, BM, B CH, MMSBC, DHMSA
Scientific editor
Canadian Medical Association Journal
CMA JOURNAL/MARCH 15, 1981/VOL. 124
753
