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Agosta, W. Bombardier beetles and fever trees

The Rockefeller University

William C. Agosta. Bombardier beetles and fever trees: a close-up look at chemical warfare and signals in animals and plants

In their sometimes fierce, often mysterious lives, many plants and animals rely on the transmission and reception of chemicals to attack, defend, eat, and avoid being eaten. In this exciting book, Agosta tells the story of the surprising interplay between the hunters and the hunted in the gardens, fields, and forests of the world.
Agosta, W. Chemical communication

The Rockefeller University

William C. Agosta. Chemical communication: the language of pheromones

This volume examines pheromones, the chemical signals that animals release to communicate with other members of their species. These substances orchestrate a wide variety of activities; they can attract mates, warn of danger, mark territories, lead to sources of food. The book ably conveys the variety and importance of pheromones from single-celled organisms to human beings. It demonstrates the universality of certain pheromonal structures, which occur repeatedly, offering clues to the evolutionary connection among organisms. "Chemical Communication" approaches its subject from the viewpoint of the chemist who isolates and identifies the pheromonal molecule. It gives insight into the practical work of the organic chemist and illustrates the abundant contributions of chemistry to the study of biology. The author also describes what physiologists have learned about how the pheromone's message is received and translated.
Ahrens, E. The crisis in clinical research

The Rockefeller University

Edward H. Ahrens, Jr. The crisis in clinical research: overcoming institutional obstacles

The current crisis in clinical research cannot be fully appreciated unless the underlying economic, sociological and motivational problems in American medicine are fully understood. Accordingly, this important book describes the evolution of biomedical research in relation to changes in institutional perceptions of the importance of each of the three roles that U.S. medical schools play--teaching, research, and service to patients. Ahrens meticulously analyzes seven very different kinds of research activity that are included under the term "clinical research". This timely work identifies the fundamental differences between reductionism and integrative research and provides clear evidence that if both modes are to prosper in the future, as they must, then patient-oriented research must receive far stronger support from U.S. medical schools and the NIH. Ahrens masterfully argues that changes must be made in the special training of clinical investigators and in their funding requirements, and that new working partnerships between clinically skilled M.D.s and technically trained Ph.D.s are urgently needed in order to restore patient-oriented research to full productivity and to accomplish a rebalancing that most effectively assure quality research in the future.
Allfrey, V., et. al. / Editor Cellular biology: nucleic acids and viruses

The Rockefeller University

Vincent G. Allfrey, Thomas M. Rivers, Basil O'Connor. Cellular biology; nucleic acids and viruses

Special publications of the New York Academy of Sciences; v. 5

This excellently printed volume is made up of a series of erudite papers and discussions presented at a conference of the New York Academy of Science, convened to honor Basil O’Connor on his 65^th birthday.

The volume offers ample illustration of the important fields which have ripened or have been opened for study through the support supplied by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis under O’Connor’s direction. Some insights into the personality of Basil O’Connor, “that persistent and determined lawyer,” are offered in Morris Fishbein’s biographical note, in Chief Justice Earl Warren’s essay, and in the address of Mr. O’Connor himself.
Allis, D., et. al. / Editor Epigenetics

The Rockefeller University

C. David Allis, editor. Epigenetics

Second edition

The regulation of gene expression in many biological processes involves epigenetic mechanisms. In this new volume, 24 chapters written by experts in the field discuss epigenetic effects from many perspectives. There are chapters on the basic molecular mechanisms underpinning epigenetic regulation, discussion of cellular processes that rely on this kind of regulation, and surveys of organisms in which it has been most studied. Thus, there are chapters on histone and DNA methylation, siRNAs and gene silencing; X-chromosome inactivation, dosage compensation and imprinting; and discussion of epigenetics in microbes, plants, insects, and mammals. The last part of the book looks at how epigenetic mechanisms act in cell division and differentiation, and how errors in these pathways contribute to cancer and other human diseases. Also discussed are consequences of epigenetics in attempts to clone animals. This book is a major resource for those working in the field, as well as being a suitable text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on gene regulation.
Asanuma, H. The motor cortex

The Rockefeller University

Hiroshi Asanuma. The motor cortex

In this brief monograph, Asanuma provides a concise and informative presentation of the history of work on the motor cortex and current issues in understanding motor programs and motor memory. He begins by describing early work on the motor cortex, the limitations and difficulties of early technology for studying the problems, and the questions and issues that arose out of these studies. With this background, he then proceeds in a series of short chapters to describe how these various issues have been addressed or resolved by subsequent experimentation and which new issues have arisen as a result of this study. Each brief chapter frames a particular question or issue and describes current concepts or knowledge in a lucid, straightforward manner, identifying weaknesses or gaps in theory and knowledge as required. His discussions focus primarily on classical findings and the work of his own laboratory and in this way he presents very directly what he regards as the central issues in cortical control of motor behaviors.

Hiroshi Asanuma has been a major contributor to our understanding of how the motor cortex works. In this book, he provides a way neuroscience graduate students and residents (and others) may become acquainted with motor systems and the complexities of cortical contributions to motor control without becoming discouraged by the enormity of it all.
Bearn, A. Archibald Garrod and the individuality of Man

The Rockefeller University

Alexander G. Bearn. Archibald Garrod and the individuality of Man

In this scholarly and insightful biography, Alexander G. Bearn, a physician and a scientist in the Garrodian tradition, has drawn a portrait of one of the great minds of twentieth-century medicine. It is a story of intellectual achievement. But the book also gives a fascinating account of the life of a talented professional family and a perspective on the practice of medicine and on medical education at the turn of the century. Archibald Garrod is chiefly remembered as the originator of the concept of inborn metabolic error, an idea which grew from his studies of families with diseases whose biochemical basis he was able to identify. He was widely recognized for this achievement in his own lifetime and held a respected position in the medical establishment, a position accorded to him on the basis of his scientific achievement rather than for any great clinical skill. But to concentrate on the concept of inborn errors is to overlook what has in time turned out to be Garrod's greatest achievement, for it was he who first saw that genetics, biochemistry, and medicine are fundamentally linked. He propounded, to all who would listen, his thesis that disease can only be properly studied in the light of an individual's genetic susceptibility, and that that, in turn, rests on biochemical individuality. Only by thinking of human diseases as the consequences of genetic and environmental interaction are the advances of today's and tomorrow's medicine possible.
Bearn, A., Choppin, P. / Editors Receptors and human diseases

The Rockefeller University

Receptors and human diseases: report of a Macy Conference / edited by Alexander G. Bearn and Purnell W. Choppin

Conference held in New Orleans, December 4-6, 1978
Binger, C. The doctor's job

The Rockefeller University

Carl Binger. The doctor's job.

Changes in medicine in the last decades by the medical historian.
Binger, C. The two faces of medicine

The Rockefeller University

Carl Binger. The two faces of medicine

The book is a collection of speeches by the well-known physician-psychiatrist whose career has long been associated with Harvard. Dr. Binger emphasizes the human side of medicine and in assessing the relation of psychiatry to the body of medicine, finds its principal contribution lies in its humanizing influence. He discusses psychosomatic medicine, the psychological phenomena seen in cardiac patients, psychoanalysis, Freud and medicine. He reviews aspects of mental health and the social implications of mental illness. Further afield are the doctor's dilemma and a piece on Dr. Cannon of Harvard.
Blankenhorn, D. Preventive treatment of atherosclerosis

The Rockefeller University

David H. Blankenhorn. Preventive treatment of atherosclerosis

There is no longer any doubt that atherosclerosis is, by and large, a preventable disease. There is an increasing body of evidence justifying its active prevention and treatment.

This book is a short, straight-forward, and readable account of risk factors for atherosclerosis and diagnostic and management routines that Dr. Blankenhorn has found helpful in his practice. Blankenhorn's writing is clear and appropriate. The first four chapters are taken up with a description of atherosclerosis and the major risk factors, a discussion on primary and secondary prevention, the techniques of physical examination and non-invasive testing, and the chemistry and physiology of plasma lipids. Chapter 5 covers plasma lipid pattern diagnosis and selection of diet therapy. The next chapter on blood pressure reduction puts proper emphasis on a reduction in dietary sodium and weight loss. The selection of drugs available in America is a little more restricted than those available to us. The final three chapters are on exercise and smoking cessation, and a chapter on pitfalls in therapy. Overall, how useful is this book? The emphasis on the desirability of risk factor reduction, the practicality of it, and the proof that risk factor reduction can produce regression of atherosclerosis and reduction in mortality is excellent and in these respects the book is impressive.

The reviewer uses and recommends rather simpler treatment regimens for lipid-lowering and hypertension, and a rather different range of medications is available in Australia.

In spite of this, the book is certainly well worth reading by anyone with an interest in the subject, and if it prompts practitioners to attempt active preventive treatment of atherosclerosis it will have served its purpose.

G. D. Calvert
Braun, A. The biology of cancer

The Rockefeller University

Armin C. Braun. The biology of cancer

Columbia series in molecular biology
Braun, A. The cancer problem; a critical analysis and modern synthesis

The Rockefeller University

Armin C. Braun. The cancer problem: a critical analysis and modern synthesis

Columbia series in molecular biology
Braun, A. The story of cancer: on its nature, causes, and control

The Rockefeller University

Armin C. Braun. The story of cancer: on its nature, causes, and control

The story of Cancer provides a brief but authoritative overview of the nature of cancer, its causes & control. A step-by-step historical account of the discoveries and concepts that have led to our present understanding of the nature of cancer is presented and an attempt is made to show how insight is gained into a complex biological phenomenon such as cancer.
Carrel, A. Reflections on life

The Rockefeller University

Alexis Carrel. Reflections on life

Dr. Carrel wrote these reflections while staggered, though not overwhelmed, by the complete disaster which had overtaken his beloved France, and the intensity of his feelings may perhaps have clouded at times the clarity of his intellectual vision. Nevertheless, his analysis of modern man’s problems appears substantially accurate, and his proposed solution is at once original, hold and intriguing.

Full text
Carrel, A. The culture of organs

The Rockefeller University

Alexis Carrel. The culture of organs

The purpose of this book is chiefly to describe the technique of the cultivation of whole organs in the Lindbergh pump. The results of the experiments are mentioned only as a proof of the efficiency of the procedures used for keeping the tissues alive in vitro. The method is composed of two parts, mechanical and surgical. The mechanical part was completed in 1935. The surgical part, which differs slightly according to each organ and each anatomical region, was studied during the following years.

This work was rendered possible by Mr. John D. Rockefeller, who created The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, and by far-reaching thought of Dr. Simon Flexner. The development of the method is due to the exceptional skill of the staff of the division of Experimental Surgery.
Carrel, A. The treatment of infected wounds

The Rockefeller University

Alexis Carrel. The treatment of infected wounds

Shortly after the outbreak of the war, Alexis Carrel, in collaboration with H. D. Dakin ( Herter Laboratories, New York), seeking to discover the best means of treating war-wound infections, adopted the "chemotherapeutic" method. To be successful, it was necessary, according to their views, to choose a suitable antiseptic, which, in degree of concentration used and in length of time it must be applied, would be fatal to microbes but would "not produce obvious damage to the tissue," and (2) a proper surgical technique for the antiseptic treatment of the septic wounds. Carrel and Dehelly have told the story of the evolution and practice of this Carrel-Dakin method in this book, and it has been ably translated from the French by Herbert Child.

Full text
Carrel, A. The voyage to Lourdes

The Rockefeller University

Alexis Carrel. The voyage to Lourdes

A fictional account of "Dr. Lerrac" and his visit to Lourdes in which he witnesses the miracles and healing of the sick there, based on Dr. Carrel's own experiences.
Cohn, A. Minerva's progress

The Rockefeller University

Alfred E. Cohn. Minerva's progress; tradition and dissent in American culture'

Book review
Cohn, J. Casual groups of monkeys and men

The Rockefeller University

Joel E. Cohn. Casual groups of monkeys and men; stochastic models of elemental social systems

The book presents the first recorded observations of the dynamics of group formation and dissolution among human children in free play. These observations are consistent with the dynamics assumed by the LOST (linear one-step transition) models. Such models suggest generalizations that may apply to epidemiology, the sociology of rumors, and traffic control. Within biology, this approach offers ways of linking the behavior of individuals with the population ecology of a species.--Harvard University Press
Cranefield, P. ardiac arrhythmias : the role of triggered activity and other mechanisms

The Rockefeller University

Paul Cranefield, Ronald S. Aronson. Cardiac arrhythmias: the role of triggered activity and other mechanisms
Cranefield, P. The conduction of the cardiac impulse

The Rockefeller University

Paul Cranefield. The conduction of the cardiac impulse: the slow response and cardiac arrhythmias

Electrophysiology of the Heart by B. Hoffman and P. Cranefield is already 15 years old but as yet no successors or competitors have challenged the dominant role of this basic textbook. The new Cranefield makes no pretense to alter this status by serving as an updated comprehensive textbook of cardiac electrophysiology à la Hoffman and Cranefield. The new text is more limited in scope, more probing, and much more similar to a monograph. Hoffman's absence does not mean the dissolution of the productive partnership because Hoffman did play an active role in the initial phase of experiments that form the background of this book. Wit and others also collaborated in these studies, which were begun in the late sixties, with an aim to create new models of experimental arrhythmias. These experiments revealed many previously unobserved phenomena and brought to light some puzzling meanderings of cardiac impulse through fragments of depressed.

(From JAMA, 234(5):540 · November 1975)
Darnell, J. RNA: Life's indispensable molecule

The Rockefeller University

James E. Darnell. RNA: life's indispensable molecule

In RNA: Life’s Indispensable Molecule, Jim Darnell provides a comprehensive and captivating account of RNA research, illuminated by his own life-long and celebrated engagement in the field. Darnell describes how scientists unraveled fundamental questions about the biochemical and genetic importance of RNA—how mRNAs are generated and used to produce proteins, how noncoding and catalytic RNAs mediate key cellular processes, and how RNA molecules likely initiated life on Earth. With a scope extending from the early 20th century to the present day, and with the clarity expected from an accomplished textbook author, he conveys the intellectual context in which these questions first arose and explains how the key experiments were structured and answers obtained. The book is geared towards scientists from the graduate level on up, and will particularly appeal to active investigators in RNA biology, educators of molecular biology and biochemistry, and science historians.
De Duve, C. A guided tour of the living cell

The Rockefeller University

Christian de Duve. A guided tour of the living cell

This two-volume set by the Nobel Prize winner for "discoveries concerning the structure and functional organization of the cell," that basic component of all life, is a thorough, yet thoroughly readable, tour de force. The book is copiously illustrated with pictures, diagrams, charts, micrograms and more gracing nearly every page.