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Book Reviews Indian Pediatrics 2005; 42:630743-745 |
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Practical Approach to Respiratory Diseases |
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Management of Respiratory diseases often poses problems both in adults and children. The vast developments in pulmonary medicine help to solve these problems effectively. The application of current knowledge obtained from basic sciences and laboratory medicine in respiratory medicine aids in the diagnosis and treatment. This book is well written and compiled by Dr.V.K. Arora. This is a very useful book for both practitioners and postgraduates who are dealing the pulmonary ailments in day-to-day practice. The various authors who have contributed the articles in this book were carefully chosen. With vast experience in chest medicine and allied medicine the authors have written the articles meticulously with interesting case based approach. The chapters were sequenced from basic medicine to Pediatric Pulmonology including appendices. This manual will serve as a desktop reference not only for pulmonologists but also a useful guide and textbook for young medical graduates interested in pulmonary medicine. The authors have written each chapter methodically with essence of information on the particular subject providing the recent advances and current therapy. Some of the chapters are well covered with very good illustrations for easy understanding of the subject. The algorithms and flow charts will provide more useful information to postgraduates and practitioners. The topics on VATS and Bronchoscopy with colorful illustrations will be fascinating to the readers. A. Balachandran,
The first volume of the multi-authored book "Current trends in Pediatrics" edited by GP Mathur and Sarala Mathur is a welcome addition to those who are keen to update their knowledge in pediatrics and will be definitely beneficial in fine tuning their diagnostic and managerial skills in their practice. The book consists of 46 chapters on assorted topics ranging from basics, e.g., preventive pediatrics to highly specialized fieldslike pharmacogenomics. The only area not dealt is prenatal and fetal pediatrics. This deficiency is offset by a chapter on Eclampsia - an obstetric disaster, which is very practical and up to date with regard to the management. Seven chapters are devoted to neonatal problems - resuscitation, oxygen therapy, assisted ventilation, low birth weight infant; jaundice and bleeding. The recent modifications and recommendations in resuscitation have been covered well. Other neonatal topics are practical from the perspectives of practicing pediatricians. Organization of a special care neonatal unit is a well written article and covers all aspects and will certainly be useful to those who wish to set up such facilities. The review on a very fascinating and promising area of research - Pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics - is very informative and will stimulate young pediatricians to undertake research interest in this field. The three neurological problems Guillain-Barre Syndrome, childhood stroke and muscular dystrophies are well reviewed with recent developments in diagnosis and management being covered adequately. Child psychiatric disorders by MS Bhatia will be very useful to all the practising pediatricians as it covers all the important and problematic conditions and offers excellent insight into these with regard to their diagnosis and management. The most informative and currently relevant articles are :- Electrical and lightning injuries, errors in health care system ( which is assuming lot of importance ), rape in children and adolescents, patient compliance and high altitude illness; pediatricians are not well informed on all the above topics and hence this book is very valuable as it gives adequate knowledge to understand these problems. The weaknesses identified are the grammatical and spelling errors in many of the chapters. The editors will have to be more watchful in the preparation of subsequent volumes on advances in pediatrics. S. Srinivasan,
A Book proposed to be written in style of presentation of interesting clinical cases in pediatrics is an idea well conceptualized and could have gone very well with readers specially for the exam going undergraduates and post-graduates. The case selection is a virtual pot pourri of clinical pediatrics, quite elaborate and varied. But then not much efforts have been put into editing and framing of text. The result is a compilation of monotonous cases with repitition of the same language again and again that cannot hold the readers for long. Too many triaval details have been given which have no bearing on the topic leading to unnecessary repetitions. For example the mode of delivery, with weight and centiles of weight and height mentioned in a case of "CROUP" carries little relevance. Besides complications of acute common tracheo-bronchiolitis mentioned to be cervical lymphadenitis and septic arthritis which need substantiation. Construction of sentences shows poor grammatical usage and words like "The" have been used quite often and at inappropriate places. Examples. "There was history of the disturbed sleeps." Child was brought with the history of prolonged cough 'and' He was spitting out the sputum. However, quite good number of cases have been presented and discussed very well. Answers sheet provided with multiple choice questions carries errors at several points. The book is really useful for under-graduates and post graduates but it needs thorough editing. B.D. Gupta, |
