Louis Leiter

Clinical Pathologic Conferences of Cook County Hospital.

This volume reflects the philosophy and methods of the clinical pathological conferences of the Cook County Hospital, in Chicago. There is an excellent historical introduction on the growth of this teaching technique and on the advantages of the multidisciplinary approach. The cases selected are limited to three groups—cardiac, vascular, and renal. In the cardiac group there are cases of heart failure due to unusual myocardial degeneration, cyanotic congenital heart disease, silicosis with cor pulmonale, hypertensive heart disease with rupture of the aorta as a result of medial necrosis, left ventricular aneurysm, and tuberculous pericardial effusion. The vascular cases include sickle-cell anemia with thromboses, thrombocytopenic purpura with endocrinopathy, diffuse lupus erythematosus, atypical periarteritis nodosa, and pulmonary fibrosis with scleroderma. The renal group includes renal amyloidosis in rheumatoid arthritis, pyelonephritis and pyonephrosis with amyloidosis, fulminating acute glomerulonephritis, malignant hypertension, polycystic kidneys, diffuse glomerulonephritis with parathyroid hyperplasia and metastatic calcification, Addisons disease with

Shock and Circulatory Homeostasis: Transactions of the Third Conference, Sept. 14-16, 1953, Princeton, N. J.

The contents of this volume are of specialized physiological interest, dealing about equally and comprehensively with the whole series of cardiovascular reflexes (carotid sinus, chemoreceptor, aortic, coronary, atrial, ventricular, pulmonary, extravagal) that control the circulation and with the physical functional properties of blood vessels, as illustrated in pressure volume experiments on venous systems. The first chapter, however, describes vascular responses, including shock in wounded men in the Korean war. The presentation is in the usual Macy Conference style, with numerous and interesting interpolations by the participants from this country and abroad. Louis Leiter, M.D.

Handbook of Treatment.

For those who like their medical knowledge in the form of a dictionary, this book will serve the purpose well. It covers the management of symptoms and syndromes as well as disease entities and contains brief but effective comments on the comparative value of the large variety of drugs now available. The discussion of each topic begins with general principles, then deals with immediate care and continuing care of the patient. There are also remarks on prophylaxis, diagnostic tests, contraindications to the use of drugs or hormones, and other interesting comments. While the text is necessarily highly condensed, there is a striking amount of useful and accurate information for the physician who wants more than the name and the dose of the drug for a given condition. The author manifests a healthy skepticism in regard to the ineffective drugs but is somewhat inclined to overemphasize the newest preparations by using