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Molecular Testing in Laboratory Medicine: Selections from Clinical Chemistry, 1998-2001, With Annotations and Updates

Posted on: Saturday, 29 November 2003, 06:00 CST

Molecular Testing in Laboratory Medicine: Selections from Clinical Chemistry, 1998-2001, With Annotations and Updates Edited by David E. Bruns, Y. M. Dennis Lo, and Carl T. Wittwer, 362 pp, with illus, Washington, DC, American Association for Clinical Chemistry, 2002.

Pathologists and laboratory workers frequently need accurate, detailed, and current information about the science and methods of clinical chemistry. Textbooks are often out-dated or too rudimentary, current journals can be too focused, and searching for the right article can be daunting to a newcomer to the area of study. Drs Bruns, Lo, and Wittwer have compiled this volume both as a bridge between the textbooks and the primary literature and as an anthology of influential research during recent years.

Molecular Testing in Laboratory Medicine is, as advertised, primarily composed of previously published Clinical Chemistry articles. The book is divided into 2 broad sections. The first section, "Methods and Applications," includes "Real-Time PCR and Other Homogenous Methods for DNA Analysis,""Chips and Microarrays,""Mass Spectrometric Methods in Inborn Errors of Metabolism,""Infectious Disease," and "Genotype-Phenotype Correlations." The second section, "Future Directions," discusses "Plasma DNA and Urinary DNA,""Plasma RNA," and "Pharmacogenetics."

The individual chapters begin with introductions, written by the book's editors, giving a general overview of each subject and presenting the articles that follow. The journal articles are each preceded by an original commentary by the authors, summarizing their subject and highlighting the relevance of their findings. Some authors also take the opportunity to update readers on recent developments in their field and to speculate on future research directions. A comprehensive index makes this volume easily accessible as a reference source.

Molecular Testing in Laboratory Medicine is especially useful as a stepping stone between older textbooks and current journal articles; one can read the basic science foundation in a clinical chemistry textbook, then turn to this book for seminal articles and commentaries published more recently, and, with a solid grasp of where the field has been, run an informed literature search to get the most recent developments from the primary literature. The articles in this book are included for the best of reasons: they are well written, peer reviewed, and representative of some of the most practical and burgeoning aspects of clinical chemistry.

Few people will read this book cover to cover, but that is certainly not its purpose. Any clinical chemist will undoubtedly find some articles to be irrelevant and others to be indispensable. The articles reprinted in this book are likely available in paper or electronic format through most institutions' libraries, but not with the new commentaries providing historical perspective, nor side-by- side with other important articles on the same topic.

Whether brushing up on the science behind a chemistry assay or designing new laboratory techniques, pathologists will find Molecular Testing in Laboratory Medicine a fine starting point. This book effectively fills the knowledge gap between a clinical chemistry textbook and the current journal issues. Used as a frequent reference volume, an occasional adjunct to textbooks, or as a source of articles for journal clubs, this book will undoubtedly be useful to resident and staff pathologists working in or exploring the reaches of clinical chemistry.

JASON A. JARZEMBOWSKI, MD, PhD

Ann Arbor, Mich

Copyright College of American Pathologists Nov 2003

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