Understanding Breast Cancer Genetics
Author: Barbara T Zimmerman
This book examines a fearsome disease that strikes one in eight women in the United States. A diagnosis of breast cancer is the medical pronouncement that a woman is most likely to fear. It kills more than 40,000 Americans annually. Why are some women more vulnerable than others? The interplay between genetics and environment is suspected. In this book Barbara T. Zimmerman, a scientist whose background is in cellular and molecular biology, helps general readers understand the genetic bases of both sporadic and inherited breast cancers. In clear, concise language she guides the reader through the complexities, discussing in detail the genes that are known to increase susceptibility and the ways they are passed on. She describes how both forms of the disease arise and how the location of the tumors can affect the body. She discusses genetic mutations and their roles in the development of tumors and tells how these potentially cancer-inducing genes were discovered. The issues of risk, prevention, screening, diagnosis, therapy, and genetic testing and counseling are covered too. Dr. Zimmerman concludes with a comprehensive analysis of current research and with an emphasis on how a woman's understanding of inherited breast cancer can help doctors seeking to design better methods for prevention and therapy.
Doody Review Services
Reviewer: Devanshi Patel, MS (Evanston Northwestern Healthcare)
Description: This title is a succinct 117-page book that provides readers with a brief summary of issues pertinent to understanding breast cancer. The book is made up of six chapters that offer a vast amount of information on epidemiology, etiology, genetics, prevention, treatment, and research related to breast cancer. It also includes an appendix that lists organizations involved with breast cancer, a glossary, and an index. There is also a section on notes where Dr. Zimmerman highlights key points that she was not able to make within the context of the book.
Purpose: Although it is important to keep in mind that breast cancer is a multifactorial disease that involves complex interactions between both genes and the environment, the current climate of genetic research has made it possible to achieve great strides in the elucidation of genetic factors related to breast cancer. These discoveries have put forth a plethora of information that warrants consolidation. With her book entitled, Understanding Breast Cancer Genetics, author Barbara T. Zimmerman, PhD attempts to do just this.
Audience: This book would be a valuable and quick read for any health care professional who is new to the field of clinical oncology.
Features: While I think this book has many strengths, one of which is the amalgamation of a breadth of information, I do have a couple of suggestions that I would like to offer. First, although the book does go into great detail about hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome, and references Li-Fraumeni syndrome and ataxia telangiectasia, mention of the other hereditary syndromes that are associated with an increase risk of breast cancer should have also been included. Also, the title of the book should exclude the word genetics. This may be able to capture a wider audience and be more reflective of the content of the book. Even though Dr. Zimmerman dedicates two full chapters to genetics and highlights genetics throughout the book where it is relevant, this book contains a lot of non-genetic information that is quite worthwhile. It would be a shame if someone were to dismiss it based on the assumption that it is solely dedicated to the genetics of breast cancer.
Assessment: I think many authors that attempt this nature of summarization may have difficulty in enticing most readers to peruse their book from cover to cover. However, I think Dr. Zimmerman accomplishes this. She makes this book an easy read by not only offering complex information in simple terms but also by including historical information that keeps the reader captivated.
Rating
2 Stars from Doody
Table of Contents:
| Acknowledgments | ||
| Introduction | ||
| 1 | Who Gets Breast Cancer? | 3 |
| 2 | What Is Breast Cancer? | 9 |
| 3 | The Roles of Genes Versus Inheritance | 26 |
| 4 | The Roles of BRCA1, BRCA2, and Other Cancer Genes | 42 |
| 5 | Issues in Prevention and Control of Breast Cancer | 52 |
| 6 | Breast Cancer Research | 79 |
| Appendix | 91 | |
| Notes | 97 | |
| Glossary | 99 | |
| Index | 111 |
Look this: Is My Child OK or Allergy Cuisine
Understanding Migraine and Other Headaches
Author: Stewart J Tepper
Migraine is an inherited condition that many families can trace back for generations. It has enormous economic and social consequences, both to individual sufferers, and to the society as a whole. Understanding Migraine and Other Headaches provides up-to-date information on the causes and diagnoses, as well as current preventive measures, effective treatments, and surgical procedures. This overview includes discussion of every major type of headache, including the debilitating, nausea-inducing forms of migraine, episodic tension-type headaches (the most common form), chronic daily headaches, and more obscure headaches such as trigeminal neuralgia and cluster headaches. This book undertakes a comprehensive look at medications for acute "as needed" treatment of headaches and for preventing the onset of an attack. It offers guidelines for assessing headache pain, the level and type of medication needed, possible side effects, and drug effectiveness.
Doody Review Services
Reviewer: Marcia Ribeiro, MD (Mid-Atlantic Headache Institute)
Description: This book presents a comprehensive summary of migraines and other headache types covering topics such as pathophysiology, classification, possible therapies, necessary work up steps, and differential diagnosis.
Purpose: The book serves as a guideline for readers covering topics ranging from historical pearls, the social and economic impacts of the condition, possible treatments, acute and preventive options, and its side effects. It covers some of what the future holds in pathophysiology advances and thus indirectly in future treatment options. The author meets his objectives clearly and concisely, making the book a worthwhile reading experience.
Audience: The book is an useful tool for students, residents and practitioners in family practice and internal medicine. It has some interesting points even for neurologists but his mission was not to present the very complex and detailed aspects of this entity such as if the intended audience was neurologists. Dr. Tepper is highly respected among us in the headache community, having written numerous articles, participating in multiple symposiums, involved in multiple research projects, and has been a board member in different societies.
Features: The book addresses a variety of topics that are a "must know" for any clinician interested in learning about headaches, ranging from classification to making an accurate diagnosis, considering hormonal influences and excluding secondary causes, directing the clinician to find a sensible and appropriate approach in a case-by-case scenario for acute and/or preventive treatment. In chapter 7 "Non-medication prevention" was extremely important and not addressed enough. Almost unique to this small text are the chapters dedicated to trigeminal autonomic cephalgias and new areas of research, topics covered incompletely by other small texts if at all.
Assessment: I like the book; it is well written and concise. I think it will be useful to clinicians and could also be a resource for patients. But one has to choose different literature sources depending on the patient being evaluated to avoid overwhelming the patient. This book is quite similar to Conquering Headache coauthored by Dr. Tepper with Alan Rapport and Fred Sheftell (B. C. Decker, 2003), but in that book, the intent was to reach the general public more than clinicians. In Diagnosing and Managing Headaches, 4th edition (Professional Communications, 2004), Dr. Diamond also comprehensively covers migraine headaches, but I find the text to be less user-friendly and too compact, whereas in Dr. Tepper's book the text and tables are easy to follow and the reading has a better flow. In Migraine, Dr. Silberstein tried to do a clinician's manual with the most important topics. I found it helpful for a quick browse, but again Dr. Tepper's book is more comprehensive.
Library Journal
Tepper (director, New England Ctr. for Headache for New England Research Inst.; coeditor, The Spectrum of Migranie and Conquering Headache) condenses an enormous amount of information in a short and reasonably priced volume. He begins by differentiating between the various types of headaches and suggests criteria to determine whether a headache is truly a migraine. He then goes on to explain the stages of migraine, what causes the pain, and methods of aborting headaches. The appendix supplies web sites, contact information for foundations and clinics, and a short bibliography. Nonmedical readers will appreciate the book's simplicity, clarity, and conversational tone, although its readability levels are somewhat difficult. Physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners will welcome the book's breadth, specificity, and thoroughness. Highly recommended for consumer health libraries, hospital libraries, and academic libraries serving medical students and staff.-Cleo Pappas, La Grange Memorial Hosp. Lib., IL Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Rating
3 Stars from Doody
