Handbook of Small Animal Imaging: Preclinical Imaging, Therapy, and Applications
George C. Kagadis, Nancy L. Ford, Dimitrios N. Karnabatidis, & George K. Loudos
601 pages. 2016. CRC Press (an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group). ISBN 978-1-4665-5568-6. Price $279.95.
Handbook of Small Animal Imaging: Preclinical Imaging, Therapy, and Applications is the 23rd book of a 29-book series (as of this date) in Imaging in Medical Diagnosis and Therapy edited by Andrew Karellas and Bruce R. Thomadsen. The series is based in human medicine and covers a wide range of therapeutic and imaging topics. The series originated from the need for medical physicists to keep abreast of rapidly advancing technologies and their ultimate applications in patient care.
The authors’ goal for this book was to collate knowledge of the technology and advancements in small animal (primarily rodent) imaging and therapy, as well as the combined use of multiple imaging modalities in relation to clinical (human) imaging. This goal is clearly reached. This is a well-organized textbook with sections covering small animal handling and care, therapy and ethics, ionizing radiation imaging, nonionizing radiation imaging, hybrid imaging (including an interesting chapter on exotic imaging approaches), imaging agents, therapeutic research platforms, image quantification, and applications. The details provided for each topic are advanced, with many contributors covering essential information that is carefully and extensively referenced.
This textbook will be a useful reference for researchers, advanced students, and scientists in the fields of medical physics, imaging, and targeted therapeutic technologies.
Reviewed by Karen L. Morrow, DVM, MS, DACVR
Winter Garden, Fla
The IACUC Administrator's Guide to Animal Program Management
William G. Greer & Ron E. Banks
289 pages. 2016. CRC Press (an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group). ISBN 978-1-4398-4905-7. Price $79.95.
The IACUC Administrator's Guide to Animal Program Management is an excellent and comprehensive guide to supplement other resources that should be on the shelves of all institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) administrators. It contains 23 chapters and 11 appendices that include a wide range of topics important for IACUC administrators, such as roles and responsibilities, protocol review and approval, program and facility reviews, facilitating communication, policies and guidelines, and example job descriptions for key IACUC staff. Importantly, this guide is a compilation of learning and practices that have been successfully implemented at animal care and use programs (ACUPs) and shared by IACUC administrators during the annual Best Practices meetings since 2005. Thus, it is a resource rich in practical applications for various methods that enhance animal research oversight in different ACUP settings. It also contains information about practices that have not worked well and details why they have not worked. The book contains chapters dedicated to some of the most challenging areas for IACUC administrators, such as training programs, occupational health and safety, emergency disaster plans, and whistle-blower policy. The authors of this book have > 50 years of collective experience in research compliance management. On the basis of their own personal experiences and > 15 years of overseeing the Best Practices meetings to learn from other IACUC administrators, they have thoughtfully and artfully compiled a wealth of applied insights to provide a useful guide that will serve as a great resource for both inexperienced and experienced IACUC administrators.
Reviewed by Leticia V. Medina, DVM, DACLAM
AbbVie Inc
North Chicago, Ill
Equine Clinical Immunology
M. Julia B. Felippe
325 pages. 2016. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-118-55887-4. Price $149.99.
Equine Clinical Immunology is edited by Dr. M. Julia B. Felippe, an associate professor of large animal medicine at Cornell University and diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. It contains 32 chapters written by various contributors with expertise in equine medicine and includes information on basic immunology, vaccination, hypersensitivities, immunodeficiencies, transplantation, and regenerative medicine. The book's target audience includes veterinary students as well as seasoned practitioners.
The authors have done an excellent job of relating the immunologic mechanisms underlying some common disorders of horses with clinical outcomes. Most chapters include sections entitled Definition, Signalment and Clinical Signs, Immunologic Mechanisms, Diagnosis, and Treatment and an extensive list of references. Approximately half the chapters include 1 or more helpful boxed inserts titled “Take home message” that summarize key information; however, the book would have benefited from more consistent usage of those inserts. Latter chapters are devoted to specific diseases. The images in most chapters are relevant and of high quality.
Although a substantial proportion of the book's content is specific for horses, many of the topics covered (eg, inflammatory disorders, immunosenescence, and immunotherapies) will be of interest to those who work with immunologic conditions in other species. As Dr. Felippe notes in the preface, “the immune system participates in the cause and/or effect of the great majority of diseases.” This book will be a valuable addition to the library of a broad range of veterinary students, practitioners, and researchers.
Reviewed by Jeff Isaacson, DVM, PhD, DACVIM
Nebraska Wesleyan University
Lincoln, Neb
Erythrocytes of the Rhesus and Cynomolgus Monkeys
Chester A. Glomski, Alessandra Pica, & Jessica F. Greene
254 pages. 2016. CRC Press (an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group). ISBN 978-1-4987-3359-5. Price $119.95.
Erythrocytes of the Rhesus and Cynomolgus Monkeys provides a comprehensive and historical review of the scientific literature back to the early twentieth century. The authors cover a variety of topics that include the physiology of erythropoiesis, preanalytical variables that affect the erythrogram, differences in erythroid profiles associated with biological changes such as pregnancy and aging, and selected conditions leading to anemia. An additional focus of the text is the evolutionary biology of the erythrocyte from invertebrate through mammalian species including macaques. Most of the illustrations are reproductions from original publications dating back to 1875.
Approximately 40 pages of the text detail published results for the RBC count, Hct, hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration from clinically normal rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys. Those results were compiled from 78 publications dating from 1928 through 2014. The populations from which those results were obtained were defined on the basis of species, sex, and age range. Additional information such as the number of animals, weight, and whether the animals were sedated with ketamine is also noted when available.
In general, the text is well referenced but some sections, particularly those on bone marrow, would have benefitted from the inclusion of more recent publications and illustrations. Although interesting from a historical perspective, the older references provide limited value to modern nonhuman primate husbandry and medicine. The section on anemia is again a collection of results from a wide-range of publications that documented observations and findings over approximately 100 years and includes only minimal insight into the clinical diagnosis and management of anemia.
Overall, this book will benefit specialists in the fields of erythrocyte physiology and evolutionary biology or individuals with an interest in understanding how our knowledge of macaque erythrocytes has evolved over time. However, in my opinion, its clinical relevance for veterinarians and other professionals who work with nonhuman primates is limited.
Reviewed by Kirstin F. Barnhart, DVM, PhD, DACVP
AbbVie Inc
North Chicago, Ill
Pathology of Laboratory Rodents and Rabbits (4th edition)
Stephen W. Barthold, Stephen M. Griffey, & Dean H. Percy
371 pages. 2016. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-118-82424-5. Price $149.99.
Pathology of Laboratory Rodents and Rabbits is a classic textbook in the field of veterinary pathology and laboratory animal science. The fourth edition, which comes 9 years after the third edition, contains substantial updates. The chapters on the mouse, rat, hamster, gerbil, guinea pig, and rabbit have been updated and are well organized by anatomic features; general information; viral, bacterial, and parasitic diseases; aging; and other aspects of pathology. The description of each condition or lesion is concise but thorough, which makes for easy reading. The book contains over 450 lovely color figures, which include gross necropsy and histopathology photographs. Each section of each species-specific chapter contains an up-to-date and appropriate bibliography for the conditions and diseases described. It also has a comprehensive index that is organized by both keywords and conditions or lesions within each species, which makes finding information about a specific disease or lesion easy. The online resource consists of a large electronic file that contains all the color figures in each chapter by species. This book will be a great addition to the library of all veterinary and medical schools, veterinary and other medical pathologists who work with animals, and laboratory animal veterinarians, technicians, and managers.
Reviewed by Jerrold M. Ward, DVM, PhD, DACVP
Global VetPathology
Montgomery Village, Md
Guide to the Dissection of the Dog (8th edition)
Howard E. Evans & Alexander de Lahunta
327 pages. 2017. Saunders (an imprint of Elsevier). ISBN 978-0-323-39165-8. Price $88.95.
Evans and de Lahunta's Guide to the Dissection of the Dog is the standard veterinary student dissection guide. Each new edition brings a fresh perspective for veterinary students. The eighth edition includes > 25 new images that provide readers alternate views or show additional stages of dissection for specific anatomic regions or that correlate with images commonly obtained by radiography, CT, and MRI. The book contains 6 chapters, which are preceded by a directory of illustrations for quick reference. The chapter on the nervous system has been expanded by 8 pages to include cross-sectional illustrations of the CNS that identify the prominent nuclei and nerve tracts of the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brainstem.
The content focuses heavily on the musculoskeletal system, viscera, arteries, veins, and nerves, and the book will be useful for first-year veterinary students and as a quick reference for veterinary practitioners. The book contains particularly detailed illustrations of the vasculature and peripheral nerves of the limbs, vertebral system, cranial nerves, and bones of the skull. Most of the figures depict in situ organs or tissues, the most notable exceptions are images of the dissected heart.
In my opinion, this edition is an improvement over the seventh edition and, for the price, will continue to be a useful reference to the anatomy of dogs for both veterinary students and clinicians.
Reviewed by Brian G. Caserto, DVM
VetPath Services
Stone Ridge, NY
