Book reviews
Theoretical models of skeletal muscle: Biological and mathematical considerations M. Epstein and W. Herzog, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 1998, ISBN: 0471969559, 238 pages, £50.00 While there is a wealth of published literature on the properties and behaviour of skeletal muscle, there has been a lack of text books combining the necessary descriptive material with a rigorous treatment of biomedical behaviour. This book by Epstein and Herzog would appear to fill the void. The book is divided into two parts, the first one covering foundation material and the second one dealing with the application of mathematical models. The first chapter gives a very useful overview of the basic aspects of muscular structure, force control, the types of contractions which it can produce and the force production mechanism. In the second chapter, the reader is then introduced to the idea of simple geometrical modelling, taking into account force length properties, force velocity (Hills equation) properties together with history dependance and the importance of passive elastic properties. Amore detailed treatment of the Hill and Huxley models is then provided in Chapter 3 which also deals with the behaviour under rapid release. A further development of these models is then provided in the following chapter on leogical ans structural modelling which provides an excellent mathematical treatment. The second half of the book is concerned with the development of the mathematics necessary for a complete mathematical model. In this part the authors have chosen to include a lot of basic engineering mathematics dealing with, for instance, the techniques of virtual work. However, while is this largely well established material, the integration with the subsequent development of a model of muscle is undoubtedly useful. The engineering reader who is familiar with some of the basic theory would very easily be able to skim this part and move onto newer material. Finally, the book shows the development of a complete muscle model with details of the mathematical procedures required. The last chapter deals with aspects of movement control and load sharing in indeterminate systems. In addition, there is a pair of Appendices which cover, in detail, the mathematics and also provide some software listing of the material treated earlier in the book. These could well be useful to the reader who wishes to develop his own models. Overall this is a most welcome and useful textbook. In addition to the materials described above, it contains problems at the end of each chapter which provide useful revision examples. Comprehensive references are also presented at the end of each chapter. I have enjoyed reading the book and will find it a useful addition to the bookshelf. For anyone who is involved in teaching of biomechanics to engineering students, it provides a most useful source of material on an aspect of the subject which is probably less well covered than some others. While the more experienced reader may find that there is some very familiar material repeated, it does contain all the necessary information for the novice. It is, therefore, strongly recommended. Garth Johnson Affinity biosensors:Techniques and protocols methods in biotechnology (Vol. 7, Part I) Kim R. Rogers and Ashok Mulchandani (Eds), Humana Press, Totowa, NJ, 1998, ISBN 0896035395, 264 pages, $69.50 This book's cover states taht the it is 'clearly the optimal starting point for all graduate students, postdoctoral and senior researchers, and technicians in academia, and research establishments seeking rapid entry into the foeld of biosensors'. Settinga side the poor word order and use of puncuation i nthis highly visible section of the work, this is a broad audience and a bold claim for any biosensor book. The purpose of this review to comment on whether in the reviewer's opinion, the claim is justified. This volume, one of Humana's series of Methods of Biotechnology, sets out to describe a set of protocols related to a number of different sensing techniques by which biospecific interaction analysis (BIA) may be performed - 'affinity sensors' are those which use members of specific binding pairs as the 'bio' element of the biosensor. More frequently this this means antigens and monoclonals antibodies due their near-ubiquity in bioscience reserach, but it also extends to receptor-ligand systems such as ligand-gated transmembrane ion channels and lectin/saccharide pairs. Rogers and Mulchandani have obtained chapter contributions by researchers whose specialities (in terms of the transducers used) include surface plasmon resonance and other evanescent light field techniques based on optical waveguides and gratings and transducers based on acoustic waves such as piezoelectric crystal oscillators. Most of the experimental techniques are based on antigen/antibody competitive or non-competitive immunoassay formats which have been well studied in solution - the novelty for so-called affinity biosensors in that the antibodies or antigens are immobilised directly on a transducer rather than on the walls of plastic microtiter plates. However, the book also treats techniques where immunoassays performed in solutions on inert solid phases are interrogated by transducers (such as ion-selective field effect transducers (such as ion-selective field effect transistors, ISFETs) that one tends to associate with biosensors. The editors acknowledge the difficulty in defining a biosensor and differentiating the chosen definition from various bioanalytical systems. Nevertheless, they make a fair judgement and as a result have chosen to divide their volume into two sections: the first on 'affinity biosensors' and the second on 'biosensor-related techniques'. In general, the format and level of detail are consistent across the chapters, although suprisingly, some chapters contributed by the editors suffer due to the absence of any experimental results. These are of course typically cited in the authors' primary research articles but even one or two 'typical' records of traces, graphs or read-outs take up little additional space and are always invaluable in establishing the signal-to-noise ratio achieved by the experts! In terms of reproducing experimental methods, readers will be well aware that following the letter, the text in primary research publications does not always guarantee success. Minor but crucial details are often omitted. This book goes some way to remedy this situation by including a section of Notes where ina less formal language, some of the 'know-how' is imparted from chapter to chapter. This book also glosses over the significant problem - a problem that has held back commercial application of affinity-based sensors - that is non-specific binding. There is often no indication of the magnitude of the prolblem or mention of means to decrease it. Some other aspects that were not brought out were surface-related problems such as the variability of gold, silica and silanised surfaces depending on the cleaning procedures used, the age of reagents, the presence of traces of water or oxygen etc. For commercial systems, or in the hands of the expert authors (or rather their long-established postdocs or technicians) surface preparation procedures are likely to have evolved to a highly reproducible level but begineers are likely to be frustrated for some time by unstable or variable baselines. The best chapters are those that deal with protocols run on the few commercially available biosensors, and this reflects the most likely scenario - where a research group decides to use a biosensor as a tool to help characterise their molecule of interest. It is on this issue that success or failure of the book hinges. In my opinion, it is unlikely that an established group or senior researcher will switch their field of research to biosensing just because it seems to be an interesting area. If biosensors are thought likely to help with further research on the subject/target molecule, a group is either going to buy a commercial surface plasmon or piezocrystal instrument, or 'buy in' an experienced postdoc who can build a customised systm from scratch, or , in days when multidisiplinary collaboration is encouraged, work with an established specialist biosensor group. Thus many of the book's chapters deal with techniques that require extensive skills as a physicist or engineer, for example in construction and operation of laser-based optical benches. These may well be useful for a new graduate student or junior postdoctoral researcher. However, the book alone cannot substitute for the extensive application notes/journals that now accompany most commercial systems, nor can it replace the best introduction to a new area of science - an extended visit to or by a scientist already experienced in the particular field. However, the book should be praised for adopting a methods approach, which distinguishes it from the increasing number of similarly formatted multi-chapter texts which purport to give a grounding in fundamental and applied biosensing. In summary, the book achieves its goal with moderate success but probably overestimates the breadth of audience that will find the book useful. This is a book to order after having flipped through a copy, rather than on the basis of its title and promotional cover material alone. David Fraser | ||