Book Review – Euretina Brief

Book Review: The Language of Medicine, 13th Edition, by Davi-Ellen Chabner, ISBN # 9780443107795 (Elsevier)

Dr. Gearóid Tuohy — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 17:37:34 +0000

“The Language of Medicine” (13^th edition, Elsevier), by Davi-Ellen Chabner, presents a new edition of a medical textbook designed to allow students to learn medical terminology and biology required to work in multiple healthcare fields. Given the broad membership of EURETINA, medical students and experts alike may provide a valuable resource across the multinational backgrounds of our members in the field. Elsevier’s author provides exhaustive terms and complex medical processes to understand at many learning levels “with an approach that explains terms in the context of anatomy and physiology, as well as how the body works in health and disease”. The textbook is organized by twenty (20) chapters from head to toe with additional key areas of healthcare, such as cancer and psychiatry, and accompanied by full-colour illustrations, exercises, and supplemental resources aimed to reinforce the student’s comprehension establishing a practical foundation for working in multiple fields of healthcare.

The textbook has now provided a 13^th edition with a clear and straightforward approach to understand without any previous medical or scientific background. Real-life applications of terminology are provided and each chapter breaks down terms phonetically to support students to master proper pronunciations. Medical report exercises in each chapter utilize chart notes, histories, and reports to give students exercises to practice working with realistic documents. In addition, the textbook provides a companion CD to identify terms by their pronunciation and how to review terms through games, study tips, photographs, video clips, and animations. An Elsevier website (“Evolve”, https://evolve.elsevier.com) enables how to assess and understand with quizzes for each chapter to identify specific areas for review.

The textbook is well structured throughout, covering from basic word structures and language and running through each body system – digestion, reproduction, cardiovascular, respiratory, musculoskeletal, vision and further on oncology, radiology, nuclear medicine, pharmacology and psychiatry. There is an additional four comprehensive appendices on plurals, abbreviations, acronyms, and eponyms; normal hematologic reference values and implications of abnormal results and, finally, a compendium of drugs. Finally, there is a “mini-dictionary” and a glossary, included in the textbook, with the definitions and phonetic pronunciation

English, Book ISBN: 9780443107795; page xxi to 1,072 pages (incl. 521 illustrations). Copyright year: 2025; Book format: 216w (mm) x 276h (mm); Publication Date 08-02-2024

Kanski’s Clinical Ophthalmology – A Systematic Approach, 10th edition, by John F. Salmon (Elsevier)

Dr. Gearóid Tuohy — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 08:50:55 +0000

Kanski’s Clinical Ophthalmology – A Systematic Approach, 10th edition, by John F. Salmon (Elsevier)

The 10^th edition of Kanski’s Clinical Ophthalmology is a comprehensive medical text on general ophthalmology and optometric practice. The author’s objective was to cover the entire field of ophthalmology “without depending on sub-specialists”, instead, presenting a core of clinical knowledge repository in “a systematic and succinct form”. This is achieved with 22 comprehensive chapters spanning almost 1,000 pages of in-depth information, including over 2,800 illustrations and images. The book is a well-presented and laid out content of subject matter, acting as rigorous refence text. There is no bibliography available in the book.

The author is John F. Salmon, MD, FRCS, FRCOphth, Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon, Oxford Eye Hospital, Oxford, UK and a Specialist Ophthalmologist at Groote Schuur Hospital for nine years. During this period, he received a doctorate on the subject of primary angle-closure glaucoma. He was then appointed to the position of Consultant Ophthalmologist to the Oxford Eye Hospital where he directed glaucoma services for 25 years. He is actively involved in teaching and in 2013 received an “Excellent Teacher” award from the University of Oxford. He has trained 25 Fellows in glaucoma, and has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and seven book chapters.

Elsevier’s new edition have stated that, “Dr. Kanski’s highly effective format of succinct text and visually dynamic presentation” provides students, trainees and experienced practitioners. “Extremely well organized and comprehensive in scope, it provides authoritative, focused guidance on diagnosis and management, facilitating quick comprehension to enhance learning, aid exam preparation, and guide clinical practice.”

Key Features in the new 10^th edition show:

targeted text, bulleted lists, tables and visual aids to highlight salient points across all ophthalmology subspecialties.
features more than 2,800 high-quality illustrations, including over 2,000 images depicting both common and rare conditions, with arrows to show the exact pathology.
includes the latest developments in cataract and refractive surgery, glaucoma, diabetes, macular degeneration, retinal vascular disease, pachychoroid disease, posterior uveitis, inflammatory eye disease, multiple sclerosis, thyroid eye disease, tumors, immunotherapy and genetics.
contains new, detailed illustrations of eye anatomy; improved case examples; and expanded sections on headache, seventh nerve palsy, cerebral visual impairment and Parkinson disease.
uses state-of-the-art imaging modalities such as OCT, OCT-A, fundus autofluorescence and ICG angiography to demonstrate subtle choroidal and retinal pathology.
offers detailed coverage of rare conditions: monkey pox infection, COVID conjunctivitis, silent sinus syndrome, torpedo maculopathy, CRB-1 associated retinal dystrophy, sagging eye syndrome and SLE scleritis.
an eBook version is included with purchase allowing the reader to access all of the text, figures, and references, with the ability to search, customize your content, make notes and highlights, and have content read aloud.

English, Hardback ISBN: 9780443110993; page (xii) to 968 pages. Copyright year: 2025; Book format: 216w (mm) x 276h (mm); Publication Date 22 Jul 2024

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Book Review of Low Vision-Principles and Management, 1st edition (Elsevier); by Christine Dickinson, Ana Hernandez Trillo and Michael Crossland

Dr. Gearóid Tuohy — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 16:17:15 +0000

According to the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, the term of “low vision” is not defined in UK legislation however, the UK Low Vision Services Consensus Group⁽¹⁾ has adopted a definition of the term as: “a person with low vision is one who has an impairment of visual function for whom full remediation is not possible by conventional spectacles, contact lenses or medical intervention and which causes restriction in that person’s everyday life”. In addition, the WHO defines low vision as being visual acuity (VA) that, “is less (worse) than 6/18 in the better eye or visual fields are less than 20 degrees in diameter. After treatment or with refractive correction, vision cannot be corrected to ‘normal’”⁽²⁾⁽³⁾. Regardless, distance visual acuity may be a poor predictor of mobility, face recognition or unfamiliar activities or tasks and therefore there is a continuing search for a simple clinical test of visual impairment for a practical and accurate prediction outcome for use by the optometrist, clinician or researcher. The current book on Low Vision-Principles and Management, (1^st edition), provides a valuable resource to navigate the field for low vision patients including testing, diagnoses, management and treatment for those either new to the field, or for experienced researchers to update the tools, principles and practices in vision impairment.

The book, edited by Christine Dickinson, Ana Hernandez Trillo and Michael Crossland, based at the University of Manchester and Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, covers 5 sections comprising a total of 23 chapters and 4 appendices. The sections include the description and analysis on a definition of low vision, magnification for improving visual performance, visual rehabilitation, clinical procedures and several resources for patients, patient organisations, clinical history record keeping, literature, magnification tools, social services and more. The text comprise theory, practice and case studies and the final section on Clinical Procedures ranges from everything on scheduling the appointment, the visual assessment, follow-up, prescribing, magnifier selection, spectacle correction, trial in the “real-world”, evaluation and audit, defining success and a selection of case studies and additional commentaries. The comprehensive resource provides a practical and clear approach with practising eye care “professionals and students fully up to date with current optical and electronic devices and how they are used in everyday practice”.

Finally, the publisher (Elsevier) are commended to include a “read aloud” initiative in the electronic copy of the book for those who may wish to listen parts of the material and/or follow the reading and listening, combined. While some of the diction may be difficult to hear the sounds and intonation of the speech with different audiences, it is nonetheless a significant addition to the offering that will likely iterate the e-resources in due course.

English, Paperback ISBN: 9780323876346; eBook ISBN: 9780323876353; page (iii) to 331 pages. Copyright year: 2024; Book format: 216w (mm) x 276h (mm); ISBN# 9780323876346.

Author Information: By Christine Dickinson, BSc PhD FCOptom PGCertHE, Professor of Clinical Optometry and Lead for Undergraduate Masters, Division of Pharmacy and Optometry, Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; Ana Hernandez Trillo, BSc MSc PhD PGDipMEd SFHEA, Senior Lecturer in Optometry, Division of Pharmacy and Optometry, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK and Michael Crossland, Senior Research Fellow, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, University College of London and Specialist Optometrist, Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.

(1) Low Vision Services Consensus Group. Low Vision Services: Recommendations for future service delivery in the UK. London: The Royal National Institute for the Blind, 1999.

(2) Assessment of low vision in developing countries, WHO/PBL/95.48.

(3) Low vision, Chapter 21 (Vision in context), Oxford Handbook of Ophthalmology, 2^nd edition, Alastair K.O. Dennison & Philip I. Murray

Gearóid Tuohy B.Sc., Ph.D. (Genetics), M.Sc. (Clinical Trials & Statistics).
Director, Clinical Trials Research

Book Review of Thompson & Thompson’s Genetics and Genomics in Medicine, 9th edition (Elsevier).

Dr. Gearóid Tuohy — Mon, 27 May 2024 07:59:25 +0000

The expansion on the field of genetics and genomics is reflective to the changes of the average 6.4 years between each of the nine editions of this book, since its inception in 1966. The new revised Thompson & Thompson’s Genetics and Genomics in Medicine, 9^th edition, published by Elsevier, presents an invaluable textbook on the subject of genetics and genomics in medicine, aimed to “any medical genetic counselling student, advanced undergraduate, graduate student in genetics or genomics, resident in any field of clinical medicine, practicing physician, or allied medical professional in nursing or physical therapy”, presenting “the fundamentals of human genetics and genomics as applied to health and disease”.

This 9^th new edition of the book is now expected to support a wider audience of students and practitioners alike, having done so admirably for almost 60 years. The book provides an excellent balance of theory and practice, allowing both the novice or the more experienced student, to learn and understand the concepts, acquire new knowledge, gain insight into the mechanics of molecular biology and the practical applications of genetics on human disease. The practical applications, as outlined through “Clinical Cases” in this book, 49 in total, accommodates almost head to toe, from vision (Age-Related Macular Degeneration) to muscle wasting (Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease) and beyond.

The text covers 20 chapters, including a new chapter from a previous edition on Principles of Clinical Epigenetics, from an earlier edition. The chapters range from an Introduction to the Human Genome, chapters on structure and function, diversity and variation, Principles of Clinical Cytogenetics and Genome Analysis, Complex Inheritance of Common Multifactorial Disorders, chapters on population genetics, and the genetic basis for disease and inborn errors of metabolism, The Treatment of Genetic Disease and Genetic Counselling and Risk Assessment, and a chapter on Application of Genomics to Medicine and Individualized Health, and finally, Ethical and Social Issues in Genetics and Genomics. Throughout the text, this edition provides beautiful illustrations for the explanatory content, including an excellent contribution of photographs and images from the Positive Exposureorganization (https://positiveexposure.org), a not-for-profit initiative collating a large portfolio of content from patient and family volunteers. The book includes almost 600 pages, comprising 543 illustrations in full colour, and a section on Problems proposed at the end of each chapter with Answers to Problems at the end of the book. In addition, this 9^th edition includes a digital e-book copy, easily accessed through http://ebooks.health.elsevier.com, with a code in the inside cover, and with additional features at the end of the back cover of the book

The new editors of the book, Ronald Cohn, Stephen Scherer and Ada Hamosh, has also summarised new content from previous editions, including:

(1) moving from the study of genes to genomes in biology and testing;

(2) increasing awareness of copy number and structural genomic variation in both the population and medical genomic context;

(3) novel discoveries and application of the functional roles of non-coding RNAs, chromatin-regulation and epigenetics, and how their dysregulation can affect gene expression in disease;

(4) genetic variation in world-wide populations;

(5) latest technologies (e.g., genome sequencing) and statistical/informatics approaches, such as polygenic risk scores, used to resolve and interpret them, and;

(6) the many new genetic diagnoses arising from application of these new principles and technologies (for example, genomic syndromes and ciliopathies).

Each chapter is overseen by a significant cadre of contributing authors working at the frontier of their field. As a result, readers may expect to continue their education with Genetics and Genomics in Medicine as a “go to” reference for this foundational text for any new students, academics or professionals.

Copyright year: 2024; Book format: 216 width (mm) x 276 height (mm); ISBN# 9780323547628; Contributors #31.

Gearóid Tuohy B.Sc., Ph.D. (Genetics), M.Sc. (Clinical Trials & Statistics).
Director, Clinical Trials Research