The age of molecular biology, with rapid progress in our understanding of endocrine disorders leading to new methods for diagnosis and improvements in therapy, is all around us. The practicing endocrinologist is in need of a source of information regarding those new discoveries. This book fills that need. The expressed purpose is to review selected recent advances in molecular and cellular discoveries in pediatric endocrine diseases. The selected areas are well covered and reviewed. There is no suggested target audience, but this book will be of use to practicing pediatric endocrinologists as well as to researchers in the fields reviewed. Reviews in selected areas of endocrinology are covered, particularly those areas where recent discoveries/developments have taken place. The book begins with a review of the molecular basis of sexual differentiation, followed by review of the growth hormone axis, hypophosphatemic rickets, the role of hormones in fetal development, diabetic nephropathy, diabetes insipidus, GnRH, estrogen, thyroid cancer, mineralocorticoid action, pituitary gland development, and Type 1 diabetes, and ends with multiple pituitary hormone deficiency. Each chapter covers a new topic unrelated to the previous chapter. The editors and contributors are well-recognized authorities in the fields of molecular biology and pediatric endocrinology. In my opinion, the book is well written. It is a good resource for new development in the field and there is no alternative available that contains similar information. This is also its downside, as the material will get old fast due to rapid new developments, necessitating frequent updates.
In 17 chapters, 25 predominantly U.S. contributors overview the most rapidly developing areas of advances in molecular genetics and their applications to the study, diagnosis, and treatment of pediatric endocrine disorders. The first seven chapters focus on the regulation of growth and the growth hormone/prolactin/placental lactogen gene family. Steroid hormones, sexual development, and mineralocortoid action are discussed in the next five chapters (including a review of the first human case of estrogen receptor defects.) The pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus is the subject of two chapters. The rest of the text treats the molecular genetics of thyroid cancer, hypophosphatemic rickets, and inherited diabetes insipidus. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Reviewer: Gad B. Kletter, MD (University of Washington School of Medicine)
Description: The age of molecular biology, with rapid progress in our understanding of endocrine disorders leading to new methods for diagnosis and improvements in therapy, is all around us. The practicing endocrinologist is in need of a source of information regarding those new discoveries. This book fills that need.
Purpose: The expressed purpose is to review selected recent advances in molecular and cellular discoveries in pediatric endocrine diseases. The selected areas are well covered and reviewed.
Audience: There is no suggested target audience, but this book will be of use to practicing pediatric endocrinologists as well as to researchers in the fields reviewed.
Features: Reviews in selected areas of endocrinology are covered, particularly those areas where recent discoveries/developments have taken place. The book begins with a review of the molecular basis of sexual differentiation, followed by review of the growth hormone axis, hypophosphatemic rickets, the role of hormones in fetal development, diabetic nephropathy, diabetes insipidus, GnRH, estrogen, thyroid cancer, mineralocorticoid action, pituitary gland development, and Type 1 diabetes, and ends with multiple pituitary hormone deficiency. Each chapter covers a new topic unrelated to the previous chapter. The editors and contributors are well-recognized authorities in the fields of molecular biology and pediatric endocrinology.
Assessment: In my opinion, the book is well written. It is a good resource for new development in the field and there is no alternative available that contains similar information. This is also its downside, as the material will get old fast due to rapid new developments, necessitating frequent updates.
". . . overview[s] the most rapidly developing areas of advances in molecular advances and their applications to the study, diagnosis, and treatment of pediatric endocrine disorders. The first seven chapters focus on the regulation of growth and the growth hormone/prolactin/placental lactogen gene family. Steroid hormones, sexual development, and mineralacortoid action are discussed in the next five chapters (including a review of the first human case of estrogen receptor defects). The pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus is the subject of two chapters. The rest of the text treats the molecular genetics of thyroid cancer, hypophosphatemic rickets, and inherited diabetes insipidus."-SciTech Book News
". . .cuts a wide and deep swath through the basic biology and pathology of the disorders [pediatric endocrinologists] deal with in the clinic every day. No matter your disease(s) of interest, its molecular/cellular basis is covered in this mutiauthored book. . . well referenced."-PedEndoGram
"A useful addition to clinical pediatric endocrinology and of interest also to geneticists."-Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism
