Current status of biomedical book reviewing: Part III. Duplication patterns in biomedical book reviewing

This is the third part of a comprehensive, quantitative study of biomedical book reviewing. The data base of the total project was built from statistics of 3,347 reviews of 2,067 biomedical books appearing in all 1970 issues of fifty-four reviewing journals. This part of the study explores the duplication patterns in book reviewing among these media. It is found that 35.17% (727 books) of the 2,067 titles were reviewed more than once in 1970, these titles accounting for 2,007 of the total of 3,347 reviews. For the most part, reviews of the most frequently reviewed titles appeared in such journals as British Medical Journal, Annals of Internal Medicine, Lancet, Journal of the American Medical Association, and New England Journal of Medicine. These five journals covered 93.53% of the 727 books reviewed more than once in 1970.

Current status of biomedical book reviewing: Part V. Most frequently reviewed biomedical books in 1970

This final part in a series of five articles on biomedical book reviewing consists of a list of 145 biomedical monographs which were reviewed four or more times in the year 1970.

Current status of biomedical book reviewing: Part IV. Major American and British biomedical book publishers

This is the fourth part of a comprehensive, quantitative study of biomedical book reviews. The data base of the total project was built from statistics of 3,347 reviews of 2,067 biomedical books taken from all 1970 issues of fifty-four reviewing journals. This part of the study identifies the major American and British biomedical book publishers in terms of their quantitative production of book titles reviewed, and determines the relationships among these publishers. It is found that Williams & Wilkins, Charles C Thomas, Academic Press, and Springer Verlag are the most productive biomedical book publishers in terms of books reviewed in 1970. These four publishers accounted for 32% of the 1,674 books available in the United States and reviewed in the reviewing media in 1970. Williams & Wilkins is especially significant by virtue of reprint activity. The present study also explores the price trend of biomedical books. It is found that the mean price for 1,077 books studied was $16.20 per volume, with a standard deviation of $9.42.

Coronary hemodynamics and regional myocardial metabolism in experimental aortic insufficiency

Acute aortic valvular insufficiency was induced in open chest dogs by employing a special intravascular cannula, or by rupturing an aortic valve leaflet. Phasic and mean coronary flow were assessed in some animals, while in others data were obtained on arterial and coronary sinus blood lactate, pyruvate, P(O2), P(CO2), and pH, and on myocardial tissue lactate, pyruvate, and water content in the outer and inner halves of the free wall of the left ventricle. Results showed that in acute aortic insufficiency diastolic coronary flow decreased as a function of aortic diastolic pressure, but systolic coronary flow increased in such proportion that mean coronary flow did not decrease. With moderate reductions in aortic diastolic pressure due to aortic insufficiency, myocardial blood flow was judged to be nutritionally adequate in both the outer and inner regions of the left ventricle. With more severe reductions in aortic diastolic pressure, the inner region exihibited biochemical signs of anaerobic metabolism. The presence of these metabolic changes could be correlated with either of two previously described pressure indexes. These findings suggest that the reduced coronary perfusion pressure and the intramyocardial tissue pressure gradient can be compensated for by autoregulation in some cases of aortic insufficiency, but in others such compensation may be incomplete, in which case oxygen delivery to the subendocardium will be inadequate to meet local tissue oxygen needs.

Current status of biomedical book reviewing. II. Time lag in biomedical book reviewing

This part of the study explores the effectiveness of the review media in terms of speed of reviewing, comprehensiveness of review treatment, and authority. The time lags for the fifty-four journals varied widely, the mean ranging from 5.8 months to forty-two months. The time lags for all 3,347 reviews varied even more widely, ranging from less than a month to 108 months after a book was off the press. The 3,347 reviews had a mean time lag of 10.43 months and a standard deviation of 6.63 months.

Current status of biomedical book reviewing. I. Key biomedical reviewing journals with quantitative significance

This is the first part of a comprehensive, quantitative study of biomedical book reviewing. The data base of the total project was built from statistics taken from all 1970 issues of biomedical journals held in the Science Library of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Of 285 so-called "life sciences" journals held by that library, fifty-four English journals (excluding Science and Nature) were found to contain bona fide book reviews (as contrasted with mere author-title lists) and were therefore selected for close study. The statistical results reveal that there were 3,347 reviews of 2,067 biomedical books in these fifty-four selected journals in 1970. Part I of the study identifies key biomedical reviewing journals of quantitative significance. The top ten journals, British Medical Journal, Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Archives of Internal Medicine, New England Journal of Medicine, Quarterly Review of Biology, Bioscience, Canadian Medical Association Journal,(*) and American Journal of the Medical Sciences, accounted for 63.03% of the total number of reviews in 1970.

Trends in biophysical research and their implications for medical libraries

This is a statistical survey of the trends in biophysical research as reflected by papers presented at four Biophysical Society (BPS) annual meetings between 1958 and 1972 and by the funding sources of the reported projects. The study reveals that biophysical research has grown quite substantially, particularly since 1968. Although biophysics is truly interdisciplinary, since 1968 there has been more pronounced emphasis on biomedically oriented problems and a tendency toward more specific and more highly specialized problems. Between 1958 and 1972, most biophysicists were academic researchers, 50% of whom were biomedical scientists. Over three quarters of the ongoing biophysical research projects during this period were supported by governmental agencies, and among them, the National Institutes of Health was the largest single funding source.

Locus of divalent cation inhibition of the bactericidal action of polymyxin B

The bactericidal effect of polymyxin B upon two Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains and two Escherichia coli strains was studied as a function of the concentration of the divalent cations Ca(2+) and Mg(2+). Lipid spherules in aqueous suspension (liposomes) were prepared from the bacterial phospholipids and were examined for the release of trapped glucose induced by polymyxin B under similar conditions of divalent cation concentration. In contrast to the bacteria, which were protected markedly from the bactericidal action of polymyxin B by Ca(2+) or Mg(2+) at concentrations of 2 x 10(-3)m or less, neither cation had any protective effect on bacterial liposomes at concentrations up to 2 x 10(-2)m. These observations suggest that divalent cations antagonize the bactericidal effect of polymyxin B indirectly through interaction with the cell wall rather than at the primary membrane locus of action. The interaction of the divalent cations with the cell wall prevents access of the antibiotic to the cytoplasmic membrane by mechanisms that remain unclear.