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 Medical Science Books Medical Book Review Too Little Too Late / Feast or Famine New Generation Vaccines is a 3rd Edition of a compendium of review articles that stretches from the historical underpinnings of vaccinations through new developments in vaccines against bioterror agents. The book is over 1000 pages and organized in 90 chapters. The chapters are divided with subheadings, which makes the mammoth amount of material easier to index and find the particular areas of interest. In terms of completeness, few monographs on this topic are as complete as this, or as broadly based as this tome. The topics that are covered are relevant to vaccinology and include some arcane areas with respect to regulatory issues that are not easily found in the standard scientific literature. More traditional scientific reviews are also presented covering each of the pathogens that afflict man or beast including viruses, bacteria, cancer, and even Alzheimer’s disease. The authors of the individual chapters are leaders in their respective fields in many cases, which does give the tome an authoritative look. Why, then, does this book fail to deliver as an authoritative text for vaccinologists in 2004? The authors of the individual chapters have earnestly described their chosen field, and in many cases, the descriptions are informative as of the beginning of the 21st century. Unfortunately, delays in publication have resulted in this book being very much dated and of minimal use to today’s vaccinologists who require the most up to date information. Although, not every monograph needs to duplicate the immediacy of a journal, still, one might expect that the lack of immediacy might be compensated by definitive chapters that examine a topic in depth. In this case, we have both feast and famine. There is a plethora of topics; yet, most are not explored with the required depth that is needed for an authoritative understanding. This can be illustrated by a superficial perusal of the table of contents. It is obvious that important topics such as vaccines against EBV, poxviruses, malaria and other examples are only minimally described without the depth that would be necessary for a true scholarly treatise. Compounding the problem is the poor quality of the illustrations in every chapter. Illustrations either resemble poor quality reproductions from the distant past, or they are printed with obscuring fill in boxes, making the information hard to read. Illustrations are generally an advantage, but in this case they reduce the quality of the text. This deficiency detracts from the usefulness of the text, since the information that is transmitted in the illustrations is not easily processed or understood. Other deficiencies characterize this monograph that are specific to individual chapters. It is not obvious that an editor carefully read the chapters in allied areas as exemplified by duplication of information in chapters 11 and 12. In some cases the information seems verbatim to be reproduced in both of these chapters. Other deficiencies include the overview chapters, which because they are out of date and have poor quality illustration are of little use to the modern scientist or clinician. One prime example is chapter 14 that represents itself as a review of modern concepts in immunology. The breadth of topics that such a review needs to account would require over 100 pages, so that individual topics could be adequately described. This chapter is 20 pages, and it is not as in depth as would be needed to be a valued reference. This chapter avoided figures, which may have been a good idea because of the poor quality of the reproduction. Nonetheless, the concepts would have benefited from well-designed illustrations. Other examples in overview sections include chapter 15, which summarizes computer-based approaches. Although this topic has high degree of relevance for vaccinologists, because it is out of date and the main topics have been reviewed in other recent monographs, its impact is minimal. Unfortunately, the theme of under-development of topics can be found throughout the tome. Hence, the alternative title to this review, “Too Little, Too Late.” The audiences that will be attracted to the concepts that this monograph is aiming to cover are mainly clinicians and translational researchers who are involved in development of vaccines. The breadth of topics makes it an encyclopedia of information that would be useful from time-time to the working vaccinologist. Unfortunately, regulatory statutes change and scientific discoveries quickly date material that is current as of 2001 and 2002. It is possible that a restructured version of this monograph, in which sections are developed independently and are expanded greatly would make the book more useful to workers in the field. The publishers and editors are commended for their vision to cover the whole field in a single text, but the outcome is not as satisfactory as we had hoped when beginning to read this massive volume. There is a feast of topics and subjects that is of dizzying breadth, but when the interested reader focuses on an individual topic, the deficiencies of such a broadly based text become obvious. In summary, the lofty goals of this tome are of value and should be reconsidered in any new edition. The publisher and editors need to adhere to a strict publication schedule, so that the material that the authors, in some cases painstakingly assembled, do not become so outdated that its usefulness for workers in the field is minimal. In the scientific and medical enterprise, timeliness is always a virtue, and being late is not an option. Although the problems of this monograph reach further than mere timeliness, many of the other issues might have been overlooked if the information were up to date so that it would provide useful and current information for today’s vaccinologist.
Ratings:(1-4, 4 being the Highest) Organization of information: 2 Usefulness of book: 2 Suitable for intended audience: 1 Author’s objectives met: 1 Sufficient number of Figures/ illustrations: 1 Quality of Figures/ illustrations: 1
Table of Contents: Part One: Introduction to Vaccinology Chapter 1. Vaccines and Vaccination in Historical Perspective Chapter 2. An Overview of Biotechnology in Vaccine Development Chapter 3. Initial Clinical Evaluation of New Vaccine Candidates: Investigators' Perspective of Phase I and II Clinical Trials of Safety, Immunogenecity, and Preliminary Efficacy Chapter 4. Long-Term Evaluation of Vaccine Protection: Methodological Issues for Phase III and IV Studies Chapter 5. Ethical Considerations in the Conduct of Vaccine Trials in Developing Countries Chapter 6. Vaccine Economics: From Candidates to Commercialized Products in the Developing World Chapter 7. Development and Supply of Vaccines: An Industry Perspective Chapter 8. Reaching Every Child--Acheiving Equity in Global Immunization Chapter 9. A Paradigm for International Cooperation: The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and the Vaccine Fund Chapter 10. Economic Analyses of Vaccines and Vaccinations Programs Part Two: Regulatory Issues Chapter 11. The Role of the Food and Drug Administration in Vaccine Testing and Licensure Chapter 12. Developing Safe Vaccines Part Three: Eradication and Elimination Programs Chapter 13. Polio Eradication: Capturing the Full Potential of a Vaccine Part Four: Basic Immunology Applied to Vaccine Development Chapter 14. Recent Advances in Immunology that Impact Vaccine Development Chapter 15. High-Throughput Informatics and In Vitro Assays for T-Cell Epitope Determination: Application to the Design of Epitope-Driven Vaccines Chapter 16. The Challenge of Inducing Protection in Very Young Infants Chapter 17. Vaccination and Autoimmunity Part Five: Adjuvants, Immunopotentiation, and Nonliving Antigen Delivery Systems Chapter 18. Adjuvants for the Future Chapter 19. MF59 Adjuvant Emulsion Chpater 20. Immune-Enhancing Sequences (CpG Motifs), Cytokines, and Other Immunomodulatory Moieties Chapter 21. Use of Genetically Detoxified Mutants of Cholera and Eschericia coli Heat-Labile Enterotoxins as Mucosal Adjuvants Chapter 22. Recent Development in Vaccine Delivery Systems Chapter 23. Proteosome™ Technology for Vaccines and Adjuvants Chapter 24. Viruslike Particle (VLP) Vaccines Chapter 25. Immunostimulating Reconstituted Influenza Virosomes Chapter 26. Plants as a Production and Delivery Vehicle for Orally Delivered Subunit Vaccines Part Six: Live Vector Vaccines Chapter 27. Vaccinia Virus and Other Poxviruses as Live Vectors Chapter 28. Live Adenovirus Recombinants as Vaccine Vectors Chapter 29. RNA Virus Replicon Vaccines Chapter 30. Attenuated Salmonella and Shigella as Live Vectors Carrying Either Prokaryotic or Eukaryotic Expression Systems Part Seven: Improving DNA Vaccines Chapter 31. DNA Vaccines Chapter 32. DNA-Modified Virus Ankara and Other Heterologous Prime-Boost Immunization Strategies for Effector T Cell Induction Part Eight: Nonparenteral Delivery of Vaccines and Infant Combination Vaccines Chapter 33. Mucosal Immunization and Needle-Free Injection Devices Chapter 34. Transcutaneous Immunization Chapter 35. Combination Vaccines for Routine Infant Immunization Part Nine: New and Improved Vaccines Against Diseases for Which There Already Exist Licensed Vaccines Chapter 36. Meningococcal Conjugate and Protein-Based Vaccines Chapter 37. The Postlicensure Impact of Haemophilus influenzae Type b and Serogroup C Neisseria meningitides Conjugate Vaccines Chapter 38. Pneumococcal Protein-Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccines Chapter 39. Pneumococcal Common Proteins and Other Vacccine Strategies Chapter 40. Polysaccharide-Based Conjugate Vaccines for Enteric Bacterial Infections: Typhoid Fever, Nontyphoidal Salmonellosis, Shigellosis, Cholera, and Eserichia coli 0157 Chapter 41. Attenuated Strains of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi as Live Oral Vaccines Against Typhoid Fever Chapter 42. Vaccines Against Lyme Disease Chapter 43. Oral B Subunit-Killed Whole-Cell Cholera Vaccine Chapter 44. Attenuated Vibrio cholerae Strains as Live Oral Cholera Vaccines and Vectors Chapter 45. Novel Vaccines Against Tuberculosis Chapter 46. New Approaches to Influenza Vaccine Chapter 47. Chimeric Vaccines Against Japanese Encephalitis, Dengue, and West Nile Part Ten: Vaccines Against Diseases for Which Licensed Vaccines Do Not Currently Exist (or That Have Not Been Widely Used) Chapter 48. Challenges and Current Strategies in the Development of HIV/AIDS Vaccines Chapter 49. Vaccine Strategies to Prevent Dengue Fever Chapter 50. Vaccination Against the Hepatitis C Viruses Chapter 51. Live Vaccine Strategies to Prevent Rotavirus Disease Chapter 52. Vaccines Against Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Parainfluenza Virus Type 1-3 Chapter 53. Developing a Vaccine Against Epstein-Barr Virus Chapter 54. Cytomegalovirus Vaccines Chapter 55. Herpes Simplex Vaccines Chapter 56. Vaccines for Hantaviruses, Lassa Virus, and Filoviruses Chapter 57. Development of a Vaccine to Prevent Infection with Group A Streptococci and Rheumatic Fever Chapter 58. Vaccines Against Group B Streptococcus Chapter 59. Overview of Live Vaccine Strategies Against Shigella Chapter 60. Oral Inactivated Whole Cell B Subunit Combination Vaccine Against Enterotoxigenic Eschericia coli Chapter 61. Multivalent Shigella/Enterotoxigenic Eschericia coli Vaccine Chapter 62. Vaccines Against Gonococcal Infection Chapter 63. Vaccines Against Campylobacter jejuni Chapter 64. Vaccines Against Uropathogenic Eschericia coli Chapter 65. Vaccine Strategies Against Helicobacter pylori Chapter 66. Vaccines for Staphylococcus aureus Infections Chapter 67. Moraxella catarrhalis and Nontypable Haemophilus influenzae Vaccines to Prevent Otitis Media Chapter 68. Vaccines for Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydia pneumoniae Chapter 69. Overview of Vaccine Strategies Chapter 70. Adjuvanted RTS, S and Other Protein-Based Pre-Erythrocytic Stage Malaria Vaccines Chapter 71. Malaria: A Complex Disease that May Require A Complex Vaccine Chapter 72. Plasmodium falciparum Asexual Blood Stage Vaccine Candidates: Current Status Chapter 73. Malaria Transmission-Blocking Vaccines Chapter 74. Vaccines Against Leishmania Chapter 75. Vaccines Against Schistosomiasis Chapter 76. Vaccines Against Entamoeba histolytica Chapter 77. Vaccines Against Human Hookworm Disease Part Eleven: Vaccines Against Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases and Vaccine Therapy Chapter 78. Principles of Therapeutic Vaccination for Viral and Nonviral Malignancies Chapter 79. Vaccines Against Human Papillomavirus Infection Chapter 80. Active Immunization with Dendritic Cells Bearing Melanoma Antigens Chapter 81. Vaccine Against Alzheimer's Disease Chapter 82. Vaccines Against Atherosclerosis Chapter 83. Vaccine Therapy Chapter 84. Vaccination-Based Therapies in Multiple Sclerosis Chapter 85. Vaccine Therapy for Autoimmune Diabetes Chapter 86. Vaccines for the Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases Chapter 87. Vaccines to Treat Drug Addiction Part Twelve: Vaccines Against Bioterror Agents Chapter 88. Vaccines Against Agents of Bioterrorism Chapter 89. A Primer on Large-Scale Manufacture of Modern Vaccines Chapter 90. Heterogeneity of Pediatric Immunization Schedules in Industrialized Countries
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