Instant notes in plant biology, 2nd edn. * Lack A, Evans D. 2005. * Oxford: Taylor and Francis. {pound}18.99 (paperback). 351 pp.

The ‘InstantNotes’ series from Bios will probably be familiar to manyreaders. The series' success is evident in the second editionsthat are appearing, e.g. the current volume—albeit nowunder the Taylor and Francis label. Content This book does what it says on the label; it provides noteson (probably) all of the topics within the compass of present-day‘plant biology’. Primarily, it deals with anatomy,growth and development, physiology, reproduction, and economicuses and ecology of flowering plants (angiosperms). However,it does cover other phyla of the Kingdom Plantae (principallyin two ‘taxonomy/evolution’ sections), and algae(along     

Molecular ecotoxicology of plants. Ecological Studies Vol. 170. * Sandermann H. ed. 2004. * Berlin: Springer. $89{middle dot}95 (hard cover). 241 pp.

Googling the term‘molecular ecotoxicology’ results in less than 1000hits compared to more than 8·5 million for ‘moleculargenetics’. Hence, we are dealing with a rather new orless well-defined and less propagated field of science. Springer'sbook Molecular ecotoxicology of plants edited by H. Sandermannmay therefore fill a gap and it is unique in focusing on plants.A first introductory chapter sets the stage and tries to definethe term for a broad     

The plant cytoskeleton in cell differentiation and development. Annual Plant Reviews, volume 10. * Hussey PJ, ed. 2004. * Oxford: Blackwell Publishing/Boca Raton: CRC Press. * {pound}99{middle dot}50 (hardback). 325 pp

Over 40 years ago, in what is surelyone of the most famous ‘throw-away lines’ in botany,Ledbetter and Porter (1963) suggested that the similar orientationsof cytoplasmic microtubules and structures considered to becellulose microfibrils in the cell wall was not coincidental.This notion led almost single-handedly to the present and enduringinterest amongst certain plant cell biologists in understandingthe role of microtubules in wall formation. And as a resultof this intense interest in such matters, it has become clearthat microtubules are not only ‘just one’ componentamongst an ever-expanding array of     

Intercellular communication in plants. Annual Plant Reviews Vol 16 * Fleming AJ. (ed). 2005. Oxford/Boca Raton: Blackwell Publishing/CRC Press. {pound}105.00 (hardback). 280 pp

Volume 16 of the Annual Plant Reviews series, compiled by AndrewJ. Fleming, focuses on intercellular communication in plants.This is an extremely interesting book that extensively coversten topics related to cell–cell or long-distance communicationin plants. The chapters are written in a clear style and theycompile the most relevant and up-to-date information in a mannerunderstandable for anybody seriously interested in short- andlong-distance intercellular communication. Moreover, besidesblack-and white illustrations and photographs found in all chapters,there are also six separate colour plates. I highly recommendthis book     

An introduction to plant structure and development * Beck CB. 2005. * Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. {pound}30.00 (hardback). 464 pp.

This book has beenwritten primarily as a text for a senior plant anatomy course.The initial phrase ‘An introduction to’ is somewhatmisleading as a student would need to have some elementary knowledgeof botany as well as cell structure and physiology to followthe information and the ideas without difficulty. The authordoes     

Plant ecology. * Schulze ED, Beck E, Muller-Hohenstein K. 2005. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer. $89{middle dot}95 (hardback). 702 pp.

This book (a translation fromSchulze et al., 2002) is one of the most comprehensive textbooksof plant ecology so far. The authors aim to ‘for the firsttime bring together and clearly organize the large subdisciplinesof plant ecology’ and, to a large extent they have succeeded.The book is well written, and its more than 500 illustrationsare beautifully laid out and well chosen to help the readerunderstand the theory. It is clearly suitable not only     

Plant nutritional genomics * Broadley MR, White PJ. eds. 2005. * Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. {pound}115 (hardback). 321 pp.

Plant nutritionis ultimately an applied subject that seeks to understand theprocesses and mechanisms that underpin the uptake, assimilationand internal redistribution of nutrients by plants and thento use this information to improve the yield or quality of harvestedplant parts, be they grains, storage roots or leafy vegetables.The subject now also encompasses the understanding of the responsesof plants to nutrient toxicities (e.g. salinity) as well asnew topics such as metal ‘hyperaccumulation’ and     

Plant biotechnology: the genetic manipulation of plants. * Slater A, Scott N, Fowler M. 2003 Oxford: Oxford University Press. {pound}19.99 (softback). 346 pp.

Few areas of science have progressed as rapidly, or have hadsuch an impact on public consciousness and governments, as recentadvances in plant biotechnology. These exciting scientific discoveriesand their increasing application are continuing to generateconsiderable economic, social and ethical considerations. Particularconcerns have been expressed, however, about potential ‘foodsafety’ and ‘environmental impact’ implications,in particular, of this ‘revolution in biology’ inagriculture and the food     

The ecology of seeds. * Fenner M, Thompson K. 2005. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {pound}26 (softback) {pound}55 (hardback) 260 pp.

This volume is a timely updateand considerable expansion of the small book Seed Ecology, publishedby the first author twenty years ago, and long out of print. Is it useful to separate a particular branch of study such as‘seed ecology’ from the wider field of plant ecology?Aren't seeds just a particular packaged form of the sporophyte,at a certain stage in its life cycle? While some may ask thosequestions, a major strength of this book is the care that theauthors take throughout to set their review in the context ofcurrent ecological     

Plant-pollinator interactions: from specialization to generalization * Waser NM, Ollerton J. eds. 2006. * Chicago: Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. $45 (paperback). 488 pp.

Highly specializedpollination systems, such as figs and their wasp or orchidsthat deceive bees in trying to make them mate with their floralorgans, are intuitively appealing to most people and have, therefore,gained far more attention both in popular and scientific literaturethan the more generalized pollination systems. For a long timethe dominant view was that many, or perhaps even most, plant–pollinatorinteractions were specialized. In 1996 Waser and his colleaguestried to stir things up by writing an article in which theyargued that, in contrast to common belief, generalization waswidespread in plant–pollinator systems. Ten     

Plant-Pathogen Interactions. Annual Plant Reviews Vol. 11 * Talbot NC. ed. 2004. * Oxford/Boca Raton: Blackwell Publishing/CRS Press {pound}89{middle dot}50 (hardback). 248 pp.

This book is the 11th volume inthe series ‘Annual Plant Reviews’, which is dedicatedto summarizing the most recent achievements in specific fieldsof plant biology. The volume comprises nine different thematicchapters, each written by distinguished experts     

Margaret Mee's Amazon. Diaries of an artist explorer. * Margaret Mee. 2003. * Woodbridge Suffolk, UK: Antique Collectors' Club. * {pound}29{middle dot}50 (hardback). 320 pp, 400 colour illustrations

‘Delight’ said CharlesDarwin in his diaries in 1832, ‘is a weak term to expressthe feelings of a naturalist who, for the first time, has wanderedby himself in a Brazilian forest’. These feelings musthave been those which drove Margaret Mee to explore the Brazilianjungles on numerous expeditions between 1958 and 1964, creatingwonderful pictures despite all kinds of difficulties encounteredin this hostile world. And these feelings were also those Ihad when I read this book: delight about her precise drawingsand life-like paintings, which are extremely expressive from     

Vascular organization of angiosperms. A new vision * Andre J.-P. 2005. Enfield, New Hampshire: Science Publishers, Inc. $59.50 (hardback), $39.0 (paperback). 140 pp.

The technique ofmicrocasting to unravel certain aspects of the three-dimensionalanatomy of animals (especially man) and plants goes back a longtime, but it is only recently that it has been perfected intoa fine art and a useful operational tool in plant anatomy, moreor less simultaneously by Jean-Pierre André in Franceand by Tomoyuki Fujii and co-workers in     

New frontiers in bryology - physiology, molecular biology and functional genomics. * Wood AJ, Oliver MJ, Cove DJ, eds. 2004. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. {pound}63 (hardback). 203 pp.

This book is a collection of papersfrom the major researchers involved in physiological, molecularand genomic research on bryophytes, mainly, although not exclusively,using the moss Physcomitrella patens. This is a growing areaof research and the book aims to provide ‘... a synopsisof the outstanding basic research being conducted using mossesas a model multi-cellular eukaryote’. Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) are an importantand often neglected group     

Ethics for life scientists. * Korthals M, Bogers RJ. eds. 2005. * Berlin: Springer. $59{middle dot}95 (paperback). 236 pp.

The motivationfor producing this book is summed up in its last chapter byone of the editors: ‘Life sciences concentrate on lifeand death; this simple statement stands for most of the urgentethical problems these sciences are confronted with ... Thelife sciences cannot escape from ethical issues, controversies,dilemmas even ... In this collection of papers we have intensivelydiscussed the new and often uncertain aspects of     

Reply to Horizons Article 'Castles built on sand: dysfunctionality in plankton models and the inadequacy of dialogue between biologists and modellers' Flynn (2005). Shiny mathematical castles built on grey biological sands

Two discussion papers (Harte, 2002; Flynn, 2005) give me theopportunity to debate two common views about biology: (i) biologyis a grey science and (ii) biologists only look for complexity,not large unifying theories (that can be used in models).

1. Biology is not a grey science—all you need to know abouthow an organism works, what it does and even how it got to behere today are written inside the organism in a very precisedigital code called DNA (and we are learning to read it). Thereare two reasons why biology is usually considered as a greyscience. There is one that exact science practitioners tendto accept: that the expression of the instructions is flexiblein relation to the physical environment, phenotypic plasticity.The other is one that modellers tend     

The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Handbook in Mongolia: A Cluster-Randomized,Controlled Trial

Objective

To assess the effectiveness of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) handbook in Mongolia to increase antenatal clinic attendance, and to enhance health-seeking behaviors and other health outcomes.

Methods

A cluster randomized trial was conducted using the translated MCH handbook in Bulgan, Mongolia to assess its effectiveness in promoting antenatal care attendance. Pregnant women were recruited from 18 randomly allocated districts using shuffled, sealed envelopes. The handbook was implemented immediately for women at their first antenatal visit in the intervention group, and nine months later in the control group. The primary outcome was the number of antenatal care visits of all women residing in the selected districts. Cluster effects were adjusted for using generalized estimation equation. Masking was not possible among care providers, pregnant women and assessors.

Findings

Nine districts were allocated to the intervention group and the remainder to the control group. The intervention group (253 women) attended antenatal clinics on average 6•9 times, while the control group (248 women) attended 6•2 times. Socioeconomic status affected the frequency of clinic attendance: women of higher socioeconomic status visited antenatal clinics more often. Pregnancy complications were more likely to be detected among women using the handbook.

Conclusion

The MCH handbook promotes continuous care and showed an increase in antenatal visits among the intervention group. The intervention will help to identify maternal morbidities during pregnancy and promote health-seeking behaviors.

Trial Registration

UMIN Clinical Trial Registry UMIN000001748     

Advances in pectin and pectinase research. * Voragen F, Schols H and Visser R. eds. 2003. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. {euro}145 (hardback). 491 pp.

Two indisputable features distinguish plants from animals –one is the chloroplast, the other the cell wall. This volumeis directed to the newest information we have on the cell wall,the major polysaccharide component, pectin, and the ways thatpectins can be changed. A summary of 36 papers presented at the Second InternationalSymposium on Pectins and Pectinases (2001), this book describesaspects of synthesis, chemical constitution, properties andimmunological identification of pectins with the molecular genetics,structure and function     

The Biogeochemistry of Submerged Soils. * Kirk, G. 2004. * Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. {pound}100 (hardcover). 304 pp.

One can learn a lot about thegeochemistry of submerged soils in this book by Kirk. However,it is not, as the title implies, focused on the biogeochemistryof all submerged soils. In Chapter 1 Kirk gives a very briefoverview