Stephen T. Holgate Knihy

Illustrated in full colour, this book should become a very useful reference in the field. The book introduces the reader to the mechanisms and principles of basic immunology and allergy before dicussing in detail the clinical presentation, treatment and prognosis of allergic diseases. The consise yet comprehensive explanatory text is accompanied by carefully chosen colour photographs and specially designed illustrations to explain clearly the concepts discussed in the text. The book should be of interest to all students and physicians of allergy.

"Allergy & Clinical Immunology International--Journal of the World Allergy Organization, Supplement 2, 2007."

Allergic diseases are complex and involve a range of environmental factors interacting with a susceptible genotype. The familial clustering of diseases, such as asthma and hay fever, has been recognised for over two centuries, but identification of the genetic basis to this had to await the molecular biological revolution. Estimates of the contribution that genetic factors make to asthma susceptibility range from 35% to 70%. For the majority of allergic diseases, segregation analysis has not identified a consistent Mendelian pattern of inheritance, which, when combined with multiple phenotypes and environmental interactions, has made identifying candidate genes especially difficult and, at times, controversial. Part of the difficulty has been lack of agreement over phenotype definitions, reduced power of studies to predict linkage and association, and, importantly, lack of true heterogeneity between populations. Despite these difficulties, the last decade has witnessed enormous progress in this field.

There are currently no other texts on the market that cover the whole spectrum of both pathophysiology and clinical management of rhinitis and asthma as comprehensively as this new volume. From disease classification the reader is taken through the epidemiology of asthma and rhinitis, to treatment of the various forms of both diseases