The distinguished authors of this work consider the endocrine and metabolic modifications occurring in the adult and paediatric burn patient, providing a clear and organic overall view. The book is a point of reference for all those wishing to understand the burn disease, which is indispensable for the proper care of the burn patient. The authors analyse the physiopathology of the disease in its various aspects and relate this to clinical practice, in a straightforward modern text. The effects that hormonal modifications may have on the noble organs, such as the lung, are significant. The description of inflammatory phenomena in burns is illuminating and precise, and in this context it is interesting to read the comments on the local mediators of in~ flammation as seen in the modern light of tissue hormones.

Lea & Febiger - Philadelphia - London.

The Management of Mass Burn Casualties and Fire Disasters

The health professions are continually developing effective techniques of burns and mass casualty management. In parallel, fire prevention and fire-fighting techniques have developed considerably in most communities. It is therefore surprising that, while aiming at the same objective, the two sectors have rarely come together. The Mediterranean Burns Club is a professional organization that brings together persons concerned with burns therapy and with fire safety in all forms. Identified by the United Nations as premier scientific body in its field within the programme of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, it initiated the first international gathering of specialists in burns as a surgical, clinical problem, and of counterparts dealing with fires as a social, disaster problem. This novel approach and symbiosis proved timely and successful. This, the resulting book, reflects the commitment of all concerned to the reduction of fire disasters and the improvement of burns therapy.

Published due December 1992 - ISBN 0-7923-8804-6 - 352 pp. - Price t 82.00, US$ 125-00, Dfl 200.00. Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Multilingual Dictionary of Disaster Medicine and International Relief, new edition, and Japanese-English Dictionary of Disaster Medicine by Dr. S.W.A. Gunn.

Judging from the many re-impressions, a new edition and an expanding field of translations, it is evident that the Gunn Dictionaries on major emergencies have become an established feature of any disaster management armamentarium. Originally conceived in response to the needs of the French government in the nonmedical field and published in that language in 1984 as Dictionnaire des Secours d'Urgence en cas de Catastrophe, the field was gradually enlarged. In 1990 the author published the first ever Multilingual Dictionary qf Disaster Medicine and International Relief which was necessitated by the growing frequency and magnitude of disasters and the increasing involvement of the international and medical communities in major health emergencies.

Appearing in English, French, Spanish and Arabic, the book had to be re-issued several times in response to continuing needs, and it has just been published in Japanese. We understand other translations are envisaged.

Japan, through its official international wing JICA, and the Japanese medical profession, through JMTDR, have now become major partners in worldwide international disaster assistance, and the recent Asia Pacific Conference on Disaster Medicine was a successful exponent of such commitment. Coinciding with this occasion the Gunn Dictionary was translated by Professors M. Aono, T. Ukai and Y~ Yamamoto into the Japanese-English Dictionary of Disaster Medicine, with an Introduction by the DirectorGeneral of the World Health Organization. The book is available from Herusu Publishing Company, 2-3 Nakano, 2-Chome, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164, Japan.

The Multilingual editon is available from Kluwer Academic Publishers, Spuiboulevard 50, PO Box 989, NL 3300 Dordrecht, Holland.