Otosclerosis: Genetics and Surgical Rehabilitation

Dr. Donald Cheek has been interested in body growth and composition for many years and in 1968 published Human Growth. To gain information specifically about fetal growth and immediate postnatal growth Dr. Cheek turned to a primate, Macaca mulatta. A series of extensive and rigorous investigations on prenatal growth, especially of the brain, has been performed by Dr. Cheek and his many collaborators. This book presents the results of those investigations, and discusses them in the context of our current knowledge of prenatal growth in humans and in other species which have been utilized for investigations. The information in the book is very well organized and many of the individual chapters present a most readable combination of experimental data and placement of the data in the broader context of our current understanding of the question being investigated. The section of the book concerned with brain growth is outstanding, and Dr. Cheek's review (in Chapter 6) of studies relating nutritional restriction and brain growth concisely summarizes a most complicated area. The major value of this book for the biomedical community is the enormous amount of data concerning the model Macaca mulatta. There is little doubt that the primate will increasingly become a resource for investigations in the area of prenatal growth, natal adaptation, and postnatal development. Dr. Cheek has not only broken the ground in establishing normative information, but has already made significant contributions regarding specific questions, such as the effects of certain hormones on fetal growth and the effect of nutrition on fetal growth. This book most lucidly compiles previously published information concerning prenatal development in a primate model. It will serve as a valuable reference for investigators interested in prenatal growth and development for many years. DONALD L. SHAPIRO Departments of Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynecology Yale University School of Medicine