Counseling in Genetics

disorders, extrapyramidal diseases, changes in brain components, peripheral neuropathies, immunopathology, and neuropharmacology. However, the small, two-paper neuropharmacology "section" lies apart, as if it were an appendix overlooked by the editors' knife. This impression is furthered by the interposition of 37 abstracts between this last, impoverished section and a mediocre index. Furthermore, the usual sins of rapid offset publication are evident. Perfunctory editing (particularly of foreign manuscripts) has led to numerous "typos" and a dose of pidgin English. Finally, selected review articles and original works have been given only hazy distinction. These editorial shortcomings detract from a strong sense of purpose and suggest that this is simply an attempt at transcription. In any event this is truly, as was intended, a potpourri. Those works within the sections on demyelinating disease and extrapyramidal disease are the most cohesive, perhaps because they are the only sections authored by investigators largely from a single country. Such uneven internationalism might be expected but again subverts the reader's confidence. For example, the majority of well-known workers in extrapyramidal disorder are not Italian. Nonetheless, many worthwhile papers dot the landscape. Original contributions of note include works on the pathogenesis of demyelination, glycoproteins in Huntington's disease, phospholipids in catecholamine function, non-receptor mediated actions of glucocorticoids in brain, and brain tumor markers and therapy. Mini-reviews of substance include those on spinal cord regeneration, tardive dyskinesia, dopamine autoreceptors, the B vitamins in neurological disorder, myasthenia gravis, and iatrogenic neuropathies. The goals of this international meeting are important and were accomplished. The benefits of mixing international clinical and basic researchers are unquestioned and the hybrid investigations produced necessary. However, the pro forma documentation of such an eclectic undertaking only adds to the complexity of doing library research. Unlike the meeting, this volume, like a shotgun round, has hit its mark but scattered its shot.