Saturday, March 3, 2012

Measuring Metabolic Rates: A Manual for Scientists Review

Measuring Metabolic Rates: A Manual for Scientists
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This is an excellent how-to manual. If you have read manuals for Sable Systems products, you are familiar with John Lighton's writing style. It is very conversational and sprinkled with a certain personal style of humor. Unfortunately, the preview pages here on Amazon do not include the preface, so I will quote a particularly choice part of the first page of the preface here. It quite clearly describes who should read this book, while being an excellent example of the kind of humor throughout the book.
"I suggest that you first read this book as an idiosyncratic sort of novel, including the parts you know you'll never need, and then, with that background, return to the sections most relevant to your scientific goals. If you don't have time, it may be that you are too important to read this book and should pass it on to a factotum who will do your understanding for you. Don't feel slighted by this judgment: you may go far if it applies to you. As Villiers de l-Isle-Adam's Axel might have said, "Understand? Our servants will do that for us." The goal is for someone in the operation to understand. If you are that person, welcome: This is your book."
If this turns you off, just read P.C Wither's 2001 article "Design, calibration and calculation for flow-through respirometry systems" in the Austral. J. Zool. 49:445-461 and D. Vleck's 1987 "Measurement of O2 consumption, CO2 production, and water vapor production in a closed system" in J Appl Physiol 62:2103-2106 and go to John Lighton's webpage [...] for conversion tables and other questions. I think you'll get a much more complete and rounded understanding by reading this book, but it really doesn't have any new information. It's just a very, very clear and somewhat amusing brain dump from an expert in respirometry to any willing reader.
This book includes not just the formulas, but many permutations of them, many many different set-up diagrams and a lot of background that really makes it easier to make informed decisions about how to use the equipment you have and what equipment to buy.

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Measuring metabolic rates is central to important questions in many areas of scientific research. Unfortunately these measurements are anything but straightforward, and numerous pitfalls await the novice and even the experienced investigator.Measuring Metabolic Rates de-mystifies the field, explaining every common variation of metabolic rate measurement, from century-old manometric methods through ingenious syringe-based techniques, direct calorimetry, aquatic respirometry, stable-isotope metabolic measurement and every type of flow-through respirometry. Each variation is described in enough detail to allow it to be applied in practice. Background information on different analyzer and equipment types allows users to choose the best instruments for their application. Respirometry equations - normally a topic of terror and confusion to researchers - are derived and described in enough detail to make their selection and use effortless.Vital topics such as manual and automated baselining, implementing multi-animal systems, and the correct analysis and presentation of metabolic data are covered in enough detail to turn a respirometry neophyte into a hardened metabolic warrior, ready to take on the task of publication in peer-reviewed journals.

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