<title>ASM News Vol 62, Num 5, May, 1996

Reviews and Resources

Bailey and Scott's Diagnostic Microbiology, 9th ed.
Ellen Jo Baron, Lance R. Peterson, and Sidney M. Finegold.
Mosby-Year Book, Inc., St. Louis, 1994, 958 p., $59.95
Reviewed by J. Michael Miller, National Center for Infectious Diseases

All the Virology Servers in the World
Reviewed by Larry Farrell, Idaho State University

Accessing this site will take one to "All the Virology Servers in the World," maintained by the Garry Laboratory at the Tulane University School of Medicine. In addition to a very large number of virology Web pages, this site lists a variety of other sources of information for microbiologists and should be useful for virtually everyone in the membership.

The Web pages are organized into fifteen major groupings, such as "Specific Virus Servers," "On-Line Virology Courses," "AIDS," "Scientific Societies" and "More Biology on the WWW." They are presented in both a general chart and a comprehensive Table of Contents. The groupings are logical, allowing one to quickly move to specific interest areas. There are multiple hotlink listings of Web pages under each heading, leading progressively to additional information. There is even a hotlink that allows one to relax with "The Weirdest 'Virology' on the WWW!"

Navigation through the page is easy and the information is well organized. The information is apparently updated frequently, primarily by reader submissions; a direct link to a submission form is provided. A mirror site has been established for easier access by European users.

NetBiochem
Reviewed by William D. Picking, Ph.D., Department of Biology, Saint Louis University

NetBiochem (http://www.hahnemann.edu/Heme-Iron/NetWelco.htm) is an online biochemistry course which can be accessed via the ASM homepage. This site is intended to be an educational tool for students interested in medical biochemistry and is an excellent supplement to any introductory level biochemistry course. The site is simple to navigate and provides the text, structures and reaction schemes expected of an undergraduate biochemistry course. An additional feature of NetBiochem is inclusion of animated sequences, pronunciation of chemical names (with appropriate software), and linkages to other biochemistry resources (both for education and research).

NetBiochem is well-organized and makes a conscious effort to point out underlying concepts that often go unnoticed by introductory students. An example is the candid description of the underlying themes that transcend classes of macro molecules (i.e. polarity, polymerization and structure). The material is divided into five sections with only two (to date) being complete with text, figures, animation and audio. Thus far, the remaining sections contain text only which greatly reduces their usefulness. Once these sections are finished, NetBiochem will be of tremendous use to undergraduate (and graduate) microbiologists. The authors also discuss plans to add new sections to make the site a complete biochemistry course package. It is unfortunate that none of the material has been updated since January 1995; however, once complete, NetBiochem will be an attractive educational tool.

For more information, send email to Executivedirector@asmusa.org