EJB Reviews 1989 offer the collection of all reviews published in the European Journal of Biochemistry in one handy volume. This series of review articles by leading scientists covers emerging and rapidly growing fields of research in fundamental as well as in applied areas of biochemistry, such as medicine, biotechnology, agriculture and nutrition. Novel methodological and technological approaches which stimulate biochemical research are also included. All authors review their field in a very critical, selective, evaluative manner, with emphasis on interdisciplinary aspects wherever possible.

by W. J. Freeman These two volumes on "Brain Oscillations" appear at a most opportune time. As the "Decade of the Brain" draws to its close, brain science is coming to terms with its ultimate problem: understanding the mechanisms by which the immense number of neurons in the human brain interact to produce the higher cognitive functions. The ideas, concepts, methods, interpretations and examples, which are presented here in voluminous detail by a world-class authority in electrophysiology, summarize the intellectual equipment that will be required to construct satisfactory solutions to the problem. Neuroscience is ripe for change. The last revolution of ideas took place in the middle of the century now ending, when the field took a sharp turn into a novel direction. During the preceding five decades the prevailing view, carried forward from the 19th century, was that neurons are the carriers of nerve energy, either in chemical or electrical forms (Freeman, 1995). That point of view was enormously productive in terms of coming to understand the chemical basis for synaptic transmission, the electrochemistry of the ac tion potential, the ionic mechanisms of membrane currents and gates, the functional neuroanatomy that underlies the hierarchy of reflexes, and the neural fields and'their resonances that support Gestalt phenomena. No bet ter testimony can be given of the power of the applications of this approach than to point out that it provides the scientific basis for contemporary neu rology, neuropsychiatry, and brain imaging."

This book reviews the respiratory function of vertebrate red cells. I have defined the phrase "respiratory function" broadly to include, in addition to the actual oxygen and carbon dioxide transport, erythropoiesis, haemoglobin synthesis, red cell structure, the deformability of red cells in circulation, ion and substrate transport across the cell membrane, cellular metabolism, and control of cellular volume and pH. All of these aspects of the red cell function may affect gas transport between the respiratory epithelia and the tissues. Throughout the book, I have tried to relate our current knowledge about the nucleated red cell function to the wealth of information about the function of mammalian red cells. However, whenever possible, I have placed the emphasis on the nucleated red cell function for two reasons. First, the erythro cytes of 90% of vertebrate species are nucleated, and, second, nucleated red cell function has not been reviewed earlier in a single volume. This being the case, I have tried to make the reference list as complete as I could with regard to nucleated red cells. I hope that the approach adopted is useful for both com parative and human physiologists. Many people have contributed to the making of this book directly or in directly. Antti Soivio started me in this field. Prof. Henrik Wallgren has always encouraged fresh scientific ideas in his department. My present ideas of red cell function have been influenced by work carried out with Prof. Roy E."

This book the second volume in the "Springer Series in Biophysics" col lects together contributions to the conference on "Biophysics and Syn chrotron Radiation" held in July 86 at Frascati. This meeting addressed the advances on the structure of biological molecules obtained by using synchrotron radiation. In fact it was most timely to review the results of the research in biophysics which is rapidly developing at synchrotron radiation facilities. Moreover, there was interest to discuss the new perspectives opened up by the future high brilliance synchrotron radia tion sources. With the use of synchrotron radiation, x-ray spectroscopy of biological molecules is firmly established in the techniques of EXAFS and XANES. Contributions to the detailed knowledge of local structure of active sites of metalloproteins by this approach are presented in this volume, together with a number of studies of -the interaction of metal ions with other important biological macromolecular systems. Structural determination of very large biological systems at high reso lution, including a protein and its substrate, are reported. The experi mental advances in protein crystallography presented here reduce the time for solving protein structures, thus satisfying a major require ment of the rapidly-expanding field of protein engineering."

This book contains the invited papers of the interdisciplinary workshop on "Stochastic Nonlinear Systems in Physics, Chemistry and Biology" held at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZIF), University of Bielefeld, West Germany, October 5-11, 1980. The workshop brought some 25 physicists, chemists, and biologists - who deal with stochastic phenomena - and about an equal number of mathematicians - who are experts in the theory of stochastic processes - together. The Scientific Commitee consisted of L. Arnold (Bremen), A. Dress (Bielefeld), W. Horsthemke (Brussels), T. Kurtz (Madison), R. Lefever (Brussels), G. Nicolis (Brussels), and V. Wihstutz (Bremen). The main topics of the workshop were the transition from deterministic to stoch astic behavior, external noise and noise induced transitions, internal fluctuations, phase transitions, and irreversible thermodynamics, and on the mathematical side, approximation of stochastic processes, qualitative theory of stochastic systems, and space-time processes. The workshop was sponsored by ZIF, Bielefeld, and by the Universities of Bremen and Brussels. We would like to thank the staff of ZIF and H. Crauel and M. Ehrhardt (Bremen) for the perfect organization and their assistance. In addition, our thanks go to Professor H. Haken for having these Proceedings included in the Se ries in Synergetics. Bremen and Brussels L. Arnold and R. Lefever December 1980 v Contents Part I. Introduction: From Deterministic to Stochastic Behavior On the Foundations of Kinetic Theory By B. Misr and I. Prigogine (With 1 Figure) ............................. ."

Laser Ablation provides a broad picture of the current understanding of laser ablation and its many applications, from the views of key contributors to the field. Discussed are in detail the electronic processes in laser ablation of semiconductors and insulators, the post-ionization of laser-desorbed biomolecules, Fourier-transform mass spectroscopy, the interaction of laser radiation with organic polymers, laser ablation and optical surface damage, laser desorption/ablation with laser detection, and laser ablation of superconducting thin films.

It is in the receptors of the vertebrate retina that the characteristic visual process - the transduction of radiational energy into physiological activtty of a different kind - takes place. The way these receptors modify or redistribute the incident radiation and thereby control the light ab sorption by the visual pigments they contain, is the central theme of this book. As far back as 1843 Brucke put forward a well-reasoned model for the optics of a receptor, assuming simple ray optics, and it is already some forty-seven years since the dependence of receptor sensitivity on retinal angle of incidence was established experimentally as an important factor in human vision and as one by which the direction of alignment of receptors in the living eye might be determined. But it is to Professor J. M. Enoch, editor and author of several major contributions to this volume, that we owe the first experimental demonstration (in 1961) of the wave-mode propa gation of light in vertebrate visual receptors, as well as the results of some thirty years devoted research concerned with all questions of receptor optics, particularly directional sensitivity and receptor alignment, both for normal vertebrate eyes and for pathologically modified eyes. His work on the latter has opened up a whole range of clinical possibilities."

An enormous amount of new knowledge on the molecular basis of various biological phenomena has emerged in the rapidly expanding field of bioscience. Since the frontiers in scientific research are difficult to define' the creation of new knowledge depends not only on new methods and concepts but also on interaction with other fields of research. The principles and methods of biophysics should be a rational language for discussion not only between scientists of the different disciplines of natural sciences' such as physics' mathematics' biochemistry' molecular biology and biotechnology' but also for medicine and social sciences as well. This is the general philosophy behind the organization of the Summer Schools organized by Rudjer Institute' Zagreb' Croatia and the Croatian Biophysical Society. The International Summer Schools on Biophysics have a very broad scope. This is in contrast to the other workshops or schools which are centred mainly on one topic or technique. The intention was to organize courses which provided advanced training at doctoral or postdoctoral level in biosciences. Therefore' the Schools essentially have a catalytic role and are complementary to' rather than competing with' activities of parallel national or international programmes.

Scope and ideas of the workshop The workshop which took place at the University of Giessen from Oct. 3 to Oct. 7, 2002 and whose proceedings are collected in this volume started from the idea to convene a number of scientists with the aim to outline their "visions" for the future of radiation research on the basis of their expertise. As radiation research is a very wide field restrictions were unavoidable. It was decided to concentrate this time mainly on molecular and cellular biology because it was felt that here action is par-ticularly needed. This did not exclude contributions from neighbouring fields as may be seen from the table of contents. It was clearly not planned to have a c- prehensive account of the present scientif fic achievements but the results presented should only serve as a starting point for the discussion of future lines of research, with the emphasis on the "outreach" to other parts of life sciences. If you are interested in the future ask the young - we attempted, therefore, to invite mainly younger colleagues (with a few exceptions) who had, however, already left their marks in the field. They were asked to describe what they felt is important in radiation research and may have significant influences on other branches of life sciences. They were given the task to demonstrate what is lost for science "if we do no longer exist."

Genetic information determines the composition of molecules comprising cytoskeletal elements, membranes and receptors. The supramolecular arrangement of these components represents a self-assembly process controlled by physicochemical and mechanical interactions. This general hypothesis demarcates the aim of studying cellular mechanics. Description and evaluation of mechanical properties of cells and their organelles, as well as of the forces exerted by them, is the scope of this book on "Cytomechanics." Emphasis is laid on the role of mechanical properties in the generation of shape and cytoplasmic motion, and on the basic principles and components determining mechanical properties.

"Amphiphilic layers" play essential roles in the behaviour of a great variety of disperse systems such as micelles, microemulsions and vesicles. They can also exist as isolated mono- or bilayers, or constitute extended liquid crystalline structures. Although the properties of these different systems may at first sight seem unrelated, theoretical interpretations of them depend on several common concepts. This was the reason for bringing together scientists working in this area for the International Winter School on the Physics of Amphiphilic Layers, which was held at Les Houches, 10-18 February, 1987. The topics treated in the proceedings volume are mono- and bilayers, interactive forces between layers (with special emphasis on steric forces), ordered structures (in particular swollen lamellar phases and defects), vesicles, micelles (including polymer-like systems), microemulsions (especially random bicontinuous structures) and porous media. The importance of thermal fluctuations in the amphiphilic layers is stressed. Recent results are presented and literature references allow readers not familiar with the subject to find any background information they require.

Space missions subject human beings or any other target of a spacecraft to a radiation environment of an intensity and composition not available on earth. Whereas for missions in low earth orbit (LEO), such as those using the Space Shuttle or Space Station scenario, radiation exposure guidelines have been developed and have been adopted by spacefaring agencies, for exploratory class missions that will take the space travellers outside the protective confines of the geomagnetic field sufficient guidelines for radiation protection are still outstanding. For a piloted Mars mission, the whole concept of radiation protection needs to be reconsidered. Since there is an increasing interest ci many nations and space agencies in establishing a lunar base and lor exploring Mars by manned missions, it is both, timely and important to develop appropriate risk estimates and radiation protection guidelines which will have an influence on the design and structure of space vehicles and habitation areas of the extraterrestrial settlements. This book is the result of a multidisciplinary effort to assess the state of art in our knowledge on the radiation situation during deep space missions and on the impact of this complex radiation environment on the space traveller. ]t comprises the lectures by the faculty members as well as short contributions by the students given at the NATO Advanced Study Institute "Biological Effects and Physics of Solar and Galactic Cosmic Radiation" held in Armacao de Pera, Portugal, 12-23 October, 1991.

The above consideration indicates that at present many of the experi mental facts on PS in animals can be quantitatively explained within the limits of the "universal" photoreceptor membrane concept. Of course, existence of preferential orientation of the absorbing dipoles in the tubuli of the rhabdomeres can not be totally rejected. We hope that the concept of the "universal" photoreceptor membrane may serve as the useful instrument when dealing with newly discovered properties of visual cells so that true mechanisms of electrical and optical coupling will be searched for instead of assumptions being made on additional properties of the photoreceptor membrane in every new animal under study. 5. Absorption Spectrum of the Universal Photoreceptor Membrane and Spectral Sensitivity of the Photoreceptor 5. 1 Preliminary Notes It seems nearly self-evident that the absorption spectrum of the pho toreceptor membrane coincides exactly with that of the visual pigment it contains. Hence, the membrane must exhibit three bands of absorp tion - the principal band with its peak within the limits of visible spectrum (or a-peak); the secondary band between 340 and 380 nm (S peak); and the third, protein band, in the ultraviolet (UV) at 280 nm (COLLINS et al., 1952). The main peak of absorption is located within the range 433-575 nm for retinol-based pigments and between 438 and 620 nm for 3-dehydroretinol-based pigments, the position of Amax de pending on many ecological factors."

This volume contains papers presented at the Ninth International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena held at Dana Point, CA, USA, from May 2 to 6, 1994. The biannual Ultrafast Phenomena Conferences provide a forum for discussion of the latest advances in ultrafast optics and applications in science and engineering. The vitality and excitement of the various disciplines sharing common interest in ultrafast phenomena were well represented at the meeting by the 438 participants from 18 countries, including 98 students. Cross-fertilization of ultrafast concepts and techniques among the various scientific and engineering disciplines continues to be the primary driving force behind this successful meeting. Progress was reported in the technology of generating ultrafast pulses, includ ing extensions in pulse width, output power, wavelength range, and intensity. Ultrafast spectroscopy continues to impact and expand the knowledge base of fundamental processes in physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. A new series of lively, late-night panel discussions were introduced at this meeting, re flecting the maturing of the field into applications, while at the same time keeping a strong interest in fundamentals. Acknowledgements. Many people and organizations contributed to the success of this meeting. The members of the program committee deserve special thanks for reviewing all the papers and organizing the final program. The staff of the Opti cal Society of America very expertly took care of the conference arrangements."

Voltage-gated calcium channels are critical regulators of cytoplasmic levels of calcium, the universal signaling ion. As such, calcium channels trigger a wide range of cellular functions, from muscle contraction to neurotransmitter secretion, and are important players in human disease. Prominent in the nervous, cardiovascular, and endocrine systems, members of the calcium channel family are targets for existing antihypertensive and anticonvulsant drugs. In addition, they are emerging targets for drugs to treat an extraordinarily diverse group of disorders, including pain, cerebral ischemia, cardiac arrhythmia, and migraine. This book reviews the compounds that target individual calcium channel subtypes and the cellular and behavioral functions governed by each different channel. It contains information for basic scientists using calcium channel antagonists as experimental tools, for behavioralists studying animal models of human disease, and for pharmaceutical scientists interested in creating the next generation of calcium channel-targeted drugs. Several factors make an entire book on calcium channel pharmacology timely.

The ninth annual multidisciplinary symposium on clinical oncology organized by the Royal College of Radiologists was jointly arranged with the International Society for Radiation Oncology. It was held in London in February 1987 and discussed the biological and clinical basis of the effects of radiotherapy. Wherever possible lectures by an experimental scientist were paired with those of a clinical scientist in order to emphasize clinical relevance. It is hoped that this has resulted in a widely balanced view of the subject. The volume presents an updated version of these subjects based on those talks. After surgery, radiotherapy is the main treatment used in the management of patients with cancer. Its empirical success when first introduced is now backed up by a wealth of laboratory, clinical and experimental experience. New techniques for adminis tering the conventional X-ray therapy have been supplemented by methods which can be used to modify the radiation response. These include changes in dose rate or fractionation, and combined modality treatments including sensitization by drugs or heat. Other types of radiation, such as neutrons and other particles, are also now available which have enhanced physical and biological advantages.

The German Society of Cybernetics organizes international conferences on selected interdisciplinary topics in regular 3-year intervals. The aim of these meetings is to bring together scientists who work in quite different disciplines, but are confronted with related problems and use the same or similar approaches. The topic of the 1983 conference which was held on March 23-25 at the University of Tiibingen came from a typical field of research in which engineers, biologists, and phYSicists share a common interest. We do not want to discuss here in detail the common principles which are used by nature and by engineers to solve the problems associated with localization and orientation, since the reader will find enough examples in this volume. The question, however, whether the participants of such meetings can really profit from each other, deserves some further consid eration. First, there is the difficulty of finding a common language. This still seems to be a problem, although in some fields the language of engineers and biologists has become very similar over the years, an impression we also gained during the conference. Most of the authors made a great ef fort to use a vocabulary which is understandable to people outside their own field of research, but, admittedly, not all succeeded."

The living organisms and systems possess extraordinary properties of programmed development, differentiation, growth, response, movement, duplication of key molecules and in m any cases higher mental functions. But the organisms are physical objects so they must follow laws of physics yet they do not seem to obey them. Physicists cannot easily persuade themselves to accept this as finally true. Non-living objects are governed by these laws of physics and they can explain these properties. However, in the living systems too phenomena encountered like coupled non-linear interactions, manybody effects, cooperativity, coherence, phase transitions, reversible metastable states are being understood better with the aid of powerful theoretical and experimental techniques and hope is raised that these may let us understand the mysteriousness of life. Contributors to this volume are a small fraction of rapidly growing scientific opinion that these aspects of living bodies are to be expected in a hitherto inadequately suspected state of matter which is in the main directed by these physical properties pushed almost to limit. This state of matter, the living matter, deserves to be called The Living State. Mishra proposes that given hydrogenic orbitals, atoms showing easy hybridisability and multiple valances, molecules with low-lying electronic levels, "loosestructure," and a metabolic pump in thermodynamically open system, various fundamental properties of living state can emerge automatically. Structurally these are all known to be present.

This volume deals with the significance of the apoblast and the intracellular matrix in cell to cell signaling in plants and animals. Researchers working on human, animal and plant systems discuss their own specific problems. The dynamics of the cell surface as related to both growth and development, as well as to the transduction of environmental signals and the feed-back from genetic information to the cell surface are comprehensively covered. Special emphasis is laid on experimental models, their applicability and discussion of possible directions for future research.

Medical applications of ultrasound range from therapy, foetal monitoring, diagnostic imaging and blood flow measurement, to surgery and lithotripsy. Ever since the earliest developments of medical ultrasound there has been an interest in the measurement and characterisation of the ultrasonic fields generated in these applications, either for assessment of performance of equipment or for safety. Until recently, procedures for acoustic output measurements were ill-defined, but standards are now being developed internationally by the International Electrotechnical Commission (1EC) and reliable commercial measuring equipment is becoming more widely available. The aim of this book is to introduce acoustic output measurement techniques and to provide an insight into the measurement methods. The material presented is based on a course originally run during November 1989 at the National Physical Laboratory. In addition to the lectures, the course consisted of a series of practicals to allow participants to gain experience of making measurements. Teddington, UK Roy C. Preston February 1991 Contents List of Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii List of Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 Safety of Diagnostic Ultrasonic Equipment: The Relevance of Acoustic Output Information to the Clinical User R. C. Preston 1. 1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1. 2 The Relevance of Acoustic Output Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1. 2. 1 What Is Acoustic Output Information? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1. 2. 2 What Is Acoustic Output Information Used For? . . . . . . . 6 1. 2. 3 Why Should You Know the Acoustic Output Levels of Your Equipment? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1. 2. 4 Are Acoustic Output Levels Really that Important? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Radiation induces a variety of chemical processes in biological tissues. This volume is a synthesis of up-to-the-minute reviews on such photochemical and photobiological sensitized reactions with particular relevance to photomedicine. The first part gives a description of experimental techniques for the study of the primary processes after radiation absorption by biological systems. It is followed by chapters on singlet oxygen and photomedicine, considering both phototherapy and photochemotherapy. These sections also discuss the next generation of potential photosensitizing drugs.

In this monograph, a statistical description of natural phenomena is used to develop an information processing system capable of modeling non-linear relationships between sensory data. The system, based on self-organized, optimal preservation of empirical information, applies these relationships for prediction and adaptive control.
This monograph is written for students, scientists and engineers in academia and industry who are interested in experimental work related to the adaptive modeling of natural laws, the development of sensory-neural networks, intelligent control, synergetics and informatics. No specific knowledge of advanced mathematics is presupposed. Examples taken from physics, engineering, medicine and economics demonstrate the applicability of such intelligent systems.

Synergetics may be considered as an interdisciplinary effort dealing with the gene ral problem of how science can cope with complex systems. The preceding symposia on synergetics were devoted to systems of physics, chemistry and partly also biolo gy and sociology. It was possible to develop adequate concepts to describe and even to calculate evolving macroscopic spatial, temporal, and functional structures which emerge through self-organization of the individual parts of the systems under con sideration. This book contains the invited papers presented at the Symposium on the Synerge tics of the brain, Schloss Elmau, Bavaria, May 2 to 7, 1983. The inclusion of this topic in the synergetics enterprise represents a big step towards a treatment of complex systems. Most probably the human brain is the most complex system we know of. As the organizers believe, this symposium provides the reader with a good cross section of experimental results and theoretical approaches to cope with the complex problems of structure and function of the brain. It was generally felt that such a joint meeting between experimentalists and theoreticians is of great importance for future development of this field. Modern experimental methods, e. g. multielectrode derivations allow or will allow us, in short, to collect huge amounts of data. Simi larly high-speed computers will flood us with an enormous number of outputs once the basic model equations have been chosen."

This book has its origin in my experience as a teacher of pharmacokinetics in many universities in four different continents. It was not my intention to write a popular book; what distinguishes this one from many others on the same subject is its large use of algebra and calculus. For this I make no apologies; in fact a serious study of pharmacokinetics without the help of mathematics is, in my opinion, impossible. The exact definition of many pharmacokinetic quantities, even the most common, and the correct use of many equations, even the most simple, requires the constant use of mathematical language. On the other hand I have made a considerable effort to use only elementary algebra and elementary calculus, as commonly taught in most introductory university courses. For the few exceptions, when less common mathematical concepts were needed, I have supplied the necessary explanations in four appendices. The first three chapters are a general introduction to the scientific method. Chapters 4 to 12 show different specific methods to deal with pharmacokinetic pr- lems. There is considerable overlap among those chapters; this is intentional and its p- pose is to convince the reader that every problem can be solved in more than one way, including ways that were not mentioned in this book and that intelligent readers can find for their own pleasure. Chapters 13 to 17 show how different parameters of importance in pharmacokinetics can be exactly defined and measured.

This book, written by a multidisciplinary team of authors comprising scientists, artists and communicators, explores one of the most pressing issues of our time - the menace plastics pose to marine environments and organisms. It takes readers on a journey that begins on the beaches of Galicia, where the beach litter formed the starting point for an exhibition that combines art and science to alert the audience to the urgent need for action. The journey culminates with a short "plastic story", which reveals a disturbing vision of the future significance of plastics for humans, and an example of how comics can deliver information to a younger audience. Along the way there is plenty of fascinating science, such as insights into the impacts of plastics and microplastics; the new marine ecosystem, known as the "plastisphere"; and the current status of the oceans, from the Arctic to the Mediterranean. The book also explores the historical developments; sustainable solutions, including the use of circular economy methodologies; and protective measures, like those being tried in China and the Far East. Lastly, it describes the role played by rivers as transport vectors for plastic, with special reference to the Danube, and to complete the picture, since most of the plastic is of terrestrial origin, it investigates problems related to microplastics in soils.