New and exciting biological functions are still being discovered for vitamin A derivatives, including the vast number of physiological activities of retinoids. In Retinoids: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers in the field present the most recent technical tools with diverse techniques for both in vitro and in vivo studies. Combining biochemical, biophysical, and cell biological techniques, the book addresses topics such as the detection and quantitation of retinoids using HPLC, mass spectrometry, and fluorescence, fluorescence anisotropy of retinol binding protein, cell culture models for studying retinoid transport and the role of retinol in embryonic stem cell culture, as well as many other detailed procedures. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, chapters include introductions to their respective subjects, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and notes highlighting tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Retinoids: Methods and Protocols seeks to aid beginning and experienced researchers from widely varied fields in the search to uncover even more vital aspects of vitamin A's impact on the human body.

At the Mie International Symposium held in Japan in April 1994, leading scientists reviewed recent advances in the understanding of the contractile mechanism in smooth muscle. The present volume collects the papers presented at the symposium, summarizing the latest advances in smooth muscle function and emphasizing important components of the contraction-relaxation cycle. Topics include a discussion of the smooth muscle cell membrane, with emphasis on its ion channels; the regulation of cytosolic Ca2+ levels and the relationship to force in smooth muscle; aspects of the two key regulatory enzymes involved with myosin phosphorylation-dephosphorylation; the molecular basis for pharmacomechanical coupling in smooth muscle; developments in the basic contractile mechanisms involving the crossbridge cycle of tonic and phasic muscle; the role of myosin light chains; and many others. The approach is broad and presents contemporary opinions in pharmacology, physiology, and biochemistry as they relate to smooth muscle function. The book will appeal not only to those working in these disciplines, but to vascular clinicians, obstetric-gynecological physicians, and gastroenterologists as well.

Age is a nonreversible risk factor for atherosclerosis. The atherosclerotic process begins early in life, progresses during the middle years, and usually culminates in clinical disease towards the later years of the life span. Since atherosclerosis is a multifactorial disease, and many of the "risk factors" are time- and age related, it has been difficult to sort out intrinsic aging from environmental factors that operate over many years. Furthermore, the role of genetic factors remains unknown. This workshop has produced much worthwhile information that is helping elucidate the impact of age on atherogenesis. Important strides have been made in understanding the role of changes in the arterial wall and of lipoproteins, platelets, and monocyte-derived macrophages in the disease process. In parallel, our understanding of the biology of aging has increased sufficiently so that these two areas of interest can now profitably intersect. The proceedings of this successful workshop emphasize that there is much to be gained by continued interaction between those scientists interested in the biology of aging at all levels and those interested in the atherosclerotic process. Hopefully, we may eventually progress in our understanding and reach the stage when atherosclerosis will no longer be an inexorable concomitant of human aging. Edwin L. Bierman, M. D. Contents Foreword V Contributors IX Participants in the Workshop XV Introduction and Statement of Research Recommendations Sandra R."

First published in 1988, Vertebrate Blood Cells provided a comprehensive review of our knowledge of the structure and function of vertebrate blood cells. This was the first book to attempt to draw together such a guide, and this volume was essential reading for this subject. The book consists of six chapters on general evolutionary aspects, fish, amphibian, reptilian, avian and mammalian haematology written by experts in his/her field. Of particular importance is the standardized format used from chapter to chapter which allows the reader to compare the information available on a particular aspect from one group of animals to another. The book should be of interest to immunologists, haematologists and general biologists as well as undergraduate students of zoology, cell biology, microbiology and veterinary and human medicine.

A good knowledge of renal physiology is essential to the understanding of many disease states. The purpose of the book is to set out the principles of renal physiology and normal renal function. Now in its 30th year of continuous publication, this new edition offers a logical progression through renal physiology and pathophysiology. In addition, the anatomy, physiology, pharmacology and pathology of the kidney are covered -- making it highly suitable for system based courses. This 5th edition has been extensively revised and features a wealth of new and widely accepted information about kidney function. This includes our understanding of the role of the glycocalyx and structural proteins in glomerular filtration; details of tubular transport, tight junctions and paracellular transport; and an update of the loops of Henle functioning. Principles of Renal Physiology, 5th Edition is a concise and easily readable text ideal for undergraduate medical and medical science students.

Most studies on autonomic innervation of smooth muscle have focused on the short-term mechanisms involved in neurotransmission in physiological and pathophysiological conditions. However recent obser vations of the long-term plasticity of this system, i. e. its capacity for regeneration and for compensatory change in pattern of innervation and expression of cotransmitters and receptors in ageing, following surgery, trauma or in disease, have indicated that an understanding of the mechanisms involved could influence the design of therapeutic regimes. There is increasing evidence for long-term communication between nerves and smooth muscle cells during development and throughout adult life. To date, the trophic interactions between nerves and airway musculature have attracted little interest, consequently, much of the information presented here is drawn from studies using other smooth muscles. However, the questions posed about trophic interactions dur ing development apply as much to airways smooth muscle neuroeffector systems as to other autonomic neuroeffector systems. These are: i) How do developing nerve fibres know where to go and how do they reach their target sites? ii) What determines the density and pattern of inner vation at reaching the effector? iii) How do the nerves survive and maintain their position once established? iv) What factors influence neurochemical differentiation such that genetically multipotential neu rones are triggered to synthesize one or combinations of neurotransmit ters? v) What influence do nerves have on the structure, function and receptor expression of their effector cells? vi) How do diseases interrupt these processes? - see 1]."

Many factors may influence the release of neurotransmitters from airway nerves 1]. This is likely to be important in physiological control of airway functions and may be particularly relevant in airway diseases, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Neural elements in airways interact in a complex manner and the activation of certain neural pathways may profoundly influence the release of transmitters from other neural pathways. Similarly inflamma tory mediators released from inflammatory cells in the airways may also modulate neurotransmitter release. There are marked differences be tween species in airway innervation and in neuromodulatory effects and, wherever possible, studies in human airways have been emphasised, although information on neuromodulation in human airways is some what limited at present. Release of neurotransmitters from nerve terminals occurs via a Ca2+ dependent secretion evoked by a nerve action potential, but may also be evoked experimentally by a high extracellular K + concentration which directly depolarises the nerve terminal membrane. Modulation refers to the alteration of neurotransmitter release, which may either be increased (facilitation) or reduced (inhibition) by the action of a particular agent, thus changing the magnitude of the neurally-mediated response. Such agents would normally act on receptors on the nerve terminal which are referred to as pre-junctional (or presynaptic) receptors, in contrast to post-junctional (or post-synaptic) receptors located on the target cells which are influenced by that particular transmitter."

Neuroproteomics: Methods and Protocols presents experimental details for applying proteomics to the study of the central nervous system (CNS) and its dysfunction through trauma and disease. The target audience includes clinical or basic scientists who look to apply proteomics to the neurosciences. Often researchers hear of proteomics without an adequate explanation of the methodology and inherent limitations. This volume conveys where proteomic methodology is in its application to CNS research and what results can be expected. We also address clinical translation of neuroproteomics, specifically in the area of biomarker research. The inception of neuroproteomics capitalized on rapid progress in large-molecule mass spectrometry over the last decade. Two seminal advances have spurred research - development of reliable polypeptide ionization processes and bioinformatics to rapidly process tandem mass spectra for peptide identification and quantification. What has followed is the exponential application of mass spectrometry to proteome characteri- tion across biological and biomedical disciplines. Arguably, the most elaborate proteomic implementation is in studying the CNS, the most enigmatic and complex animal system. Neuroscience is characterized by grandiose questions - what is consciousness, how does thought or memory work. Neuroproteomics researchers, however, have pri- rily involved themselves dysfunction, based on a pressing need (and invariably funding), in answering questions on CNS dysfunction, based on a pressing need (and invariably funding), and because such questions hold more accessible answers. Dysfunction is readily contrasted against normal function and presumably produces a lasting differential protein signature.

This monograph is the result of a course given to graduate students and to the faculty of the Dept. of Medical Physics and Biophysics of Nijmegen University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, in the fall of 1984 and 1985. The course was intended to put together experi ment, theory, and analysis methods in order to study neural in teraction and coding in the brain. The following pages give a survey of neural interaction and its experimental substrate: cor related neural activity. The basic reason for restricting myself to vertebrate brains was to keep the material concise. As the text developed, however, it became more of a review, than a research monograph, in the attempt to balance theoretical and experimen tal aspects in brain research. Consequently, the book can be read from various points of view: that of requiring an overview of theories and theoretical principles, or an overview of experimental studies in neural interaction and the methods that can be used, or with the conviction that theory and experiment cannot be separat ed. In the latter case the book should be read from beginning to end. A way to read through the theoretical sections and the ex perimental sections of the book is presented in the following flow chart; Theory: /Chap. 2 -Chap. 4 -Chap. 5 ___ ~ Introduction -+ Chap. 1 \, Chap. 10 -+ Chap. 14 Experim~Chap. 3 -Chap. 6 -Chap. 7 -Chap. 8 ~ Chap.

Recent research, especially in fields of orthopaedic surgery and rehabilita tion, point to the importance of periodic, moderate stress for maintaining normal structure and function of tissues. Moreover, growth and healing of load-bearing tissues such as bone, cartilage, and intervertebral disc are especially dependent upon stress-related stimuli. Extreme levels of stress, however, are usually detrimental to tissue integrity, and most treatment regimens today address problems related to trauma and other conditions of abnormally high stress. Therefore, the purpose of this book is to bring together experts in fields of tissue nutrition and growth in order to review previous work and examine new ideas and results concerning the importance of mechanical stress in tissues. This book is unique in that the topic of tissue nutrition and growth, especially related to possible benefits of periodic moderate stress, has never been addressed comprehensively, drawing together experts on vari ous tissues and organs. One objective is to focus attention on tissue nutrition where controversy still exists regarding basic mechanisms of metabolite transport and fluid homeostasis within the interstitium. An other objective is to examine the pathophysiology of tissue compression and discuss strategies to improve viability. Tissues which are treated in this book include bone, cartilage, intervertebral disc, lung, nerve, skeletal muscle, umbilical cord, synovium, skin, and subcutaneous tissues. Based upon these objectives, this book is primarily addressed to students, inves tigators, and teachers in fields of physiology, biochemistry, biomechan ics, exercise, orthopaedic surgery, rehabilitation, and sports medicine."

This volume records the papers presented in Warsaw on the meeting of the International Society of Arterial Chemoreception (LS. A. C. ) organized as a Satellite Symposium of the XXXI International Congress of the Union of Physiological Sciences (I. U. P. S. ) in Helsinki in July 1989. It is a 30 years old tradition to hold periodically international meetings on recent developments in chemoreceptor research and to exchange information between those of us interested in chemoreception. The first meeting was organized by B. B. Lloyd in Oxford in 1959. Later on, similar international meetings were held at irregular intervals. In 1966, R. W. Torrance organized the second meeting again in Oxford. In 1973, the third meeting was organized in Bristol (U. K. ) by M. J. Purves. In 1974, a fourth meeting combined with the XXVI I. U. P. S. Congress in Delhi was organized by A. S. Paintal in Srinagar (Kashmir, India). In 1976, H. Acker organized the fifth meeting in Dortmund (F. R. G. ), and in 1979, C. Belmonte in Valla dolid (Spain) organized the sixth international meeting commemorating the 50th anniversary of Fernando de Castro publishing his classical work on the structure and possible function of the carotid body. In 1982, the seventh meeting was due to D. J. Pallot in Leicester (U. K. ), in 1985 - the eighth one due to A. J.

This book is a survey of some aspects of current knowledge on regional Cerebral Blood Flow (rCBF), mainly as studied by the isotope clearance method. Although both theoretical and methodological problems are discussed, attention is mainly dedicated to data obtained from clinical studies. The papers which make up this book were presented at the International Symposium on the Clinical Applications of Isotope Clearance Measurement of Cerebral Blood Flow, held in Mainz, Western Germany, on April 10-12, 1969. The previous meetings on Cerebral Blood Flow, held in Lund in 1964* and in Lund and Copenhagen 1968**, had shown that the moment had come to concentrate on the possibilities of introducing rCBF measurements into clinical routine. This is why in the Mainz Symposium attention was initially focused on methodological aspects. This is also why theoretical problems of physiology of CBF were not emphasized. Finally, this explains why such topics as cerebrovascular disease, head trauma, coma, carotid surgery, brain tumors and intracranial pressure were given pride of place. However a survey of the clinical aspects of rCBF measurements would not be complete without an account of the application of such measurements to monitor cerebral circulatory changes during anesthesia and therapeutic procedures like, for instance, hyperventilation and hyperbaric treatment. Furthermore, it is now possible to obtain data from correlative rCBF studies per formed before, during and after surgical operations on the human brain."

Bioactive Spin Labels focusses on nitroxyl radicals, their chemistry, biological activity and their application as paramagnetic contrast agents in biomedical research. New EPR techniques for in-vivo studies utilizing nitroxyl radical reagents are described. Recent results on stable nitroxyl radicals as anticancer, antishock, antiaggregant and antischemic drugs are summarized.

The twu-day sympusium held un the campus uf Augustana Cullege, Ruck Island, Illinuis, April 5 and 6, 1967, explured the interrelatiunship between the life sciences and engineering and attempted tu make the scientific cummunity mure aware uf an interdisciplinary appruach tu engineering. The sympusium suught tu stimulate new mechanical engineering cuncepts perhaps nut pussible utilizing data available unly thruugh ideas derived frum the traditiunal physical sciences. Devuted tu clused luup biomechanical systems in which biulugical furces and feedback influence mechanical, physical, and chemical systems, this first Ruck Island Arsenal Biumechanics Sympusium was cuspunsured by Ruck Island Arsenal, u. S. Army Weapuns Cummand, U. S. Army Research Office Durham, and Augustana Cullege. It strived fur academic excellance, and the spunsurs are indebted tu the Advisury Cummittee in pruviding the guidance and participatiun required tu achieve this ubjective as reflected in these pruceedings. Persunal thanks are extended tu Drs. Russ C. Bean, Geurge Bugliarellu, Rubert G. Gesteland, Warren S. MCCulluugh, Lawrence M. Patrick, Ali Seirig, and Heinz Vun Fuerster. The planning cummittee, which included Pruf. Juhn E. Ekblad, Edwin M. Vaughan, Alan G. Galbavy, and the editurs, are also. tu be cummended fur their ef- furts in arranging this successful sympusium.

Heat Shock Proteins and Whole Body Physiology is an exciting new book in the Heat Shock Proteins series which provides the most up-to-date review on novel mechanisms insights into the important role played by heat shock proteins in human physiology. Written by leaders in the field of heat shock protein exercise physiology, neuroscience and aging, the chapters systematically and in a step wise fashion takes the reader through the fascinating mechanisms by which heat shock proteins modulate human disease and pathophysiology and provides answers as to its biological significance to the host. Section I, introduces the readers to the role played by heat shock proteins in various diseases and disorders (Heat Shock Proteins and Disease). Section II, addresses the role heat shock proteins play in psychological disorders including post traumatic stress disorders and learning (Heat Shock Proteins and Psychological Stress). Section III, present a detailed review of the role played by heat shock proteins in exercise physiology (Heat Shock Proteins and Exercise Physiology). This book is a must read for heat shock protein researchers, graduate and postgraduate fellows in the field of Medicine in general and specialities in Excersie Physiology, Neuroscience, Immunology, Aging and Pathology.

Breathing is performed by the rhythmic contraction of respiratory muscles. It ma- tains homeostasis of the organism by taking in the oxygen necessary to live and work and by controlling the level of CO within the organism. At first glance, breathing 2 seems simple; however, it is produced by a complex system in the brain with various afferents and efferents. The control of breathing is of the utmost importance in s- taining life, and although more than 150 years have passed since research on brea- ing control was first begun, many unsolved mysteries still remain. Breathing is like watching the tides at a beach that are created by the vast, complex open sea. The first Oxford Conference on Modeling and Control of Breathing was held 30 years ago in September of 1978 at the University Laboratory of Physiology in Oxford, England. During this first conference, the participants engaged in a hot d- cussion on the problem of whether breathing rhythm was produced by pacemaker cells or a neural network. This was before the discovery of the Boetinger complex in the medulla, and at the time, central chemoreceptive areas were still the focus of research. This conference was an especially unforgettable moment in the dawning of the new age of respiratory research. It has since been held every 3 years in various countries around the globe and is widely appreciated as the best respiratory meeting in the world.

Systematic screening for congenital hypothyroidism in the newborn was introduced some 15 years ago. The main objective was the prevention of mental retardation due to thyroid hormone deficiency during the early months of life. During the past decade screening programs have become routine throughout most of the industrialized world and many questions relating to implementation, organization and quality control of such programs have been largely resolved. Preliminary IQ and neurological data have indicated that screening and early treatment do, in fact, prevent mental retardation. However, a number of scientific questions related to congenital hypothyroidism remain unanswered and extensive research activities are ongoing in the field. The objective of the organizers of the Brussels workshop was to focus almost exclusively on these current research aspects of the screening programs. This workshop is the third international conference specifically devoted to neonatal thyroid screening. The first was held in La Malbaie in Quebec in the fall of 1979. That meeting was well organized and highly productive. Its proceedings constitute a bible in the field. After the Quebec meeting, we witnessed major and rapid advances in our understanding of neonatal thyroid physiology as well as screening methodology, organiza tion, data management, the significance of an approach to false negative and false positive results,patient follow-up, and assessment of follow-up and treatment, and the psychoneurological evaluation of affected infants. Some of these aspects were further developed during a second highly pro ductive international conference organized in Tokyo in 1982.

The skin, the body's largest organ, is strategically located at the interface with the external environment where it detects, integrates and responds to a diverse range of stressors, including solar radiation. It has already been established that the skin is an important peripheral neuroendocrine-immune organ that is closely networked with central regulatory systems. These capabilities contribute to the maintenance of peripheral homeostasis. Specifically, epidermal and dermal cells produce and respond to classical stress neurotransmitters, neuropeptides and hormones, production which is stimulated by ultraviolet radiation (UVR), biological factors (infectious and non-infectious) and other physical and chemical agents. Examples of local biologically active products are cytokines, biogenic amines (catecholamines, histamine, serotonin and N-acetyl-serotonin), melatonin, acetylocholine, neuropeptides including pituitary (proopiomelanocortin-derived ACTH, b-endorphin or MSH peptides, thyroid stimulating hormone) and hypothalamic (corticotropin-releasing factor and related urocortins, thyroid-releasing hormone) hormones, as well as enkephalins and dynorphins, thyroid hormones, steroids (glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids, sex hormones, 7- steroids), secosteroids, opioids and endocannabinoids. The production of these molecules is hierarchical, organized along the algorithms of classical neuroendocrine axes such as the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA), hypothalamic-thyroid axis (HPT), serotoninergic, melatoninergic, catecholaminergic, cholinergic, steroid/secosteroidogenic, opioid and endocannabinoid systems. Disruptions of these axes or of communication between them may lead to skin and/or systemic diseases. These local neuroendocrine networks also serve to limit the effect of noxious environmental agents to preserve local and consequently global homeostasis. Moreover, the skin-derived factors/systems can also activate cutaneous nerve endings to alert the brain to changes in the epidermal or dermal environments, or alternatively to activate other coordinating centers by direct (spinal cord) neurotransmission without brain involvement. Furthermore, rapid and reciprocal communications between epidermal and dermal and adnexal compartments are also mediated by neurotransmission including antidromic modes of conduction. Lastly, skin cells and the skin as an organ coordinate and/or regulate not only peripheral but also global homeostasis.

Foreword by Walter J. Freeman.

The induction of unconsciousness using anesthetic agents demonstrates that the cerebral cortex can operate in two very different behavioral modes: alert and responsive vs. unaware and quiescent. But the states of wakefulness and sleep are not single-neuron properties---they emerge as bulk properties of cooperating populations of neurons, with the switchover between states being similar to the physical change of phase observed when water freezes or ice melts. Some brain-state transitions, such as sleep cycling, anesthetic induction, epileptic seizure, are obvious and detected readily with a few EEG electrodes; others, such as the emergence of gamma rhythms during cognition, or the ultra-slow BOLD rhythms of relaxed free-association, are much more subtle. The unifying theme of this book is the notion that all of these bulk changes in brain behavior can be treated as phase transitions between distinct brain states.

Modeling Phase Transitions in the Brain contains chapter contributions from leading researchers who apply state-space methods, network models, and biophysically-motivated continuum approaches to investigate a range of neuroscientifically relevant problems that include analysis of nonstationary EEG time-series; network topologies that limit epileptic spreading; saddle--node bifurcations for anesthesia, sleep-cycling, and the wake--sleep switch; prediction of dynamical and noise-induced spatiotemporal instabilities underlying BOLD, alpha-, and gamma-band Hopf oscillations, gap-junction-moderated Turing structures, and Hopf-Turing interactions leading to cortical waves.

In the last six years, a remarkable series of stUdies have demonstrated an intimate relationship between red cell metabolism and the function of the cell as an organ of gas transport. First came the demonstration of binding of organic phosphocompounds of the red cell to hemoglobin; this was followed by studies that demonstrated modification of hemoglobin oxygen affinity by such binding. At present we are in an exhilirating phase of accrual of data showing that the levels of these phosphorylated inter mediates can be rapidly altered in the red cell to modulate hemo globin function. At one time it was said that the red cell was an inert bag full of hemoglobin. Now we know not only that the cell has an active metabolism crucial to its viability, but that this metabolism is just as crucial to the whole organism in the proper adjustment of oxygen transport. On October first, second and third, 1969, red cell biochemists, general biochemists, geneticists, cardio-pulmonary physiologists, exercise physiologists, experts in blood storage, and represen tatives from many other disciplines met in the Towsley Center for Continuing Medical Education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, to present recent findings and discuss developments in this new interdisciplinary field. The meeting was dedicated to Dr. Alfred Chanutin, Professor Emeritus of the University of Virginia, to honor his retirement in 1967 and in recognition of his great contributions to the studies outlined in the first paragraph of this preface."

The effect of calcium antagonists on heart muscle and blood circulation is the reason that they have found widespread clinical application for a number of years. Less well known, in contrast, is the effect this group of substances has on the kidneys, both on kidney cells and the blood flow through the kidneys. This effect was the subject of a workshop we organized in Tiibingen in June 1986. Different groups studied the effects of these substances, especially in animals, on the processing of calcium by the kidney cells and on blood flow. A possible explanation is that the calcium antagonists block the influx of calcium through special cell canals, especially the cells of the distal tubule. It is necessary to test whether there is a blockade or only a reduction in the passage of calcium. Our understanding of the effect of calcium antagonists is in large part based on the results of morphologic, physiologic, and pharmacologic studies of calcium in the kidneys. The particular processes involved in nephrocalcinosis are special objects of study with regard to calcium antagonists. This book presents the results of experimental studies of the effect of calcium antagonists on nephrocalcinosis and acute renal failure after ischemia. In this context, the clinician is particularly interested in the use of calcium antagonists to protect against the kidney in urolithiasis, in acute renal failure and during kidney transplantation. The book is thus of interest to urologists and nephrologists as well as pharmacologists. biochemists, physiologists, and others in research.

Hemoglobin and the red cell have continued to set a dizzying pace as the objects of research in the two and one-half year interval since the First International Conference on Red Cell Metabolism and Function. Most exciting perhaps, is a beginning molecular attack on sickle cell disease. The story of the inter action of red cell metabolism and oxygen transport has continued to unfold, and we can now infer that patients with hypoxia usually utilize red cell metabolic adjustments to improve oxygenation. This puts the red cell squarely in the center of medical practice, since much of medicine-heart, pulmonary, and blood disease- deals with inadequate oxygenation. On April 27th through the 29th, 1972, crystallographers, chemists, biochemists, physiologists, geneticists, and physi cians from many medical disciplines met in the Towsley Center for Continuing Medical Education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor to present new data, to review recent developments, and to try to piece together additional features of the red cell puzzle. The meeting was dedicated to Dr. Francis John Worsley Roughton, Professor Emeritus of Colloid Science, University of Cambridge, England, in recognition of his numerous excellent contributions to the understanding of hemoglobin and red cell function. The program got off to a good start with a paper from M. F. Perutz, Nobel Laureate, on the structure of hemoglobin. Dr."

Proteases, Protease-Derived Peptides and Protease Inhibitors Many physiological as weil as pathophysiological processes are mediated by proteases and the products of their actions, protease-derived peptides. However, the uncontrolled activity of proteases can be extraordinarily destructive and dangerous to normal biologie systems. As a result, biology has gone to great lengths to control the activities of the proteases involved in these systems by developing aseries of both highly specific (regulatory) and non-specific (protective) anti-proteases. The protease/anti-protease balancing activities include the normal homeostatic processes of clotting and clot lysis, hormonal regulation of blood pressure and the control of the inflammatory response represented by both the humoral (the kallikrein-kinin and complement systems) and cellular (neutrophil and macrophage derived proteases) components of the inflammation. Examples of successful therapies directed at these protease dependent systems include the use of warfarin and heparin to control thrombosis and streptokinase or tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) for the acceleration of clot dissolution. Similarly, the use of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE, a type of limited activity protease or peptidase) inhibitors has made a significant impact on the treatment of hypertension. Lastly, the restitution of normal antiprotease levels by the infusion of the purified protein in patients with genetic alpha-1-antiprotease deficiency is regularly being used to reduce the rate of lung function 1055 caused by the unopposed activity of human neutrophil elastase in these individuals.

"Function dictates structure" is a classic paradigm reaffirmed in Wolff's law of the skeletal system. A major question being addressed by current research in biomechanics is whether this doctrine also holds true for the cardiovascular system and connective tissues. Taking a multidisciplinary approach to this question has produced new insights into the sensors, signals, and activators that produce remodeling and functional adaptation in cardiac muscle, blood vessels, and bone, including important new findings on the response of vascular endothelial cells to shear stress. Other work focuses on the extent of remodeling and adaptation processes in tendons, ligaments, and intervertebral discs. Together with two companion volumes, "Computational Biomechanics" and the "Data Book on Mechanical Properties of Living Cells, Tissues, " "and Organs," this monograph will prove invaluable to those working in fields ranging from medical science and clinical medicine to biomedical engineering and applied mechanics.

Dietary fiber is a topic that has burgeoned from an esoteric interest of a few research laboratories to a subject of international interest. This growth has been helped by the intense public interest in the potential benefits of adding fiber to the diet. The general popularity of fiber may have been helped by the perception that, for once, medicine was saying "do" instead of "don't. " There has been a proliferation of excellent scientific books on dietary fiber. Why another? The Spring Symposium on Dietary Fiber in Health and Disease was an outgrowth of our belief that informal discussion among peers-a discussion in which fact is freely interlaced with speculation-was the most effective way to organize our knowledge and direct our thinking. The normal growth progression of a discipline inc1udes its branching into many areas. Soon the expertise, which was once general, is broken into many specialties. Intercommunication becoIlles increasingly difficult. It was our intent to provide a forum that would expose its participants to developments in areas related to their research interest. Free exchange under these conditions could not help but broaden everyone's knowl edge and expand his horizons. We feel that this symposium was singularly successful in achieving its goals. It resulted in a free and friendly exchange of knowledge and ideas. It helped to establish seeds for future collaborations based on mutual interest and friendship. The proceedings of this conference will serve as yet another basic resource in the fiber field."