Skeletal involvement is a frequent and troublesome complication affecting many patients with neoplastic disease, especially multiple myeloma and cancer of the breast, lung, and prostate. This involve- ment can finally lead to local bone destruction with resulting frac- tures, local bone neoformation, or hypercalcemia. The latter com- plicates the clinical course of 10%-20% of the patients with non-smaIl-cell lung cancer and mammary tumors. Both knowledge of the pathophysiologic mechanisms and treatment of this skeletal involvement have progressed substantially in the last years. One of the very recent therapeutic advances has been the finding that bis- phosphonates, a family of compounds characterized by a P-C-P bond, are effective in alleviating some of these conditions. This volume represents the proceedings of a workshop held on December 4, 1987, in Lucerne, Switzerland, devoted to the use of bisphosphonates in tumoral bone disease. This educational work- shop was organized by the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK) to foster international scientific exchange and to clarify experimental and clinical problems in the therapeutic appli- cation of bisphosphonates. Experts from various countries were invited to present and discuss their experimental findings and their preliminary clinical results. This volume summarizes the invited contributions, which will be of major interest to clinical oncolo- gists, surgeons, internists, endocrinologists, and pathologists con- fronted with bone destruction in neoplastic disease. We acknowl- edge gratefully the support of Boehringer Mannheim (Schweiz) AG, Rotkreuz.

The papers collected in this volume represent the formal proceedings of the Third European Symposium on Calcified Tissues which was held in Davos, Switzerland from 11th to 16th April 1965 under the sponsorship of the Laboratorium fur experi mentelle Chirurgie, Schweizerisches Forschungsinstitut Davos. This Symposium fol lowed the now established tradition of the previous Symposia held in Oxford in 1963 and in Liege in 1964. Participation was again strictly on a residential hasis. This year the Schatzalp Hotel provided a scenic and secluded meeting place high on a mountain side overlooking Davos yet close to the Forschungsinstitut in which the opening session of the Symposium was held. The papers and communications published in the volume are arranged in order of presentation and are grouped under the five main themes selected for discussion by the Symposium, namely, "Cell function in the formation, maintenance and destruc tion of osseous tissue," "Response of calcified tissues to mechanical factors," "Mecha nisms of mineralization and diseases related to mineral deposition," "Hormones and bone" and "Fundamental structure of dental hard tissues." The programme consisted of a number of review lectures given by invited speakers and of short communications in relation to each of the above themes. No attempt was made to record the dis cussions to the papers as, being a residential meeting, the more valuable and interest ing interchanges took place informally in small discussion groups and not within the time schedule of the prearranged programme."

In diesem Band werden innovative Therapieformen in der Nephrologie, Hamatologie und Hypertonieforschung vorgestellt, insbesondere die Behandlungsfortschritte bei chronischen Nierenerkrankungen. Experten aus Forschung, Klinik und Praxis diskutieren charakteristische Therapiesubstanzen bei chronischen Nierenerkrankungen, weiterfuhrende Perspektiven der Therapie von Knochenstoffwechselstorungen durch den Einsatz von Biophosphonaten sowie die klinische Relevanz der Mikroalbuminurie zur Detektion von Nephropathien.