Growth Hormone is a fitting addition to the Endocrine Updates Series. The aim of these publications is to provide the clinician with cutting-edge, yet succinct, access to the latest advances in endocrinology. Current interest in this rapidly evolving area of endocrinology makes this a timely and important update. Growth Hormone joins Dr. Fagin's Thyroid Cancer in continuing the standard of excellence as the fourth volume in this series of topical updates. Shlomo Melmed, MD, Series Editor, Endocrine Updates Ten years ago, many endocrinologists were still skeptical that growth hormone (GH) played an active role in adult metabolism. This is, perhaps, surprising given that GH deficiency (GHD) in adulthood had been recognized' as long ago as the 1960s. During the last ten years studies have shown that GHD in adulthood is a far-reaching syndrome associated with abnormal body composition, reduced bone mineral density with an increased fracture rate, increased cardiovascular morbidity and impaired cardiac function, as well as reduced exercise performance and decreased psychological well-being. Importantly, it is also clear, from placebo-controlled trials, that GH replacement therapy can normalize body composition, increase bone mineral content and improve the cardiovascular risk factor profile. GH replacement therapy also improves cardiac performance and exercise capacity, increases muscle strength and improves well-being and quality of life. The aim of Growth Hormone is to provide a critical update of current knowledge about adult GHD and the future role of GH/IGF-1 in adult medicine. For this purpose, contributions from a number of research groups have been invited. It is my hope that the book may not only serve as an introduction to the field, but also stimulate further research within this exciting area.

The breathtaking success of the WDM technology in backbone networks also pushes the development and implementation of optical packet-switched WDM local and metropolitan area networks. Local and metropolitan area optical WDM networks are emerging as viable and cost-effective solutions for many telecommunication operators and service providers who have to face an extremely growing bandwidth demand and expensive additional fiber installation costs. Thus, the strong need for the development of novel high-speed architectures and protocols for such networks arises. In Optical Packet Access Protocols for WDM Networks, different basic and novel medium access control (MAC) protocols for WDM-based LANs/MANs, typically belonging to the group of single-hop networks, are proposed and analyzed. Thereby, solutions for the direct and efficient support of distinct Quality-of-Service (QoS) classes over the WDM transmission layer are provided. Besides a comprehensive overview on the state-of-the-art photonic metro networks, highly dynamic reservation-based access protocols relying on the passive-star and the ring topology are presented while assuming the deployment of wavelength-tunable transceivers at the network nodes. Optical Packet Access Protocols for WDM Networks provides both a comprehensive survey on existing WDM local and metro lightwave systems and the design of novel highly efficient medium access control protocols with QoS support for such systems. Accordingly, this work is appropriate for communication and network engineers from both the academic and industrial world working in the field of optical communication networks, computer science, and communication engineering.

Growth Hormone is a fitting addition to the Endocrine Updates Series. The aim of these publications is to provide the clinician with cutting-edge, yet succinct, access to the latest advances in endocrinology. Current interest in this rapidly evolving area of endocrinology makes this a timely and important update. Growth Hormone joins Dr. Fagin's Thyroid Cancer in continuing the standard of excellence as the fourth volume in this series of topical updates. Shlomo Melmed, MD, Series Editor, Endocrine Updates Ten years ago, many endocrinologists were still skeptical that growth hormone (GH) played an active role in adult metabolism. This is, perhaps, surprising given that GH deficiency (GHD) in adulthood had been `recognized' as long ago as the 1960s. During the last ten years studies have shown that GHD in adulthood is a far-reaching syndrome associated with abnormal body composition, reduced bone mineral density with an increased fracture rate, increased cardiovascular morbidity and impaired cardiac function, as well as reduced exercise performance and decreased psychological well-being. Importantly, it is also clear, from placebo-controlled trials, that GH replacement therapy can normalize body composition, increase bone mineral content and improve the cardiovascular risk factor profile. GH replacement therapy also improves cardiac performance and exercise capacity, increases muscle strength and improves well-being and quality of life. The aim of Growth Hormone is to provide a critical update of current knowledge about adult GHD and the future role of GH/IGF-1 in adult medicine. For this purpose, contributions from a number of research groups have been invited. It is my hope that the book may not only serve as an introduction to the field, but also stimulate further research within this exciting area.

The breathtaking success of the WDM technology in backbone networks also pushes the development and implementation of optical packet-switched WDM local and metropolitan area networks. Local and metropolitan area optical WDM networks are emerging as viable and cost-effective solutions for many telecommunication operators and service providers who have to face an extremely growing bandwidth demand and expensive additional fiber installation costs. Thus, the strong need for the development of novel high-speed architectures and protocols for such networks arises. In Optical Packet Access Protocols for WDM Networks, different basic and novel medium access control (MAC) protocols for WDM-based LANs/MANs, typically belonging to the group of single-hop networks, are proposed and analyzed. Thereby, solutions for the direct and efficient support of distinct Quality-of-Service (QoS) classes over the WDM transmission layer are provided.Besides a comprehensive overview on the state-of-the-art photonic metro networks, highly dynamic reservation-based access protocols relying on the passive-star and the ring topology are presented while assuming the deployment of wavelength-tunable transceivers at the network nodes. Optical Packet Access Protocols for WDM Networks provides both a comprehensive survey on existing WDM local and metro lightwave systems and the design of novel highly efficient medium access control protocols with QoS support for such systems. Accordingly, this work is appropriate for communication and network engineers from both the academic and industrial world working in the field of optical communication networks, computer science, and communication engineering.