Cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions are of fundamental importance for the development and the maintenance of tissues and organs in multicellular organisms. Adhesive processes are mediated and controlled by an increasingly large and complex number of cell adhesion molecules that are anchored to the cell surface membrane by transmembrane domains. According to their structural and functional features, cell adhesion molecules have been classified into at least four major families: the integrins, selectins, cadherins and members of the immunoglobulin superfamily. Apart from linking cells to each other or to components of the extracellular matrix, cell adhesion molecules function also as receptors that interact via their cytoplasmic domain with numerous signalling molecules including protein kinases and phosphatases, G-proteins, or proteins of the beta-catenin/armadillo family. Cell adhesion molecules can activate various signalling pathways and as a consequence play a crucial role in the regulation of cell differentiation, proliferation, migration and apoptosis. During the last decade it has been recognized that acquired as well as inherited defects of cell adhesion molecules and adhesion-linked signalling molecules are the molecular basis of various types of disease including cancer, infectious and inflammatory disease, connective tissue disorders or blistering disease.
This book is the proceedings of a Falk Workshop held in Berlin, Germany, on January 23-24, 2003, which brought together experts in different fields of research to stimulate the transfer of findings from basic research to clinical application. Section I focuses on cell adhesion molecules of the liver and their role inhepatocarcinogenesis and inflammatory liver disease. Section II deals with infection and fibrosis and with transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta). Morphogenesis, cell migration and inflammation are the subject of Section III with a focus on the role of integrins in blood cell-endothelial interactions. In Section IV the importance of cell adhesion molecules for cancer and their role as potential target for cancer therapy will be discussed.

The first gene responsible for Crohn's disease has now been identified and the pathophysiological understanding of inflammatory bowel disease as well as its practical treatment have made much progress in recent years. Thus it is obviously important to consider the targets and the aims of treatment in context. The Falk Symposium No. 131 (Part II of the Gastroenterology Week Freiburg 2002), held in October 2002 in Freiburg, Germany, in its first part was dedicated to newly defined and partly alternative therapeutic targets. In addition, an attempt was made to learn from experts from other fields such as pneumology or dermatology. The second part was dedicated to the aims of treatment in daily practice. Aside from general treatment, aims such as amelioration of symptoms, pre-conditions of treatment, the view of the patients, and aspects of life quality were dealt with. This volume is the proceedings of the symposium and is important reading for both clinicians and basic scientists.

Despite recent advances, the pathogenesis and therapy of various forms of chronic inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract remains problematical. Especially threatening is the possible complication of the development of a malignant growth, but the role of the chronic inflammatory process in this is not known. Three examples are: H. pylori-induced gastritis is associated with gastric lymphomas and carcinomas; there is an increased incidence of intestinal T-cell lymphomas in tropical sprue; and chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, particularly ulcerative colitis, are associated with an increased incidence of carcinoma. In this book, the Proceedings of Falk Symposium No. 81, held in Berlin, November 3-5, 1994, an extensive exchange of information and opinions between international experts yields a state-of-the-art consensus on practical procedures in diagnostics, prophylaxis and therapy.

The gastrointestinal tract has a number of unique features. Its extensive surface is formed by a single layer of rapidly renewing cells, the intestinal epithelial cells. These cells are in contact with a number of other cell populations, including the largest part of the immune system, and with an excessive luminal antigen load, including vast numbers of bacteria. Furthermore two more organs, namely liver and pancreas, are part of the system. The rapid renewal of the epithelial layer, the interactions of different cell types, and the balance between cell proliferation and death, have been fascinating subjects of studies in recent years. Much has been learned, and cytokines have emerged as important mediators for all these interactions and homeostatic systems. This book, the proceedings of the Falk Symposium 113 on `Cytokines and Cell Homeostasis in the Gastrointestinal Tract', held in Regensburg, Germany, 16-18 September 1999, provides a forum for basic scientists and interested clinicians to exchange ideas, to discuss concepts and to plan further studies.

This book, the proceedings of Falk Symposium No. 104, organized in collaboration with the Society of Mucosal Immunology, and held in Saarbrucken, Germany, March 5-7 1998, is centered around the immunological mechanisms of mucosal protection and their disturbances leading to intestinal inflammation and destruction. This is a rapidly expanding field involving recent knowledge of basic immunology and cell biology as well as clinical observations. The conference and this book summarize very recent data in this field and suggest strategies for future research and clinical applications, and will be of interest to both basic scientists and clinicians.

This book, the proceedings of Falk Symposium 133 on Mechanisms of Intestinal Inflammation: Implications for Therapeutic Intervention in IBD', held in Berlin, Germany, on 10-11 June 2003, summarizes present knowledge in the area of unspecific and specific immune reactions in the gut, recording the gaps in our knowledge and, in particular, presenting the possibilities of targeted intervention. The link to inflammatory bowel diseases - Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis - is always in focus. Chapters by an international panel of basic scientists, clinical researchers and clinicians also record the problems which can originate through today's possible modulation of the immune reaction, setting the basis for review of clinical problems. This book is valuable readings for all scientists and physicians, who, from different perspectives, have an interest in research on IBD and in the clinical management of these diseases.

This book, the proceedings of the Falk Symposium No. 146 Gut-Liver Interactions: Basic and Clinical Concepts, held in Innsbruck, Austria, on March 11-12, 2005, brings together gastroenterologists and hepatologists both at a clinical and a basic scientific level. Topics have been structured in such a way to be of interest to both clinicians and basic scientists. The main focus of the book is to highlight the role of the immune system in gut and liver diseases and potential interactions of the gut and the liver respectively. Special emphasis is based on the importance of the gut flora in intestinal and also in liver diseases. The role of NOD2 is one of the very best examples demonstrating the importance, not only in inflammatory bowel diseases, but also diseases well beyond this barrier.

Such intense interactions between gastroenterologists and hepatologists, as shown through this book, might boost and stimulate scientific ideas and research in other unexpected areas.

Die hier zusammengefassten Ergebnisse einer interdisziplinaren Fachtagung vermitteln den aktuellen Wissensstand bei ausgewahlten Darmerkrankungen. Berucksichtigt werden seuchenhafte Darmerkrankungen, der Darm als Reaktionsorgan bei Infektionen, Physiologie und Storungen der exokrinen Pankreassekretion, Regulation und Storungen der gastrointestinalen Motilitat, Immunstimulation im Bereich mukosaler Oberflachen - Toleranz, Protektion, Destruktion sowie maligne Transformation.

Die hier zusammengefa ten Ergebnisse einer interdisziplin{- ren Fachtagung vermitteln den aktuellen Wissensstand bei ausgew{lten Darmerkrankungen. Ber}cksichtigt werden colore- tale Tumoren, Darminfektionen bei Reisenden und Bewohnern tropischer L{nder, Funktionsst-rungen durch Enzymmangel, Intoleranzen und Nahrungsmittelallergene, extraintestinale Manifestationen, neue Aspekte aus der Darmimmunologie sowie diagnostische Ans{tze und Behandlungsm-glichkeiten durch nicht antibiotisch wirksame Pr{parate. ]bersichtsreferate und neue Forschungsergebnisse von Wissenschaftlern der rele- vanten klinischen und theoretischen F{cher geben dem Leser nicht nur praktische Hinweise, sondern vermitteln gleichzei- tig das notwendige theoretische Wissen.

Band 3 der Reihe "Okosystem Darm" befasst sich mit den Abwehrmechanismen im Magen-Darm-Trakt. Dieses Thema ist besonders wichtig, da Atiologie und Pathogenese verschiedener Erkrankungen des Dunn- und Dickdarmes immer noch weitgehend ungeklart sind und die immunologischen Abwehrmechanismen moglicherweise dabei eine Schlusselrolle einnehmen. Die interdisziplinare Darstellung tragt zum besseren Verstandnis dieser Vorgange bei und ermoglicht dem Arzt gezieltes therapeutisches Vorgehen."

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2008 im Fachbereich BWL - Unternehmensfuhrung, Management, Organisation, Note: 1,7, FOM Hochschule fur Oekonomie & Management gemeinnutzige GmbH, Neuss fruher Fachhochschule (Fachhochschule fur Okonomie und Management), Veranstaltung: Hauptstudium, Projekmanagement, 49 Quellen im Literaturverzeichnis, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Diese Fallstudie soll einen Uberblick uber die typischen Fehler im Projektmanagement geben, die zu eben diesen Ergebnissen fuhren. Dabei wird sowohl auf Fehler in der Vorgehensweise, bei der Wahl sowie dem Einsatz von Methoden und Werkzeugen, als auch auf Fehler im Projektmarketing eingegangen. Weiterhin wird ein Uberblick uber das Krisenmanagement gegeben und die Auswirkungen der Fehler, sowie Losunskonzepte zur Optimierung des Projektmanagements in einer Uberzeugungsmatrix diskutiert.

Historians of postwar American politics often identify race as a driving force in the dynamically shifting political culture. Joshua Zeitz instead places religion and ethnicity at the fore, arguing that ethnic conflict among Irish Catholics, Italian Catholics, and Jews in New York City had a decisive impact on the shape of liberal politics long before black-white racial identity politics entered the political lexicon. Understanding ethnicity as an intersection of class, national origins, and religion, Zeitz demonstrates that the white ethnic populations of New York had significantly diverging views on authority and dissent, community and individuality, secularism and spirituality, and obligation and entitlement. New York Jews came from Eastern European traditions that valued dissent and encouraged political agitation; their Irish and Italian Catholic neighbors tended to value commitment to order, deference to authority, and allegiance to church and community. Zeitz argues that these distinctions ultimately helped fracture the liberal coalition of the Roosevelt era, as many Catholics bolted a Democratic Party increasingly focused on individual liberties, and many dissent-minded Jews moved on to the antiliberal New Left.