Although the importance of calcium (Ca2+) in the maintenance of cardiac contractility was recognized as early as 1880, the critical role of the ion in the contractile process in skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle has only been established within the last three decades. As the complexity of the pharmacological actions of the Ca2+ channel inhibitors grows, there is a continued need to further clarify the inhibitors, both chemically and functionally. This volume provides an update of the field based on the work presented at the 5th International Symposium on Calcium Antagonists: Pharmacology and Clinical Research. It reviews the current state of the growing area of molecular biology of Ca2+ channels in the cardiovascular area, in addition to the well-established clinical uses of Ca2+ channel inhibitors, recent work pointing to an application in atherosclerosis is described. The text also includes important uses of Ca2+ antagonists in novel areas of interest such as the gastrointestinal tract, renal protection and multi-drug resistance.

A great deal of experimental, clinical and epidemiological data have been gathered to confirm the strict and causal correlation between plasma lipoproteins and coronary heart disease. However, as usually happens in research, many more interesting issues are being studied, opening new fields of research for the future. These new advances, together with the combined efforts of cell biologists and lipoprotein chemists, have set the pace for an exciting period of research and clinical applications of diets and drugs affecting plasma and cell lipids. This volume, which includes the work of many of the leading world labortories, represents an authoritative and up-to-date appraisal of the status of the art and a stimulus to future research at the laboratory and clinical level in a fascinating area of clinical and preventive medicine.

In this work, leading physicians; hepatologists; pharmacologists; pathologists; and transplant surgeons discuss the most recent advances in the field of liver disease and its treatment. Attention is focused on epidemiology; the diagnosis of disease (clinical chemistry, histopathology, medical imaging analysis); prognosis; prediction; and clinical management. Pathogenesis of diseases such as liver cirrhosis following viral disease or alcohol abuse are discussed at length, and special attention is dedicated to high risk patients (children, fulminant hepatitis). The other major topics include terminal liver failure, for which transplantation is now routine. The latter is discussed in depth, starting from the organ donor management; organ evaluation and preservation; new surgical techniques; post-transplant patient follow-up including side effects of immunosuppression; and reports of the latest drugs used to prevent rejection.