The Pasoh Forest Reserve in Malaysia is one of the most species-rich ecological systems on our planet. Since the 1970s it has been the site of intensive research on lowland tropical rain forest across a diverse range of disciplines including ecology, forestry, meteorology, and hydrology. Research has focused on biodiversity and sustainable management of tropical rain forests as well as the role of tropical rain forests in maintaining global climate and carbon sinks. This book compiles diverse studies of the ecology and natural history of the Pasoh Forest Reserve and focuses on six areas: Physical settings and environment; Vegetation structure, diversity, and dynamics; Plant population and functional biology; Animal ecology and biodiversity; Plant–animal interactions; and Anthropogenic impacts and forest management. This book is of interest to tropical forest researchers worldwide in ecology, conservation biology, taxonomy, and forestry.

The Pasoh Forest Reserve (pasoh FR) has been a leading center for international field research in the Asian tropical forest since the 1970s, when a joint research project was carried out by Japanese, British and Malaysian research teams with the cooperation of the University of Malaya (UM) and the Forest Research Institute (FRI, now the Forest Research Institute Malaysia, FRIM) under the International Biological Program (IBP). The main objective of the project was to provide basic information on the primary productivity ofthe tropical rain forest, which was thought to be the most productive of the world's ecosystems. After the IBP project, a collaborative program between the University of Malaya and the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, for post-graduate training was carried out at Pasoh. Reproductive biology of so me dipterocarp trees featured in many of the findings arrived at through the program, contributing greatly to progress in the population genetics of rain forest trees. Since those research pro grams, apart of the Pasoh forest and its field research station have been managed by FRIM. In 1984, FRIM started a long-term ecological research program in Pasoh FR with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and Harvard University, establishing a 50-ha plot and enumerating and mapping all trees 1 cm or more in diameter at breast height. A recensus has been conducted every 5 years.

Contents: T. Okuda, T. Yoshida, T. Hatano: Hydrolyzable Tannins and Related Polyphenols. - R.G. de Souza Berlinck: Some Aspects of Guanidine Secondary Metabolites. The volumes of this classic series, now referred to simply as "Zechmeister" after its founder, L. Zechmeister, have appeared under the Springer Imprint ever since the series' inauguration in 1938. The volumes contain contributions on various topics related to the origin, distribution, chemistry, synthesis, biochemistry, function or use of various classes of naturally occurring substances ranging from small molecules to biopolymers. Each contribution is written by a recognized authority in his field and provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the topic in question. Addressed to biologists, technologists, and chemists alike, the series can be used by the expert as a source of information and literature citations and by the non-expert as a means of orientation in a rapidly developing discipline.

The first useful antibiotic found by screening was streptomycin. The late Prof. WAKSMAN started screening for antibacterial antibiotics in 1940 and, after finding actinomycin in 1941, he and his collaborators discovered streptomycin in 1944. This antibiotic made a great contribution in saving human lives from tuberculosis and acute serious infections. About 1957, after wide usage of such antibiotics as penicillin, streptomycin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, and erythromycin, staphy- lococci and Gram negative organisms resistant to all or most antibiotic drugs ap- peared in hospital patients. The origin and treatment of such resistant strains be- came a major topic of investigation. At that time, kanamycin was discovered and used in the treatment of resistant infections. It may be said that the appearance of resistant strains stimulated a resurgence of research on new antibacterial antibiot- ics and their derivatives. In 1965, kanamycin-resistant strains were found in hospital patients and, undertaking the study of the mechanisms of resistance, I found that resistant strains produce intracellular enzymes that can transfer either the terminal phos- phate of ATP or the acetate of acetyl-CoA to the 3' -hydroxyl or the 6' -amino group of 2-deoxystreptamine~containing antibiotics. These results, reported in 1967, made it possible to design new synthetic derivatives that would inhibit the growth of kanamycin resistant strains of microorganisms. Thus, a new research area was opened: the development of aminoglycosides useful in the treatment of drug-resis- tant infections.

This issue of Neurologic Clinics, edited by Dr. Darin T. Okuda, focuses on Multiple Sclerosis. Topics include, but are not limited to, Myelin and Axonal Repair Strategies in Multiple Sclerosis; Common Clinical and Imaging Conditions Misdiagnosed as Multiple Sclerosis; Topographical Model for Multiple Sclerosis: A Novel Approach to Understanding Clinical Phenotypes and Disease Activity; Incidental Anomalies Characteristic of CNS Demyelination: Radiologically Isolated Syndrome; Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis: From Recognition to Practical Clinical Management; Progressive Forms of Multiple Sclerosis: Distinct Entity or Time Dependent Phenomena; Advanced Symptom Management Strategies in Multiple Sclerosis, Ethnic Considerations and Multiple Sclerosis Disease Variability; The Dynamics of the Gut Microbiome in Multiple Sclerosis in Relation to Disease; Spinal Cord Imaging in Relation to Clinical Status in Multiple Sclerosis, and more.