This special issue of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry contains original research articles and review papers which were invited from the participants of a recent meeting organized to honour the 60th birthday of Naranjan S. Dhalla, Ph.D., M.D.(Hon.). The meeting, organized by Drs. Morris Karmazyn (London), Grant Pierce (Winnipeg) and Balwant Tuana (Ottawa), was held at the Best Western Lakeside Inn in Kenora, Ontario, Canada on August 23-25, 1996. The meeting was entitled The Cellular Basis of Cardiovascular Function in Health and Disease. There were over 40 invited speakers from 15 different countries represented at the meeting, attended by over 280 people. Keynote lectures were presented by Drs. Norman Alpert (Burlington, VT), Robert Jennings (Chapel Hill, NC), Makoto Nagano (Tokyo, Japan), Howard Morgan (Danville, PA), John Solaro (Chicago, IL) and Nobuskira Takeda (Tokyo, Japan). Dr. Henry Friesen, President of the Medical Research Council of Canada, presented Dr. Dhalla with a plaque at the banquet honouring his research accomplishments over his distinguished career. Dr.Dhalla's outstanding research achievements in understanding the subcellular basis of cardiovascular disease were highlighted at the meeting. One of the unique aspects of the meeting was the special effort made by 39 former trainees of Dr. Dhalla to attend the meeting to honour their mentor. The ex-students and trainees came from all over Canada, the United States, Japan, Slovakia, Germany, the Czech Republic, Estonia and the Netherlands. The meeting was judged to be an overwhelming success in terms of the scientific content as well as collaborative interactions initiated.

Heart Hypertrophy and Failure brings together leading basic scientists and clinicians, presenting improved knowledge of the pathophysiology and treatment of the condition. The result is a synthesis of state-of-the-art information on molecular biology, cellular physiology and structure-function relationships in the cardiovascular system in health and disease. The papers presented describe fundamental mechanisms underlying changes in the cellular machinery during the development of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. Audience: Students, scientists, clinical and experimental cardiologists who seek to understand and manage the perplexing problems of hypertrophy and heart failure.

Heart Hypertrophy and Failure brings together leading basic scientists and clinicians, presenting improved knowledge of the pathophysiology and treatment of the condition. The result is a synthesis of state-of-the-art information on molecular biology, cellular physiology and structure-function relationships in the cardiovascular system in health and disease. The papers presented describe fundamental mechanisms underlying changes in the cellular machinery during the development of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. Audience: Students, scientists, clinical and experimental cardiologists who seek to understand and manage the perplexing problems of hypertrophy and heart failure.

A concise, in-depth analysis of the status of the sympathetic system in heart diseases
This book summarizes the functional status of the sympathetic neural system in cardiological diseased states and highlights aspects of sympathetic neural activity that are important to an overall understanding of the pathophysiology process. Critical reviews of methods for evaluating sympathetic activity are discussed, existing data is closely scrutinized, and attempts are made to delineate the factors derived from increased sympathetic activity. The book provides a physiologically and clinically based approach to the investigation of the involvement of catecholamines in cardiovascular diseases, which makes it a valuable addition to the reference collections of researchers, clinical scientists, and graduate students.