Elucidating the structures of biopolymers as they exist in nature has long been a goal of biochemists and biologists. Understanding how these substances interact with themselves, other solutes, and solvents can provide useful insights into many areas of biochemistry, agriculture, food science and medicine. Knowledge of the structure of a protein or complex carbohydrate in its native form provides guidelines for the chemical or genetic modifications often desired to optimize these compounds to specific needs and applications. For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, structure-function...

The pUrpOSE of this conference was not to define the two areas that are being bound, which might be a well nigh impossible proposition. Rather, its focus was to concentrate on the mechanistic similarities between promotion and progression. Are the areas involved within the boundaries a continuum? Are these two simultaneous processes? Or are some of the affected cells in the stage of promotion when at the same time others have undergone irreversi ble changes tha. t position them in the stage of progression? Or are these two stages the same thing, but called by different names? To explore such...

1. In the lumbar spinal canal of the achondroplast there is decreased cross-sectional area. In addition the intervertebral foramina are narrow. These changes result in reduced area for the dural sac and exiting spinal nerves. 2. There is associated thoracolumbar kyphosis and a lumbosacral hyperlordosis. These sagittal plane changes result in increased tension on the dural sac and nerves. 3. With aging there is disc degeneration with disc space narrowing and osteophyte formation. In addition facet hypertrophy with osteophyte formation are common. These degenerative changes further reduce the...

Charles E. Hess Department of Environmental Horticulture University of California Davis, CA 95616 Research in the biology of adventitious root formation has a special place in science. It provides an excellent forum in which to pursue fundamental research on the regulation of plant growth and development. At the same time the results of the research have been quickly applied by commercial plant propagators, agronomists, foresters and horticulturists (see the chapter by Kovar and Kuchenbuch, by Ritchie, and by Davies and coworkers in this volume). In an era when there is great interest in...

This symposium is the third in a series featuring the propaga- tion of higher plants through tissue culture. The first of these symposia, entitled "A Bridge Between Research and Application," was held at the University in 1978 and was published by the Technical Information Center, Department of Energy. The second symposium, on "Emerging Technologies and Strategies," was held in 1980 and pub- lished as a special issue of Environmental and Experimental Botany. One of the aims of these symposia was to examine the current state- of-the-art in tissue culture technology and to relate this state of...

Gilbert S. Omenn Dean, School of Public Health and Community Medicine University of Washington Seattle, Washington 98195 On behalf of the University of Washington, the City of Seattle, the Steering Committee, and the sponsoring agencies, corporations, and organ- izations, I welcome you. Ve all expect this Conference to stimulate further what is becoming an important application of biotechnology in an area in which our society experiences considerable frustration and gloom: the management of hazardous wastes. It is an all-too-frequent refrain that technology has its benefits and its risks. To...

This book is the compilation of papers presented at the International Symposium on In Vivo Body Composition Studies, held in Houston, Texas, November 10-12, 1992. The purpose of this conference was to report on the state-of-the-art techniques for in vivo body composition measurements and to present the most recent human data on normal body composition and changes during disease. This conference was the third in a series of meetings on body composition studies held in North America, and follows the successful meetings at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1986, and the one in Toronto in 1989. A...

It is delightful but humbling to find my face at the start of these Proceedings--there are innumerable other faces which could equally weIl stand there, from among the band who have fore- gathered at every gerontology conference since the subject was launched in its present form; but I deeply appreciate being there. Gerontology d. id not grow by accident. Its present standing is the fruit of careful planning, undertaken by European and American scientists back in the 1950's. In those days it was still a "fringe" science, and the conspirators had much the standing of the 1920's Interplanetary...

In numerous conversations with our colleagues from India, it was suggested that we help to institute a series of symposia in India similar in nature to those that have been conducted by our Latin American colleagues for more than 10 years. We were fortunate to have with us in Oak Ridge Dr. Niyogi and Dr. Mitra from Indian universities. Their close ties with the Bose Institute in Calcutta and the resultant correspondence with the Institute Director, Dr. S. M. Sircar, provided the stimulus for organization of this first Indian symposium, which was held in Calcutta. Under the direction of Dr....

To meet the needs of an ever-growing world population for food and fiber, agriculture uses an arsenal of chemicals to control insects, weeds and other pests that compete with man in the agricultural arena. In addition to their intended effect, many of these biologically active materials affect non-target organisms including man himself. There is concern about the resulting occupational exposure of those who work in agriculture and the environmental health of those who live in rural areas. Unintended side effects from the use of agricultural chemicals are further complicated by the dispersal...