The first Taurine Symposium organized by Dr. Ryan Huxtable and the late Dr. Andre Barbeau was held in Tucson, Arizona, in 1975. Since that auspici ous event, nine international symposia on the role of taurine in biology have taken place. The locations for these meetings have been Tucson (two times), Rome, Philadelphia, Tokyo, Vancouver, Mexico City, Helsinki, and Florence. In 1977, due to the large number of scientists in Japan who were interested in the role of this unique amino acid in biological systems, we organized the Japanese Research Society on Sulfur Amino Acids with the...

Proceedings of the Second Rappaport Symposium, Haifa, Israel, March 13-16, 1988

Sir Dominic Corrigan's classic monograph "On Permanent Patency of the Mouth of the Aorta, or Inadequacy of the Aortic Valves" was published in 1832. Descriptions of aortic regurgitation had previously been published by others, but Corrigan's contribution was so comprehensive that his name is still closely associated with this disorder. He described the physical findings and the underlying gross pathologic anatomy of aortic regurgitation. He recognized that sudden death was not characteristic of aortic regurgitation, as it was in aortic stenosis, and his therapeutic approach was based on firm...

Over two centuries ago, oxygen was discovered as "air vital": the component of the earth's atmosphere necessary for life. Less than five years after this discovery, it was found that oxygen was both a life-sustaining and life threatening inhalant as it plays a role in the two extremes of the animal kingdom: life and death. In the subse quent years, we have made major strides in understanding the role of oxygen in maintaining life and volumes of information are now available on this topic. Our knowledge of the contribution of oxygen in cellular dysfunction and cell death which for the most...

Although some investigators have questioned the importance and even the existence of silent myocardial ischemia, documentation presented at this two day symposium leaves little doubt about its existence and importance. It has been estimated that about 3 million of the estimated 4 million angina sufferers in the United states have frequent episodes of silent myocardial ischemia. Although it is not possible to define how many Americans die due to silent ischemia, it has been suggested that the mortality rate may exceed hundreds of thousands of victims annually. Unfortunately, there still...

The field of catheter ablation has grown In a rather helter-skelter fashion. Ablative techniques were applied in patients before basic bioelectric and cellular electrophysiologic effects were fully defined. Since the introduction of this technique into clinical medicine in 1982, happily, a wealth of basic information has become available, and it was thought prudent to summarize existing data in the form of a text. The purpose of this text is to provide for a concise summary of both the basic and clinical experiences to date. It was simply not possible to include chapters from many workers who...

Some 25 years ago, the coronary care unit concentrated high technology and the acutely ill patients who might benefit from it in a single, recognizable space. Since then, that space and its technical equipment have changed, as has part of its population. Acute ischemia, silent and manifest, occurs within and outside of the coronary care unit as pain, arrhythmia, or pump failure. Its detection and treatment require the utilization of many diagnostic techniques and skills, not the least of which is two-dimensional Doppler echocardio graphy, which is gaining importance. Future developments, in...

To accomplish these objectives, the book is Body surface electrocardiographic mapping is not a new technique. It is one initially de divided into five sections. In Part I, the deve veloped many decades ago, but it has only lopment of electrocardiographic leads as well as recently matured into a powerful tool for surface mapping is viewed from an historical studying the cardiac electrical field. This book perspective. This is followed in Part II by a is intended to review, both critically and in review of the fundamental physiologic and detail, the applications of this unique method...

It is quite natural that literature related to car heart disease, cardiomyopathy, pulmonary and diac structure, function, pathology, and patho pulmonary vascular disease, trauma, acquired valvular disease, congenital disease, and surgi physiology has emphasized the left heart and systemic circulation. The relative lack of im cal considerations. The pathologic and clinical relevance of myocardial infarction of the right portance of the right ventricle was supported by studies performed in the 1940s and 1950s ventricle has only been documented over the which suggested that the right ventricular...

The management of patients who present with a myocardial i nfarcti on has altered radi ca lly over the past two decades. The expansion of knowledge relating to the epidemiology of the condition together with a greater understanding of the causes of the early mortality from it have resulted in major changes in the way these pati ents are treated duri ng the acute phase of the illness. The deve 1 opment of 'dedi cated' Coronary Care Units in hospitals and the recogni ti on of the need for ' Mobile Coronary Care Units' in the cOl1Ul1unity have made a major impact upon the early mortality from...