The mystery of the diffuse interstellar bands has been variously a curiosity, a co nundrum, and a nuisance for astronomers in the seven decades since the features were first noticed, but recently they have become a forefront issue in astrophysics. Ever since Paul Merrill, in a series of papers starting in 1934, pointed out the interstellar and unidentified nature of the bands, a Who's Who of twentieth century astronomers have tried their hands at solving the problem of identifying the carriers. Henry Norris Russell, Pol Swings, Otto Struve, Paul Ledoux, W. W. Morgan, Walter Adams, Jesse...

Over the last decade, cytokine research has emerged as one of the most exciting and critical fields for providing fundamental knowledge of normal and abnormal human development. Today, it is apparent that cytokines orchestrate growth from the early embryonic stage to maturity and are responsible for the normal function of virtually every organ system. Furthermore, virtually all disease states have been associated, at least in part, with cytokine aberrations.
In this volume, the editors have brought together internationally known experts in the field of interleukin research to provide a...

380 years ago, in the year 1614, Ubbo Emmius transplanted the gene ofscience from Ostfriesland into the education genome ofthe city ofGroningen as devel oped by Regnerus Praedinius. He thereby founded the University ofGroningen. It is with great pleasure that the Faculty of Medicine as one of the founding faculties ofour University, welcomes you to this 19th International Symposium ofBloodTransfusion, whichwill coverthe themeofHereditaryDiseasesandtheir relation to Transfusion Medicine, where cell expansion, gene transfer and gene therapy are the read thread. Since the earlydays there has...

Give, and it shall be given unto you. ST. LUKE, VI, 38. The book is based on several courses of lectures on control theory and appli cations which were delivered by the authors for a number of years at Moscow Electronics and Mathematics University. The book, originally written in Rus sian, was first published by Vysshaya Shkola (Higher School) Publishing House in Moscow in 1989. In preparing a new edition of the book we planned to make only minor changes in the text. However, we soon realized that we like many scholars working in control theory had learned many new things and had had many new...

Interrogative Phrases and the Syntax-Semantics Interface starts by analyzing the interpretation of interrogative phrases in single and multiple constituent questions, including their interpretation under adverbs of quantification. The results are then put to work in a novel approach to some of the constraints on dependencies between fronted interrogative phrases and the associated gaps: superiority, weak crossover, as well as the so-called weak islands' (the WH-island, the negative island and the Factive Island). It is argued that the possibility of fronting an interrogative phrase...

A new approach to explaining the existence of firms and markets, focusing on variability and coordination. It stands in contrast to the emphasis on transaction costs, and on monitoring and incentive structures, which are prominent in most of the modern literature in this field. This approach, called the variability approach, allows us to: show why both the need for communication and the coordination costs increase when the division of labor increases; explain why, while the firm relies on direction, the market does not; rigorously formulate the optimum divisionalization...

HE IMPLANTABLE CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATOR, or T"lCD," is arguably the most technologically challenging type of therapy that physicians utilize today. At the same time, engineers who design ICDs are being called upon by clinicians to extend even further the technological envelope in quest of building the "ideal" device. To the extent, however, that physicians who utilize ICDs are not sufficiently comfortable with or familiar with the engineering principles that guide ICD function, the full clinical potential of even an ideal device will not be realized. In comple mentary fashion, engineers...

The importance of left ventricular hypertrophy in cardiovascular disease has gained wide recognition. Left ventricular hypertrophy is a highly important risk factor associated with major cardiovascular events, including symptomatic heart failure, particularly in patients with systemic hypertension. Over the past years much has been learned about the genetics, molecular background, prevalence, incidence and prognosis of left ventricular hypertrophy. A variety of noninvasive methods has emerged for detecting left ventricular hypertrophy and the assessment of reversal of hypertrophy. Yet, a lot...

Despite the significant decline in heart disease mortaht>' rates over the last 25 years, heart failure has remained a significant problem. We are now confronted with large numbers of terminally ill patients for whom conventional therapies for heart failure have been exhausted and for whom repeated hospital visits are necessary. There now is a major thrust towards a management strategy which embraces a comprehensive approach including vigorous preventive measures and earlier surgical interventions. This book outlines the major surgical options for the treatment of heart failure and brings...

A little bit more than two years after the first edition, we are pleased to publish the second edition of this book. More than half of the chapters have been remodeled and completed as the result of technical improvements and recently acquired clinical data. During these two years, the number of coronary pressure measurements performed worldwide both during diagnostic and interventional procedures has increased almost exponentially. Most of the initial problems associated with this new approach have been overcome. Many colleagues have explored new research avenues and in many catheterization...