This volume is based on the NATO Advanced Study Institute, "Advances in Mor phometries" held in 11 Ciocco, Tuscany, Italy from July 18-30, 1993, and directed by Leslie F. Marcus. The "Advances in Morphometries" ASI was advertised in Nature and a number of professional journals. Announcements were sent to relevant institutions and departments throughout the world. Because NATO required that the majority of attendees be from NATO countries, the 71 persons attending represented nine NATO countries, four eastern European countries, now recognized as equal partners for AS Is, and a few...

Recent advances in our understanding of the fundamental role of bioactive lipids in normal and abnormal physiology was the theme of the XVlth International Spring Sympo 6-9, 1996 at the George Washington University School sium on Health Sciences held on May of Medicine in Washington, D.C. Over 250 participants shared their latest findings on fundamental mechanisms in lipid metabolism, transport, and signal transduction. Most of the papers presented at the plenary sessions have been collected in this volume, which is divided into seven parts. The focus of Part I is on the new roles that fatty...

The Fourteenth Washington International Spring Symposium, held in Washington, D.C., in June 1994, brought together over 400 leading scientists from 21 countries to review and update research on cardiovascular disease. This group satisfied the symposium goals of formulating a more comprehensive and integrated picture of the events contributing to atherosclerosis and of exploring modified gene expression as an to understanding the causes of atherosclerosis and providing clues to the approach prevention and treatment. This volume contains most of the papers presented at the eight plenary...

Interest in the cell cycle has grown explosively in recent years as a result of the identification of key cell cycle regulators and their substrates. Aside from enhancing our understanding of normal cellular growth controls, this new knowledge has also becn valuable in elucidating mechanisms of growth deregulation which occur in diseased states, such as cancer and, in some instances, viral or parasitic infections. The Thirteenth Washington International Spring Symposium was organized with the intention of bringing together scientists working on different aspects of the cell cycle. Scientific...

The VIIIth Annual International Spring Symposium on Health Sciences held at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., attracted over three hun dred fifty scientists from twenty-five countries. The leading scientific experts in the field reported on recent biomedical advances in aging. They provided an up-to-date account of the molecular, genetic, nutritional, and immunological mechanisms associated with the aging process and approaches to intervention and treatment of the major disorders associated with the aging process, including Alzheimer's disease. A unique...

Intercellular communication in multicellular organisms enables cells to respond to environmental changes. Intercellular signal transduction transmitters include hormones, peptide growth factors, neurotransmitters as well as some lipid-soluble mediators. Once signalling molecules are bound to their cell surface receptors, one or more intracellular signals are generated which alter the Qehavior of the target cell. The IXth International Washington Spring Symposium at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. was organized to assess the current status of the field of signal...

The Twelfth Annual Washington Spring Symposium on Health Sciences attracted over 300 scientists from 20 countries. It was held at the Lisner Auditorium of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. during June 1-5, 1992. The theme of the meeting was "Growth Factors, Peptides, and Receptors," and speakers emphasized both basic and clinical research in these areas. The seven plenary sessions emphasized Peptides, Growth Factors, Peptide Receptors, Growth Factor Receptors, Second Messengers, Proliferation, and Clinical Correlations. The chapters in this volume are derived from each of...

Recent advances in our understanding of the fundamental role of bioactive lipids in normal and abnormal physiology was the theme of the XVlth International Spring Sympo- 6-9, 1996 at the George Washington University School sium on Health Sciences held on May of Medicine in Washington, D.C. Over 250 participants shared their latest findings on fundamental mechanisms in lipid metabolism, transport, and signal transduction. Most of the papers presented at the plenary sessions have been collected in this volume, which is divided into seven parts. The focus of Part I is on the new roles that fatty...

The family of known essential fatty acid metabolites continues to grow. Synthesis of the prostaglandins from essential fatty acids was first described by Bergstrom and Samuelsson in 1964. The thromboxanes were discovered in 1975, the pros tacyclins, by Moncada and Vane, in 1976, and the leukotrienes by Samuelsson in 1979. The discovery of a new class of biologically active arachidonic acid metab olites named lipoxins was announced by Bengt Samuelsson at the IVth International Spring Symposium on Health Sciences held in Washington D. C., May 1984. This volume, Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and...