The papers contained in this book were presented at a NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) held at Cape Sounion, Athens, Greece, 19-24 May, 1991. The twenty-eight more comprehensive papers represent the key subjects of the ARW covered by invited speakers. The thirty-four short papers pre- sented in a research format are contributions of those invited to participate in the ARW. There was a total of 70 participants from 21 countries. The objectives of the ARW were as follows: to review current knowledge of biological control of plant diseases and plant parasitic nematodes, with emphasis on...

In recent years experimental and numerical studies have shown that chaos is a widespread phenomenon throughout the biological hierarchy ranging from simple enzyme reactions to ecosystems. Although a coherent picture of the fundamental mechanisms responsible for chaotic dynamics has started to appear it is not yet clear what the implications of such dynamics are for biological systems in general. In some systems it appears that chaotic dynamics are associated with a pathological condi- tion. In other systems the pathological condition has regular periodic dynamics whilst the normal...

The presence of sophisticated auditory processing in mammals has permitted perhaps the most significant evolutionary development in humans: that of language. An understanding of the neural basis of hearing is thus a starting point for elucidating the mechanisms that are essential to human communication. The cochlear nucleus is the first region of the brain to receive input from the inner ear and is therefore the earliest stage in the central nervous system at which auditory signals are processed for distribution to higher centers. Clarifying its role in the central auditory pathway is crucial...

he major theme of this book is the development of the vertebrate central nervous system. is volume contains summaries of most of the invited participants at the NA advanced study institute entitled "Development of central nervous system in vertebrates" held in Maratea, Italy, from June 23-July 5, 1991. In order to address this topic, we have drawn upon a selection of current studies dealing with molecular, cellular and system analysis which specifically pertain to the general principles of the development. he major aim of this institute was to bring together a select group of investigators...

The NATO Advanced Research Workshop entitled "The Photosynthetic Bacterial Reaction Center: Structure, Spectroscopy, and Dynamics" was held May 10-15, 1992, in the Maison d'H6tes of the Centre d'Etudes Nuc1eaires de Cadarache near Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. This workshop is the most recent of a string of meetings which started in Feldafing (Germany) in March 1985, soon after the three-dimensional structure of the bacterial reaction center had been elucidated by X-ray crystallography. This was followed, in September 1987, by a workshop in Cadarache and, in March 1990, by a second...

This book constitutes the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Research Workshop held at Chateau de Bonas (France) from 10-15 July 1990 on the Midbrain Periaqueductal Gray Matter (PAG). The aim of this meeting was to review and integrate our knowledge about the functional, anatomical and neuro- chemical organization of the PAG. The PAG has been the subject of many investi- gations during the last decade usually on different topics (e.g., pain modulation, defensive and sexual behavior) and generally there has been little interchange between the different research areas. The main purpose of this...

The VI NATO Advanced Study Institute on Plant Molecular Biology, held in Elmau, Bavaria, Germany, from 14 to 23 May, 1990, brought together representative scientific leaders from all over the world to review their lastest results. They presented lectures or posters, participated in lively discussions, educated students, and exchanged views and plans for future research in this highly exciting field of science. The experiments, data and questions were naturally varied, but all of them illustrate that the modern techniques of molecular biology, complemented by developments in immunology,...

The NATO Advanced Study Institute of "Molecular and Applied Aspects of Oxida- tive Drug Metabolizing Enzymes" was held in Tekirova, Antalya, Turkey, from August 31 to September 11, 1997. This Institute was the third of a series of the NATO ASIs on a similar topic relating to the enzymes of oxidative metabolism of xenobiotics. The first NATO ASI in this series, entitled "Molecular Aspects of Monooxygenases and Bioactiva- tion of Toxic Compounds" (NATO ASI Series A: Life Sciences, Vol. 202), was held in

From within complex structures of organisms and cells down to the molecular level, biological processes all involve movement. Muscular fibers slide on each other to activate the muscle, as polymerases do along nucleic acids for replicating and transcribing the genetic material. Cells move and organize themselves into organs by recognizing each other through macromolecular surface-specific interactions. These recognition processes involve the mu- tual adaptation of structures that rely on their flexibility. All sorts of conformational changes occur in proteins involved in through-membrane...

Fluorescence is a very powerful tool for work at the frontier of cell biology, photobiology and bioinstrumentation. The stated aim of the workshop was to highlight the significance of fluorescence work for the understanding of cell and tissue physiology, physiopathology and pharmacology, particulary in terms of the analytical use of fluorescent probes in oncology. In the organization of the workshop a multidisciplinary approach was selected. The purpose of the Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) was to bring together researchers in the various disciplines of tissue optics, imaging,...