This collection of reviews contains contributions by internationally recognized immunologists and molecular and cellular neurobiologists. Uniquely, it puts side by side cellular communication devices and signaling mechanisms in the immune and nervous systems and discusses mechanisms of interaction between the two systems, the significance of which has only recently been fully appreciated.

Application-oriented book on magnetic recording, focussing on the underlying physical mechanisms that play crucial roles in medium and transducer development for high areal density disk drives.

Muscle development of vertebrates has been a paradigm of cell differentiation for many years. Three types of muscle are found in the vertebrate body: skele tal, heart and smooth muscle, and there has been a gradient of concern about these different muscle types in the sequence they are mentioned here. Skeletal muscle has received much attention because it can be induced to differentiate in vitro and because of the clinical relevance of myopathies. The discovery of the muscle-specific members of the bHLH and MADS families of transcription factors must be regarded as a breakthrough not only in...

What makes an ideal model system to study embryonic development? The answer to this question has varied in the course of scientific quest, depending on the available experimental approaches. Yet, at the beginning of the new millennium, most of the mainstream model organisms have one feature in common, they are amenable to genetic analysis. Indeed, the genetic approach has proven remarkably effective in the dissection of complex biological phenomena, starting with the regulation of the lactose operon in Escherichia coli, the decision between the lysogenic and lytic cycles of the lambda phage...

Darlison's excellent work reviews aspects of GABA-A receptor function, as well as the properties of a variety of other important inhibitory proteins, such as GABA-C receptors and G-protein coupled receptors including neuropeptides. Glycine receptors and potassium channels are covered too. The consequences of mutations that disrupt the regulation of excitatory neurotransmission, and efforts to target the GABAergic system for therapeutic benefit, are also discussed.

The fermentation of sugar by cell-free yeast extracts was demonstrated more than a century ago by E. Buchner (Nobel Prize 1907). Buchner's observations put an end to previous animistic theories regarding cellular life. It became clear that metabolism and all cellular functions should be accessible to explication in chemical terms. Equally important for an understanding of living systems was the concept, explained in physical terms, that all living things could be cons- ered as energy converters E. Schrodinger (Nobel Prize 1933)] which generate complexity at the expense of an increase in...

The sense of smell has an essential role in locating food, detecting predators, navigating, and communicating social information. Accordingly, the olfactory system has evolved complex repertoires of receptors to face these problems. Although the sense of taste has less far-reaching tasks, they are every bit as essential for the animals well-being, allowing it to reject toxic materials and to select nutritionally valuable food. The last decade has seen a massive advance in understanding the molecular logic of chemosensory information processing, beyond that already achieved in the rst few...

This volume includes timely reviews of several aspects of chromatin biology written by scientists at the forefront of this rapidly moving field. Topics covered include the structure and function of protein modules within chromatin-remodeling proteins, newly characterized histone modifications (methylation, ubiquitylation) and their functional consequences, transcription and histone dynamics, roles of chromatin remodeling factors in DNA replication and repair, and current models of nucleosome-remodeling mechanisms.

This book is a state-of-the-art summary of the latest achievements in cell cycle control research with an outlook on the effect of these findings on cancer research. The chapters are written by internationally leading experts in the field. They provide an updated view on how the cell cycle is regulated in vivo, and about the involvement of cell cycle regulators in cancer.

Death receptors play a central role in directing apoptosis in mammalian cells. This process of active cell death is important for a number of biological processes, e.g. for the regulation of the immune system. Death receptors are cell surface receptors that transmit apoptotic signals initiated by corresponding death ligands. Many complex signaling pathways are activated and apoptosis is the final result of a complex biochemical cascade of events.

Besides their role in the induction of cell death, evidence now exists that death receptors are able to activate several non-apoptotic...