This volume, the last in a series of eight proceedings volumes, presents an overview on immunology and inflammation based on a congress held in Budapest in April 1998. It is divided into sections on: basic mechanisms; endo and exotoxins; soluble receptors; and treatment perspectives.

Oscar Wilde is best known for his plays, stories and poems, and for the amusing comments he made on a huge range of topics. Some readers may be surprised that this famous personality also wrote stories for children. His own mother, Jane Francisca Speranza Wilde, was a well known writer, too. Perhaps she told stories to her children when they were small, inspiring her son to entertain his children in turn. Wilde's stories for children are full of comedy, but they do not ignore the harsher side of life, and they have a moral message to impart.