Preterm delivery is a major public health concern. Recent developments, such as the preventive use of progesterone, and new data on possible mechanisms of initiation of parturition, have placed the topic at the forefront of the interests and preoccupation of many in maternal-fetal medicine and obstetrics. This balanced, authoritative, and well-referenced work offers a rigorous underpinning of basic science, highlighted translational science sections, and evidence-based clinical guidelines.

Focuses largely on early embryonal development and the interrelationship between the embryo and the uterus in early pregnancy. The 22 papers, from an October 1990 workshop in Bellagio, Italy, revolve around the common theme of new investigatory techniques of molecular biology. Among the topics are u

An analysis of cell death in reproductive physiology. It examines topics such as the control of apoptosis in the uterus during decidualization and stern cell factor regulation of apoptosis in mouse primordial germ cells.

The regulation of cell death in various reproductive tissues, as in other ma- jor organ systems of the body, has become a focal point of research activity in many laboratories over the past few years. As such, the need for a "for- mal" meeting to highlight recent work in this field, as well as to integrate knowledge from other sources (such as investigators working on cell death in cancer and immune function) in the broad context of identifying con- served pathways that coordinate life-and-death decisions in diverse cell types, became apparent. Therefore, the goals of the Scientific Committee...