In the middle of the 17th century, the great French philosopher Rene Descartes wrote (L'Homme, J. Le Gras, Paris, 1669) that a suitable stimulation of the brain results in two types of "movements": exterior movements, designed to seek desirable ends and to avoid undesirable or harmful ones and interior movements or "passions" which through the release of "animal spirits" regulate the heart, the liver, and other organs. When it appears appropriate to meet a threat with force, the passion of rage causes the release of strong spirits, whereas when avoidance appears to be the better choice, the...

In the last decade, it has become increasingly evident that the clini cal and morphologic changes underlying many of the complications of diabetes, including cataract formation, retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, and macrovascular disease, are preceded by a variety of disturbances of biochemical and physiologic origin. Dr. Cohen has recently written a superb monograph, entitled Diabetes and Protein Glycosylation: Measurement and Biologic Relevance, in which she thoroughly explores how enhanced nonenzymatic glycosylation in uncontrolled diabetes underscores the pressing need for main...

Endocrinology and Metabolism: Progress in Research and Clinical Prac tice is a new series that has been designed to present timely, critical reviews of constantly evolving fields; to provide practical and up-to-date guidance in the solution of pertinent clinical problems; to offer an alterna tive to the laborious search of the literature (and the often frustrating reading of highly technical articles); and to translate the language of the laboratory into that of the practice of medicine. We think that this volume and those to come will prove useful to physi cians (and to physicians in...