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This book addresses the phenomenon of biological autoluminescence (also known as ultraweak photon emission, UPE, biochemiluminescence, or biophotons) and deals with a very broad spectrum of subjects, ranging from basic observational studies to molecular mechanisms, free-radical processes, physics of electron excitation and photon emission, as well as detection techniques. The chapter topics include UPE in plants, animals, and the human body; microorganisms and subcellular structures; and model systems, illustrating its high prevalence. Several sections of the book provide some backstory, with emphasis on methodology, unresolved questions, and existing controversies. The authors raise and discuss complex, potentially divisive aspects: Are there any reasons to assume the existence of non-chemical interaction in biological systems? Can research results in the field of mitogenetic radiation, delayed luminescence, and oxychemiluminescence of model systems, be correctly interpreted? Whatdoes the future hold for this area of research? Altogether, this publication gives the reader a thorough overview of biological autoluminescence (UPE, biophotonics) research, making it ideal for students and researchers who are new to the area as well as those who are specializing in it.

Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts is devoted to the recording, summarizing and indexing of astronomical publications throughout the world. Two volumes are scheduled to appear per year. Volume 67 records 10,903 papers covering besides the classical fields of astronomy and astrophysics such matters as space flights related to astronomy, lunar and planetary probes and satellites, meteorites and interplanetary matter, X rays and cosmic rays, quasars and pulsars. The abstracts are classified under more than one hundred subject categories thus permitting quick surveying of the bulk of material published on the same topic within six months. For instance, this volume records 119 papers on minor planets, 155 papers on supernovae, and 554 papers on cosmology.

Dieser Buchtitel ist Teil des Digitalisierungsprojekts Springer Book Archives mit Publikationen, die seit den Anfängen des Verlags von 1842 erschienen sind. Der Verlag stellt mit diesem Archiv Quellen für die historische wie auch die disziplingeschichtliche Forschung zur Verfügung, die jeweils im historischen Kontext betrachtet werden müssen. Dieser Titel erschien in der Zeit vor 1945 und wird daher in seiner zeittypischen politisch-ideologischen Ausrichtung vom Verlag nicht beworben.

Dieser Buchtitel ist Teil des Digitalisierungsprojekts Springer Book Archives mit Publikationen, die seit den Anfängen des Verlags von 1842 erschienen sind. Der Verlag stellt mit diesem Archiv Quellen für die historische wie auch die disziplingeschichtliche Forschung zur Verfügung, die jeweils im historischen Kontext betrachtet werden müssen. Dieser Titel erschien in der Zeit vor 1945 und wird daher in seiner zeittypischen politisch-ideologischen Ausrichtung vom Verlag nicht beworben.

The short period since the publication of Volume 1 of Methods in Membrane Biology has been a time of momentous progress. Calorimetry, electron spin and nuclear magnetic resonance, X-ray diffraction, and freeze-cleavage electron microscopy, reinforced by biochemical analyses and enzymatic studies, have led to universal acceptance of a generalized membrane model. All membrane biologists would agree that a major element of all biological membranes is a bilayer of phospholipids which, in some instances, also contains other lipids, notably sterols and glycolipids. The fatty acid com­ position of the lipids of most membranes is such that the lipids are above their transition temperatures in their normal environment so that the bilayer is fluid. The microviscosity of the fatty acyl groups decreases pro­ gressively down the chain so that, at the hydrocarbon interior of the bilayer, the lipid phase has a viscosity approximating that of olive oil at room temperature. As a consequence of this membrane fluidity, a phospholipid molecule is very mobile within the plane of the membrane (moving a distance of about 1-2 fLm in 1 s) but the movement of a phospholipid molecule from one side of the membrane bilayer to the other (flip-flop) is very slow. The lipid bilayer is an essentially inert and rather impermeable struc­ ture, as shown by many studies with model systems. Proteins, of course, provide the catalytic components of the membranes. as well as playing a significant structural role.

Dieser Buchtitel ist Teil des Digitalisierungsprojekts Springer Book Archives mit Publikationen, die seit den Anfängen des Verlags von 1842 erschienen sind. Der Verlag stellt mit diesem Archiv Quellen für die historische wie auch die disziplingeschichtliche Forschung zur Verfügung, die jeweils im historischen Kontext betrachtet werden müssen. Dieser Titel erschien in der Zeit vor 1945 und wird daher in seiner zeittypischen politisch-ideologischen Ausrichtung vom Verlag nicht beworben.

Eugene Wigner is one of the very few scientists that may safely be describedas creators of 20th-century physics. This volume of his Collected Works is devoted to his contributions to nuclear energy. In his Introduction and Annotations A.M. Weinberg surveys Wigner's contributions to nuclear-reaction physics and nuclear engineering, at the same time giving a glimpse of the early history of nuclear-reactor technology. Wigner himself gave a lively and critical account, which is published in this volume for the first time. Furthermore the book contains forty-two reports and memoranda from 1941 to 1945 and twelve of Wigner's many patents relating to nuclear energy.

Exciting major changes have occurred in the understanding and treatment of gallstone disease over the last two decades. In bygone years, books about gallstones were often based on postgraduate lectures which the author, usually a surgeon of distinction, had given. More recently, many books dealing with this subject have been based upon national or international conferences. The single-author text has the disadvantage that few authors today can authoritatively encompass a whole field: the reports of symposia, conferences or workshops often lack balance and auth­ ority. The merits of'Gallstone disease and its Management'edited by Malcolm Bateson are clear. He has chosen 11 authors, all of whom write on topics relating to their own expertise, and the content of the book has been carefully planned to reflect the most modern ideas about the aetiology and management of cholesterol gallstones. It is worth repeating that we are experiencing rapid developments in the field of gallstone disease. Disappointingly the least progress has been made in identifying the cause (or causes) of the disease notwithstanding the many data implicating a variety of environmental factors. Most of these affect the chemistry of hepatic bile and the contribution of the gallbladder to lithogenesis remains uncertain and unstudied.

The author of this remarkably comprehensive review, PIERRE DUSTIN, has performed an invaluable service in bringing to­ gether in one volume the observations and theory on micro­ tubules that have accumulated over the last fifteen years. He has understood the magnitude of the task from the beginning and has met it thoroughly and, I must say, courageously. From here on, and for many years to come, young investiga­ tors, and some not so young, will have a ready reference as they seek to discover what has been done and remains to be done in achieving a better understanding of these important cell components. Since the early 1960's when it became clear that the fila­ ments (micro tubules) making up the 9 + 2 complex of cilia and flagella were to be found very widely in cells, microtub­ ules have attracted an ever-increasing amount of attention. Now it is known, as reviewed in this volume, that they influ­ ence the morphogenesis of anisometry in the shapes of cells and cell extensions; that they function as frames for the intra­ cellular movement of granules and chromosomes; that they are subject to control in their assembly and disassembly by externally applied substances such as colchicine and cyclic AMP; and that they display abnormalities in their numbers and orientations in transformed (malignant) cells, to mention only a few of their several functions.

The essence of combinatorial chemistry or techniques involving'molecular diversity'is to generate enormous populations of molecules and to exploit appropriate screening techniques to isolate active components contained in these libraries. This idea has been the focus of research both in academia and in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry. Its developments go hand in hand with an exploding number of potential drug targets emerging from genomics and proteomics research. When the editors of Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology encouraged us to assemble the present volume on Combinatorial Chemistry in Biology, we immediately felt that this might prove quite beneficial for the audience of this series. The field of combinatorial chemistry extends over a broad range of disciplines, from synthetic organic chemistry to biochemistry, from material sciences to cell biology. Each of these fields may have its own view on this topic, something which is reflected in a growing number of monographs and'special editions'of jour­ nals devoted to this issue or aspects thereof. The title of the present volume of Springer-Verlag's series suggests that it also has its own special focus. And, generally speaking, this is not wrong: we would even claim the special focus of this volume is on the immunologically relevant aspects of combinatorial chemistry.