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The development of the integrative dimensions of physiology will require texts and forms of study that differ from those to which we have become accustomed in the areas of specialization. The following two types of texts lie at the heart of integrative study: framework statements and case histories. Framework statements are scientific aphorisms that summarize integrative insights; ordered chains of these statements form conceptual frameworks that stimulate integrative dialogue and thought. Case histories are stories that portray the events in the life of a living being, generally human. The nature of these texts, how framework statements are created, and methods of how texts of this kind may be used in group dialogues are discussed.

A recent report of the Long-Range Planning Committee of the American Physiological Society identifies physiology with "integrative biology" and urges that physiologists make their field "a unique branch of biology that deals with synthesis and integration." However, certain institutional, procedural, and psychological obstacles lie in the way of those who would embark upon this task. The hurdles to be overcome include the following: the erroneous belief that biomedical scientists are already integrative; the inapplicability of the powerful methods of areas of specialization to integrative study; the fear of failure; the identification of integrative biology with the study of function; the disregard of hierarchy; the undervaluation of the abstract; and the loss of a sense of mystery. These obstacles, though insidious, pervasive, and powerful, can be surmounted.

Science education in the United States at all academic levels is widely perceived to need direct assistance from professional scientists. The current dearth of quality applicants from this country to medical and graduate schools suggests that our existing undergraduate and high school science curriculum is failing to provide the necessary stimulus for gifted students to seek careers in the health sciences. Recognizing the need to become more directly helpful to high school and college science teachers, members of the faculty of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine held a 5.5-day Physiology Summer Workshop during June, 1989. Participants included 25 college teachers from Kentucky and 5 other states plus 22 Kentucky high school teachers. The presence of the two levels of educators provided communication about curricular concerns that would be best addressed by mutual action and/or interaction. Each day's activities included morning lectures on selected aspects of organ system and cellular physiology, a series on integrative physiology, and afternoon laboratory sessions. The laboratory setting allowed the instructor to expand on principles covered in lecture as well as provided the opportunity for in-depth discussion. A selection of evening sessions was presented on 1) grants available for research projects, 2) obtaining funds for laboratory equipment, and 3) graduate education in physiology.

After a shift in temperature, the population kinetics of HeLa cells does not immediately reach a steady state characteristic of the new temperature. During the transition period the duration of each period of the life cycle (period before DNA synthesis, of DNA synthesis, after DNA synthesis, and the period of mitosis) increases toward its steady-state value. Of the four periods, the period before DNA synthesis reaches its steady-state value fastest. Exponential growth can be maintained only from 33 degrees C through 40 degrees C. The period of mitosis is the most temperature-sensitive period of the life cycle of the cell. At subnormal temperatures (26 degrees C through 31 degrees C) there is an accumulation of cells in mitosis, and mitotic indices as high as 0.44 can be obtained. The duration of mitosis is a function both of the temperature and of the time which the cell has spent at this temperature.