Michael J. Parnham Books

On June 28-29, 1990 in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, the International Association of Inflammation societies (IAIS) organized their first symposium on Drugs in Inflammation. The symposium was an official satellite of the Ixth International Congress of Pharmacology (IUPHAR). This volume contains the proceedings from this satellite meeting. The IAIS was constituted in 1988 when representatives of the Inflammation Research Association (IRA), European Workshop on Inflammation (EWI) and British Inflammation Research Association (BIRAs) met at White Haven, Pennsylvania during the Fourth International Conference of the IRA and the group decided that improved communication between inflammation societies could be achieved by establishment of a society. The IAIS would encourage and foster collaboration between the many inflammation societies throughout the world and assist in the establishment of new societies whenever possible. The satellite was a major success thanks to the efforts of the planning Wim van den Berg, the local organizer, Mike Bray, the programme chairman, Rodger McMillan, Greg Harper, Mike Parnham and Kay Brune. In addition, the chairman and presenters ensured the scientific content of the meeting was of a very high standard. Most importantly, the 100 participants from 15 countries made the sessions lively and interactive. The IAIS will hopefully organize additional symposiums in the future. Alan J. Lewis, Ph.D.

During the past decade research into the pharmacology of cognition, particularly regarding learning and memory, has supported the concept that many potential neural targets exist for the development of cognitive-enhancing drugs. Whereas the main impetus for this research has been the ever growing population of individuals with dementing disorders such as Alzheimer`s disease, attention is also being focused on issues relating to cognitive impairment associated with "normal" aging. This book is useful as a source of information for making informed decisions regarding the relative utility and attributes of the various neural targets that have been studied to date.

Progress in Drug Research is a prestigious book series which provides extensive expert-written reviews on a wide spectrum of highly topical areas in current pharmaceutical and pharmacological research. It serves as an important source of information for researchers concerned with drug research and all those who need to keep abreast of the many recent developments in the quest for new and better medicines.

Since the discovery of chemokines and of chemokine receptors it has become evident that expression of chemokines at the site of inflammation may regulate the composition of cellular infiltrate, thereby directing the type of immune response. Recently, the molecular characterization of inherited disorders of immune system, (e. g., Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, WHIM syndrome, leukocyte adhesion deficiency), which are characterized by cytoskeleton/adhesion defects or by altered response of chemokine receptors has contributed to clarifying the key players of immune response in normal physiology and in disease. This book, which deals with the description of the role of chemokines in immune response and underlines potential targets of therapeutical intervention, offers a series of contributions of the most challenging aspects of lymphocyte migration in homeostasis and in disease.