It is a privilege and pleasure to write a foreword to this work. Who, twenty years ago, would have thought that a whole book could be devoted to the veins of the posterior fossa? Even today the standard text-books of anatomy only give a paragraph to the subject. Thanks to the dedicated work of rather a few neuroradiologists our knowledge has now reached a very sophisticated level. The careful correlation of anatomical dissection with the angiographic image has achieved this, but without the aid of subtraction (discovered by a world figure in neuroradiology - Professor ZIEDSES DES PLANTES) the subject would not be as advanced as it is. The authors are to be congratulated not only for presenting the most up to date anatomical information but also for showing how wide the applications are in the clinical field by the careful analysis of displacements of veins, many of which were quite unrecognised only a very few years ago. Drs W ACKENHEIM and BRAUN are in the forefront of this discipline to which they and the French school have contributed so much. Also it was their great enthusiasm and drive which led to the birth of the European Society of Neuroradiology, the first meeting of which was held in Colmar in September 1969. The Society has flourished under their guidance and very successful annual meetings have been held for nearly a decade.

How many citizens take part in moral and political decisions concerning the results obtained by the contemporary life sciences? Should they blindly follow skilled demagogues or false and deceptive leaders? Should they adhere to the voice of the majority, or should they take a different decisional path? Deliberative democracy answers these questions, but what is deliberative democracy? Can we really deliberate if we are completely ignorant of the relevant issue? What about ethical or political expertise, is it strictly necessary? Finally, and most significantly, can a deliberative process take place if we ignore the techniques governing it; that is, the techniques required to be minimally skilled in rational argumentation?

For the new edition of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Dr. Wassertheil-Smoller has included several new chapters (genetic statistics, molecular epidemiology, scientific integrity and research ethics) and a new appendix on the basic concepts of genetics and a glossary of genetic terminology. She has also expanded the coverage of multi-center trials (an important aspect of implementation of the standards of evidence-based medicine), controversies in screening for prostate, colon, breast, and other cancers.

The use of mathematical modeling techniques in biomedical research is playing an increasingly important role in the understanding of the pathophysiology of disease processes. This includes not only understanding mechanisms of physiological processes, but also diagnosis and treatment. In addition, its introduction in the study of genomics and proteomics is key in understanding the functional characteristics of gene expression and protein assembly and secretion.

A shift in culture Only a decade ago, the ?rst thing a molecular biologist would have had to learn when he or she started the lab work was how to handle pipettes, extract DNA, useenzymesandcloneagene. Now,the?rstthing thatheorsheshould learn is how to handle databases and to extract all the information that is already known about the gene that he or she wants to study. In all likelihood, he or she will ?nd that the gene has already been sequenced from several organisms, that it was recovered in a variety of EST projects, that expression data are available from microarray and SAGE studies, that it was included in linkage studies, that proteomics data are rapidly accumulating, that lists of interacting proteins are being compiled, that domain structure data are available and that it is part of a network of genetic interactions which is intensively modelled. He or she will discover that all this information resides in many di?erent databases with di?erent data formats and with di?erent levels of analyses and linking. Starting to work on this gene will make sense only, if all this information is put together in a project-speci?c manner and set into the context of what is known about related genes and processes. At this point he or she may decide to walk up to the bioinformatics group in house and ask for help with arranging the data in a useful manner.

This book describes general glycobiology in emphasizing the structures, biosynthesis, glycosylation and distribution of the glycans and xenogenic glycoantigens in eukaryotic cells of mammals including mouse, swine, chimpanzee and human. In the middle, I have focused on topics in xenotransplantation glycobiology and expand descriptions of allogenic and xenoantigenic transplantation to open the dawn in insights into the origin of life. One of the biological diversity, named species diversity, is a phenomenon environmentally adapted from the evolutionary process for long period. The distinct structures of glycans discriminate each organism and are the essential molecular basis of the discrimination and difference between the organisms, giving an incompatibility between the different species. Diversity and variations in carbohydrate chain structures between family, species, kingdoms and domains mark the global pattern and signs of immune self- and non-self recognition.

This book provides an interdisciplinary and comprehensible introduction to bioeconomy. It thus provides basic knowledge for understanding a transformation process that will shape the 21st century and requires the integration of many disciplines and industries that have had little to do with each other up to now. We are talking about the gradual and necessary transition from the age of fossil fuels, which began around 200 years ago, to a global economy based on renewable raw materials (and renewable energies). The success of this transition is key to coping with the challenge of climate change.