David Kritchevsky

The Proceedings of the Eight International Symposium on Drugs Affecting Lipid Metabolism (8th D.A.L.M.) is the subject of this volume. Since the first symposium in 1960, each successive meeting has broken new ground in the field of pharmacological control of lipid levels - offering new and stimulating insights and exposing the audience to the state of the art. The field has progressed sufficiently to permit discussion of the cellular biology of atherosclerosis. The opening session was devoted to pathology, macrophages, lipoproteins and their receptors and cholesterol ester metabolism. Because of the recent emergence of new apolipoprotein technology, a workshop devoted solely to apolipoprotein methodology was introduced followed by a plenary session devoted to their metabolism and structure.Another rapidly developing area of atherosclerosis research is non-invasive assessment of this condition. Accordingly, a session was devoted to new techniques for this research modality. The final plenary sessions were devoted to the roles of drugs and diet in atherosclerosis - cause, treatment and mechanisms of action. The meeting was summarized by Dr. O.J. Pollak, one of the "founding fathers" of this field. There were nine sessions of proffered. papers whose abstracts appear in this volume. In addition, special workshops (to be reported elsewhere) were devoted to several drugs including Oryzanol, Probucol and Etofibrate.

This volume comprises the proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on Drugs Affecting Lipid Metabolism. Since the first of these symposia in 1960 these triennial meetings have been devoted to the exploration of new ideas, new data and new concepts related to lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis. The Sixth meeting was particularly stimulating in this regard. The concept of the "protective" action of HDL was thoroughly explored within the framework of its molecular biology with data on its epidemiological as well as its in vitro mechanism(s) of action being discussed. The action of drugs on arterial and HDL metabolism was also discussed as were newer aspects of platelet aggregation, especially as related to prostaglandins. New ground was also broken in discussions of lipid mobilization and mechanisms of hypocholesteremia. We are indebted to the many organizations who contributed generously to the support of this meeting. Among the sponsors, the assistance of the Lorenzini Foundation was especially helpful. As in all meetings of this type, the hard work of the local organizing committee was instrumental in its success.

Reviews evidence that dietary fats, lipids, and hormones may play an important role in several common forms of cancer, in the hope that an improved understanding of these factors may lead to new strategies for prevention and treatment based on slowing the disease progression, and stimulate increased research into the link between nutrition and cancer. Among the topics are stromal- epithelial cell interactions in breast cancer, the metabolism of exogenous and endogenous arachidonic acid in cancer, lipid biomarkers of adherence to low fat diets, and nutritional approaches to the prevention of prostate cancer progression.

This book presents the proceedings of a conference on Nutrition and Biotechnology in Heart Disease and Cancer held in December 1993. The book is divided into four sections devoted to heart disease, cancer, heart disease, and cancer and NIH initiatives. The book contains several valuable chapters reviewing the history of studies of nutrition in heart disease and cancer. These chapters are followed by descriptions of the role of dietary and endogenous fats in the development of heart and vascular disease and of recent genetic and molecular information discovered about heart disease. The cancer section reviews the relationship between nutrition and cancer and several putative molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis. The third section discusses commonalities in role of nutrition toward development of heart disease and cancer. The purpose is to explore the commonality of nutrition in the development of heart and vascular disease and cancer. The forum from which this book derives sought to bring together presentations of greatest interest in research and therapy involving nutrition, molecular, and biotechnical advances along with a perspective on the most promising areas of future research in these fields. The audience this book is aimed at include leading researchers, administrators, students, and clinicians in the fields of heart and vascular disease, cancer, and nutrition. The book features a wide variety of views concerning the role of nutrition in development of heart disease and cancer. Understanding of these relationships at multiple levels is presented. This book reviews the current state of knowledge relating nutrition and heart disease and cancer. It presents several lines of evidencethat nutritional status has direct influence on heart disease and cancer. Suggested future directions are valuable to investigators, clinicians, and students. However, this is book ignores several additional biotechnologies that may yield valuable therapies as well as understanding of the biology of cancer and heart disease, such as PCR, transgenic animals, and antisense technology. Chapters describing many of the new molecular techniques and approaches would ably reinforce the goals of this book. One glaring omission is the lack of chapters exploring the ingestion of alcohol and tobacco and the generation of heart and vascular disease and cancer. Chapters discussing the epidemiology and molecular mechanistic links between these forms of nutrition and these two, expensive, ^^killer^^ diseases, especially in the light of Mickey Mantle's recent death, would have made this book highly relevant.