It is the primary objective of this publication to encourage the bridging of the gap between clinicians of all relevant specialities and biomedical scientists working in areas from biochemistry and molecular and cell biology to physiology, pharmacology and pathology. A spectrum of topics in medicine will be selected to illustrate not only the molecular insights that derive from the application of basic science, but also the variety of challenging problems that medicine is able to offer the basic scientist. The Editors and publisher anticipate that most of the authors contributing to the series will be practising clinical scientists who will develop their own personal perspective as an extended review on the molecular aspects of a field of medicine in which they are working, addressing themselves both to the doctor who is ill-at-ease with basic science, and to the basic scientist with little awareness of the problems of clinical practice.