The ecent Vitamin Be-Meeting in Tu ku, FinLand, has continued a
Long-standing t1'O.dition; it ws the seventh intemationaL congNss
devoted to the "ChemicaL and BioLogicaL Aspects of Vitamin Be-Cata-
Lysis". The fi st meeting ws heLd 1962 in Rome foUo1JJed by the meetings
in Moscow (1966), Nagoya (1967), Lening1'O.d (1974), To onto (1979), and
Athens (1983). The p oceedings of a meeting p ovide a "snapshot" of a pa
ticuLa fieLd of science. Not unLike the photog phic p oduct they affo d
a topicaL eco of the goings-on, at pe haps the expense of some
inforrmation on detaUs. These Proceedings focus on the st uctu L and
mechanistic aspects of vitamin B6-dependent enaymes; h01JJeve, othe
topics discussed nge f om nonenaymic eactions of vitamin B6 compounds to
nut tionaL, medicaL, and even appLied indust aL as- pects. The Opening
Session of the Meeting ws dedicated to the memo y of the Late ALe: x:
ande E. B unstein, who fifty yea s ago discove ed t nsamination as a
metaboUc eaction. The contT'ibutions honoT'ing P ofesso B unstein and
his Ufewo k a e coUected in the fi st section of the oceedings.