The international interdisciplinary gathering of top of secondary brain
damage in brain trauma, as ac- level clinical and laboratory scientists
in Mauls, Italy knowledged from the beginning of these workshops in has
developed from its beginning in 1984into a fruitful Mauls, the
significance of inflammation is all but clear. tradition where worldwide
experts active and knowl- Although inflammatory phenomena are seen in
trauma edgeable in cerebral ischemia and trauma convene for and ischemia
ofthe brain, as activation ofwhite blood update and exchanges of their
most recent clinical and cells with emigration into the tissue
presumably en- experimental findings and concepts. These meetings
hancing damage, inflammatory cells may have benefi- have, of course,
experienced shifts in emphasis from cial properties as well. Thechapter
on the Janus-faceof the past until now, corresponding to the most actual
inflammation isanalyzing this ambiguity. developments, which were
fascinating clinicians and The exploration of novel cell-biological
mechanisms laboratory scientists alike. The current Supplement of on a
molecular or more systemic basis causing apop- Acta Neurochirurgica is
an example in case. Its virtue totic cell death, inflammation, or
regeneration, provide as before is that authors contribute articles in a
review- useful objectives for therapeutical interventions ex- like
manner on their own field of research, according pected to be more
specific than the present treatment to the platform presentations at the
meeting as indis- modalities.