Page 6 - Color Atlas Physiology

Preface to the Fifth Edition

The base of knowledge in many sectors of phy- Prof. C. von Campenhausen, Mainz, Dr. M. Fi-
siology has grown considerably in magnitude scher, Mainz, Prof. K.H. Plattig, Erlangen, and
and in depth since the last edition of this book Dr. C. Walther, Marburg, and from my collea-
was published. Many advances, especially the gues and staff at the Institute in Würzburg. It
rapid progress in sequencing the human ge- was again a great pleasure to work with Rüdi-
nome and its gene products, have brought ger Gay and Astried Rothenburger, to whom I
completely new insight into cell function and am deeply indebted for revising practically all
communication. This made it necessary to edit the illustrations in the book and for designing a
and, in some cases, enlarge many parts of the number of new color plates. Their extraordina-
book, especially the chapter on the fundamen- ry enthusiasm and professionalism played a
tals of cell physiology and the sections on decisive role in the materialization of this new
neurotransmission, mechanisms of intracellu- edition. To them I extend my sincere thanks. I
lar signal transmission, immune defense, and would also like to thank Suzyon O’Neal Wan-
the processing of sensory stimuli. A list of phy- drey for her outstanding translation. I greatly
siological reference values and important for- appreciate her capable and careful work. I am
mulas were added to the appendix for quick also indebted to the publishing staff, especially
reference. The extensive index now also serves Marianne Mauch, an extremely competent and
as a key to abbreviations used in the text. motivated editor, and Gert Krüger for invalu-
Some of the comments explaining the con- able production assistance. I would also like to
nections between pathophysiological princi- thank Katharina Völker for her ever observant
ples and clinical dysfunctions had to be slight- and conscientious assistance in preparing the
ly truncated and set in smaller print. However, index.
this base of knowledge has also grown consi- I hope that the 5th Edition of the Color Atlas
derably for the reasons mentioned above. To of Physiology will prove to be a valuable tool for
make allowances for this, a similarly designed helping students better understand physiolog-
book, the Color Atlas of Pathophysiology ical correlates, and that it will be a valuable re-
(S. Silbernagl and F. Lang, Thieme), has now ference for practicing physicians and scien-
been introduced to supplement the well- tists, to help them recall previously learned in-
established Color Atlas of Physiology. formation and gain new insights in physiology.
I am very grateful for the many helpful com-
ments from attentive readers (including my
son Jakob) and for the welcome feedback from Würzburg, December 2002
my peers, especially Prof. H. Antoni, Freiburg, Stefan Silbernagl*

V
* e-mail: stefan.silbernagl@mail.uni-wuerzburg.de
Despopoulos, Color Atlas of Physiology © 2003 Thieme
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