'At £45, it will be most readily available in the well found library, where it may stimulate the enquiring student.'R.A. Chapman, Cardiovascular Research, May 1994

• 1. Altering the strength of the heart: basic mechanisms ; 2. In search of calcium sensitizer compounds: from subcellular models of music to in vivo positive intropic action ; 3. The influence of pH phosphate, and ionic strength of contraction in skinned cardiac muscle ; 4. The effects of acidosis on intact cardiac muscle ; 5. Natural calcium-sensitizing compounds of the heart ; 6. The effects of caffeine on cardiac muscle ; 7. Modulation of activation of cardiac myofilaments by beta-adrenergic agonists ; 8. Myosin light chain phosphorylation and myosin isoenzyme expression regulate cardiac calcium sensitivity by modulation of cross-bridge cycling kinetics ; 9. Changes in calcium sensitivity at the cross-bridge level ; 10. The genetic engineering and physiology of troponin C: molecular aspects of the modulation of cardiac calcium sensitivity ; 11. Analysis of the effects of drugs on myofibrillar Ca2+ sensitivity in intact cardiac muscle ; 12. Effects of anoxia and ischaemia on cardiac muscle ; 13. Changes in myofibrillar calcium responsiveness in the post-ischaemic heart (stunned myocardium) ; 14. Energetic aspects of altering myocardial sensitivity to calcium ; 15. Clinical experience with calcium sensitizers in congestive heart failure ; 16. Future directions ; Index