WEBER - Böcker

Political theory, from antiquity to the present, has been divided over the relationship between the requirements of justice and the limitations of persons and institutions to meet those requirements. Some theorists hold that a theory of justice should be utopian or idealistic--that the derivation of the correct principles of justice should not take into account human and institutional limitations. Others insist on a realist or non-utopian view, according to which feasibility--facts about what is possible given human and institutional limitations--is a constraint on principles of justice. In recent years, the relationship between the ideal and the real has become the subject of renewed scholarly interest. This anthology aims to represent the contemporary state of this classic debate. By and large, contributors to the volume deny that the choice between realism and idealism is binary. Rather, there is a continuum between realism and idealism that locates these extremes of each view at opposite poles. The contributors, therefore, tend to occupy middle positions, only leaning in the ideal or non-ideal direction. Together, their contributions not only represent a wide array of attractive positions in the new literature on the topic, but also collectively advance how we understand the difference between idealism and realism itself.

Ein Handbuch über ein Gebiet zu verfassen, das in stürmischer Entwicklung steht, ist ein Wagnis. Das Risiko ist gross, dass es schon beim Erscheinen veraltet ist. Andererseits besteht gerade für solche Gebiete ein Bedürfnis für zusammenfassende Darstellungen, die das mühsame Zusammensuchen zer­ streuter Literatur erspart. Die Verwendung von integrierten Schaltungen in der digitalen Schaltungs­ technik hat überraschend schnell zu allgemein verwendeten Techniken und Systemen geführt, die es rechtfertigen, trotz der lebhaften Weiterentwicklung des Gebietes, den Versuch zu unternehmen, das gegenwärtig Bekannte syste­ matisch darzustellen. Die zu erwartenden Resultate der Weiterentwicklung lassen sich zwar nicht voraussehen, sie werden sich aber sicher sinnvoll in das Bestehende einordnen lassen, sodass dem Band als Grundlage eine länger dauernde Aktualität zukommen dürfte. Die Verfasser haben in jahrelanger, systematischer Arbeit das Werk geschaffen, dessen erster Band nun vorliegt. Möge das Buch beim Theoretiker wie beim Praktiker als Helfer eine gute Aufnahme finden. Dem Birkhäuser Verlag danken wir für die grosse Geduld bei der Drucklegung und für die gediegene Gestaltung des Bandes.

The benzodiazepines are among the most widely-used of drugs. However, in many countries their popularity is waning as prescribers become more aware of problems with unwanted effects and with rebound and withdrawal syndromes. The earlier benzodiazepines were long-acting, and it was thought that their shorter-acting successors would have important advantages. Other developments include partial agonists and partial inverse agonists, compounds acting on the benzodiazepine-GABA macro­ molecular site although not as a typical benzodiazepine, and anxiolytic agents acting on 5-HT pathways directly. I shall review the problems of unwanted effects and dependence, mainly from an epidemiological view­ point, and then relate the pharmacological properties of the newer com­ pounds to possible differences in their clinical profile of adverse effects. Adverse behavioural effects Benzodiazepines are used, inter alia, as anxiolytics and hyp­ notics. The latter use exploits the sedative actions which occur at higher than anxiolytic doses. The sedation should disappear by the time the patient wakes up. Hypnotics are thus unique in that their wanted effect and unwanted effect are identical - sedation - but separated in time by about 8 hours.

Proceedings of a congress serve the purpose to provide the reader with the latest know­ ledge in the specific field. They present at least for a limited time period a reference book that allows rapid access to the latest information for the medical profession and for an ongoing of future research. This volume is addressed not only to the participants of the VIIth World Symposium on Cardiac Pacing but to everybody involved in diagnostic and therapeutic cardiac stimula­ tion. The experience has shown that proceedings of conferences of comparable size are usually published with a considerable time delay limiting its value as a source of prime informa­ tion. The editors of this volume decided therefore, that their most important task was to guarantee the actuality of the publication. Even if it seems desirable to include as many presentations of a conference as possible, the large number of excellent presentations at the VIIth World Symposium on Cardiac Pacing, 337 oral presentations and 236 posters, could not be published within an accepta­ ble time period. The experience from previous conferences has shown that a book which includes all the papers can only be edited with a large delay, which reduces the value and actuality of the information.