Author Description

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.