This posse has it coming to them… The Haughton Brothers—better known as the Holy Smokes Gang—have broken free from the grips of the law. With wild ideas of overthrowing the government, they’re wreaking havoc in the Rockies, preying on ore trains taking gold to the U.S. Mint. Longarm has low tolerance for greedy men and plans on making them pay—with their lives, if necessary. With the assistance of some holy-rolling dames who have a few tricks up their petticoats, the Holy Smokes Gang better look out, because they’re in for some holy hell…

Molecular and Cellular Aspects of Basement Membranes reviews the knowledge about the molecular and cellular aspects of basement membranes. This book focuses on the composition of basement membranes and their organization in extracellular matrices and presents a structural analysis of the various components of the basement membrane. The importance of basement membranes with respect to cell-matrix interactions, differentiation, and pathology is also considered. This text is organized into three sections and is comprised of 20 chapters. It begins with historical perspectives and an overview of the extracellular matrix in general and the basement membrane in particular. The discussion then turns to the organization of basement membrane components into a three-dimensional and functional matrix, along with the unique characteristics of basement membranes in skin, nerve, and kidney. The reader is also introduced to the specificity of particular basement membranes in particular histological sites; the molecular characteristics of basement membrane collagens, laminins, and proteoglycans; and the interaction of specific peptide domains of basement membrane components with cell surface receptors. Finally, the book explains how subtle changes in basement membrane composition or protein structure can cause dramatic pathology. This book will be of value to cell biologists, molecular biologists, biochemists, and pathologists.

Spermatogenesis is one of the fundamental but at the same time also one of the most complex differentiation processes in higher eukaryotes. For a long time the development of spermatozoa has been considered as related solely to the needs of transfer of the paternal genome into the egg. Other paternal contributions to the development of the embryo were not seriously considered. Only recently has it become evident, from studies of mouse embryonic development by Solter and colleagues, that also the paternal genome carries regulatory information into the zygote since the development of a mouse embryo requires the presence of the maternal as well as of the paternal pronucleus. This means that we have to pay more attention to the development of male gametes, since the imprinting of the paternal genome obviously required for the early embryonic development must occur during male gamete development. Despite the fundamental character of sperm development as a cellular differentiation process, no coherent concepts for studies of this process exist. Many morphological, and in particular ultrastructural, details of sperm devel opment and sperm structure are known, but this knowledge has not been assembled into a consistent picture reflecting the basic features of this differ entiation process. One of the reasons for the failure to construct such a picture is the fact that also the genetics of sperm development is poorly developed. For elaborating concepts of early embryonic development the study of mutants has been, and still is, indispensible.