Unincorporated Channel Meeting (UCM) - Basic research on mechanisms of anaesthesia.
Basic research on mechanisms of anaesthesia in Germany has proved to be successful
during the last years as demonstrated by a number of national and international publications
and presentations. However, most of the groups working in this field lack a “critical
mass”. In order to improve this situation the Unincorporated Channel Meeting (UCM)
was introduced by Kochs and Urban in 1995. The meeting was established to provide
a basis for the exchange of ideas and methods for all scientists interested in mechanisms
of anaesthesia and not only anaesthesiologists. Currently about ten groups are actively
participating at the semi-annual meetings and the discussion group in the world wide
web. The mini-symposium was selected from papers presented at the March 1999 meeting
in Hamburg/Germany and demonstrates the wide range of topics that were discussed including
patch-clamp studies and whole animal research. The publication of this mini-symposium
intends to provoke thoughts about the mechanisms of anaesthesia and to create interest
in the scientific approach to these problems.
