This volume contains the papers presented at "The 8th European Symposium on Metabolism". It provides a comprehensive and updated evaluation of the possible role of insulin resistance in the pathogenesis of a cluster of major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Insulin resistance was recognized as a feature and a pathogenetic mechanism in pathological states such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity. More recently, however, it has become apparent that impairment in insulin action may be shared by a variety of conditions not necessarily associated with diabetes or obesity such as hypertension and endothelial dysfunction. It leads not only to metabolic but also to hemodynamic alterations and to proinflammatory reactions. Therefore, The Metabolic Syndrome is a disorder in which not only the "response to injury" concept is operative but also the substrate alterations and the pathophysiology of the arterial wall are strictly interconnected in a complex web of reactions, leading to atherosclerotic plaques. This volume represents a comprehensive review of genetics, epidemiology, physiolopathology, cardiovascular complications and therapy of insulin resistance.