The general goals of the cardiac workshop of which this volume is the proceedings were to (1) foster interdisciplinary interaction between leading world scientists and clinical cardiologists so as to identify "black holes" and catalyze new research ideas; (2) relate basic micro-scale, molecular, and subcellular phenomena to the clinically manifested cardiac performance; (3) apply conceptual modeling and quantitative analysis to better explore, describe, and understand cardiac physiology; (4) interpret available clinical data and design new revealing experiments; and (5) enhance international cooperation in the search for the secrets of life and their implications in cardiac pathophysiology.

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