Introduction: World Federation 1993—1997 -- Consent and Intensive Care: Is It Possible? -- Hepatorenal Syndrome -- HIV/AIDS in Developing Countries -- Do Not Attempt Resuscitation Order -- Molecular Biology in Critical Care: Is It More Than a Look Only? -- Resource Management and Audits in Intensive Care Medicine -- Sepsis and Organ(s) Dysfunction — Key Points, Reflections, and Perspectives -- How to Evaluate Performance of Adult Intensive Care Units: A 30Year Experience -- Research Ethics in Critical Care Medicine -- Scoring Systems and Outcome -- Clinical Decision Making for Non-Invasive Ventilation -- Control of Infections in Intensive Care Units -- Diagnosis of Pulmonary Embolism -- Critical Care Nursing, a WorldWide Perspective -- Cost of Care in Critical Illness.The volume will provide an update on problems concerning respiration, cardiovascular medicine, monitoring, organizational aspects and quality of care; other important aspects will be discussed, from critical patients' treatment and informed consent to costs managements, research and auditing, severity scores and control of infections in intensive care. Sepsis and organ dysfunction will be dealt with in detail. A brief account of records of the World Federation of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine introduces some of the drawbacks encountered during its thirty-year-old history.