Monitoring and analyzing physiological parameters under different conditions of health and disease is one important aspect of medical informatics with a direct impact on diagnostics and therapy. Moreover, informatics can help to understand certain pathophysiologic aspects of disorders. Two papers in this issue addressing cardiologic topics and representing improvements over current diagnostic strategies. A third one deals with lung microangiopathy in diabetes patients. These three papers origin from disciplines of internal medicine, were the use of figures and measurable parameters is every day routine. Especially the disciplines of "speaking medicine" like psychiatry are not used to employ informatics methods so far, even though the last years have witnessed an enormous increase in physiological and biological research in this area. Three further papers in this issue address psychophysiology issues in healthy persons as well as in patients suffering from schizophrenia and are a good examples for the added value of cooperation between psychiatrists and medical informaticians.