Kategoria BISAC: Medical >> Immunology

Microbial cell wall structures play a significant role in maintaining cells' shape, as protecting layers against harmful agents, in cell adhesion and in positive and negative biological activities with host cells. All prokaryotes, whether they are bacteria or archaea, rely on their surface polymers for these multiple functions. Their surfaces serve as the indispensable primary interfaces between the cell and its surroundings, often mediating or catalyzing important interactions.

Prokaryotic Cell Wall Compounds summarizes the current state of knowledge on the prokaryotic cell...

This collection of reviews contains contributions by internationally recognized immunologists and molecular and cellular neurobiologists. Uniquely, it puts side by side cellular communication devices and signaling mechanisms in the immune and nervous systems and discusses mechanisms of interaction between the two systems, the significance of which has only recently been fully appreciated.

Liver metastases are a frequent and often fatal occurrence in cancer patients, particularly those with malignancies of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. While recent improvements in surgical techniques and a more aggressive approach to resection of liver metastases have improved long term survival for some patients, most patients with hepatic metastases still succumb to their disease. To improve these dismal statistics, a better understanding of the biology of liver metastasis, particularly the early stages that can be targeted for prevention, is essential.

Once cancer cells...

In June 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first evidence of a new disease that would later become known as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). HIV and AIDS: Basic Elements and Priorities is a concise collection of all aspects of this disease, and is a source of readily available knowledge. All currently advocated preventive measures such as health education, condom use, safer sex practices, and treatment of sexually transmitted infections have been incorporated.

The key elements of this volume are: - up-to-date information on multiple...

Measles virus, one of the most contagious of all human viruses, has been largely contained by the development and use of a vaccine that was introduced 50 years ago. These two volumes were timed to honor the introduction of the vaccine and to record the enormous advancements made in understanding the molecular and cell biology, pathogenesis, and control of this infectious disease. Where vaccine has been effectively delivered, endemic measles virus transmission has been eliminated. However, difficulties in vaccine delivery, lack of health care support and objection to vaccination in some...