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Main Title Defending Life The Nature of Host-Parasite Relations / [electronic resource] :
Type EBOOK
Author Ulvestad, Elling.
Publisher Springer Netherlands,
Year Published 2007
Call Number QR180-189.5
ISBN 9781402056765
Subjects Medicine ; Immunology ; Microbiology ; Biology--Philosophy ; Life sciences
Internet Access
Description Access URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-5676-1
Collation XIX, 241 p. online resource.
Notes Due to license restrictions, this resource is available to EPA employees and authorized contractors only
Contents Notes Tracks of thought -- Immunobiology -- Adaptive plasticity -- Natura naturans -- Disabled defences. Defending Life discusses the relationship between hosts and parasites. A major contention of the book is that the immune system depends ontologically on the ecosystem in which it is embedded; it would not have the features it has if it was not related in one way or other to parasitic agents and to the host's own cells and tissues. To sustain the argument, life is investigated at all layers - from molecules up through cells, organisms and ecosystems. Together with the inverse course, which goes from ecological contingencies down to gene-expression profiles, the approach facilitates an advanced understanding of immunocompetence as well as its converse, immunoincompetence. The emphasis on analytical abstractions, coherent patterns and generative mechanisms makes possible the distinction between genuine causality and coincidental associations, and thus increases the understanding of why we observe what we observe. The book contains detailed descriptions of the immune system and the microbial world as well as methodological and conceptual clarifications. "The book is highly recommended to those who want to dig into the scientific challenges involved in understanding the complex demands and tasks that nature had bestowed the immune system. " Professor Roland Jonsson The Gade Institute, University of Bergen, Norway.
Place Published Dordrecht
Corporate Au Added Ent SpringerLink (Online service)
Host Item Entry Springer eBooks
PUB Date Free Form 2007
BIB Level m
Medium computer
Content text
Carrier online resource
Cataloging Source OCLC/T
OCLC Time Stamp 20140125173012
Language eng
Origin SPRINGER
Type EBOOK
OCLC Rec Leader 02885nam a22004695i 45