CRC ILLUSTRT DICT IMMUN PDF

Preface

The splendid reception of the first edition of this book in 1995 convinced both the authors and the publisher to prepare a second edition. The seven years since this dictionary first appeared have witnessed an exponential increase in immunological information emanating from more than 130 journals devoted to the subject. The Journal of Immunology is published twice monthly in an effort to accommodate an ever-increasing demand for immunological information among researchers spanning all fields of biomedicine. Besides the unprecedented advances in knowledge of cell receptors and signal transduction pathways, an avalanche of new information has been gleaned from contemporary research concerning cytokines and chemokines, with special reference to their structure and function. This edition has not only been thoroughly updated but also contains multiple new entries representing comparative immunology and immunity to infectious diseases, as well as expansion of definitions in all of the immunological subspecialties. Thus, the reader is provided in a single volume with information that would otherwise require an entire library of books on immunology to decipher. Some definitions are brief and others are more extensive, but all are concise and provide a thorough understanding of basic immunological concepts that often intersect the purview of other basic and clinical scientific disciplines. This book is designed to provide the most up-to-date and thorough vocabulary of immunological terms available in the complex science of immunology. It contains approximately 1200 illustrations that depict essentially every concept of importance in understanding the subject matter of immunology. From the beginning, immunologists have maintained a unique nomenclature that has often mystified and even baffled their colleagues in other fields, causing them to liken immunology to a "black box." This book is designed to offer immunologists and nonimmunologists alike, including students, researchers, practitioners, and basic biomedical scientists, a resource for many of the basic terms encountered in contemporary immunological literature.

Simple illustrations clarify the explanations and enhance the terms or concepts described. A host of new illustrations, such as cellular adhesion molecules, is presented in a manner that facilitates better understanding of their role in intercellular and immune reactions. Illustrated definitions that are pertinent to all of the immunological subspecialties, such as transplantation, autoimmunity, immunophysiology, immunopathology, antigen presentation, and T and B cell receptors, to name a few, may be found in this dictionary. Those individuals with a need for convenient access to a concise definition and a visual image of immunological concepts will want this book to be readily available in their bookshelves. No other book provides in one place the breadth or detail of illustrated immunological concepts as may be found in this second edition of the Illustrated Dictionary of Immunology . The subject matter ranges from molecular structures of recently characterized receptors and cytokines to major histocompatibility complex molecules, immunoglobulins, comparative immunology, and immunopathology, to name just a few of the categories.

Some of the diagrams illustrate basic concepts, whereas others are designed for the specialist interested in a more detailed treatment of the subject matter of immunology. The eclectic science of immunology intersects essentially all basic biomedical and clinical sciences. If immunology becomes meaningful and demystified to the reader, the effort in preparing a second edition of this book will have been well spent.