Defending Life

Name: Defending Life
Price: 296.98 AUD
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ISBN: 9781402056758

The Nature of Host-Parasite Relations

Elling Ulvestad

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English

Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
17 April 2007

Philosophy; Immunology; Medical microbiology & virology; Biology, life sciences; Life sciences: general issues; Parasitology (non-medical)

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.

By: Elling Ulvestad
Imprint: Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: 2007 ed.
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 155mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 565g
ISBN: 9781402056758
ISBN 10: 1402056753
Pages: 241
Publication Date: 17 April 2007
Audience: College/higher education , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Tracks of thought.- Immunobiology.- Adaptive plasticity.- Natura naturans.- Disabled defences.

Reviews for Defending Life: The Nature of Host-Parasite Relations

From the reviews: Defending Life is one of the serious efforts to understand the science of immunology theoretically ... . This book is not only an important contribution towards understanding the restrictions under which immunology now functions, but it provocatively suggests how the discipline might reorient itself to address more effectively not only the molecular mechanisms of immune reactions, but also their regulations and organization. ... a propitious step towards the full adoption of immunology by philosophy of biology as a member in good standing. (Alfred I. Tauber, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, Vol. 51 (2), 2008)