Immunology at a Glance

Description

The at a Glance series is popular among medical students and junior doctors for its concise and simple approach and excellent illustrations.

Each bite-sized chapter is covered in a double-page spread with colour summary diagrams on the left page and explanatory text on the right. Covering a wide range of topics, books in the at a Glance series are ideal as introductory subject texts or for revision purposes, and are useful throughout medical school and beyond.

Everything you need to know about Immunology...at a Glance!

Following the familiar, easy-to-use at a Glance format, and now in full-colour, Immunology at a Glance, the first in the series, is an accessible introduction and revision text for medical students. Fully revised and updated to reflect changes to the content and assessment methods used by medical schools, this at a Glance provides a user-friendly overview of immunology to encapsulate all that the student needs to know.

This new edition of Immunology at a Glance:

• Contains full-colour artwork throughout, making the subject even easier to understand
• Presents schematic diagrams on the left page and concise explanations on the right
• Shows the essential relationships between cells, molecules, and processes of immunity, with a complete checklist of definitions and details
• Includes new self-assessment tutorials suitable for medical and biomedical science courses
• Includes new chapters on ‘Innate Immune Recognition’, ‘Investigating Immunity’, and ‘Immunity and the Genome’

This book is a concise and accessible introduction and revision aid for all students of bioscience and medicine/paramedicine, and the busy clinician or specialist, who want a quick, yet thorough, grasp of immunology.

Table of Contents

Preface.
Acknowledgements.
Note on the ninth edition.
How to use this book.
Further reading.

Immunity.

1 The scope of immunology.
2 Innate and adaptive immune mechanisms.
3 Recognition and receptors: the keys to immunity.
4 Evolution of immune mechanisms.
5 Cells involved in immunity: the haemopoietic system.

Innate immunity.

6 Receptors of the innate immune system.
7 Complement.
8 Acute inflammation.
9 Phagocytic cells and the reticuloendothelial system.
10 Phagocytosis.

Adaptive immunity.

(i) The molecular basis.

11 Evolution of recognition mechanisms: the immunoglobulin superfamily.
12 The major histocompatibility complex.
13 The T-cell receptor.
14 Antibody diversification and synthesis.
15 Antibody structure and function.

(ii) The cellular basis.

16 Lymphocytes.
17 Primary lymphoid organs and lymphopoiesis.
18 Secondary lymphoid organs and lymphocyte traffic.

(iii) The adaptive immune response.

19 Antigen processing and presentation.
20 The antibody response.
21 Antigen-antibody interaction and immune complexes.
22 Cell-mediated immune responses.

(iv) Regulation.

23 Tolerance.
24 Idiotypes, anti-idiotypes and networks.
25 The cytokine network.
26 Immunity, hormones and the brain.

Potentially useful immunity.

27 Anti-microbial immunity: a general scheme.
28 Immunity to viruses.
29 Immunity to bacteria.
30 Immunity to fungi and ectoparasites.
31 Immunity to protozoa.
32 Immunity to worms.
33 Immunity to tumours.

Undesirable effects of immunity.

34 Harmful immunity: a general scheme.
35 Allergy and anaphylaxis.
36 Immune complexes, complement and disease.
37 Chronic and cell-mediated inflammation.
38 Autoimmunity.
39 Transplant rejection.

Altered immunity.

40 Immunosuppression.
41 Immunodeficiency.
42 HIV and AIDS.
43 Immunostimulation and vaccination.

Immunity in health and disease.

44 Immunity and clinical medicine.
45 Investigating immunity.
46 Into the future: immunology in the age of genomics.

Self-assessment.
Self-assessment questions.
Answers.

Appendices.
Appendix I: Comparative sizes and molecular weights.
Appendix II: Landmarks in the history of immunology: some unsolved problems.
Appendix III: CD classification

Author Information

Professor John H L Playfair MB BChir PhD DSc, Emeritus Professor of Immunology, University College London, UK.

Professor Benjamin M Chain BA, PhD, FRCPath, Professor of Immunology and Head of Department at the Windeyer Institute of Medical Sciences, University College London, UK.