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This volume has gathered some of the experts in the field to review aspects of our understanding of CMV and to offer perspectives of the current problems associated with CMV. The editors and authors hope that the chapters will lead to a better understanding of the virus that will assist in the development of new and unique antivirals, a protective vaccine, and a full understanding of CMV's involvement in human disease.

The Janeway's Immunobiology CD-ROM, Immunobiology Interactive, is included with each book, and can be purchased separately. It contains animations and videos with voiceover narration, as well as the figures from the text for presentation purposes.

Apoptosis is a form of programmed cell death that enables the removal of damaged, infected, or otherwise unwanted cells in a controlled manner. Apoptosis can be initiated by multiple independent pathways that ultimately converge at a point where proteolytic enzymes belonging to the caspase family are activated, which dismantle the apoptotic cell. Multicellular organism have employed apoptotic mechanisms during host defence in response to viral infection to limit or prevent viral spread and replication. Consequently, viruses have evolved sophisticated molecular countermeasures to disarm host apoptotic defences, and this series of reviews and primary research articles in this Special Issue explores the intricate molecular interplay between viruses and their hosts when they battle for control of host apoptotic check-points.

This book is a collection of selected and relevant research, concerning the developments within the Cell Death field of study. Each contribution comes as a separate chapter complete in itself but directly related to the books topics and objectives. The target audience comprises scholars and specialists in the field.

This comprehensive account of the human herpesviruses provides an encyclopedic overview of their basic virology and clinical manifestations. This group of viruses includes human simplex type 1 and 2, Epstein–Barr virus, Kaposi's Sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, cytomegalovirus, HHV6A, 6B and 7, and varicella-zoster virus. The viral diseases and cancers they cause are significant and often recurrent. Their prevalence in the developed world accounts for a major burden of disease, and as a result there is a great deal of research into the pathophysiology of infection and immunobiology. Another important area covered within this volume concerns antiviral therapy and the development of vaccines. All these aspects are covered in depth, both scientifically and in terms of clinical guidelines for patient care. The text is illustrated generously throughout and is fully referenced to the latest research and developments.

In 1960 Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet received the Noble Prize in Physiology and Medicine. He titled his Nobel Lecture “Immunological Recognition of Self” emphasizing the central argument of immunological tolerance in “How does the vertebrate organism recognize self from nonself in this the immunological sense—and how did the capacity evolve.” The concept of self is linked to the concept of biological self identity. All organisms, from bacteria to higher animals, possess recognition systems to defend themselves from nonself. Even in the context of the limited number of metazoan phyla that have been studied in detail, we can now describe many of the alternative mechanism of immune recognition that have emerged at varying points in phylogeny. Two different arms—the innate and adaptive immune system—have emerged at different moments in evolution, and they are conceptually different. The ultimate goals of immune biology include reconstructing the molecular networks underlying immune processes.

-- Up-to-date and in-depth analysis.

The past decade has witnessed an explosion of information on the molecular biology of insect viruses and a frenzy of activity in applying this information to medicine and agriculture. Genetically engineered baculoviruses are presently being tested for commercial use as pesticides, and the study of such viruses is also revealing remarkable insights into basic cellular processes such as apoptosis. This comprehensive volume provides readers with knowledge of basic and applied baculovirology so that current literature in the field can be appreciated.