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How Pathogenic Viruses Work

Author(s): Lauren Sompayrac, PhD, Retired Professor, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
Details:
  • ISBN-13: 9780763720827
  • ISBN-10:0763720828
  • Paperback    115 pages      © 2002
Price: International Sales $40.95 US List
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Overview

How Pathogenic Viruses Work is a concise summary of the basics of virology written in an understandable and entertaining manner. The book is composed of nine lectures covering the essential elements of virus-host interactions with descriptive graphics, helpful mnemonic tactics for retaining the concepts, and brief lecture reviews. This is an ideal text for medical, science, and nursing students who want a review, or simple explanation, of virology.

ShowKey Features

Provides a succinct and simple overview of how viruses work. 
Text follows a course structure, with the information divided into nine "lectures."
Brief review of preceding lecture at the beginning of each lecture.
Key concepts are highlighted, and there is a glossary of terms and abbreviations.
Pictures and mnemonic devices enable readers to retain key concepts.

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ShowTable of Contents

Lecture 0.  How To Use This Book 

Part I.  Fathoming The Mind Of A Virus
Lecture 1.  Viral Origins And Lifestyles 
Lecture 2.  Host Defenses

Part II.  The Bug Parade
Lecture 3.  Viruses We Inhale 
Lecture 4.  Viruses We Eat
Lecture 5.  Viruses We Get From Mom
Lecture 6.  Viruses We Get By Intimate Physical Contact
Lecture 7.  Emerging Viruses

Part III.  Augmenting Host Defenses
Lecture 8.  Vaccines
Lecture 9.  Antiviral Drugs


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ShowAbout the Author(s)

Lauren Sompayrac, PhD-Retired Professor, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

PDr. Lauren Sompayrac was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on September 4, 1941. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a B.S. degree in physics in 1963, and a Ph.D. degree in elementary particle physics in 1969. After two years of postdoctoral research in particle physics, he moved to Copenhagen where he was a Postdoctoral Fellow for two years at the Microbiology Institute. Returning to the United States in 1973, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Pathology at the Harvard Medical School where he studied tumor viruses. In 1976, he moved to the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado to continue his work on tumor viruses, eventually rising to the rank of Research Professor before his retirement in 1998. In retirement, he writes science books, and is the author of How the Immune System Works, published by Blackwell Science in 1999, and How Pathogenic Viruses Work, published by Jones and Bartlett in 2001.

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ShowReviews

  • "The structure and style make How Pathogenic Viruses Work interesting and easy to read. All relevant terms are clearly explained and, as they are explained in context, they are easy to remember. It is a supplementary book on virology I was looking for. I shall certainly recommend this book to my students and will use it for my lectures."

    -- Andreas Dotzauer
    University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    "Unique...should be useful to people trying to develop an approach to virology for the first time (not so bad for those of us who think we know something about viruses either!)...Dr. Sompayrac is an extraordinary writer who sees both the forest and the trees and makes the whole thing fun in the process."

    -- James L. Cook, MD
    Professor of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago

    "I found the excerpts interesting, informative and most of all, fun! I think anyone, including lay persons, students, physicians, and even virologists will enjoy it. Sompayrac is really a brilliant writer. If science books were always this fun to read, we'd have a lot more science majors!"

    -- Daniel Tenen, MD
    Harvard Institute of Medicine

    "One of the best features is that it's easy to read and it's short. In fact, I expect that a student could get a good overview of virology in only one or two sittings, which is all that would probably be required to finish the entire book!"

    -- Tom Hill, PhD
    Department of Microbiology, University of North Dakota

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