Tag Archives: immune system

Stay Healthy In A Polluted World

By Guest PostJune 11, 2012Environment, Healthacne, air, airborne chemicals, antioxidants, by product, cardiovascular system, copd, dandelion, eczema, emphysema, fish oil, healthy lifestyle, immune system, kill bacteria, melanoma cancer, milk thistle, noise pollution, omega-3, organic food, ozone level, pesticides, pneumonia, polluted world, pollution, respiratory ailments, stay healthy, tonya frankel, toxins, water

Pollution is an unfortunate by-product of our ever-changing society. Air, water and even noise pollution can take a toll on any person’s body, without their knowledge. Fortunately, there ARE ways to fight the effects of pollution in your body, in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. There are also helpful tips to decrease the toxins that are invading your body, which could potentially cause harmful consequences later in life. Here’s what you need to know!

The Consequences of Pollution

Impure surroundings affect the lungs, heart, cardiovascular system, immune system, and organs when dangerous toxins are inhaled, consumed or absorbed by the skin or airways. Respiratory ailments, such as colds, flu, pneumonia, emphysema and bronchitis occur often because of these. The chances of contracting asthma and COPD or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease are also more likely. Tainted environments also contribute to allergies, headaches, migraines, and skin disorders such as eczema, acne, melanoma cancer and premature aging. (more…)

When Cells Hit the Wall: UCLA Engineers Put The Squeeze on Cells to Diagnose Disease

By Guest PostMay 6, 2012Health, Scienceaids, amander clark, balloon, cancer, cells, chemical tags, chronic inflammation, cytopathologist, daniel gossett, deformability cytometer, diagnose disease, dino di carlo, dna arrangement, elastic properties, extract information, henry tse, honey, immune disorder, immune system, infection, jian yu rao, mesothelial cells, microfluidic chip, nuclei, rubber balloon, shape, software, steven chu, Technology, ucla engineers, viscous, white blood cells

If you throw a rubber balloon filled with water against a wall, it will spread out and deform on impact, while the same balloon filled with honey, which is more viscous, will deform much less. If the balloon’s elastic rubber was stiffer, an even smaller change in shape would be observed.

By simply analyzing how much a balloon changes shape upon hitting a wall, you can uncover information about its physical properties.

Although cells are not simple sacks of fluid, they also contain viscous and elastic properties related to the membranes that surround them; their internal structural elements, such as organelles; and the packed DNA arrangement in their nuclei. Because variations in these properties can provide information about cells’ state of activity and can be indicative of diseases such as cancer, they are important to measure. (more…)

Scientists Pinpoint How Vitamin D May Help Clear Amyloid Plaques Found in Alzheimer’s

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2012Health1a 25 dihydroxyvitamin d3, alzheimer, amyloid beta, amyloid beta protein, antonio barrientos duran, blood, brain, calcium, chemical, chloride channel 3, clc3, component, curcumin, curcuminoids, danusa menegaz, disease, enzymatic conversion, gene, immune cells, immune system, intracellular mechanism, kidneys, liver, macrophages, mathew t mizwicki, milan fiala, patrick r griffin, phagocytosis, plaques, therapy, turmeric spice, vitamin d3

A team of academic researchers has identified the intracellular mechanisms regulated by vitamin D3 that may help the body clear the brain of amyloid beta, the main component of plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Published in the March 6 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, the early findings show that vitamin D3 may activate key genes and cellular signaling networks to help stimulate the immune system to clear the amyloid-beta protein. (more…)

Why Bad Immunity Genes Survive

By Guest PostFebruary 10, 2012Health, Scienceankylosing spondylitis, antagonistic co evolution, antibiotics, arms race, autoimmune diseases, bacteria, cells, cornelius whitney hyzer, gene, genetics, george gilchrist, germs, immune system, infection, infectious diseases, james ruff, jason kubinak, major histocompatibility complex, mhc, mhc variants, mhcs, mice, national science foundation, parasite, pathogens, patricia slev, people, protein, university of utah, variant, vertebrate animals, virus, wayne potts

*Study implicates “arms race” between genes and germs*

Biologists have found new evidence of why mice, people and other vertebrate animals carry thousands of varieties of genes to make immune-system proteins named MHCs–even though some of those genes make vertebrate animals susceptible to infections and to autoimmune diseases.

“Major histocompatibility complex” (MHC) proteins are found on the surfaces of most cells in vertebrate animals. They distinguish proteins like themselves from foreign proteins, and trigger an immune response against these foreign invaders. (more…)

Gene Research Sheds Light on Timing of Menopause

By Guest PostJanuary 23, 2012Healthanna murray, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, damage, early menopause, genes, genetic studies, genome, heart disease, hormonal change, hormonal regulation, immune system, joanne murabito, john perry, kathryn lunetta, menopause, menopause onset, oestrogen exposure, post menopausal women, pre menopausal, repair, reproductive disorders, reproductive lifespan, timing of menopause, university of exeter, university of oxford

An international team of researchers has discovered 13 new regions of the genome associated with the timing of menopause.

These genes shed light on the biological pathways involved in reproductive lifespan and will provide insights into conditions connected to menopause, such as breast cancer and heart disease.

Menopause is a major hormonal change that affects most women when they are in their early 50s. The timing of menopause can have a huge impact on fertility, as well as influencing the risk of a range of common diseases such as breast cancer. It has been known for some time that genetic factors influenced the onset of menopause, however until recently very few genes had been identified.

In the new study, published in the journal Nature Genetics on 22 January 2012, Dr Anna Murray, University of Exeter, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (PCMD) Dr John Perry, PCMD and WTCHG, University of Oxford, and dozens of international collaborators, examined the genomes of over 50,000 women. They identified 13 novel gene regions associated with menopause onset, and confirmed four previously identified. Most of the 17 regions include genes related to DNA damage/repair or the immune system, whilst others are linked to hormonal regulation. (more…)

‘Fingerprinting’ Method Tracks Mercury Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plant

By Guest PostDecember 17, 2011Environmentatmosphere, brains of fetuses, central nervous system, chemical fingerprints, chlorine producing plants, coal, coal combustion, coal fired power plants, coal samples, crystal river, crystal river plant, eastern kentucky, effects on humans, element mercury, environmental pollution, gerald keeler, global atmospheric pool, global mercury reservoir, heart, immune system, incinerators, isotopic fractionation, jason demers, joel blum, laura sherman, mass dependent fractionation, mdf, mercury emissions, mercury emissions in florida, mercury fingerprinting technique, mercury isotope fingerprints, methylmercury, microorganism, natural phenomenon, naturally occurring element, non radioactive, nuclei, power plant, primary source of mercury pollution, protons, rainfall, timothy dvonch, toxic, university of michigan, west virginia

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— For the first time, the chemical “fingerprints” of the element mercury have been used by University of Michigan researchers to directly link environmental pollution to a specific coal-burning power plant.

The primary source of mercury pollution in the atmosphere is coal combustion. The U-M mercury-fingerprinting technique – which has been under development for a decade – provides a tool that will enable researchers to identify specific sources of mercury pollution and determine how much of it is being deposited locally. (more…)

UCLA Scientists Engineer Blood Stem Cells to Fight Melanoma

By Guest PostDecember 1, 2011Health, Scienceantigen, blood stem cells, cancer and stem cell, cancer patient, caucasians, dimitrios n vatakis, DNA, genes, genetically engineered, human melanoma, immune system, jerome zack, microbiology, mouse models, PET, positron emission tomography, t cell receptor, t cells, viral vehicle

Researchers from UCLA’s cancer and stem cell centers have demonstrated for the first time that blood stem cells can be engineered to create cancer-killing T-cells that seek out and attack a human melanoma. The researchers believe the approach could be useful in about 40 percent of Caucasians with this malignancy.

Done in mouse models, the study serves as the first proof-of-principle that blood stem cells, which make every type of cell found in the blood, can be genetically altered in a living organism to create an army of melanoma-fighting T-cells, said Jerome Zack, the study’s senior author and a scientist with UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA. (more…)

Close Up Look at a Microbial Vaccination Program

By Guest PostOctober 3, 2011Health, Sciencebacterium, berkeley lab, blake wiedenheft, casa, casb, case, cells, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repea, complex of proteins, crispr, cryo electron microscopy, e coli, escherichia coli, eva nogales, gabriel lander, human pathogens, immune system, infections by bacteria, invading pathogens, jennifer doudna, john van der oost, kaihong zhou, microbe, microbial, microbial immune systems, microbiome, perturbations, protein complex called cascade, seahorse, short interfering rnas, sirnas, symbioses, toxins, unit of dna, viruses

*Berkeley Lab Researchers Resolve Sub-nanometer Structure of Cascade, an Ally for Human Immune System*

A complex of proteins in the bacterium E.coli that plays a critical role in defending the microbe from viruses and other invaders has been discovered to have the shape of a seahorse by researchers with the U.S Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). This discovery holds far more implications for your own health than you might think.

In its never-ending battle to protect you from infections by bacteria, viruses, toxins and other invasive elements, your immune system has an important ally – many allies in fact. By the time you reach adulthood, some 90-percent of the cells in your body are microbial. These microbes – collectively known as the microbiome – play a critical role in preserving the health of their human host. (more…)