Diabetes

Type 1 Diabetes 

This is an autoimmune disease that attacks the immune system. People who have this disease are not able to produce insulin on their own because of the dysfunctional beta cells in the pancreas. Normally, food is broken down into glucose which is used as the fuel and energy for the body by cells. Insulin is the hormone that allows glucose to enter cells, however, in people who have type 1, this transition does not occur. The beta cells do not produce the sufficient amount of insulin to maintain the body in homeostasis. Since the glucose is not being transported to cells, it accumulates in the bloodstream 

This is classified as an autoimmune disease because the immune system begins to attack the beta cells of the pancreas. As a result, high blood pressure can occur, along with other symptoms. For example, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, dehydration, and diabetic ketoacidosis. 

Definitions

Involved with T- Cell Activation 

Clonal anergy- This occurs when the body fails to react to presented antigen. When this occurs, it typically means the immune system is not capable of successfully initiating a response a pathogen, which may be a self- antigen.

Positive Costimulatory receptors- These are molecules that enhance TCR signaling. They induce expression of pro- proliferative cytokine IL-2along with prosurvival bcl-2 family member. For example, CD28 is a positive costimulatory receptor.


Negative Costimulatory receptors- These are molecules that inhibbit TCR signaling. They maintain peripheral T- cell tolerance and reduce inflammation after an infection and during responses to chronic infection.

Encounters: Allergy season

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Spring is in the air! 

Along with pollen and germs..

Now that Spring has arrived many of my friends are suffering from allergies. They have watery eyes, an itchy throat, and struggle controlling their sneezing. Allergies are classified as an abnormal response of the immune system to typically harmless substances such as pollen, bee venom, or pet dander. When a person with allergies detects an allergen the immune system triggers the B cells to begin antibody production to protect and fight off what it believes to be a harmful pathogen. As a result, their body will do a chain of reactions to destroy and get rid of the pseudopathogen. Thankfully for them, there are available medications that they can take to control their allergies. For example, antihistamines and decongestants. Antihistamines block the histamines that are produced as a result of detected allergen, which cause a person to have a runny nose and watery eyes. Decongestants shrink blood vessels and tissues that have been swollen and affected due to allergies. So, while the picture of the cute little girl is what some of my friends are going through this season, the following is how I will be enjoying this lovely season

Reflections: Contagion

    Contagion as a real life situation 

     The movie we watched in lab was exceedingly interesting and a bit frightening because it is highly possible for it to happen. Taking this course helps me understand the importance of vaccines along with the associated pathogens. The movie traced a woman who had been infected with something unknown and its origin was also unknown. This virus was highly transmissible and was sweeping the nation at a rapid rate. To me, this movie illustrated what a virus is capable of doing and how quickly it can be spread. Not only did it stress the medical importance, it also show the social, political, and economic consequences a pandemic can have. 

     At the end of the movie, it revealed how the virus began and how it was initially transmitted. This proves how critically important hygiene and sanitation is. Additionally, it showed how creating a vaccine and identifying the cells it is associated with can be tedious. For this reason, it important to try and prevent the transmission of new viruses. 

http://chargedmagazine.org/2012/08/the-movie-contagion-is-so-realistic-its-boring/

Tuberculosis

     Tuberculosis is a dangerous and highly contagious disease that can be transmitted via coughing, sneezing, and talking. It is caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis and it typically attacks the lungs, but can infect other parts of the body as well. Symptoms include: severe cough, chest pain, weakness, fatigue, weight loss, chills, fever, sweating, and blood in cough. An individual can have one of two different types of TB. One is the latent TB, where the host is not sick and the body is able fight off infection. Additionally, the disease does not spread to other parts of the body. On the other hand, the other type is simply called TB disease and this type can be transmitted to others and can be fatal. 
     In the early 1900s, a vaccine was created for TB. It is called Bacillus Calmette- Guerina (BCG). Vaccinations had advanced dramatically since they were first discovered many years ago. It is interesting how vaccines work because it is an attenuated form of the disease however it is not detrimental or fatal for an individual. It is intentionally weakened so that the body's immune system may be able to fight the infection and create antibodies for it. Therefore, if the person is presented with the disease the body will already have the previously made antibodies to fight the infection and prevent the person from getting sick and suffering from the illness. 

My dictionary

Major Histocompatibility complex (MHC) 


Endogenous/ Exogenous Pathway
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Super antigen
 

Encounters: Raw Meat

         Yesterday, after a long day of being in class for about seven consecutive hours, my roommate and I were preparing to have dinner and she was getting ready to cook meat for tamales. Tamales are a traditional food for most Hispanics. I say most Hispanics, because I'm Mexican and my roommate is Guatemalan and we both love to eat tamales. I was clearly not exposed to all this diversity in South Texas. Anyway, her meat had been in the freezer for a quite some time and she asked me if she should be worried about it acquiring bacteria. I get so excited when information that I learn in class comes up during the day.

     I remembered how in one of our labs we had a question about freezing and thawing meat. One of the questions on the report asked, "Why does repeated freezing and thawing increase bacterial growth?" When meat is repeatedly thawed, the meat sits at room temperature for a while and this allows bacteria to grow. Freezing the meat after it has thawed does not kill or eliminate any of the new bacteria that could have possibly grown. It is always important to properly store meat in the freezer to avoid bacteria from growing on it. In the end, my roommate decided not to use the meat and threw it out. She saved herself from ingesting some possible bacteria, I guess I'm her hero now :P

 

Reflections: Blood Typing

     In last week's lab, we did a process where we actually tested our own or someone else's blood type. I was interested in the lab because I had never been tested for my blood type before and I was curios in finding out. We started the procedure by cleaning the finger that was going to be used. Then we pricked the finger and pointed it downward to help the blood flow, we also massaged the palm to further aid in the blood flow. This method really improved the amount of blood flow that we got because before doing this we were unsuccessful in obtaining enough blood for testing. After we had sufficient blood we placed a drop on three different slides. On the first slide, we added anti-A, on the second slide we added anti- B, and on the third slide we added the anti- Rh. The agglutination of the blood and antigen determined which blood type was present. This test is fairly reliable, of course, you are better off having your blood type tested by a professional. My results showed that I am blood type O. So, if anyone needs blood, I can be your donor!

Immunoglobulin theories

 

Immunoglobulins: They are antibodies that are produced by B cells which are a lymphocyte. They function in neutralizing foreign substances that invade the body such as bacteria and viruses. They are Y- shaped structures that have heavy chains and light chains.

http://myplace.frontier.com/~dffix/medmicro/igs.htm

 

Germ- line theory: This theory states that each immunoglobulin has genetic information that is encoded in the germ- line genome.

Somatic mutation theory: This theory is based on the limited amount of inherited antibodies that undergo a mutation with their B cells to generate the observed repertoire
 
http://nsdl.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/546/1/AntibodyDiversity.pdf 
http://www.nature.com/icb/journal/v86/n2/fig_tab/7100160f1.html

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

     I enjoy learning about the components of blood, it is fascinating for me. So, for my disease project I chose a disease that dealt with the blood, more specifically with leukocytes. I think part of the reason that I find the blood so intriguing is because at first, it was confusing to me and it seemed too complicated to understand. Once I learned the material it all made sense and now it's kind of fun. Hope you enjoy this quick overview as much as I did!
     Leukocytes are white blood cells and there are five different types. There are all pretty cool and unique. Blood stem cells are what give rise to the various type of cells. They are grouped into myeloid cells and lymphoid stem cells. The myeloid cells can become erythrocytes (red blood cells), thrombocytes (platelets), or granulocytes (Neutrophils, Basophils, and Eosinophils). As opposed to the lymphoid cells that become B cells, T cells, and NK cells (they are also leukocytes). Myeloid and lymphoid stem cells both have the capability of developing into leukocytes, although they are different type of leukocytes (nonetheless, they are still leukocytes). As a result, this can be detrimental to an individual because an overproduction of leukocytes means that there is less space for other cells (erythrocytes, thrombocytes, and leukocytes). Another factor that affects this abundance is that the granulocytes developing from the myeloid stem cells (hence the name of the disease, pretty cool) are produced with a defect that makes them abnormal and not healthy.
     In conclusion, a person with leukemia has two harmful events occurring simultaneously in the body. Not only is there an over production of leukocytes, they are also not functioning properly. This is crucial to their health because it is the neutrophils, basophils, and eosinophils that are being defected. These three granulocytes perform necessary functions for keeping the body healthy. Thankfully, individuals with this disease do have several treatment options to choose from. Hope you learned something new and are willing to share your knowledge to educate the world one person at a time! :)

Women and Estrogen

     As I was checking my email the other day, I saw an article named Too Much of This Might Double Your Risk of Dementia. As a biology major, I couldn't help but read it. To my surprise, they were referring to a woman having too much of the estrogen hormone. It is commonly known that women have more levels of estrogen than men do and that is why our voice has a higher pitch, our menstrual cycle is set, and we have more feminine characteristics. 

     The article stated how the study was performed on women who were postmenopausal so they had already stopped having their menstrual cycle. Typically, estrogen levels decline after menopause occurs. When women reaches this stage in her life, she may freak out a bit due to her estrogen levels and some women resort to estrogen therapy. This is a process where a woman will take medicine to continue having the same amount of estrogen her body used to produce naturally. However, the article stated that dementia was more likely for women found to have high levels of estrogen. This raises the debate whether or not women should do estrogen therapy and if dementia is truly linked to it. 

http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/too-much-of-this-might-double-your-risk-of-dementia-175623173.html

My Dictionary

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Major histocompatibility complex molecules (MHC) are a type of glycoprotein that can be located on the cell membrane. These molecules are able to create complexes with antigens

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/understandingcancer/immunesystem/AllPages/Print

Chemokines- proteins that are secreted by antigen presenting cells, stromal cell, granulocytes, and lymphocytes.

http://www.bio.davidson.edu/Immunology/chemokinespeech/chemokinetalks.html

Germinal centers- These structures aid in the formation of B cells because they have an increased number of receptors

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/atniehs/labs/lmg/sh/

First Week of Class

The first week of class went by extraordinarily slow, the last semester of your senior year may be the most stressful semester of your college career. (At least, that's how it has started our for me). However, I am excited and looking forward to taking this class in particular. I am eager to learn about the immune system in depth and about different diseases, infections, and vaccinations. Taking Histology last semester really helped with the information that we covered on Tuesday in class. I think this class will really help us apply all the information we have gathered towards more real life scenarios- people and diseases. I wish to become a PA, so I hope to learn concepts that will benefit me in a clinical setting.