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Nanotechnology breakthrough could dramatically improve medical tests

A laboratory test used to detect disease and perform biological research could be made more than 3 million times more sensitive, according to researchers who combined standard biological tools with a breakthrough ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created 7 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study maps vaccine for deadly pathogenic fungus

University of Alberta researchers have made breakthrough use of 3-D magnetic resonance technology to map the structure of a common fungus that is potentially deadly for individuals with impaired immune function. The work ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created 11 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

50-year cholera mystery solved: Answers may help clear the way for a new class of antibiotics

For 50 years scientists have been unsure how the bacteria that gives humans cholera manages to resist one of our basic innate immune responses. That mystery has now been solved, thanks to research from biologists at The University ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 29, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New study finds titan cells protect Cryptococcus

Giant cells called "titan cells" protect the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans during infection, according to two University of Minnesota researchers. Kirsten Nielsen, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the department of microb ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 28, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Social status promotes faster wound healing in wild baboons

Turns out it's not bad being top dog, or in this case, top baboon.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 21, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Zooming in on bacterial weapons in 3-D

The plague, bacterial dysentery, and cholera have one thing in common: These dangerous diseases are caused by bacteria which infect their host using a sophisticated injection apparatus. Through needle-like ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 21, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New latent tuberculosis test promises to be cheap and fast

Biomedical engineers at UC Davis have developed a microfluidic chip to test for latent tuberculosis. They hope the test will be cheaper, faster and more reliable than current testing for the disease.

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 22, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

What makes a worm say 'yuck'

Researchers at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) say they have uncovered a way that animals detect pathogens in their bodies that allows their systems to respond before cellular damage ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 15, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover novel approach to stimulate immune cells

Researchers at Rutgers University have uncovered a new way to stimulate activity of immune cell opiate receptors, leading to efficient tumor cell clearance.

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Discovery could lead to greener ways of making drugs

(Phys.org) -- Discoveries made during PhD studies by Victoria University graduate Emma Dangerfield could revolutionise the pharmaceutical industry, by allowing drugs to be made in a more environmentally friendly way.

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 16, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers have a natural sidekick that may resolve the antibiotic-resistant bacteria dilemma

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria continue to be a global concern with devastating repercussions, such as increased healthcare costs, potential spread of infections across continents, and prolonged illness.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Living longer -- variability in infection-fighting genes can be a boon for male survival

Females of mammals (including humans) tend to outlive males, a circumstance that is usually attributed to males´ more aggressive and hence energy-depleting behaviour, especially when they compete for females. This might ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 11, 2012 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0

How social contact with sick ants protects their nestmates

In a research article published April 3 in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology, Prof. Sylvia Cremer and colleagues at the Institute of Science and Technology, Austria show how micro-infections promot ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 03, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

New fluorescent biosensor reveals mechanism critical to immune system amplification

Using a new fluorescent biosensor they developed, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have discovered how a key set of immune cells exchange information during their coordinated assault on invading pathogens. The immune ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Water, water everywhere – but is it essential to life?

Proteins are large organic molecules that are vital to every living thing, allowing us to convert food into energy, supply oxygen to our blood and muscles, and drive our immune systems. Since proteins evolved in a water-rich ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 13, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (6) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Immunity (medical)

Immunity is a biological term that describes a state of having sufficient biological defenses to avoid infection, disease, or other unwanted biological invasion. Immunity involves both specific and non-specific components. The non-specific components act either as barriers or as eliminators of wide range of pathogens irrespective of antigenic specificity. Other components of the immune system adapt themselves to each new disease encountered and are able to generate pathogen-specific immunity.

Adaptive immunity is often sub-divided into two major types depending on how the immunity was introduced. Naturally acquired immunity occurs through contact with a disease causing agent, when the contact was not deliberate, whereas artificially acquired immunity develops only through deliberate actions such as vaccination. Both naturally and artificially acquired immunity can be further subdivided depending on whether immunity is induced in the host or passively transferred from a immune host. Passive immunity is acquired through transfer of antibodies or activated T-cells from an immune host, and is short lived, usually lasts only a few months, whereas active immunity is induced in the host itself by antigen, and lasts much longer, sometimes life-long. The diagram below summarizes these divisions of immunity.

For more information about Immunity (medical), read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: immune system