Immune System

the natural defense system, present in the body of a VERTEBRATE animal which helps to protect it against diseases caused by micro-organisms and parasites. There are two types of immunity provided by the immune system:

1) natural (known as innate)--this is present from birth and is wide ranging, operating against almost any foreign substance that threatens the body.

2) acquired immunity--this type of immunity occurs as a result of an attack by a particular foreign substance. The immune system builds up its defenses against that particular substance and uses them again in any future attack.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

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An immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumour cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own healthy cells and tissues in order to function properly. Detection is complicated as pathogens can evolve rapidly, producing adaptations that avoid the immune system and allow the pathogens to successfully infect their hosts.

To survive this challenge, multiple mechanisms evolved that recognize and neutralize pathogens. Even simple unicellular organisms such as bacteria possess enzyme systems that protect against viral infections. Other basic immune mechanisms evolved in ancient eukaryotes and remain in their modern descendants, such as plants and insects. These mechanisms include antimicrobial peptides called defensins, phagocytosis, and the complement system. Jawed vertebrates, including humans, have even more sophisticated defense mechanisms. The typical vertebrate immune system consists of many types of proteins, cells, organs, and tissues, which interact in an elaborate and dynamic network. As part of this more complex immune response, the human immune system adapts over time to recognize specific pathogens more efficiently. This adaptation process is referred to as "adaptive immunity" or "acquired immunity" and creates immunological memory. Immunological memory created from a primary response to a specific pathogen, provides an enhanced response to secondary encounters with that same, specific pathogen. This process of acquired immunity is the basis of vaccination.

Disorders in the immune system can result in disease. Immunodeficiency occurs when the immune system is less active than normal, resulting in recurring and life-threatening infections. Immunodeficiency can either be the result of a genetic disease, such as severe combined immunodeficiency, or be produced by pharmaceuticals or an infection, such as the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) that is caused by the retrovirus HIV. In contrast, autoimmune diseases result from a hyperactive immune system attacking normal tissues as if they were foreign organisms. Common autoimmune diseases include Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus type 1 and lupus erythematosus. Immunology covers the study of all aspects of the immune system which has significant relevance to human health and diseases. Further investigation in this field is expected to play a serious role in promotion of health and treatment of diseases.

Taken from Wikipedia

A Sticky Situation

Chewing gum is stepped on, swallowed and stuck in the hair of unsuspecting classmates. Some find gum chewing relieves stress or helps to keep them from overeating. Others just think it's an unpleasant habit. Where did chewing gum come from in the first place?

Tree resin, or sap, traditionally formed the base for chewing gums. The ancient Greeks chewed mastiche, a gum made from the resin of the mastiche tree.

Later, the Maya Indians of Mexico chewed chicle, a rubbery resin from the sapodilla tree. The colonists of New England adopted the Indian habit of chewing hardened spruce sap.

The popularity of spruce gum waned with the introduction of a new chewing gum made of sweetened paraffin wax. Licorice Lulu, Four-in-Hand, Sugar Cream, White Mountain and Biggest and Best were some of the paraffin wax gums peddled in the 1800s.

The forerunner of modern chewing gum emerged in the 1860s. One story claims that Santa Anna, the Mexican general who led the attack on the Alamo, left a chunk of chicle in the desk drawer of an office in Staten Island, New York.

Thomas Adams Sr. found the chicle and tried to make it into rubber first, and then an adhesive for false teeth. Failing at both attempts, he finally boiled down and rolled the chicle flat, creating the base for the tastiest chewing gum to that time. (Synthetics have now replaced chicle as a gum base.)

Bubble gum was first produced in 1906, but was not perfected and marketed until 1928.

Sugarless gum was first marketed in the mid-1960s. Chewing sugarless gum directly after eating may lower the incidence of tooth decay by stimulating the production of saliva, according to a report in the Journal of the American Dental Association. Xylitol, a nonfermentable sugar alcohol popular in European gums, may even protect the teeth.

Perhaps someone will invent no-stick, hair-proof gum that will launch yet another decade of the gum chewing habit!

- By Anne Douglas

Taken from Youth 90 magazine