Immunity (medical)
hideImmunity 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.
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News tagged with immune
Researchers demonstrate that stem cells can be engineered to kill HIV
Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS
1hour ago |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- UCLA AIDS Institute researchers have for the first time demonstrated that human blood stem cells can be engineered to target and kill HIV-infected cells.
Dutch PhD develops fast method for preparing flu vaccine
17 hours ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A shortage of flu vaccines may soon become a thing of the past. Researcher Manon Cox has designed an alternative process for producing large quantities of safe and effective vaccines at twice to four times ...
Researchers Build Artificial Immune System to Solve Computational Problems
Technology / Computer Sciences
Dec 03, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (12) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- By mimicking the way that a living body acquires immunity to disease through vaccination, researchers have designed an artificial immune system to solve optimization problems more effectively ...
Microbes help mothers protect kids from allergies
Dec 07, 2009 |
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A pregnant woman's exposure to microbes may protect her child from developing allergies later in life. Researchers in Marburg, Germany find that exposure to environmental bacteria triggers a mild inflammatory response in ...
Improving the odds:A new method for bone marrow transplantation
Dec 07, 2009 |
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Although bone marrow transplants have long been standard for acute leukemia, current treatments still rely on exact matches between donor and patient. Now, scientists at the University of Perugia, Italy, and the Weizmann ...
Glaxo's swine flu shot may give kids fever
Medicine & Health / Medications
Dec 04, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The European Medicines Agency warns that young children given GlaxoSmithKline's swine flu shot may get a fever after their second dose.
Scientists rescue visual function in rats using induced pluripotent stem cells
Dec 03, 2009 |
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An international team of scientists has rescued visual function in laboratory rats with eye disease by using cells similar to stem cells. The research shows the potential for stem cell-based therapies to treat ...
Scientists discover genetic pattern that indicates early-stage lung cancer
Dec 01, 2009 |
4 / 5 (1) |
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Wistar Institute researchers and collaborators from the University of Pennsylvania and New York University have identified immune system markers in the blood which indicate early-stage lung tumors in people at high risk for ...
Good stress response enhances recovery from surgery, study shows
Dec 01, 2009 |
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The right kind of stress response in the operating room could lead to quicker recovery for patients after knee surgery, according to a new study led by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers. The results could ...
Death-inducing proteins key to complications of bone marrow transplantation
Dec 01, 2009 |
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Treatment for a number of cancers and other medical conditions is transplantation with bone marrow from a genetically nonidentical individual (a process known as allogeneic bone marrow transplantation [allo-BMT]).
