Related topics: swine flu , vaccine
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
Implant-based cancer vaccine is first to eliminate tumors in mice
Nov 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A cancer vaccine carried into the body on a carefully engineered, fingernail-sized implant is the first to successfully eliminate tumors in mammals, scientists report this week in the journal ...
Study reveals H1N1 unexpected weakness
Dec 10, 2009 |
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The H1N1 influenza virus has been keeping a secret that may be the key to defeating it and other flu viruses as well.
Researchers demonstrate that stem cells can be engineered to kill HIV
Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS
Dec 08, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (18) |
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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.
Scientists remove amyloid plaques from brains of live animals with Alzheimer's disease
Oct 15, 2009 |
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A breakthrough discovery by scientists from the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, may lead to a new treatment for Alzheimer's Disease that actually removes amyloid plaques -- considered a hallmark of the disease -- from patients' ...
Researchers Build Artificial Immune System to Solve Computational Problems
Technology / Computer Sciences
Dec 03, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (14) |
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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 ...
Vaccine being developed to help smokers quit
Medicine & Health / Medications
Nov 20, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (16) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Glaxo-SmithKline has joined forces with Nabi Pharmaceuticals to produce a vaccine to help smokers give up their addiction permanently.
Manipulating brain inflammation may help clear brain of amyloid plaques
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 22, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (13) |
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In a surprising reversal of long-standing scientific belief, researchers at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have discovered that inflammation in the brain is not the trigger that leads to buildup of amyloid deposits and ...
A major step in making better stem cells from adult tissue
Oct 18, 2009 |
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A team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has developed a method that dramatically improves the efficiency of creating stem cells from human adult tissue, without the use of embryonic cells. The research ...
Study shows how carbon nanotubes can affect lining of the lungs
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Oct 25, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Carbon nanotubes are being considered for use in everything from sports equipment to medical applications, but a great deal remains unknown about whether these materials cause respiratory ...
New Synthetic Molecules Trigger Immune Response to HIV and Prostate Cancer
Nov 05, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (9) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Yale University have developed synthetic molecules capable of enhancing the body’s immune response to HIV and HIV-infected cells, as well as to prostate cancer cells. Their ...
Two molecules affecting brain plasticity
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 25, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- You wouldn't want a car with no brakes. It turns out that the developing brain needs them, too.
Fibre may keep asthma, diabetes at bay, study finds
Oct 28, 2009 |
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Insoluble dietary fibre, or roughage, not only keeps you regular, say Australian scientists, it also plays a vital role in the immune system, keeping certain diseases at bay.
Researchers discover new antituberculosis compounds
Sep 16, 2009 |
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Attempts to eradicate tuberculosis (TB) are stymied by the fact that the disease-causing bacteria have a sophisticated mechanism for surviving dormant in infected cells. Now, a team of scientists led by researchers from Weill ...
IBM Reveals Five Innovations that Will Change Cities in the Next Five Years (w/ Video)
Dec 17, 2009 |
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Today, IBM unveiled a list of innovations that have the potential to change how people live, work and play in cities around the globe over the next five to ten years.
'Shoot-'em-up' video game increases teenagers' science knowledge
Dec 08, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (7) |
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While navigating the microscopic world of immune system proteins and cells to save a patient suffering from a raging bacterial infection, young teenage players of the "Immune Attack" video game measurably improved their understanding ...
