December 2010
14 posts
“Until we have a simple, reliable test, many TB patients will keep falling...”
– Dr. Francis Varaine, MSF TB Coordinator in the MSF special report Ten Stories That Mattered in Access to Medicines in 2010 (via doctorswithoutborders)
Release the Tourniquets!: Eponymous Syndrome of... →
releasethetourniquets:
Löffler’s Syndrome is a benign and self-limiting condition in which an allergic infiltration of eosinophils is seen in the lungs. This allergic reaction is most often due to drugs, such as sulfonamides, or infection with a fungus or parasite, including Ascaris lumbricoides (the giant roundworm of…
Eosinophilic Pneumonia… Maybe I’ll go over the parasite...
Mistake alarm!
Only a couple of posts in, and already I’ve ballsed up.
NK Cells are innate cells! Don’t know how I let that slip past me!
NK cells are of the lymphoid heritage, the same as B Cells and T Cells. However, they aren’t considered adaptive cells.
Many many thanks to http://svetlanasikorska.tumblr.com/ for pointing out my schoolboy error.
In the flow chart I’ve got in the...
9 tags
Phagocytosis: Eat them alive and wash them down...
Phagocytosis goes on all over the body, all the time. When cells die and need to be removed, they’re often mopped up through this.
It happens much more though, in times of infection and inflammation.
Phagocytes have a simple approach to infection; take cells in and destroy them with as many chemical and enyzymatic processes as possible. Not so far away from dumping what you want to get...
DRC: MSF Responding to Measles Epidemics →
doctorswithoutborders:
When a number of measles epidemics hit DRC at the same time, MSF began mass treatment and immunization programs in several parts of the country.
Doctors Without Borders: What is Malnutrition? →
Malnutrition, specifically undernutrition, is a serious medical condition marked by a deficiency of essential proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals in a diet.
It is especially burdensome and dangerous for young, growing children and plays a significant role in mortality because the immune…
“The immune system:
>Can tell the difference between self and non-self...”
– quote for quotes sake…
16 tags
Previous post: tl;dr? (EDITED)
There’re two parts to the immune system = Innate and Adaptive
Innate Cells = Neutrophils, Macrophages, Monocytes (didn’t mention them, oh no!), Dendritic Cells, Eosinophils, Basophils, Mast Cells, NK Cells.
Adaptive Cells = T Cells, B Cells
(EDIT: In the chart below, NK Cells should come under the innate heading. It’s wrong due to an absentminded mistake of mine. NK cells...
15 tags
Cells in the Immune System - who they are and what...
How do infections take over a person? How do they cause entire countries to collapse? How do they spread across the world? Perhaps the more important question would be, why don’t they do that all the time? Why do we find HIV killing millions when the cold gets far less impressive figures? Why do we find that one strain of flu causes mass panic when we live relatively comfortably with so many...
4 tags
Vague Plan
So, what’s going to get looked at over the next little while? (I did enough of my own work today so I get to think about this!) I thought, to avoid being a one post and gone kinda affair, it’d help if I had a plan.
I want to start basic, that those who’ve not had an intro to immunology will be able to follow this all the way through. We’re going to cover wide areas of...
“We know that behind the scenes, Germany, the UK and France are the ones doing...”
– Michelle Childs, Policy Director at MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, speaking at a protest outside the summit in Brussels.
Help us tell Europe to keep their HANDS OFF OUR MEDICINE!
(via doctorswithoutborders)
or Host versus Everything...
Why this title?
Why this blog?
My personal reasons for writing are in the post below, but why would you care about those? Content’s what matters.
Well the content will be looking at; medicine, parasitology, microbiology, virology, global health, and global politics through a certain lens.
The posts should allow anyone to understand these subjects above with only the tiniest amount of...
