The Slim Book of Health Pearls: Man the Barricades - The Story of the Immune System
By Sheldon Cohen M.D. and FACP
()
About this ebook
By virtue of an amazing communication network, millions of cells gather, exchange information, become activated and respond to bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses preventing them from causing infection.
A malfunctioning immune system, when immune cells attack "self," results in numerous auto-immune diseases, the "God only knows" diseases of sixty years ago.
Read more from Sheldon Cohen M.D.
The Slim Book of Health Pearls: Challenging Diagnoses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Slim Book of Health Pearls: Symptoms Never to Ignore Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Slim Book of Health Pearls: Am I At Risk? The Patient's Guide to Health Risk Factors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Monster Within Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Coming Healthcare Revolution: Take Control of Your Health Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Slim Book of Health Pearls
Related ebooks
A Simple Guide to Thymus Disorders, Diagnosis, Treatment and Related Conditions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDisease and Its Causes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuper Immunity For Beginners: Boost Your Body's Defence, Prevent Diseases and Disorders, Live Healhier and Longer Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Human Microbiome: The Germs That Keep You Healthy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Science Of Autophagy: Why Autophagy Is The Real Way To Detox Your Body Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuper Immunity SuperFoods: Super Immunity SuperFoods That Will Boost Your Body's Defences& Detox Your Body for Better Health Today! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSkin cell, Functions, Diseases, A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMosquito Facts & Information Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoar into Health: Simple Principles to Health and Wellness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsImmune Surveillance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProtocols and Applications in Enzymology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Evolution of the Immune System: Conservation and Diversification Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrescription for a Sick Nation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCancer Biology, a Study of Cancer Pathogenesis: How to Prevent Cancer and Diseases Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Structure of Mitochondria Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Spleen, Functions, Diseases, A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ultimate Guide to Fighting Animal Abuse on the Web: The Book that Saves Lives! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mismatched Human: Our Fight for a Meaningful Existence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnal Cancer, A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEscape the Meatrix: Eat Plants, Feel Great, and Save the Planet! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFundamentals of Microbiome Science: How Microbes Shape Animal Biology Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Life And Death Of A Cancer Cell (Mutant Man) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Secret of Long Life Is Personalized, Like Nutrigenomics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe End of the Beginning Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEssentials of Mucosal Immunology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRegenerative Medicine: Restoring organ’s function lost due to aging, disease, damage, or defects Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeasles Virus and Its Biology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAllergy Cure: The Natural Way Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForbidden Foods: Are You Eating Them? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Biology For You
Anatomy and Physiology For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Obesity Code: the bestselling guide to unlocking the secrets of weight loss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anatomy 101: From Muscles and Bones to Organs and Systems, Your Guide to How the Human Body Works Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sapiens: A Graphic History, Volume 2: The Pillars of Civilization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emotional Blackmail: When the People in Your Life Use Fear, Obligation, and Guilt to Manipulate You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All That Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma and Adversity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dopamine Detox: Biohacking Your Way To Better Focus, Greater Happiness, and Peak Performance Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ (Revised Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peptide Protocols: Volume One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Will Make You Smarter: 150 New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fantastic Fungi: How Mushrooms Can Heal, Shift Consciousness, and Save the Planet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Crack In Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Winner Effect: The Neuroscience of Success and Failure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Suicidal: Why We Kill Ourselves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Blood of Emmett Till Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Gov't Told Me: And the Better Future Coming Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Slim Book of Health Pearls
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Slim Book of Health Pearls - Sheldon Cohen M.D.
review.
This is a short story about the body’s defenses against attack by enemies constantly trying to harm us. The principal actors are organs, cells, and complicated collections of proteins, tuned by billions of years of evolution to work in a harmonious manner for the good of the whole.
This short story will describe the various lines of defense used to keep us alive in a world where, on a daily basis, invisible or visible predators want to usurp our bodies. These predators are bacteria, fungi, pollen, viruses, parasites, cancer cells, and transplanted organs.
In the face of this onslaught, we owe a state of good health to our immune system: the collaborative mechanism that protects us from disease by utilizing a sophisticated team of specialized organs and cells that differentiate self from non-self. This ability is due to the fact that every body cell carries distinctive molecules (epitopes) on their surfaces that identify it as self. Immune cells, recognizing this self-marker, coexist peacefully in a state known as self-tolerance.
On the other hand, altered or foreign cells or organisms that do not carry this self-marker will find themselves subjected to an all out vigorous assault by the immune system.
Of course, transplanted organs can be life saving. Therefore, a careful physician must try to suppress the immune mechanism to a degree ensuring that the transplanted organ will continue to perform its function for the good of its new host. Failure to suppress the immune function enough will allow the host to overcome the transplanted organ in a process called rejection.
A substance capable of triggering an immune response is an antigen. These non-self invaders carry epitopes on their surfaces that immune cells immediately recognize as foreign, attack and neutralize or kill.
Immunology, the study of the immune system, has become a topic of interest since the advent of the autoimmune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). This epidemic has focused our attention on the consequences of a malfunctioning immune system. They include the assault on our bodies by opportunistic infections and malignant diseases. In addition severe combined immunodeficiency disease (SCID) is a thankfully rare condition present at birth that is characterized by a severe defect in T & B lymphocytes, our main immune cells (more later). This defect impairs the immune response and results in serious life threatening infections within the first few months of life.
The last sixty years have seen incredible advances in our study of immunity or resistance to disease. The underlying structure known as the lymphatic system is an efficient anatomical masterpiece working in the background, and without it our hearts would cease to beat and our immune system would become inoperable.
The lymphatic system includes a specialized body transport mechanism that delivers unique cells, fluid, proteins, and chemicals to any location invaded by predators, or altered non-self cells. Included in the lymphatic system are very specialized organs within which the lymphatic cells are manufactured and stored.
These structures are all involved in a well-coordinated surveillance and attack against bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, cancer cells, and transplanted organs. Even invaders such as dust particles, pollen, molds, and grasses are subject to immune assault. The job of this harmonious system is to identify, isolate, and destroy any foreign invader or anything that the system does not identify as belonging to it.
As amazing as this system is, it occasionally overreacts to allergens---substances that causes an allergy. Said another way, an allergen is any substance that causes the immune system to create an allergic reaction.
Worse yet is the overreaction that occurs when the system turns on its host body resulting in a myriad of autoimmune diseases. An autoimmune disease occurs when the immune system mistakes normal self-cells as non-self, attacks and inhibits their function or kills them outright. Some examples are rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosis and multiple sclerosis.
The body has evolved superb nonspecific defense mechanisms against disease. Non-specific refers to those mechanisms, not programmed to zero in on specific enemies, but rather form defenses against them all.
These non-specific defense mechanisms known as innate immunity are present at birth, are not required to have a previous encounter with the invading or offending substance, and do not develop memory. The development of memory by a cell allows those cells prompt recognition of an antigen in the future.
NON-SPECIFIC DEFENSE MECHANISMS
The skin, our largest organ, acts like a shield of armor. It stops bacteria from entering our bodies and in so doing prevents bacterial infection