Do I have a super human immune system?
Prior to this year, I used to get sick about 3-5 times a year and would last for a week or two. This past school year, I've been getting even less sleep because of my classes, A LOT more stress, and I'm much more busy than I've ever been before, and I got sick once, which lasted 2 days. My habits haven't changed, but I'm just so curious as to why I'm not getting as sick when my body has less energy (I used to get sick a lot due to lack of sleep, that's why I'm so confused)
The immune system of humans may respond to chemicals on the surface of an invading organism by?
The human immune system will respond to chemicals on the surface of an invading organism by secreting antibodies that attach to and therefore mark these organisms for destruction by other immune cells. B cells are lymphoid cells that produce antibodies that are specifically designed to bind to unique chemicals found only on pathogen surfaces. Once bound to the pathogen the antibodies will enable natural killer cells to attach to the antibody and by association attach to the pathogen. These then destroy the pathogen in a process known as Antibody Dependent Cellular Cyto-toxicity. The maintenance of proper levels of intercellular fluid will be most closely associated with the lymphatic circulation. Pulmonary circulation is concerned with the lung-heart circulation; coronary circulation is concerned with the blood supply that services the heart; the lymphatic circulation is concerned with the open circulation of lymphatic fluid but systemic circulation encompasses the whole circulation of the body. Intercellular fluid is a product of the blood - as blood flows through smaller and smaller vessels from the heart (aorta - arteries - arterioles - capillaries) into the capillaries of the tissues, fluid leaches out to form intercellular fluid where oxygen, nutrients and wastes can be exchanged. This fluid is brought back into the circulation by flowing into the lymphatic system where it will empty back into the blood supply at the thoracic junction. Therefore maintaining homestasis of the intercellular fluid will be associated with the lymphatic circulation, but this is dependent on the systemic circulation as is all other sub-circulations.
How do you calm and normalize the human immune system?
Ever wonder why psoriasis changes the skin so that the skin cells have neuropeptide markers for the blood vessels of your intestines in them? Oh yeah, I might sound crazy, but I don't make this stuff up... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17034... If you start thinking about what a neuropeptide is, how they got to be in the skin is real mind blowing stuff - and with psoriasis the skin gets to be chock full of them - here are some more http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18833... Those are chemicals that act like neurotransmitters, but FASTER! Ask yourself, why would the skin ever - EVER have to be faster than your nervous system....go ahead, think on it some.....dizzying, hunh? "Curing these diseases is just as simple as convincing the immune system it can chill out and vacate the battlefield" No, no it's not - - and anyone who has ever told you that or thought that has never given the immune system any serious thought: and it deserves some serious, serious thought.... There are 31 conditions which commonly occur with psoriasis, all are chronic, progressive and/or fatal - they are all inflammatory by nature: there are only three ways disease gets us - germs, genes (cancer, or otherwise) and inflammation....that's my take on things. We used to think that the brain was an organ in charge of the neurological system - now we think the neurological system is part of the immune system (think about it, the brains initial and baseline function is to determine self/not self - just like the immune system) - we simply don't know an awful lot about these things.... Shutting down the portions of your immune system that are making you miserable though, would make you vulnerable to a quick death from microbes you encounter every single day ....that's why medicine has simply not "shut off" your immune system - It could be done, people undergoing bone marrow transplants do just that - I'm just saying...in case you ever wondered.
Delete CC Chemokine Receptor 5 (CCR5)There's a trans-membrane receptor protein normally found on CD4+ T-cells called CCR5. HIV virions use this receptor to invade your T cells.Without CCR5, HIV cannot mount an effective infection.There is a specific CCR5 mutation found in some people. It's called CCR5-delta32 deletion. It changes CCR5 in such a way that HIV is no longer able to enter your T-cells.CCR5-delta32 is common in people of Northern European descent. The reason traces back to evolutionary selective pressures from diseases endemic to the region.Originally, research suggested that the bubonic plague generated the selective pressures that promoted CCR5-delta32 frequencies in Northern Europe. Specifically the pandemics which occurred in the mid 14th and 17th centuries that killed up to 30% and 20% of the population, respectively.More recent studies suggest that persistent mortality from other diseases, such as smallpox, drove CCR5-delta32 selection.Evidence for smallpox is stronger given that the disease had a larger cumulative mortality rate and tended to kill people at younger ages, prior to successful reproduction.Furthermore, unlike bubonic plague which is caused by the bacterium, Yersinia pestis, smallpox is a viral infection. And, like HIV, poxvirus infects lymphocytes through chemokine receptors. It is therefore, more plausible to suggest that CCR5-delta32 conferred resistance to poxvirus in a similar fashion to HIV.If you’re interested in learning more about the CCR5-delta32 and HIV, I recommend the following article:Galvani and Novembre. The evolutionary history of the CCR5-D32 HIV-resistance mutation. Microbes and Infection. 2005. 7: 302–309
Psoriasis and the immune system?
There is now evidence that psoriasis is not a skin disorder but in fact a gut disorder. Toxic overload of the liver due to the increased permeability of the small intestine will lead to toxins being depostied in the skin. Thus you have such things as psoraisis, eczema, and sclera derma. Another factor in psoraisis is fatty acid imbalances. Because fatty acids are related to inflammatory responses in the body, we see them often in conjunction with psoriasis. Heavy metals can also play a role in psoraisis. With the increase in heavy metals in our environment, the skin becomes increasingly bombarded from not only the surface of the skin but also the ingestion of heavy metals. Mangosteen heals the gut much more quickly than pills because it is a juice. It is absorbed through the gut mucosa rapidly, and then it enters the blood where it is taken to the liver. Once in the liver it helps to heal the liver through its anti-oxident capabilitiesand through other means. Because toxins going through the gut are not overloading the liver too quickly, it can now dispose of these toxins through normal means rather than through the skin. The Xanthones of this juice are powerful liver detoxifiers, and if taken on a daily basis, will continue to safeguard the gut, the liver, and the skin for many years to come. Mangosteen has anti-oxident effects, anti-inflammatory effects, acid-lowering effects and, NO major side effects. Drugs are dangerous and foods, as supplements, are not. http://www.mangosteen101.co.uk http://www.goxanthones.com
If the human immune system is unchallenged by pathogens, does it remain effective?
If there are no pathogens invading, then what is "effective"? If you mean to ask "do immune defenses wane if there is no immune stimulation?" , then the answer is "yes, but only slightly and slowly." This is known from experiments where gut sterilization and protective environments enforced on those with previously healthy immune systems. What was observed was a slight decrease in cell mediated immunity but generally preserved humoral (antibody mediated) immunity. The immune system creates a memory of the antigen responded to, so that cells responsible for responding to the specific antigen can be cloned for later expansion. This method of immunological memory accounts for the durable immunity induced by vaccines for antigens that may never be seen in a lifetime. You may be immune to smalllpox for over 50 years but never have encountered it except once, as a child, an the end of a needle wielded by a doctor. PS- the reason that influenza shots are needed annually is not so much to reprime the immune response but to develop immunity to new strains. Flu shots are reformulated every year based on the new antigenic strains of flu prevalent in the hemisphere for the past year.
A complete blood count with differential will tell you the amount (number of cells per volume of blood) of each type of immune cell in circulation. There is a “normal range” or “reference value” for each of these cell types. See: Normal blood countsThe immune system includes all white blood cells (WBCs or leukocytes): neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, mast cells, monocyte/macrophages, B lymphocytes and various species’ of T cells. These WBCs circulate in the blood, with versions of each also “residing” in organs and tissues. They are able to exit the blood stream’s capillaries and migrate to the site of infection.The immune system includes organs and tissues as well: bone marrow, lymph nodes (rife with dendritic cells), lymph ducts, spleen, thymus gland and Peyer’s patches in the gut, adenoids, tonsils and the liver. See: Peyer's PatchesWhat this can’t tell you however, is how well each of these cell types is functioning, nor how well they are working together, which is absolutely necessary for proper immune function. These cells “talk” to one-another.The whole system is coordinated by chemical messengers, usually proteins and glycoproteins, called interleukins, cytokines and chemokines.Interleukin - Wikipediahttp://www2.nau.edu/~fpm/immunol...What Are Cytokines? - Definition, Types & Function - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.comThe immune system is a very complex and highly interactive system. It’s not simple like the heart, which is basically a muscle that (hopefully) contracts and relaxes according to a rhythm established by certain cells.A blood test can also “titer” antibodies against a given pathogen as a way of checking to see if a vaccine has had the desired effect, or how long your immunity has lasted, but this is only a very specific test; it tells you little about the remainder of your immune system’s function. See: Antibody titer - WikipediaI believe the only real “test” for such a complicated system is how often one gets sick, how quickly one recovers from infectious diseases, and the absence of autoimmune disease.
Our immune system is a very efficient one when it comes to most in infectionsSee it includes our nasal reflex mechanism ( sneezing), skin secretions, saliva, stomach acid secretions, tears in eyes and huge lot of cellular mechanisms within the body.When ever a tiny dust particle enter the noise while we breath immediately there sets a sneeze mechanism and throws the particle out of the body.Coming to skin secretions they are acidic in nature and don't allow harmful bacteria to growSimilarly acid in stomach, saliva and tears have acidic natureCellular mechanisms have a great impact on our immunityThere are some thousands of mechanisms going on to keep us healthyThe greatest part of our immunity is memoryThere are memory cells in the body which remember the antigen(foreign body) and starts an immediate attack when the same organism attacks for the second time.This is the reason why many healty individuals don't get the chickenpox or many other diseases for second timeThe vaccines also use the same technique i.e , they provoke the memory cells of immunity and there by we don't get a clinical infection even for the first time.But unfortunately ,There are few arising organisms like HIV which have cleverly evolved. They directly attack the cells of immunity. So there is no response not only to that particular organism but also to other organismsthis is the reason why HIV patients suffer from tuberculosis and many other infectionsAt the end without our immunity we cannot even expect to live for few months after we are born
By means of weakening the immune system means making you more susceptible of disease. In general, normal living will not weaken your immune system greatly. Here I list out some of the factors that can cause a significant drop in the immune systemAge: As you age, your immune system ages as well. but you must be really old, like 60 and above for it to have an impactDiseases: Especially cancer, can suppress immune systemHIV: this is self-explanatoryDrugs: they harm your body in generalExtreme exercise: notable WBC count drop was found in marathon runners, especially for those top athletes. presumably due to stress experiences during the duration of exercise.Does Exercise Weaken Immune System?http://www.nature.com/icb/journa...Severe malnutrition: as seen in areas of conflict and poverty