Thomas Pradeu
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199775286
- eISBN:
- 9780199932818
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199775286.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Metaphysics/Epistemology
What counts as an individual in the living world? What does it mean for a living thing to remain the same through time while constantly changing? Immunology, one of the most dynamic fields of today’s ...
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What counts as an individual in the living world? What does it mean for a living thing to remain the same through time while constantly changing? Immunology, one of the most dynamic fields of today’s biology, considers these questions its province, and answers them through its crucial concepts of “self” and “nonself.” Though immunology has been dominated since the 1940s by the self-nonself theory, this book argues that this theory is inadequate, because immune responses to self constituents and immune tolerance of foreign entities are the rule, not the exception. An alternative theory, the continuity theory, is advanced instead. This theory offers a new way to answer the question of what triggers an immune response. It also echoes the recent realization that all organisms, and not higher vertebrates only, have an immune system. This book’s main thesis is that the self-nonself theory should be abandoned, but that immunology still proves to be decisive for delineating the boundaries of the organism. Articulating an evolutionary and an immunological perspective, it offers an original conception of the organism. Tolerance of the fetus by the mother and of countless bacteria on the body’s surfaces proves that every organism is heterogeneous, that is, made of entities of different origins. In other words, every organism appears as a chimera, a mixed living thing the cohesiveness of which is ensured by the constant action of its immune system. The Limits of the Self will be essential reading for anyone interested in the definition of biological individuality and the understanding of the immune system.Less
What counts as an individual in the living world? What does it mean for a living thing to remain the same through time while constantly changing? Immunology, one of the most dynamic fields of today’s biology, considers these questions its province, and answers them through its crucial concepts of “self” and “nonself.” Though immunology has been dominated since the 1940s by the self-nonself theory, this book argues that this theory is inadequate, because immune responses to self constituents and immune tolerance of foreign entities are the rule, not the exception. An alternative theory, the continuity theory, is advanced instead. This theory offers a new way to answer the question of what triggers an immune response. It also echoes the recent realization that all organisms, and not higher vertebrates only, have an immune system. This book’s main thesis is that the self-nonself theory should be abandoned, but that immunology still proves to be decisive for delineating the boundaries of the organism. Articulating an evolutionary and an immunological perspective, it offers an original conception of the organism. Tolerance of the fetus by the mother and of countless bacteria on the body’s surfaces proves that every organism is heterogeneous, that is, made of entities of different origins. In other words, every organism appears as a chimera, a mixed living thing the cohesiveness of which is ensured by the constant action of its immune system. The Limits of the Self will be essential reading for anyone interested in the definition of biological individuality and the understanding of the immune system.
Zbigniew Zylicz, Robert Twycross, and E. Anthony Jones (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198525103
- eISBN:
- 9780191730238
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198525103.001.0001
- Subject:
- Palliative Care, Patient Care and End-of-Life Decision Making
Pruritus is a prevalent symptom in many skin conditions. However, much less is known about pruritus unassociated with primary skin disease. This latter problem is of major relevance to most medical ...
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Pruritus is a prevalent symptom in many skin conditions. However, much less is known about pruritus unassociated with primary skin disease. This latter problem is of major relevance to most medical specialties, notably palliative care, haematology, oncology, internal medicine, hepatology, nephrology, anaesthesiology, immunology, and psychiatry. Specialists in these non-dermatological disciplines each see a few patients with severe pruritus and, therefore have only limited possibilities to learn from their personal experience. In response to the need for information on pruritus in non-dermatological disciplines, this book aims to build a bridge of relevant knowledge and evidence between the various non-dermatological specialties. Pruritus can cause considerable discomfort in patients with cancer, patients receiving treatment for cancer, and patients with non-malignant terminal illnesses. Some knowledge about the pathophysiology of certain types of pruritus exists in different clinical specialties. This book brings this information together. An international group of contributors cover the neurophysiology and clinical assessment of pruritus, the measurement of scratching activity as well as opioid-induced pruritus, pruritus in haematological disorders, neuropathic pruritus and psychogenic pruritus, and the treatment of pruritus in these different clinical settings.Less
Pruritus is a prevalent symptom in many skin conditions. However, much less is known about pruritus unassociated with primary skin disease. This latter problem is of major relevance to most medical specialties, notably palliative care, haematology, oncology, internal medicine, hepatology, nephrology, anaesthesiology, immunology, and psychiatry. Specialists in these non-dermatological disciplines each see a few patients with severe pruritus and, therefore have only limited possibilities to learn from their personal experience. In response to the need for information on pruritus in non-dermatological disciplines, this book aims to build a bridge of relevant knowledge and evidence between the various non-dermatological specialties. Pruritus can cause considerable discomfort in patients with cancer, patients receiving treatment for cancer, and patients with non-malignant terminal illnesses. Some knowledge about the pathophysiology of certain types of pruritus exists in different clinical specialties. This book brings this information together. An international group of contributors cover the neurophysiology and clinical assessment of pruritus, the measurement of scratching activity as well as opioid-induced pruritus, pruritus in haematological disorders, neuropathic pruritus and psychogenic pruritus, and the treatment of pruritus in these different clinical settings.
William R. Clark
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195336634
- eISBN:
- 9780199868568
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195336634.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology
AIDS presents one of the greatest medical and scientific challenges of the past sixty years. This chapter examines AIDS as a medical problem, as a problem in virology, and from an immunological point ...
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AIDS presents one of the greatest medical and scientific challenges of the past sixty years. This chapter examines AIDS as a medical problem, as a problem in virology, and from an immunological point of view. Current approaches to dealing with AIDS have dramatically improved survival rates, but long-term survival has not been achieved. Treatments are hugely expensive, have unacceptable side effects, and have had minimal impact outside of first-world countries. The chapter thus also looks at future directions for AIDS research, including gene-therapy approaches, and DNA-based vaccines.Less
AIDS presents one of the greatest medical and scientific challenges of the past sixty years. This chapter examines AIDS as a medical problem, as a problem in virology, and from an immunological point of view. Current approaches to dealing with AIDS have dramatically improved survival rates, but long-term survival has not been achieved. Treatments are hugely expensive, have unacceptable side effects, and have had minimal impact outside of first-world countries. The chapter thus also looks at future directions for AIDS research, including gene-therapy approaches, and DNA-based vaccines.
Stephen J. Simpson and David Raubenheimer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145655
- eISBN:
- 9781400842803
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145655.003.0011
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology
This concluding chapter looks at some of the big issues that remain in nutritional biology. Exploding protein into its constituent amino acids means having to deal with 19 extra dimensions, which is ...
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This concluding chapter looks at some of the big issues that remain in nutritional biology. Exploding protein into its constituent amino acids means having to deal with 19 extra dimensions, which is fine in theory but daunting in practice. However, such an expansion is what will be needed to understand the mechanisms of protein appetite, the role of protein in aging, obesity, and immune function, or the behavioral and metabolic consequences of replacing marine-based animal proteins with plant-derived alternatives in the diets of farmed fish. The next step will be to associate primary response variables such as life span, disease susceptibility, and fecundity with associated physiological, metabolic, and geometric responses. Other issues include nutritional epigenetics and early-life prevention of metabolic disease, human obesity, nutritional immunology, and modeling nutritional interactions.Less
This concluding chapter looks at some of the big issues that remain in nutritional biology. Exploding protein into its constituent amino acids means having to deal with 19 extra dimensions, which is fine in theory but daunting in practice. However, such an expansion is what will be needed to understand the mechanisms of protein appetite, the role of protein in aging, obesity, and immune function, or the behavioral and metabolic consequences of replacing marine-based animal proteins with plant-derived alternatives in the diets of farmed fish. The next step will be to associate primary response variables such as life span, disease susceptibility, and fecundity with associated physiological, metabolic, and geometric responses. Other issues include nutritional epigenetics and early-life prevention of metabolic disease, human obesity, nutritional immunology, and modeling nutritional interactions.
Paul U. Unschuld
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257658
- eISBN:
- 9780520944701
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257658.003.0093
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which has had a reassuring effect on Western nations, came from China and some parts of Japan and Korea. The Chinese were needed as technicians in Western private ...
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Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which has had a reassuring effect on Western nations, came from China and some parts of Japan and Korea. The Chinese were needed as technicians in Western private clinics. There, they were skilful helpers. However, the fears of the citizens of industrialized Western nations were foreign to them. Tailoring so-called Chinese medicine to these fears is something they could not and perhaps still cannot manage. Modern immunology offered enough of war in the humans' bodies, not so much by the immunologists themselves, but by their interpreters: science journalists. For most people, the encounter with a potentially fatal illness is the most existential threat there is. No one wants to experience war in their own house, much less in their own body. At a time of existential fear, what is wanted is to feel warmth, empathy, and harmony. This is what TCM offers. It seems reassuring.Less
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which has had a reassuring effect on Western nations, came from China and some parts of Japan and Korea. The Chinese were needed as technicians in Western private clinics. There, they were skilful helpers. However, the fears of the citizens of industrialized Western nations were foreign to them. Tailoring so-called Chinese medicine to these fears is something they could not and perhaps still cannot manage. Modern immunology offered enough of war in the humans' bodies, not so much by the immunologists themselves, but by their interpreters: science journalists. For most people, the encounter with a potentially fatal illness is the most existential threat there is. No one wants to experience war in their own house, much less in their own body. At a time of existential fear, what is wanted is to feel warmth, empathy, and harmony. This is what TCM offers. It seems reassuring.
Gavin Weightman
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780300241440
- eISBN:
- 9780300256314
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300241440.003.0018
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
This chapter assesses the mystery of immunity. Today, Edward Jenner is often referred to as the 'father of immunology'. But really, Jenner had no more claim to that title than Lady Mary Wortley ...
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This chapter assesses the mystery of immunity. Today, Edward Jenner is often referred to as the 'father of immunology'. But really, Jenner had no more claim to that title than Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, or the Greek women inoculating in Constantinople, or Daniel Sutton. None of them knew anything of the micro-organisms that Louis Pasteur and his contemporaries called 'germs'. It took well over a century after the deaths of Sutton and Jenner for an accumulation of scientific investigation to gain some understanding of what had been going on medically when the inoculators and vaccinators sought to bring smallpox under control. And it was a long time after the identification of 'germs', and the detective work that isolated the elements in them that caused specific infections, that it was understood that inoculation and vaccination worked because they triggered an immune response in the patient.Less
This chapter assesses the mystery of immunity. Today, Edward Jenner is often referred to as the 'father of immunology'. But really, Jenner had no more claim to that title than Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, or the Greek women inoculating in Constantinople, or Daniel Sutton. None of them knew anything of the micro-organisms that Louis Pasteur and his contemporaries called 'germs'. It took well over a century after the deaths of Sutton and Jenner for an accumulation of scientific investigation to gain some understanding of what had been going on medically when the inoculators and vaccinators sought to bring smallpox under control. And it was a long time after the identification of 'germs', and the detective work that isolated the elements in them that caused specific infections, that it was understood that inoculation and vaccination worked because they triggered an immune response in the patient.
Nigel Lane, Louise Powter, and Sam Patel (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780199680269
- eISBN:
- 9780191918360
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199680269.003.0018
- Subject:
- Clinical Medicine and Allied Health, Professional Development in Medicine
A. David Napier
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226568126
- eISBN:
- 9780226568140
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226568140.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This book argues that the central assumption of immunology—that we survive through the recognition and elimination of non-self—has become a defining concept of the modern age. Tracing this ...
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This book argues that the central assumption of immunology—that we survive through the recognition and elimination of non-self—has become a defining concept of the modern age. Tracing this immunological understanding of self and other through an incredibly diverse array of venues, from medical research to legal and military strategies and the electronic revolution, the author shows how this defensive way of looking at the world not only destroys diversity but also eliminates the possibility of truly engaging difference, thereby impoverishing our culture and foreclosing tremendous opportunities for personal growth. To illustrate these destructive consequences, he likens the current craze for embracing diversity and the use of politically correct speech to a cultural potluck to which we each bring different dishes, but at which no one can eat unless they abide by the same rules. Similarly, loaning money to developing nations serves as a tool both to make the peoples in those nations more like us and to maintain them in the nonthreatening status of distant dependents. To break free of the resulting downward spiral of homogenization and self-focus, the author suggests that we instead adopt a new defining concept based on embryology, in which development and self-growth take place through a process of incorporation and transformation. In this effort he suggests that we have much to learn from non-Western peoples, such as the Balinese, whose ritual practices require them to take on the considerable risk of injecting into their selves the potential dangers of otherness—and in so doing ultimately strengthen themselves as well as their society.Less
This book argues that the central assumption of immunology—that we survive through the recognition and elimination of non-self—has become a defining concept of the modern age. Tracing this immunological understanding of self and other through an incredibly diverse array of venues, from medical research to legal and military strategies and the electronic revolution, the author shows how this defensive way of looking at the world not only destroys diversity but also eliminates the possibility of truly engaging difference, thereby impoverishing our culture and foreclosing tremendous opportunities for personal growth. To illustrate these destructive consequences, he likens the current craze for embracing diversity and the use of politically correct speech to a cultural potluck to which we each bring different dishes, but at which no one can eat unless they abide by the same rules. Similarly, loaning money to developing nations serves as a tool both to make the peoples in those nations more like us and to maintain them in the nonthreatening status of distant dependents. To break free of the resulting downward spiral of homogenization and self-focus, the author suggests that we instead adopt a new defining concept based on embryology, in which development and self-growth take place through a process of incorporation and transformation. In this effort he suggests that we have much to learn from non-Western peoples, such as the Balinese, whose ritual practices require them to take on the considerable risk of injecting into their selves the potential dangers of otherness—and in so doing ultimately strengthen themselves as well as their society.
Alfred I. Tauber
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- February 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190651244
- eISBN:
- 9780190651275
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190651244.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
Immunology is the science of biological identity. Three key characteristics—individuality, identification, and immunity—together define immune identity, and as one notion changes meaning, so do the ...
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Immunology is the science of biological identity. Three key characteristics—individuality, identification, and immunity—together define immune identity, and as one notion changes meaning, so do the others. The story of this mutual dependence begins with the discovery of infectious diseases, when immunity, conceived as the response to invading pathogens, focused on the infected patient—later formalized as the “immune self.” That orientation, signifying autonomy much in line with cultural norms of individuality, dominated twentieth-century immune theory. Although an effective idiom, the self construct has proven inadequate to account for the organism’s normal physiology and exchanges with the environment. When integrated into its larger ecology, immunity’s governing model shifts from defense to the more basic cognitive function of information processing that discerns benign from the toxic. The effector function (assimilate or eliminate) only follows identification of the immune object. Moreover, as a cognitive–communicative system (analogous to the brain), the immune system’s various roles assume their full expression only when the organism is considered in its total environment—“internal” and “external.” From this perspective, beyond defending an insular individual, immunity accounts for the organism’s mutualist relationships that characterize the holobiont, where lines of demarcation are blurred. In response to this ecologically informed conception of the individual, the idea of immunity correspondingly widens. The implications of this revised configuration of immunity and its deconstructed notions of individuality and selfhood have wide significance for philosophers and life scientists working in immunology, ecology, and the cognitive sciences.Less
Immunology is the science of biological identity. Three key characteristics—individuality, identification, and immunity—together define immune identity, and as one notion changes meaning, so do the others. The story of this mutual dependence begins with the discovery of infectious diseases, when immunity, conceived as the response to invading pathogens, focused on the infected patient—later formalized as the “immune self.” That orientation, signifying autonomy much in line with cultural norms of individuality, dominated twentieth-century immune theory. Although an effective idiom, the self construct has proven inadequate to account for the organism’s normal physiology and exchanges with the environment. When integrated into its larger ecology, immunity’s governing model shifts from defense to the more basic cognitive function of information processing that discerns benign from the toxic. The effector function (assimilate or eliminate) only follows identification of the immune object. Moreover, as a cognitive–communicative system (analogous to the brain), the immune system’s various roles assume their full expression only when the organism is considered in its total environment—“internal” and “external.” From this perspective, beyond defending an insular individual, immunity accounts for the organism’s mutualist relationships that characterize the holobiont, where lines of demarcation are blurred. In response to this ecologically informed conception of the individual, the idea of immunity correspondingly widens. The implications of this revised configuration of immunity and its deconstructed notions of individuality and selfhood have wide significance for philosophers and life scientists working in immunology, ecology, and the cognitive sciences.
Mervyn Susser and Zena Stein
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195300666
- eISBN:
- 9780199863754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300666.003.0022
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
This chapter focuses on the epidemiology of infectious diseases. By the end of the 19th century, the significant role of microorganisms in many diseases of humans and other species was ...
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This chapter focuses on the epidemiology of infectious diseases. By the end of the 19th century, the significant role of microorganisms in many diseases of humans and other species was incontrovertible. The ground had been prepared for the enormous strides in the understanding of infectious diseases, especially with respect to agent and host, which followed in the 20th century. The unraveling of the nature of microorganisms and their role in disease, the mechanisms of immunity, recognition of the existence of viruses and their dependence on living matter for survival, led to the scientific development of the virtually new discipline of molecular immunology, to the rising potential for the control of microorganisms, and ultimately to paradigmatic shifts in the practice of public health. Having faced, understood, and at last found means to quell such great scourges as smallpox, the plague, syphilis, cholera, and typhoid, the major threats posed by infectious disease seemed to have subsided. Late in the 20th century, however, newly emerging diseases, and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in particular, challenged medicine and the public health anew.Less
This chapter focuses on the epidemiology of infectious diseases. By the end of the 19th century, the significant role of microorganisms in many diseases of humans and other species was incontrovertible. The ground had been prepared for the enormous strides in the understanding of infectious diseases, especially with respect to agent and host, which followed in the 20th century. The unraveling of the nature of microorganisms and their role in disease, the mechanisms of immunity, recognition of the existence of viruses and their dependence on living matter for survival, led to the scientific development of the virtually new discipline of molecular immunology, to the rising potential for the control of microorganisms, and ultimately to paradigmatic shifts in the practice of public health. Having faced, understood, and at last found means to quell such great scourges as smallpox, the plague, syphilis, cholera, and typhoid, the major threats posed by infectious disease seemed to have subsided. Late in the 20th century, however, newly emerging diseases, and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in particular, challenged medicine and the public health anew.
Paul Schmid-Hempel
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- December 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199229482
- eISBN:
- 9780191774744
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199229482.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
Over the last decade, principles from evolution and ecology have increasingly been applied to the fields of parasitology and immunology in an attempt to foster a common conceptual framework that uses ...
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Over the last decade, principles from evolution and ecology have increasingly been applied to the fields of parasitology and immunology in an attempt to foster a common conceptual framework that uses a priori principles to unravel the diversity of host–parasite phenomena. This has led to the emergence of some of the most important, highly successful and inter-disciplinary areas of modern biology – the as-yet separated fields of ecological immunology and evolutionary studies of parasitism. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the many facets of host’parasite interactions, from the molecular bases to adaptive strategies and their ecological and evolutionary consequences. It is informed by the very latest progress in the field. No longer do we view well-adapted parasites as becoming ultimately harmless. On the contrary, parasite virulence is determined both by the processes that lead to harm and by the evolutionary costs and benefits of this damage. Similarly, parasitism is no longer regarded as being inevitably deleterious; rather it can be a major factor maintaining diversity in populations and communities, selecting for beautiful plumages of birds, or even making us more social. The book integrates material from a wide range of topics including immunology, genetics, sexual selection, population ecology, behavioural ecology, and evolutionary biology.Less
Over the last decade, principles from evolution and ecology have increasingly been applied to the fields of parasitology and immunology in an attempt to foster a common conceptual framework that uses a priori principles to unravel the diversity of host–parasite phenomena. This has led to the emergence of some of the most important, highly successful and inter-disciplinary areas of modern biology – the as-yet separated fields of ecological immunology and evolutionary studies of parasitism. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the many facets of host’parasite interactions, from the molecular bases to adaptive strategies and their ecological and evolutionary consequences. It is informed by the very latest progress in the field. No longer do we view well-adapted parasites as becoming ultimately harmless. On the contrary, parasite virulence is determined both by the processes that lead to harm and by the evolutionary costs and benefits of this damage. Similarly, parasitism is no longer regarded as being inevitably deleterious; rather it can be a major factor maintaining diversity in populations and communities, selecting for beautiful plumages of birds, or even making us more social. The book integrates material from a wide range of topics including immunology, genetics, sexual selection, population ecology, behavioural ecology, and evolutionary biology.
Pejman Rohani and Samuel Scarpino (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- February 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198811879
- eISBN:
- 9780191850011
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198811879.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
Pertussis, or whooping cough, is a respiratory disease caused primarily by infection with the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. It remains one of the leading causes of death among vaccine-preventable ...
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Pertussis, or whooping cough, is a respiratory disease caused primarily by infection with the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. It remains one of the leading causes of death among vaccine-preventable diseases worldwide and recent years have seen its alarming re-emergence in many regions (including the United States and much of Europe), despite sustained high levels of vaccine coverage. The causes of the resurgence remain contentious, in part due to inherent complexities of the pathogen’s biology, in part due to pronounced variation in the treatment and prevention strategies between different countries and regions, and in part due to long-standing disagreement among scientific researchers studying pertussis. This edited volume brings together expert knowledge from disparate fields with the overall aim of synthesizing the current understanding of this critically important, global pathogen. Pertussis: Epidemiology, Immunology, and Evolution is an advanced text suitable for graduate-level students taking courses in evolutionary epidemiology, disease ecology, and evolutionary biology, as well as academics, public health officials, and researchers in these fields. It also offers a very useful introduction to a wider audience of public health practitioners, microbiologists, epidemiologists, medical professionals, and vaccine biologistsLess
Pertussis, or whooping cough, is a respiratory disease caused primarily by infection with the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. It remains one of the leading causes of death among vaccine-preventable diseases worldwide and recent years have seen its alarming re-emergence in many regions (including the United States and much of Europe), despite sustained high levels of vaccine coverage. The causes of the resurgence remain contentious, in part due to inherent complexities of the pathogen’s biology, in part due to pronounced variation in the treatment and prevention strategies between different countries and regions, and in part due to long-standing disagreement among scientific researchers studying pertussis. This edited volume brings together expert knowledge from disparate fields with the overall aim of synthesizing the current understanding of this critically important, global pathogen. Pertussis: Epidemiology, Immunology, and Evolution is an advanced text suitable for graduate-level students taking courses in evolutionary epidemiology, disease ecology, and evolutionary biology, as well as academics, public health officials, and researchers in these fields. It also offers a very useful introduction to a wider audience of public health practitioners, microbiologists, epidemiologists, medical professionals, and vaccine biologists
Spencer V. Nyholm and Margaret J. McFall-Ngai
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199671427
- eISBN:
- 9780191781117
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199671427.003.0017
- Subject:
- Biology, Developmental Biology
Advances in molecular biology over the last decade have enabled researchers to identify and characterize microbial partners that live in association with animals. These data have indicated that ...
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Advances in molecular biology over the last decade have enabled researchers to identify and characterize microbial partners that live in association with animals. These data have indicated that symbiosis is the rule rather than the exception among animals and that interactions with microbes are essential for animal health. This chapter focuses on what we have learned about how such associations influence animal developmental programs. The chapter first considers the‘fingerprin’ of evolutionary circumstances on development of particular animal features. Specifically, the selective forces that have shaped the development of form and function of the immune and digestive systems over evolutionary history are likely to have been strongly influenced by the radiation of animal phyla in the microbe-rich marine environment. The subsequent sections of the chapter consider what biologists have learned and are learning about how microbes influence each stage of development, from the egg through maturation to the adult animal. Particular emphasis is placed on recent findings on the impact of symbiosis on gut development, immunology, brain development, and normal behaviour of the animal host.Less
Advances in molecular biology over the last decade have enabled researchers to identify and characterize microbial partners that live in association with animals. These data have indicated that symbiosis is the rule rather than the exception among animals and that interactions with microbes are essential for animal health. This chapter focuses on what we have learned about how such associations influence animal developmental programs. The chapter first considers the‘fingerprin’ of evolutionary circumstances on development of particular animal features. Specifically, the selective forces that have shaped the development of form and function of the immune and digestive systems over evolutionary history are likely to have been strongly influenced by the radiation of animal phyla in the microbe-rich marine environment. The subsequent sections of the chapter consider what biologists have learned and are learning about how microbes influence each stage of development, from the egg through maturation to the adult animal. Particular emphasis is placed on recent findings on the impact of symbiosis on gut development, immunology, brain development, and normal behaviour of the animal host.
Jie Jack Li
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780199737680
- eISBN:
- 9780197563014
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199737680.003.0007
- Subject:
- Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry
Most blockbusters have at least one thing in common—they are all widely prescribed to treat common illnesses such as hypertension, high cholesterol, pain, ulcers, and ...
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Most blockbusters have at least one thing in common—they are all widely prescribed to treat common illnesses such as hypertension, high cholesterol, pain, ulcers, and depression. Allergies are another malady that afflicts more and more Americans. To many, allergies are no longer an inconvenience but a major annoyance with constant sneezing and itching. For them, an allergy medicine is often needed to relieve the symptoms. As a consequence, many antihistamine allergy drugs, especially nonsedating antihistamines, have become blockbuster drugs. Allergies are the sixth leading cause of chronic illness in the United States. More than 50 million Americans have allergies and spend in excess of $18 billion a year on medical treatment. The word allergy was coined by Austrian pediatrician Clemens von Pirquet in 1906. According to his definition, allergy was manifest in cases of serum sickness, hay fever, sensitivities to mosquito bites and beestings, and various idiosyncratic food reactions, as well as in individuals who had been exposed to, or successfully immunized against, common infectious diseases such as diphtheria and tuberculosis. Today, the word allergy is broadly associated with allergic rhinitis, asthma, hay fever, and food allergies. Allergies are the malady of civilization. In ancient times, allergies like hay fever and food allergies were virtually nonexistent. The first report of a case of allergy did not appear until the 1870s in Europe. The beginning of the 20th century saw a sharp rise in allergies. Nowadays, hay fever is so prevalent in the United Kingdom, that there are 1.4 to 1.8 million students who are drowsy from taking antihistamines. U.K. educational authorities even schedule the exams away from the peak of pollen season. In the United States, hay fever is the number-one chronic disease. Until we learn how to turn off the genes responsible for hay fever and asthma, these afflictions will remain among the most irritating of our existence. During evolution, humans developed the immune system to fight the real danger of foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses. It turns out that the human body has two types of responses toward tissue damage or infection.
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Most blockbusters have at least one thing in common—they are all widely prescribed to treat common illnesses such as hypertension, high cholesterol, pain, ulcers, and depression. Allergies are another malady that afflicts more and more Americans. To many, allergies are no longer an inconvenience but a major annoyance with constant sneezing and itching. For them, an allergy medicine is often needed to relieve the symptoms. As a consequence, many antihistamine allergy drugs, especially nonsedating antihistamines, have become blockbuster drugs. Allergies are the sixth leading cause of chronic illness in the United States. More than 50 million Americans have allergies and spend in excess of $18 billion a year on medical treatment. The word allergy was coined by Austrian pediatrician Clemens von Pirquet in 1906. According to his definition, allergy was manifest in cases of serum sickness, hay fever, sensitivities to mosquito bites and beestings, and various idiosyncratic food reactions, as well as in individuals who had been exposed to, or successfully immunized against, common infectious diseases such as diphtheria and tuberculosis. Today, the word allergy is broadly associated with allergic rhinitis, asthma, hay fever, and food allergies. Allergies are the malady of civilization. In ancient times, allergies like hay fever and food allergies were virtually nonexistent. The first report of a case of allergy did not appear until the 1870s in Europe. The beginning of the 20th century saw a sharp rise in allergies. Nowadays, hay fever is so prevalent in the United Kingdom, that there are 1.4 to 1.8 million students who are drowsy from taking antihistamines. U.K. educational authorities even schedule the exams away from the peak of pollen season. In the United States, hay fever is the number-one chronic disease. Until we learn how to turn off the genes responsible for hay fever and asthma, these afflictions will remain among the most irritating of our existence. During evolution, humans developed the immune system to fight the real danger of foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses. It turns out that the human body has two types of responses toward tissue damage or infection.
Mary Augusta Brazelton
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501739989
- eISBN:
- 9781501739996
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501739989.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter discusses microbiology in China's early twentieth century. In contrast to other narratives, the emergence of microbiology as a discipline in China during the early twentieth century did ...
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This chapter discusses microbiology in China's early twentieth century. In contrast to other narratives, the emergence of microbiology as a discipline in China during the early twentieth century did not rely on any single organization, charismatic leader, or colonial influence. Instead, multiple institutes and universities in Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, and other cities emerged as centers for research, and a small group of highly educated physicians and scientists participated in global research networks, even as they trained Chinese students and advised local health administrations. In the 1920s and 1930s, emerging fields such as immunology, virology, and bacteriology were identified with broader categories of inquiry, such as the medical sciences or microbiology. In addition to laboratory research, Chinese researchers translated new terms into Chinese and established professional organizations. Although research programs in microbiology were productive, their applications to public health were limited to specific projects in major cities. One important urban institution was the National Epidemic Prevention Bureau. After its 1919 establishment in Beijing, the bureau became a center for vaccine production and sponsored limited urban immunization campaigns. The outbreak of formal war with Japan in 1937 and the subsequent move of many researchers to the southwest disrupted the development of microbiology in China. Yet it also created opportunities for new cooperative relationships to form in the field of public health.Less
This chapter discusses microbiology in China's early twentieth century. In contrast to other narratives, the emergence of microbiology as a discipline in China during the early twentieth century did not rely on any single organization, charismatic leader, or colonial influence. Instead, multiple institutes and universities in Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, and other cities emerged as centers for research, and a small group of highly educated physicians and scientists participated in global research networks, even as they trained Chinese students and advised local health administrations. In the 1920s and 1930s, emerging fields such as immunology, virology, and bacteriology were identified with broader categories of inquiry, such as the medical sciences or microbiology. In addition to laboratory research, Chinese researchers translated new terms into Chinese and established professional organizations. Although research programs in microbiology were productive, their applications to public health were limited to specific projects in major cities. One important urban institution was the National Epidemic Prevention Bureau. After its 1919 establishment in Beijing, the bureau became a center for vaccine production and sponsored limited urban immunization campaigns. The outbreak of formal war with Japan in 1937 and the subsequent move of many researchers to the southwest disrupted the development of microbiology in China. Yet it also created opportunities for new cooperative relationships to form in the field of public health.
Mary Augusta Brazelton
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501739989
- eISBN:
- 9781501739996
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501739989.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter examines the immunological community that formed at Kunming, reconstructing a world that pulled its members from local health administrations, research laboratories, medical school ...
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This chapter examines the immunological community that formed at Kunming, reconstructing a world that pulled its members from local health administrations, research laboratories, medical school clinics, and local factories. This diversity of perspectives and actors accords with recent trends toward understanding immunology in the context of medical practice and production as well as within the laboratory. It also helps articulate the involvement of researchers and medical workers in health initiatives that supported state-building processes. The sera and solutions they produced required distribution to populations often unfamiliar with the techniques of vaccination, and orders to immunize encompassed both coercive and persuasive methods. The increasing use of force to compel vaccination reflected the growing power of the Nationalist state—especially at provincial and national borders, where the examination and enforcement of immunization requirements contributed to the increasing control of political authorities. It also suggested the significance of biological characteristics such as one's immunization status in shaping individual rights and freedoms to travel.Less
This chapter examines the immunological community that formed at Kunming, reconstructing a world that pulled its members from local health administrations, research laboratories, medical school clinics, and local factories. This diversity of perspectives and actors accords with recent trends toward understanding immunology in the context of medical practice and production as well as within the laboratory. It also helps articulate the involvement of researchers and medical workers in health initiatives that supported state-building processes. The sera and solutions they produced required distribution to populations often unfamiliar with the techniques of vaccination, and orders to immunize encompassed both coercive and persuasive methods. The increasing use of force to compel vaccination reflected the growing power of the Nationalist state—especially at provincial and national borders, where the examination and enforcement of immunization requirements contributed to the increasing control of political authorities. It also suggested the significance of biological characteristics such as one's immunization status in shaping individual rights and freedoms to travel.
Mary Augusta Brazelton
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501739989
- eISBN:
- 9781501739996
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501739989.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This epilogue discusses that by the end of the socialist period in 1978, a new generation of immunologists and bacteriologists was beginning to rise to prominence, although the Cultural Revolution ...
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This epilogue discusses that by the end of the socialist period in 1978, a new generation of immunologists and bacteriologists was beginning to rise to prominence, although the Cultural Revolution had broadly impeded and delayed education in this field. Many founding figures in modern Chinese immunology were by this time retired or dead. Despite the erosion of many programs that had delivered vaccines and other health services to large rural populations, mass immunization has continued after the economic reforms of the 1980s as a mandatory, regular practice of childhood health in China. A baby born in the People's Republic of China, much like their counterparts in the United States and Europe, is given a battery of mandatory shots by the age of two that provides protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, and other illnesses—and including the BCG and oral polio vaccines. These vaccinations are administered against a backdrop of growing environmental crisis and rising pharmaceutical safety concerns. By 2010, however, cancer, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic illnesses replaced infectious diseases as the primary causes of death. China's twentieth century thus saw a remarkable transformation in causes and scales of mortality. The establishment of a universal, mandatory immunization system in the mid-twentieth century helped make that transformation, and its surveillance, possible.Less
This epilogue discusses that by the end of the socialist period in 1978, a new generation of immunologists and bacteriologists was beginning to rise to prominence, although the Cultural Revolution had broadly impeded and delayed education in this field. Many founding figures in modern Chinese immunology were by this time retired or dead. Despite the erosion of many programs that had delivered vaccines and other health services to large rural populations, mass immunization has continued after the economic reforms of the 1980s as a mandatory, regular practice of childhood health in China. A baby born in the People's Republic of China, much like their counterparts in the United States and Europe, is given a battery of mandatory shots by the age of two that provides protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, and other illnesses—and including the BCG and oral polio vaccines. These vaccinations are administered against a backdrop of growing environmental crisis and rising pharmaceutical safety concerns. By 2010, however, cancer, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic illnesses replaced infectious diseases as the primary causes of death. China's twentieth century thus saw a remarkable transformation in causes and scales of mortality. The establishment of a universal, mandatory immunization system in the mid-twentieth century helped make that transformation, and its surveillance, possible.
Thomas Soderqvist
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300094411
- eISBN:
- 9780300128710
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300094411.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
This biography probes the unusual mind, the dramatic life, and the outstanding scientific work of Danish-born immunologist Niels Jerne. Jerne's Nobel Prize-winning achievements in the field of ...
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This biography probes the unusual mind, the dramatic life, and the outstanding scientific work of Danish-born immunologist Niels Jerne. Jerne's Nobel Prize-winning achievements in the field of immunology place him in the pantheon of great twentieth-century biomedical theorists, yet his life is perhaps even more interesting than his science. A legendary figure who preferred an afternoon of conversation in a Paris wine bar to work in the laboratory, Jerne was renowned for his unparalleled powers of concentration and analytical keenness as well as his dissonant personal life. The book explores Jerne the man and scientist, making the fascinating argument that his life experience and view of himself became a metaphorical resource for the construction of his theories. The book also probes the moral issues that surrounded Jerne's choice to sacrifice his family in favor of scientific goals and the pursuit of excellence.Less
This biography probes the unusual mind, the dramatic life, and the outstanding scientific work of Danish-born immunologist Niels Jerne. Jerne's Nobel Prize-winning achievements in the field of immunology place him in the pantheon of great twentieth-century biomedical theorists, yet his life is perhaps even more interesting than his science. A legendary figure who preferred an afternoon of conversation in a Paris wine bar to work in the laboratory, Jerne was renowned for his unparalleled powers of concentration and analytical keenness as well as his dissonant personal life. The book explores Jerne the man and scientist, making the fascinating argument that his life experience and view of himself became a metaphorical resource for the construction of his theories. The book also probes the moral issues that surrounded Jerne's choice to sacrifice his family in favor of scientific goals and the pursuit of excellence.
Paul Schmid-Hempel
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- December 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199229482
- eISBN:
- 9780191774744
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199229482.003.0005
- Subject:
- Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter talks about certain observations and conclusions arrived at through the study of ecological immunology. The rate of parasitism and the level of immune response, for example, are often ...
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This chapter talks about certain observations and conclusions arrived at through the study of ecological immunology. The rate of parasitism and the level of immune response, for example, are often varied among individuals and populations. This variation, however, can be explained by ecological or demographic factors. The chapter also looks at the various costs that immune defences incur, including the cost of evolving and maintaining a defence, and the cost of using defence. It looks at the limiting resources for immune defences – energy, food, and nutrients – and how the capacity to immune-defend affects host fitness, where organisms face the problem of how to allocate their limited resources to defend, versus other demands, in order to achieve a maximum possible fitness. Finally, the chapter looks at the various elements of defence, namely resistance and tolerance. Resistance is where hosts reduce parasite numbers, while tolerance is where the damage caused by the infection is limited.Less
This chapter talks about certain observations and conclusions arrived at through the study of ecological immunology. The rate of parasitism and the level of immune response, for example, are often varied among individuals and populations. This variation, however, can be explained by ecological or demographic factors. The chapter also looks at the various costs that immune defences incur, including the cost of evolving and maintaining a defence, and the cost of using defence. It looks at the limiting resources for immune defences – energy, food, and nutrients – and how the capacity to immune-defend affects host fitness, where organisms face the problem of how to allocate their limited resources to defend, versus other demands, in order to achieve a maximum possible fitness. Finally, the chapter looks at the various elements of defence, namely resistance and tolerance. Resistance is where hosts reduce parasite numbers, while tolerance is where the damage caused by the infection is limited.
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226709178
- eISBN:
- 9780226709192
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226709192.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter examines how Cuba funded the construction of biotechnology research facilities in the 1980s and the 1990s, which include the Finlay Institute and the Center for Molecular Immunology ...
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This chapter examines how Cuba funded the construction of biotechnology research facilities in the 1980s and the 1990s, which include the Finlay Institute and the Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM). It explains that the principal feature of sociolismo led almost all Cubans to resort to la bolsa negra or the black market and this practice is relevant to the growth of biotechnology. This chapter argues that Cuban science needs to be understood in light of these cultural norms because social relations of science in the Science Pole cleaved strongly to this improvisational culture.Less
This chapter examines how Cuba funded the construction of biotechnology research facilities in the 1980s and the 1990s, which include the Finlay Institute and the Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM). It explains that the principal feature of sociolismo led almost all Cubans to resort to la bolsa negra or the black market and this practice is relevant to the growth of biotechnology. This chapter argues that Cuban science needs to be understood in light of these cultural norms because social relations of science in the Science Pole cleaved strongly to this improvisational culture.
