Checklist- Diseases

Cancer

Vaccination

Viral, Bacterial, Fungal and Protist diseases

Health issues

Production and uses of monoclonal antibodies

Human defence system

Culturing Microorganisms

Antibiotics and painkillers

The effect of lifestyle on some Non- Communicable Diseases

Communicable Diseases

Health = State of physical and mental well-being

Different types of disease may interact:

  • Defects in the immune system mean that an individual is more likely to suffer from infectious dieseases
  • Viruses living in cells can be the trigger for cancers
  • Immune reactions initially caused by a pathogen can trigger allergies such as skin rashes and asthma
  • Severe physical ill health can lead to depression and to other mental illness
  • Risk factors are linked to an increased rate of disease
  • Carcinogens,including ionizing radiation, as risk factors in cancer. many diseases are caused by the interaction of a number of factors
  • Cancer is the result of changes in cells are cancers that lead to uncontrolled growth and division
  • Benign tumours are growths of abnormal cells which are contained in one area, usually within a membrane. They do not invade other parts of the body
  • Pathogens are microorganisms that cause infectious disease. Bacteria and viruses may reproduce rapidly inside the body
  • Bacteria may produce toxins that damage tissue and make us feel ill
  • Viruses live and reproduce inside cells, causing cell damage
  • Viruses cause familiar infectious diseases such as the common cold, flu and warts. They also cause severe illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, smallpox, and Ebola. Viruses are like hijackers. They invade living, normal cells and use those cells to multiply and produce other viruses like themselves.
  • Pathogenic bacteria are bacteria that can cause disease. Although most bacteria are harmless or often beneficial, some are pathogenic, with the number of species estimated as fewer than a hundred that are seen to cause infectious diseases in humans.

Pathogen = A bacterium, virus, or other microorganism that can cause disease.

  • Vaccination involves introducing small quantities of dead or inactive forms of a pathogen into the body to stimulate the white blood cells to produce anti-bodies
  • An anti-body = a blood protein produced in response to and counteracting a specific antigen. Antibodies combine chemically with substances which the body recognizes as alien, such as bacteria, viruses, and foreign substances in the blood.
  • If the same pathogen re-enters the body, the white blood cells respond quickly to produce the correct antibodies, preventing infection
  • Antibiotic = A medicine (such as penicillin or its derivatives) that inhibits the growth of or destroys microorganisms.
  • If a pathogen enters the body, the immune system tries to destroy the pathogen
  • Painkiller = A drug or a medicine for relieving pain.

-Antibiotics CANNOT kill viral pathogens

-Painkillers and other medicines are used to treat the symptoms of disease but do not kill pathogens

  • Monoclonal antibodies = an antibody produced by a single clone of cells or cell line and consisting of identical antibody molecules.
  • The antibodies are specific to one binding site on one protein antigen and so are able to target a specific chemical or specific cells in the body
  • Lymphocyte = A form of small leucocyte (white blood cell) with a single round nucleus, occurring especially in the lymphatic system.
  • Hybridoma cell can both divide and make antibodies

Ways in which monoclonal antibodies are used:

1) Diagnosis (such as pregnancy tests)

2) In labs to measure the levels of hormones

3) To treat some diseases (e.g cancer)

They can create more side effects than expected!

  • Culturing Microorganisms = A method of multiplying microbial organisms by letting them reproduce in predetermined culture medium under controlled laboratory conditions.
  • Microbial cultures are used to determine the type of organism, its abundance in the sample being tested, or both
  • Bacteria multiply by simple cell division (binary fission) as often as once every 20 mins
  • Calculate the number of bacteria in a population after a certain time if given the mean division time
  • Bacteria can be grown as colonies on an agar gel plate or in a nutrient broth solution
  • Calculate cross sectional areas of the colonies or clear areas around colonies using πr2