Boost your immune system!

Expose it to antigens!

Foodies and quacks talk more about the immune system than they do about anything other than oxidants (about which they know nothing, either). They love to recommend supplements and miracle foods to "rev" the immune system. Pish-tosh!

The fact is that for the vast majority of people--including children--the best way to strengthen the immune system is to expose it to antigens. Early and often.

Data clearly show that exposure to antigens stimulates the immune cells in the best way possible--by making them do their job. Think of it as aerobic exercise! For example, despite widespread folklore to the contrary, the influenza vaccine, which does NOT cause "the flu", makes one healthier by decreasing illness due to ALL respiratory pathogens. That "sick" feeling that a very few people (who manage to spread their experience to millions of gullible listeners) get after vaccination is a GOOD thing--it is a sign that their immune system is in fact doing just fine. And the myth, spread by criminally ignorant non-scientists and frauds, that vaccines cause diseases such as autism is just that--a lie. The person who did the original "research" on this issue (subsequently proven to be fraudulent) believes that HIV doesn't cause AIDS and not only was stripped of his British medical credentials but is being pursued as an international murderer for convincing the then-president of South Africa that his insane ideas were true. Beware the know-nothing who is absolutely sure of his or her "facts"!

SEVERE dietary deficiencies can affect the immune response in a negative fashion--but for these people that is the least of their problems. The theory that if a little is good a lot is better--fashionable among the foodies and quacks--is simply false. It has been DISPROVED many times (a hallmark of REAL science). Zinc, for example, which is a food fad favorite, is a metal that can, like other metals such as lead and mercury, cause severe neurological damage if taken in excess.

So, eat well, don't smoke or drink, take your shots, and get a little dirty from time to time. You'll be healthier for it!

It's still only food!

Eating is not a competitive sport.

Enjoy it in moderation!

Dem dry bones?

They are anything but!

Like all tissues, bones are alive and composed of specialized, very active tissues. In addition, they store calcium, an element critical to growth and homeostasis.

Also, during the course of evolution, the bone marrow, which is where red and white blood cells are formed, migrated here (hence its name) from other locations, notably the spleen. Why? Well, young blood cells are mitotically very active and therefore extremely sensitive to environmental factors. "Tucking them away" in the safest place possible makes sense!

Of course the skeleton provides the basic framework upon which our muscles act and into which our other organs are packed. But it is so much more!

And it ain't dry!!!!

Skinny

There are many human anatomical and physiologic features that are subject to misconceptions and, to put it kindly, folklore (and quackery). Skin surely is at the top of this list.

Skin is an organ system (integumentary), not a "bag". It participates in all general bodily functions and has some special ones as well, including being the primary locus for the reception of the sensations we call touch (of which there are several, by the way). As such it is our major interface with the world.

In addition to the myriad of primary skin diseases (cancer, psoriasis, and various infections being just a few), many (if not most) systemic diseases involve or affect the skin. Diabetes kills nerves, renal failure suppresses healing, cancer and its treatment make it more vulnerable to infection, autoimmune diseases lead to almost countless lesion types--and on and on.

Then there is the cosmetic aspects of skin--color, wrinkles, scars, "blemishes".

The money spent by people in developed nations on this aspect of their skin would probably exceed the GDP of some developing nations.

For the clinician skin can be a window on the patient's health--if he/she knows how to see through it!

Skin--so much more than a sack to keep your organs from getting out!

Bloody...

...good.

While its primary job is to carry oxygen to and carbon dioxide away from cells, the fact that in doing so it touches all of them has resulted in some fantastic exaptations (evolutionary adaptations in which something that evolved for one purpose is used for another).

These functions include: carrying hormones and other proteins from the site of origin to the site(s) of effect; coagulation; and, most significantly, immunity.

Red cells themselves have no immune function--but carrying oxygen and CO2 is enough! It is the white cells and the serum that have evolved to protect us from the pathogens. Their functions are complex but precise, and not subject to casual abuse or well-meaning but physiologically impossible interventions.

A lot of foodie folklore and quackery surrounds immunity ("EAT ZINC", "live on antioxidants", "boost your immune system with"...whatever). The immune system generally takes care of itself--and YOU--without a lot of help. Where genetic anomalies, catastrophic disease, or iatrogenesis (diseases caused by medical treatment, of which there are myriad) interfere the result can be disastrous, of course. But zinc is not going to help then.

The best care for the immune system is to maintain general good health. In addition, vaccination is a true medical miracle--far more significant than antibiotics--that everyone should take advantage of UNLESS SPECIFICALLY CONTRAINDICATED. A healthy immune system will not be "overwhelmed" by vaccines--just the opposite, in fact (to address just one immunity lie spread by know-nothings).

So, don't smoke or ingest toxins, get your shots, and leave the zinc supplements on the shelf (heavy metals are poisons, by the way....). Your blood is on the job.

Genotype v. phenotype

GENOTYPE

The genotype of the organism is the actual genetic material--the DNA and the genes for which it codes.

This is determined through the processes of meiosis and fertilization.

In "translating" from genotype to phenotype--which is what protein does--significant epigenetic (gene "control" mechanisms) and environmental factors effect the manifestation of traits. In addition, the physiologic expression is subject to "penetrance" and "expressivity" factors that are unique to the genes themselves.

 

The phenotype of the organism includes the traits that the organism DISPLAYS--color, shape, size, etc. This would include "abnormal" gene expressions, i.e. diseases.

PHENOTYPE

It's not that diffcult, really....

...but scientific language can make it seem so.

These two processes are only distantly related, but the names make them seem more closely so. 

Mitosis occurs in SOMATIC cells, or body cells. The PURPOSE is to produce two IDENTICAL daughter cells. We see it in growth and healing processes, and when it goes "haywire" it is the template upon which malignancy occurs. 

Meiosis occurs in GERMINAL cells, or sex cells. It's PURPOSE is to poduce GAMETES, or egg and sperm, with an array of parental genes, each in one version (allele) which can combine with the complementary gamete to produce a zygote. In addition, during the two stages of meiosis the genes "crossover" such that each gamete is unique. This is the basis for the egnetic diversity that is the basis of successful natural selection. 

When one considers the POINT of each process, it's not that difficult, really....

Math!!!???

Math (the Brits call it "maths") is the language of science, and that includes biology and medicine. From measuring body temperature to figuring out cardiac output, the clinician must have number skills. Acid/base parameters, blood counts, electrolytes--numbers all.

We are not talking differential calculus here, but just basic arithmetic and some simple algebra. In addition, we use the metric system, like every country in the world EXCEPT the U.S.  If you don't like conversions, blame the fact that we have to do it on American exceptionalism, not scientific elitism.

If you accept this calmly and work with it, it will be your friend. The quantification of things is, after all, important. Dosages, rates, basic measures of metabolic stability or instability--these are the tools of our trade. And we need to be able to use them with patients, as well (blood glucose, anyone?).

So, when we talk numbers and equations, we will keep it simple. 

But these numbers are critical--you cannot play Calvin Ball with them.