Thursday, March 5, 2015

Journal#4

1. Saproves: Fungus that absorbs nutrients from dead organisms.

2. Schizont: Multinucleate body that undergoes cytokinesis to release several cells.

3. Snapping division: A variation f binary fission in Gram-positive prokaryotes in which the parent cell's outer wall tears apart with a snapping movement to create the daughter cells.

4. Symptoms: Subjective characteristics of a disease that can be felt by the patient alone.

5. Quaternary ammonium compound (quat): Detergent antimicrobial that is harmless to humans. 

6. Pandemic: In epidemiology, the occurence of an epidemic on on more than one continent simultaneously.

7. Uncoating: In animal viruses, the removal of a viral capsid within a host cell.

8. Pinocytosis: Type of endocytosis in which liquids are moved into the cell.

9. Phagocytosis: Type of endocytosis in which solids are moved into the cell.

10. Mycology: The scientific study of fungi.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Journal#3

http://www.nyas.org/AboutUs/AcademyNews.aspx?cid=ac155c44-1e3a-4e12-b4ca-4267d2c47198

1. Epidemic disease: When many people in a given area acquire the disease in a relatively short period of time.

2. Droplet infection: Occurs when microorganisms are carried on liquid drops from a cough or sneeze.

3. Thallus: macroscopic mold colony that is composed of a mass of strands called mycelia

4. Reducing media: special media that provide better anaerobic culturing conditions.

5. Degerming: Removal of microbes by mechanical means. Example: hand washing, alcohol swabbing at site injections.

6. Sanitization: Removal of pathogens from objects to meet public health standards.

7. Sterilization: Destruction of all microorganisms and viruses in or on an object.

8. Synergism: A process that allow one drug to sometimes enhance the effect of a second drug.

9. Dynoflagellates: Group of alveolates, unicellular microbes that have photosynthetic pigments, such as carotene an chlorophylls.

10. Arthropod vectors: Animals that carry pathogens an have segmented bodies, hard external skeletons, and jointed legs.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Encounters



Hand washing is one of the best way to prevent diseases. It was implemented by Ignaz Semmelweis in the early 1800s. The death rate of women (after childbirth) in Semmeilweis department at the Vienna General Hospital was high. Physicians and male medical students were not performing proper hand hygiene when dealing with patients. They moved from treating patients to patients without washing their hands. They would move from performing autopsies to delivering babies. 

Hand washing requires water and soap. It is important to wash hands after you remove your gloves. Wash your hands after using the restroom, before and after preparing food, taking care of patients, after sneezing, coughing, shaking hands with others.





















http://pixgood.com/hand-washing-steps-clip-art.html

Works Cited:

 "Adult Health." Hand-washing: Do's and Don'ts. Mayo Clinic, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/adult-health/in-depth/hand-washing/art-20046253>.

 Colyer, Christa. "Childbed Fever: A Nineteenth-Century Mystery." CHILDBED FEVER (n.d.): n. pag. University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Web. <http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/files/childbed_fever.pdf>.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Investigations

Why get the flu after getting the flu vaccine?

Vaccines are one of the best prevention of a disease by providing active immunity. People with weak immune system should consider taking the flu shot. After the vaccination, one might have a mild case of the flu (better than worse). After the flu shot, a person can get sick before the vaccine provide protection to the body. Also; a person may get a virus whose protection is not included in the seasonal flu shot. The flu shot can cause side effects (flu-like symptoms) that are sometimes mistaken as the flu. 





Thursday, February 5, 2015

Journal#2

1. Active site: Functional site of an enzyme, the shape of which is complementary to the shape of the substrate.

2. Agglutination test: In serology, a procedure in which antiserum is mixed with a sample that potentially contains its target antigen.

3. Diphtheria: Mild to potentially fatal respiratory disease caused by diphtheria toxin following infection with Corynebacterium diphtheriae.

4. Filariasis: Infection of the lymphatic system caused by a filarial nematode.

5. Leptospirosis: Zoonotic disease contracted by humans upon exposure to infected animals; characterized by pain, headache, and liver and kidney disease; caused by infection with Leptospira interrogans.

6. Microsporidia: Unicellular, intracellular, parasitic fungi previously classified as protozoa.

7. Parental route: A means by which pathogenic microorganisms can be deposited directly into deep tisues of the body, as in puncture wounds and hypodermic injections.

8. Pyrogen: Chemical that triggers the hypotha-lamic "thermostat" to reset at a higher temperature, inducing fever.

9. Siderophore: An iron-bininding molecule released by some bacteria and fungi.

10. Virulence: A measure of pathogenicity.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Encounter


PPD Skin Test
 
Tuberculosis is a serious infection caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. this bacterium infects the lungs.Tuberculosis is transmitted through TB contaminated air. Vaccination, one of the preventions of tuberculosis is very important.

The tuberculin or PPD test determines whether an individual's immune system is strong against the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. Skin tests are read 48-72 hours after the injection of the vaccine. The presence or absence of a swelling bases the reading of the test. I found out that when an individual PPD skin test gives a positive result, it does not mean that the individual has tuberculosis. A blood test as long as an X-Ray would be needed to check for the presence of M. tuberculosis.

A positive PPD test could mean that the individual has been exposed to M. tuberculosis. the bacterium is laying dormant in the individual's body. Statistics shows that about 10% of individuals with dormant TB would develop the infection.

http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/tuberculosis/understanding/pages/cause.aspx

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Journal #1


1. Acid dyes: Dyes that are anionic or have negatively charged groups such as carboxyls.

2.  Acquired immune tolerance: The ability to produce antibodies against nonself antigens while "tolerating" (not producing antibodies against) self-antigens.

3. Alkalophile: A microorganism that grows best at pHs from about 8.5 to 11.5.

4. Feedback inhibition: A negative feedback mechanism in which a pathway end product inhibits the activity of an enzyme in the sequence leading to its formation; when the end product accumulates in excess, it inhibits its own synthesis.

5. Anaerobe: An organism that grows in the absence of free oxygen.

6. Extrinsic factor : An environmental factor such as temperature that influences microbial growth in food.
7. Antibiotic: A microbial product or its derivative that kills susceptible microorganisms or inhibits their growth.
8. Allergen: A substance capable of inducing allergy or specific susceptibility.

9. Budding: A vegetative outgrowth of yeast and some bacteria as a means of asexual reproduction; the daughter cell is smaller than the parent.

10.Chemoreceptors  :  a sensory cell or organ responsive to chemical stimuli.

Citation:

Prescott, Lansing M., Donald A. Klein, and John P. Harley. "Glossary A-F." Online Learning Center. McGraw Hill, n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2015. <http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/0072320419/student_view0/glossary_a-f.html>.