Journal #5 : IMMUNO VOCABS 😇

        Hello...Welcome to Immuno-Journal #5

Here are some of the new terms I learned in my immunology class this week... 😍😎

 Opsonins

                                It is an antibody or a substance that have the ability to bind to foreign microorganisms; such that it coats the pathogen and enhance phagocytosis. 

How to remember ? 👀

- Example: IgG antibody. 

- One of the important opsonins are the bound C3 derived fragments

                       

Complement system 

         Also called complement cascade play a role in our immune system in enhancing the antibodies as well as the phagocytic cells which consists of a system of plasma proteins to remove the damaged cells from an organism. 

How to remember ? 👀

- the complement system COMPLEMENTS the immune system to do it job explained above.  

                                                                                                                      

Chemoattractants: 

                                           These are organic/inorganic chemical substances that induce motility in the chemotactic cells. 

How to remember ? 👀

-Split the words :  "Chemo" & "attractants"

                                 - attract the chemicals to move the cells 

Reflection Alert!! : Journal #4

                             Hello...!!!💙💚

    Today is a Friday morning...It's almost time to prep for Sabbath! And it is also the time to reflect on what I've been learning in my Immunology class in the past few days. These past few days of mine were challenging but also fun as it was the days of case studies...

This week, our professor gave our whole class a real-life scenario-based study. Our goal was to come up with answers based on our learning of the material that we already covered in our class and also through some research. Our class formed groups and started discussing possible answers such as diagnosing the disease (in the scenario), knocking out some non-possible answers, searching for symptoms, making connections, etc. 

I like the way our questions for the case study were set up. For example, the first few questions asked were identifying the patient's symptoms, past medical history, the cell types that are involved in the present medical condition, its functions, possible laboratory tests that can be conducted, family history, conducting further tests, and final diagnoses and possible treatments at the end. 

I felt like it was teaching us how to approach step by step when we are faced with a similar life situation. This approach is something that would help a future doctor or a nurse who is preparing to get into that field. Furthermore, not only the medical professionals but as ordinary people who don't work or wish to work in a medical setup will also help if they are faced with a similar situation in family or friends. This will help them understand how the doctors diagnose certain medical conditions and even identifying oneself's condition, and looking for their symptoms, and approaching a doctor. 

I believe that these learning strategies are going to help me in the future because one thing that I really liked doing in our case studies was identifying and ruling out some answers that are not going to help us for the final diagnosis. And I will remember this technique if I get exposed to a situation where I need to knock out things that are not important! 

                                                                                                                                         Have a Good Day!!!!!!

Journal #3 - May Be Some Reflections??!!

So........

When I was young, I used to get sick a lot... and I have heard my parents are relatives telling me that my immune system might be weak. I never understood what it meant in those times but when I started schooling, I got an overall idea of what they meant about the "immune system" but maybe not fully. But now as we were covering the topic "organs of the immune system" in our immunology course, my knowledge of the immune system and getting sick along with understanding the functions of those organs is building my knowledge not only in general of the immune system but it also allows me to think about my immune system as well my family. I believe this topic is very important at this time as covid cases are still rising in the United States as well as in several other countries. During this past week, we were learning about the primary, secondary, and tertiary lymphoid organs. I learned that:

Primary lymphoid organs are : Thymus & Bone marrow

Secondary lymphoid organs : Lymph nodes, spleen, & mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue

Tertiary lymphoid organs : lungs, liver, & cutaneous- associated lymphoid tissues. 

Here's a great picture that helps identify some of the primary & secondary lymphoid organs! 

                 Citation: https://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/physio/vlab/immun/backg.htm

The immunology course I'm taking at Washington Adventist University is a great course that is taught at a good pace and consistency. I believe that the vocabulary and concepts learned in this course are very helpful in the further courses that I would take in the future. Also, this helps in reading and understanding the scientific research reports and medical articles. Learning and understanding this past weak module of "organs of the immune system" helped determine the role of these organs in our immune system as well as their response in our entire body. Some ways that help me to learn science are through visualizing, some hands-on experience, and also through repeatedly saying or reminding the content/definition/function. These methods help me to understand and also memorize what I studied so that if I get exposed to do or answer anything similar, I would remember it. The two most important things that I have learned so far in this class is the importance of keeping up in studying because I feel if I miss a single class it will surely reflect on the rest of my studying. So, this course is not worth missing even for a single day. Resolving any issues that might create due to not keeping up is seeking help from the professor and peers. I've found it helpful to clear my questions regarding the class topics just by seeking help. 

   

Journal #2 - Lets learn some new scientific terms!!!!

 

Hello...

These are some top words that I learned from my Immunology coarse this week...😍

Herd Immunity: 

Based on an immunity from an exposure (or vaccination) to a bacteria/viral disease, a population of people with a resistance to spread that disease is what herd immunity is. 

How to remember?

Herd means population - therefore population immunity 

Pluripotential Stem Cells: 

These are cells that are capable of self-replication, regenerate, and develop into germ cell layers during the embryonic develop and then further divide all cells of an adult body. Moreover, these have the ability to generate all progenitor cells.

How to remember? 

Break down the words 😀

Pluri = many 

potential =capacity to regenerate, renew or replicate into a new cell

Hematopoiesis: 

It is the formation of blood cells such as red blood cells (RBC), and white blood cells (WBC) in the bone marrow. It is not limited to the formation of the blood cells but also includes regeneration, and differentiation.

How to remember?

Hemato means blood & -poiesis means formation 

Encounter -Journal #1 - Story to begin...

Hello...

Today I received an assignment for my Immunology class and it was about answering some questions based on real-life scenarios. This reminded me of one of those incidents I had while I was preparing for work at a military base as a civilian two years ago. We all might have taken vaccinations at some point in our lives.. well most of us have taken the covid vaccinations by now.. 😅

So, back to my story.... two years ago, as I was preparing for my new job as a Child youth program assistant, I was asked by my head supervisor to get all the necessary vaccinations that they had on the chart for every newcomer. So, I went to the doctor's office, and I was required to get the hepatitis B vaccination which I also had taken it 6 months ago. I provided proof of my vaccination record thinking that I don't have to take it again. But the nurse told me that they have to check my antigen/antibody to make sure that I'm fully vaccinated. I said yes, and when they took the test, the results came to be as I' am not immune to Hepatitis B at all!!! 

They went on and got me another shot of Hepatitis B vaccination and told me to come back after a month or so to test my antigen again. So, I came back to test and I was again not immune. The nurse was surprised and obviously, I was surprised too because I didn't want to get a lot of shots on my skin. Anyways, I again had to retake another dose of hepatitis B vaccination and finally, I was immune to Hepatitis B!! YAYYY!!!!😄💛

But, I was wondering why did it take me another shot to be fully immune? Is it because of the poor quality vaccination I received ? or is it because of my body type/ immune system? I asked my nurse about this she couldn't answer me well but what she told me was some people are non-responders to hepatitis B vaccination and it is due to their immune system. Well, I wasn't happy with the answer I received and so I went back home and googled. I got some pretty good answers such that non-responders are people who might have already got hepatitis B, a smoking person, chronic illness, old age, obesity, or even poor quality of vaccination as I assumed are also some factors that lead to non-responders of vaccination. I was twenty years old at that time and didn't have any illness but I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic. So, based on the papers I read, I'm assuming my pre-diabetes can be one reason why I wasn't immune at my first two shots. There also can be some other unknown factors but, well I had to digest pre-diabetes to be my reason. End of my encounter story #1!!!!!!!