Immune System

Mimi suffers from tuberculosis in the opera La Boheme, but in reality, there is little that's romantic about the disease. It is the second-leading cause of death from infection in the world (though not in the United States), says Dr. Richard E. Chaisson, professor of medicine, epidemiology and international health at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and founding director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Tuberculosis Research. Worldwide, the highest number of TB cases and deaths in recorded history will occur this year, according to Hopkins' Department of Medicine Web site.

UM School of Medicine gets $3 million grant The University of Maryland School of Medicine has received a $3 million federal grant to improve tissue-transplant techniques in ways that would benefit soldiers and other victims of trauma. At a news briefing yesterday, Dr. Stephen Bartlett, the chief of surgery, predicted that the hospital would perform its first face transplant in the next two years. The grant will help researchers devise ways to perform those and other grafts without using anti-rejection drugs, which can have serious side effects.

Hoping to strengthen their stressed-out immune systems, many people with cancer join support groups, attend yoga classes or take other steps to lift their moods. Do these mind-body interventions help prolong life? A recent study of 1,093 patients with advanced head and neck cancer suggests they do not. The report, published in October in the journal Cancer, found no difference in life expectancy of patients with a strong sense of emotional well-being compared with those with high levels of emotional distress.

The dumb promises of immunity must have been the last straw. The State Department capped its astonishing record of mismanagement of private security firms in Iraq in a fairly spectacular way, by making an offer of immunity it didn't have the power to grant, to the Blackwater USA guards who were involved in the notorious shoot-'em-up in Baghdad's Nisour Square. Condoleezza Rice has now given way to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who wants to put diplomats' private guards under military control.

It sounds downright risky, but snacking on billions of live bacteria can actually improve digestion, support the immune system and bolster overall health. Called probiotics, these "friendly" microbes with health benefits are found naturally in breast milk and fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, aged cheese, miso and certain pickles and sauerkraut. They work by keeping intestinal flora balanced and preventing not-so-friendly bacteria from taking over and causing disease. But during the past 50 years, the increased use of antibiotics and a changing diet low in soluble fiber and high in refined carbohydrates have produced an "invisible epidemic of insufficient probiotics," said Gary Huffnagle, professor of internal medicine and microbiology at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Medical researchers have made a significant advance in understanding multiple sclerosis, a common neurological disease that causes symptoms that include muscle weakness and paralysis. The disease is one in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the electrical insulation of nerve fibers. The cause is part genetic and part environmental, but researchers trying to identify the relevant genes have endured repeated frustration. Their approach has been to guess what genes might be involved and see whether patients have abnormal versions.

It's George's fault that I never sang. Freckle-faced, hair-licked, musical-fingered George. Starting in first grade, I sat behind him in the alto row in music class, and that remained my place for eight years of grammar school. He was Mr. Perfect Pitch, the kid who could play "Flight of the Bumblebee" on the piano. I'd open my mouth to sing, and he'd turn around and snap, "You're flat. You're flat." "I've been workin' on the railroad," I'd begin. "You're flat," I'd hear from the seat in front of me. Pretty early on, I learned to lip-sync.

Scientists working independently in Cambridge, England, and Cambridge, Mass., have discovered an unexpected regulatory network that affects the entire immune system. The regulatory network might provide new clues to the working of the body's defenses and the generation of a class of cancers known as lymphomas, which include Hodgkin's disease. The network depends on a genetic element known as a micro-RNA. RNA is the versatile chemical cousin of DNA; the micro snippets are too short to make genes but can interfere with the much longer messenger RNAs, which are transcribed from the DNA and used to direct the synthesis of proteins.

In 12th century China, a Taoist monk known as Chang San-Feng is said to have studied the physical movements of five animals and concluded that two - the snake and the crane - were best-suited to overpower opponents who were fierce and tenacious. From that ancient observation, the slow, graceful movements of tai chi were born. Today, with the art and exercise of tai chi growing in popularity across the United States, scientists have found that older adults who practice this martial art strengthen themselves against an opponent as stubborn as any - the tiny chickenpox virus, which can cause a painful and often persistent nerve inflammation called shingles.

I recently had dinner at a friend's home. After dinner, my friend put the dishes on the floor for the dog to lick. Needless to say, I was horrified. My friend does not have a dishwasher and washes dishes by hand. Now I do not want to eat there again unless I bring my own dishes. Can humans get germs from dogs this way? (I have a suppressed immune system.) How would you handle this situation and still keep your friend? Dogs can harbor germs such as Bordetella bronchiseptica (kennel cough)