News tagged with inflammatory diseases

Brain region may hold key to aging

While the search continues for the Fountain of Youth, researchers may have found the body's "fountain of aging": the brain region known as the hypothalamus. For the first time, scientists at Albert Einstein ...

Neuroscience created May 01, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (21) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Targeting inflammation to treat depression

Researchers at Emory University have found that a medication that inhibits inflammation may offer new hope for people with difficult-to-treat depression. The study was published Sept. 3 in the online version of Archives of ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Sep 03, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (18) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Excess dietary salt identified as autoimmune trigger

For the past few decades, health officials have been reporting increases in the incidence of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Now researchers at Yale School of Medicine, Harvard Medical ...

Medical research created Mar 06, 2013 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (16) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Immunologists find a molecule that puts the brakes on inflammation

(Medical Xpress)—We couldn't live without our immune systems, always tuned to detect and eradicate invading pathogens and particles. But sometimes the immune response goes overboard, triggering autoimmune ...

Immunology created Sep 28, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (11) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Anti-ageing drug breakthrough

Drugs that combat ageing may be available within five years, following landmark work led by an Australian researcher. The work, published in the March 8 issue of Science, finally proves that a single anti-ageing enzyme in the ...

Medical research created Mar 08, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (10) | comments 2

A vaccine for heart disease? New discovery points up this possibility

Most people probably know that heart disease remains the nation's No. 1 killer. But what many may be surprised to learn is that cholesterol has a major accomplice in causing dangerous arterial plaque buildup that can trigger ...

Immunology created Aug 14, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 15 | with audio podcast

Discovery shows medications can treat inflammation without increasing risk for infection

In a discovery that can fundamentally change how drugs for arthritis, and potentially many other diseases, are made, University of Utah medical researchers have identified a way to treat inflammation while potentially minimizing ...

Inflammatory disorders created Nov 11, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Will cell therapy become a 'third pillar' of medicine?

Treating patients with cells may one day become as common as it is now to treat the sick with drugs made from engineered proteins, antibodies or smaller chemicals, according to UC San Francisco researchers. They outlined ...

Medical research created Apr 03, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Link between inflammatory process and progression of Alzheimer's disease

An international team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the University of Bonn and the Center for Advanced European Studies and Research in Germany have shown that a well-known immune and ...

Alzheimer's disease & dementia created Dec 19, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Western diet changes gut bacteria and triggers colitis in those at risk

Certain saturated fats that are common in the modern Western diet can initiate a chain of events leading to complex immune disorders such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in people with a genetic predisposition, according ...

Medical research created Jun 13, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists find key to growth of 'bad' bacteria in inflammatory bowel disease

(Medical Xpress)—Scientists have long puzzled over why "bad" bacteria such as E. coli can thrive in the guts of those with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), causing serious diarrhea. Now UC Davis resear ...

Inflammatory disorders created Feb 07, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Gene discovery reveals importance of eating your greens

(Medical Xpress)—Eating your greens may be even more important that previously thought, with the discovery that an immune cell population essential for intestinal health could be controlled by leafy greens ...

Immunology created Mar 04, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study identifies a potential cause of Parkinson's disease

Deciphering what causes the brain cell degeneration of Parkinson's disease has remained a perplexing challenge for scientists. But a team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has pinpointed ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders created Nov 19, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

ApoE4 Alzheimer's gene causes brain's blood vessels to leak, die

Common variants of the ApoE gene are strongly associated with the risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease, but the gene's role in the disease has been unclear. Now, researchers funded by the National ...

Alzheimer's disease & dementia created May 16, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Intestinal bacteria produce neurotransmitter, could play role in inflammation

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital have identified commensal bacteria in the human intestine that produce a neurotransmitter that may play a role in preventing or treating inflammatory ...

Inflammatory disorders created Jun 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Inflammation

Inflammation (Latin, inflamatio, to set on fire) is the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. It is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli as well as initiate the healing process for the tissue. Inflammation is not a synonym for infection. Even in cases where inflammation is caused by infection, the two are not synonymous: infection is caused by an exogenous pathogen, while inflammation is the response of the organism to the pathogen.

In the absence of inflammation, wounds and infections would never heal and progressive destruction of the tissue would compromise the survival of the organism. However, an inflammation that runs unchecked can also lead to a host of diseases, such as hay fever, atherosclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. It is for that reason that inflammation is normally closely regulated by the body.

Inflammation can be classified as either acute or chronic. Acute inflammation is the initial response of the body to harmful stimuli and is achieved by the increased movement of plasma and leukocytes from the blood into the injured tissues. A cascade of biochemical events propagates and matures the inflammatory response, involving the local vascular system, the immune system, and various cells within the injured tissue. Prolonged inflammation, known as chronic inflammation, leads to a progressive shift in the type of cells which are present at the site of inflammation and is characterised by simultaneous destruction and healing of the tissue from the inflammatory process.

For more information about Inflammation, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.