News tagged with inflammatory response

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

How stress influences disease: Research reveals inflammation as the culprit

Stress wreaks havoc on the mind and body. For example, psychological stress is associated with greater risk for depression, heart disease and infectious diseases. But, until now, it has not been clear exactly how stress influences ...

Immunology created Apr 02, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (12) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Scientists find underlying mechanisms behind chronic inflammation-associated diseases

(Medical Xpress)—Inflammatory response plays a major role in both health protection and disease generation. While the symptoms of disease-related inflammatory response have been know, scientists have not ...

Inflammatory disorders created Feb 23, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (10) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

New findings provide insight on long-standing pregnancy mystery

Researchers at NYU School of Medicine have made an important discovery that partially answers the long-standing question of why a mother's immune system does not reject a developing fetus as foreign tissue.

Medical research created Jun 07, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Key mechanism for controlling body's inflammatory response discovered

Researchers at Queen Mary, University of London have discovered how a key molecule controls the body's inflammatory responses. The molecule, known as p110delta, fine-tunes inflammation to avoid excessive reactions that can ...

Immunology created Sep 30, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Mechanisms regulating inflammation associated with type 2 diabetes, cancer identified

A study led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has identified epigenetic mechanisms that connect a variety of diseases associated with inflammation. Utilizing molecular analyses of gene expression ...

Immunology created Mar 01, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 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

High doses of Vitamin D help tuberculosis patients recover more quickly

For decades before antibiotics became generally available, sunshine was used to treat tuberculosis, with patients often being sent to Swiss clinics to soak up the sun's healing rays. Now, for the first time scientists have ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Sep 03, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers identify new target for rheumatoid arthritis

Researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery have identified a potential new target for drugs to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a protein known as IRHOM2. The finding could provide an effective ...

Arthritis & Rheumatism created Jan 25, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Obesity makes fat cells act like they're infected

(Medical Xpress)—The inflammation of fat tissue is part of a spiraling series of events that leads to the development of type 2 diabetes in some obese people. But researchers have not understood what triggers ...

Medical research created Mar 05, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Surprising results from smoke inhalation study

A Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine study includes some unexpected findings about the immune systems of smoke-inhalation patients.

Health created Jan 13, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Key mechanism for a common form of Alzheimer's disease discovered

Scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in collaboration with researchers from Icelandic Heart Association, Sage Bionetworks, and other institutions, have discovered that a network of genes involved in ...

Alzheimer's disease & dementia created Apr 25, 2013 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Simple meditation shown to decrease symptoms of stress and depression

A simple form of mindful meditation can help breast cancer survivors stave off the symptoms of depression, new research suggests. But the potential benefits don't stop there.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Oct 07, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Shifting the balance between good fat and bad fat

In many cases, obesity is caused by more than just overeating and a lack of exercise. Something in the body goes haywire, causing it to store more fat and burn less energy. But what is it? Researchers at ...

Medical research created Jan 04, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study shows that diet of resistant starch helps the body resist colorectal cancer

(Medical Xpress)—As the name suggests, you can't digest resistant starch so it ends up in the bowel in pretty much the same form it entered your mouth. As unlovely as that seems, once in the bowel this ...

Cancer created Feb 19, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

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.