Jonathan Prince,Sharon Moalem

Survival of the Sickest

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  • jesshas quoted4 years ago
    With the help of insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas, glucose is stored in your liver, muscles, and fat cells (think of them as your own internal OPEC) waiting to be converted to fuel as necessary.
  • jesshas quoted4 years ago
    to fight infection by reducing the amount of iron available to feed an invader, providing an assist to the body’s natural tendency to hide iron when it recognizes an infection.
  • jesshas quoted4 years ago
    doctor named John Murray was working with his wife in a Somali refugee camp when he noticed that many of the nomads, despite pervasive anemia and repeated exposure to a range of virulent pathogens, including malaria, tuberculosis, and brucellosis, were free of visible infection.
  • jesshas quoted4 years ago
    It’s not just for hemochromatosis, either—doctors and researchers are examining phlebotomy as an aid in combating heart disease, high blood pressure, and pulmonary edema.
  • jesshas quoted4 years ago
    Canadian physiologist named Norman Kasting discovered that bleeding animals induces the release of the hormone vasopressin; this reduces their fevers and spurs their immune system into higher gear.
  • jesshas quoted4 years ago
    Ultimately, the ability to access iron within our macrophages is what makes some intracellular infections deadly and others benign.
  • jesshas quoted4 years ago
    cells that hemochromatosis is stingy with when it comes to iron are a type of white blood cell called macrophages. Macrophages are the police wagons of the immune system. They circle our systems looking for trouble; when they find it, they surround it, try to subdue or kill it, and bring it back to the station in our lymph nodes.
  • jesshas quoted4 years ago
    ? It turns out that people who have hemochromatosis have a form of iron locking going on as a permanent condition.
  • jesshas quoted4 years ago
    Mother’s milk contains lactoferrin—a chelating protein that binds with iron and prevents bacteria from feeding on it.
  • jesshas quoted4 years ago
    People used to cover wounds with egg-white-soaked straw to protect them from infection. It turns out that wasn’t such a bad idea—preventing infection is what egg whites are made for.
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