eChapters

What so ever you are doing as a researcher, one important task is to publish the same for scientific fraternity for establishing your view points else no body will recognize you and your competence. Your credentials are judged by the research papers published by you and its impact on scientific community. Therefore, it is must to publish what so ever you are doing to establish yourself in the scientific community and also to advance science. This implies to select a national or international journal for your research publication which has wide scientific circulation so that peers of scientific world may observe your publication. Adversely, the publication may bring you criticism if it does not stand on scientific parameters and you may lose your reputation in your profession.

To an immunologist, the presence of embryo inside the mother’s uterus is perhaps one of the most surprising things. Pregnancy is a unique event in which a genetically and immunologically foreign foetus usually survives to full term without apparent rejection by the mother’s immune system. Thus, Pregnancy represents the unique physiological phenomenon of the symbiosis of two semi-allogeneic individuals: the mother and her fetus. Such symbiosis requires a sophisticated immunological regulation to avoid rejection-like reactions and to control the invasion of foreign foetal tissue into the maternal deciduas. A very fine tuning of cellular interactions at the interface of both individuals is indispensible for successful implantation and pregnancy.

Over the past decade, more information has been gathered to provide insight into the complex immunological mechanisms that allow the foetus to grow and survive in most cases.

Cells Contain 4 Major Types of Giant Molecules (Macromolecules, Polymers)

Carbohydrates

Lipids

Proteins

Nucleic Acids

BIOLOGICAL POLYMERS ARE MADE FROM ABOUT 60 SMALL BUILDING BLOCKS

Cells contain thousands of types of giant molecules (macromolecules, polymers)

Polymers are macromolecules made from a single building block molecule Most of the macromolecules are made from about 60 types of small building block molecules

Most macromolecules are linear: building blocks linked head to tail- a few have branches (some polysaccharides)

This is what you would get if you heated cells in hydrochloric acid overnight at 110 degrees C:

History of Genetics

Lamarck (1744-1829): Proposed theory of “Inheritance of acquired characters”.

Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882): published his classic book “Origin of Species” in 1859 and proposed theory of evolution and survival of the fittest.

Johann Greger Mendel : Gave laws of heredity in 1866 and is considered as Father of Genetics.

W. Flemming: The term mitosis was first used by Fleming in 1882.

W. Waldeyer: Coined the term “Chromosome” in 1888.

August Weisman: Gave the “Theory of Germplasm” in 1889.

M    :    Milli (10^-3l).

M    :    Molar (mol/L).

M    :    Microorganisms - small organisms which require a microscope to be seen. M represents the SS in the mixed liquor and is part of the F/M ratio. 

The genus Clostridium belongs to the family Clostridiaceae. The genus name was originated from the Greek word ‘klo ster’, which means ‘spindle’ referring to their individual rod shape. Clostridia are gram positive, large, sporulating anaerobic rods (except C. piliforme which is gram negative). At present, there are more than 200 numbers of species under the genus Clostridium. Among them, 15 species can produce potent toxins and are considered as pathogenic for animals and human. The animal pathogenic clostridia can be classified as neurotoxic, histotoxic and enteric.

S    :    Second.

S    :    Sedimentation coefficient. OR Svedberg unit.

S phase    :    The period during the cell cycle when the chromosome is replicated.

S7P    :    Sedoheptulose-7-phosphate.

The family Enterobacteriaceae belongs to the order Enterobacterial. The family comprises 25 genera such as Escherichia, Salmonella, Klebsiella, Yersinia, Proteus, Providencia, Shigella, Enterobacter, Morganella, Edwardsiella, Budvicia, Cedecea, Citrobacter, Ewingella, Hafnia, Kluyvera, Leclercia, Leminorella, Moellerella, Pantoea, Rahnella, Tatumella, Trabulsiella, Serratia and Yokenella, out of which the first 10 genera are consistent pathogenic in humans, animals and birds.

Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli were first isolated by Theodor Escherich in 1885 from the faeces of infants. It was named in honour of the German pediatrician and its major natural habitat (colon). Previously it was also known as Bacillus coli or Bacterium coli (B. coli).

Size – Shapes - Arrangements – Morphology

Bacteria are very small, most being approximately 0.5 to 1.0 mm diameter. Smallest bacteria are Mycoplasmas, as small as 0.2 micrometers (almost as small as largest poxviruses).

Accepted wisdom is that bacteria are smaller than eukaryotes. But certain cyanobacteria are quite large; Oscillatoria cells are 7 micrometers diameter, size of red blood cells. And certain eukaryotes (e.g. Nanochlorum eukaryotum) are very small, only 1 to 2 micrometers, but true eukaryotes (nucleus, chloroplast, mitochondrion are present). So size difference is, like many generalizations, only a useful yardstick, not an absolute truth.

Epulopiscium fishelsoni, discovered in 1985 in intestinal tract of sturgeonfish, is an enormous, cigar-shaped cell, as large as 80 x 600 micrometers (that’s 0.6 mm, large enough to be seen by the naked eye). Amazingly, this cell is prokaryotic! Initial evidence by EM was hard to believe, but confirmed rRNA comparisons with other organisms, a cousin of Gram-positive Clostridium genus.

The relative size of the bacteria are as follows :

Metabolism - sum total of all chemical reactions in living cells

Catabolic reactions - degrade macromolecules and other molecules to release energy

Anabolic reactions - used to synthesize macromolecules for cell growth, repair, and reproduction

Can divide metabolism into 4 groups: carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, nucleotides.

1. TYPES AND GRADES OF IMMUNITY

The immune response, which has inherited the character of memory, as evinced by rapidity and specificity of the responses on the second exposure to antigen, was cleared the minds of scientists especially bacteriologists who could find certain cells especially lymphocytes to play a major role in immune response.
 
The fact that the blood also contains soluble protective substances both heat stable which were later known as antibody and heat labile, later called as the complement system. These two were regarded as totally separate phenomenon in the beginning years. Eventually the distinctions between specific and non-specific responses were understood.
 
There are two types of immunity
    i)    Non-specific (Innate, natural or native) immunity
    ii)    Specific (Acquired) immunity.

(+)sense RNA (plus-sense RNA)     :    A virus with a single-stranded RNA genome of the same polarity (‘sense’) as mrna.