My answers to questions on science -2

Q: How can we boost our immune systems to the extent that we don't get any diseases?

Krishna: You actually don't want your immune system to be stronger, you want it to be balanced.

Yes, "immunity boosting" is not a very good word.  Most of the things people take to boost their immune system, such as vitamins or supplements, don't have any effect on your immune response.

There are some diet and lifestyle factors that influence your immune response. Exercise, eating a healthy diet and getting enough sleep are beneficial, experts say. Diabetes, obesity and smoking can also interfere with your immune system and cause it to not work the way it is supposed to.

Because our immune response to fighting disease, infections and viruses in the body is so complex, there's a lot we don't know about why some people have a more balanced immune response while others don't. 

You may not have a lot of control over how your immune system functions, but there are ways to keep from getting sick. The main way to prevent infections is to stay away from sick people if you can't take precautions or don't understand how infections take place and how to avoid them and avoid places where lots of germs exist, wash your hands and get all recommended vaccines.

In general, an overactive immune system leads to many autoimmune disorders — because of hyperactive immune responses your body can't tell the difference between your healthy, normal cells and invaders. In essence, your immune system turns against you.

This internal police force is vital to life, though sometimes it does get overzealous. When this happens, the immune system can work against us, causing allergic reactions or at its worst, autoimmune disorders, such as lupus and multiple sclerosis.

In general, an overactive immune system leads to many autoimmune disorders — because of hyperactive immune responses your body can’t tell the difference between your healthy, normal cells and invaders. In essence, your immune system turns against you.

Common conditions caused by an overactive immune system include:

Rheumatoid arthritis: Your immune system attacks your joints, leading to inflammation, redness, pain and stiffness. Over time, your joints can become deformed and you can lose function.

Multiple sclerosis: Your immune system destroys the fatty layer that surrounds and protects your nerves from damage. Without it, you’re vulnerable. As this disease progresses, it attacks your brain, spine and eyes, causing problems with your balance, muscle control, vision and other bodily functions.

Celiac disease: With this condition, when you eat gluten your immune system attacks the small intestines, damaging the finger-like projections (called villi) that help your body absorb nutrients.

Other autoimmune conditions include: Lupus (affects skin, joints and blood cells) Vasculitis (affects blood vessels) Sjögren’s syndrome (causes dry eyes and dry mouth) Inflammatory bowel syndrome (affects the digestive tract) Chronic fatigue syndrome (causes sleep abnormalities and pain)

At other times, it weakens, fails and becomes ineffective.

Think of how many times you come into contact with someone who has a cold or the flu. Imagine how often your immune system fights off those germs and keeps you healthy. But what if, instead, every one of those illnesses gained a foothold in your body? You might go from one illness to another, without ever recovering in between.

When the failure is severe, you will see more complications from those illnesses and infections, and you’ll recover much more slowly. Instead of bouncing back within days or a week, you could suffer for several weeks or months.

When your immune system fails completely, you’re left without any natural protection against illness. This leaves you open to “opportunistic infections” — sicknesses that can even come from things that ordinarily wouldn’t harm you. These can include recurrent pneumonia, herpes simplex and tuberculosis among other infections.

People who are immunocompromised, such as those with HIV, fall into this last group. This makes certain types of cancer, such as lymphoma, more likely.

Researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China(3), have discovered that shutting down part of the innate immune system increases anti-tumour activity.

If you are healthy everything works automatically.

But, things go haywire when the system starts to crumble. For example, if you don’t sleep well and get stressed out, your body will produce more of the stress hormone cortisol.

Over time, high cortisol levels can have a degenerative effect on your body. Healthy bone and muscle break down and slow the healing process. Cortisol can interfere with digestion and metabolism, as well as adversely affecting your mental functions.

Though we don’t always know exactly why an immune system fails, we do know that adopting healthy habits can help keep your immune system ticking along well and always ready for defensive action, Dr. Calabrese says.

A healthy diet, regular exercise, getting enough sleep and managing stress all can help. These steps help support good cardiovascular health, which, in turn, contributes to a healthy immune system.

To have a balanced immune system, practice a healthy life style that is

• Don't smoke
• Eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables.
• Exercise regularly.
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Don't drink alcohol, if you do, drink only in moderation.
• Get adequate sleep.
• Take steps to avoid infection, such as washing your hands frequently and cooking meats thoroughly.
• Try to minimize stress.
• Keep current with all recommended vaccines. Vaccines prime your immune system to fight off infections before they take hold in your body.

That is all we can say. But still there are several things like age, certain medicines, treatments like chemotherapy, other infections, your genes can have drastic effects on immune systems despite taking all precautions.

Just do what you can and leave rest to your body. That is all we can say!

"Not getting any diseases is a myth". I don't get infections easily because I am a Microbiologist  and know how to hoodwink the microbes, but even I cannot be immune to every disease on this planet. 

Q: What is real civilization? When did it start?

Krishna: Civilization is the process by which a society or place reaches an advanced stage of social and cultural development and organization.

 Years ago, an anthropologist was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected the anthropologist  to talk about fish hooks or clay pots or grinding stones.

But ‘no.’  The anthropologist said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. The anthropologist explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.

"A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts", she said.

We are at our best when we serve others.

Be civilized. It's the deep secret of life and ultimate purpose and best way of living.

But do we know when that had happened?

Q: Can a person who drinks or smokes donate blood?

Krishna: If a person smokes cigarettes or vapes, it does not disqualify them from donating blood. Smoking cigarettes in and of itself doesn’t disqualify you from donating blood. If you smoke and want to donate blood, plan not to smoke on the day of your appointment — both before your appointment and for 3 hours afterward.

Research says that after you take alcohol, it remains in your body for hours or days. Keeping the safety measures in mind, one should avoid alcohol at least 24-48 hours before donating blood. 

However, both tobacco cigarettes and electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) contain harmful chemicals that may affect a person’s blood. In one 2018 study, researchers compared blood donations from people who smoke with donations from people who do not smoke. They concluded that smoking cigarettes does not affect the overall quality of the donated blood. However, the researchers did note that the donations from the people who smoke had higher concentrations of carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) in the red blood cells. COHb forms when red blood cells come into contact with carbon monoxide, significantly reducing the amount of oxygen that red blood cells can carry. This hinders the very purpose of blood transfusion.

But saving the person is more important, especially in grave situations when the rare group blood is not available, so small harm is usually neglected. Based on these findings, the researchers recommend that people avoid smoking for 12 hours before donating blood. Like smoking cigarettes and vaping, smoking cannabis does not disqualify a person from donating blood.

3.  Lingling Wu et al, Noncanonical MAVS signaling restrains dendritic cell–driven antitumor immunity by inhibiting IL-12, Science Immunology (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.adf4919