Word: bacteria
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Because viruses can?t be killed in the same way as bacteria, one of the best ways to stop them is to disrupt their replication, the viral copying process that eventually destroys an infected cell. A study of SARS? genetic structure suggests the coronavirus needs an enzyme called protease to make copies of itself, which is how the virus spreads inside a victim. Create a drug that neutralizes the protease enzyme, and you may be able to halt the disease in its tracks...
...chalk up another entry in the list of ways that tea drinking may be good for you. Researchers at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston have found new evidence that ordinary tea may prime the immune system to fend off attacks from bacteria and other pathogens. "This is the first report of tea affecting the immune system," says Dr. Jack Bukowski, a rheumatologist and co-author of the study. But it's hardly the first health benefit attributed to tea. Over the years, credible claims have been made that tea may help protect against various forms of cancer...
...every day for at least two weeks doubled or tripled the immune system's output of an infection-fighting substance called interferon gamma. The coffee drinkers, by contrast, registered no difference in interferon-gamma production. Apparently the body metabolizes the tea into molecules that mimic the surface proteins of bacteria, jump-starting the immune system so that when real bugs show up, they can more easily be dispatched...
Thus, the tea may jump-start the body’s immune response even in the absence of bacteria...
After isolating the immune-boosting chemical from tea leaves and observing the increased activity of the disease-fighting T-cells against bacteria, Bukowski took his hypothesis to human volunteers...