Word: fingers
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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What does a stubbed toe or a splinter in a finger have to do with your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, suffering a heart attack or succumbing to colon cancer? More than you might think. As scientists delve deeper into the fundamental causes of those and other illnesses, they are starting to see links to an age-old immunological defense mechanism called inflammation - the same biological process that turns the tissue around a splinter red and causes swelling in an injured toe. If they are right - and the evidence is starting to look pretty good - it could radically change...
...understand better what all the excitement is about, it helps to know a little about the basic immunological response, a cascade of events triggered whenever the body is subjected to trauma or injury. As soon as that splinter slices into your finger, for example, specialized sentinel cells prestationed throughout the body alert the immune system to the presence of any bacteria that might have come along for the ride. Some of those cells, called mast cells, release a chemical called histamine that makes nearby capillaries leaky. This allows small amounts of plasma to pour out, slowing down invading bacteria...
...memory is still present enough in the national consciousness that the country demands someone minimally serious about national security. Dean collapsed because when people took a close look at him, he failed the midnight, red-phone, finger-on-the-button test. But the memory of Sept. 11 is now distant enough that, unlike in 2002, biography alone might be enough to meet the "seriousness" test...
...fair simply to denounce countries like Germany for not being America's allies. German soldiers are doing their job in Afghanistan. Germany is training Iraqi police. For Krauthammer to write that America's traditional allies have not "lifted a finger" to help in postwar reconstruction in Iraq is simply wrong. We are allies of the U.S. in fighting terrorism. But alliances are about partnership. And the partnership was violated when the U.S. lied about Iraq's WMD and its nonexistent connections to al-Qaeda in order to get hold of the country's oil reserves. Raimund Wildner Fuerth, Germany...
...Questions For Bob Dole" [Jan. 26]: At the end of the interview, the retired Senate majority leader said he might write a book, and he added, "I probably won't run for anything again, so I can tell the truth now." He put his finger on just the thing that is turning off American voters. You can't believe anything a politician says, especially those running for higher office. Any one of them will say whatever is necessary to get elected. Dole merely gave credence to that idea. Adam H. Dorsch Arlington Heights...