chapter 2

so wat happens next..
- 02.00 hrs, crisis: intense fighting continues in the lung between the invaders and the cops (leucocytes).. much damage has been done to the lung tissue. this is when the feds arrive. these r lymphocytes and i call them feds for a no. of reasons..
these cells arrive at the lungs.. they meet the sherif (the lung's local force). these guys usually catch some of the invaders by gobbling them up and digestin them. they present remnants of the same to the feds.. the invaders r identified . the feds consist two types of forces.. the T cells and the B cells.. which r coordinated by the Helper T cell (HT). the HT identifies the invader and activates and coordinates a well orchestrated plan to eliminate the villians..
-02:45 hrs, T cells upon recievin signals from HT rush to the lung with the available force while sendin signals to the bone marrow (the fed academy) to send more troops. the T cells have less firepower when compared to the leucocytes but they dont do much damage to the lung tissue. and they can build up a larger force and contain the virus.
- 03:30hrs, B cells.. when activated.. produce immunoglobulins, popularly called antibodies... these r essential for capture of the viruses that have entered the circulation. these chaps r releasd in the millions into the bloodstream and when they come across a virus or a cell held hostage by one.. they stick onto them. this creates a signal which arouses the curiosity of patrolling leucocytes who come and finish up the intruder. the antibodies also directly attack the viruses at the lungs though their role is small in the tissue..
- In the end, this kinda attack can be vanquished effectively.. but in some cases like influenza or a weak host defence can lead to multiplication and spread of the invaders to other areas of the lung and even other parts of the body.. in some cases like tuberculosis, the bacteria can hide inside lung's own defence cells.. for quite long periods and when host defence weakens.. they wake up and do extensive damage.
lastly, the Helper T cells r THE most important defence cells.. not only do they coordinate the attack but they keep a memory bank of all the villians who have enetered so far.. the second timers r crushed even before they know it..
Unfortunately, the HIV virus attacks the helper T cells and makes them more or less useless..one by one they r killed until there r too few. so even a relatively easy group of thugs (bacteria) can do much damage..
well thats just a glimpse of this beautifully designed system.. there is so much more detail to it but thats not for now.

fascinating defence system...

the human body's defence system is one of the most fascinating, coordinated and efficient units one can come across. it closely resembles the external world's defence structures and mechanisms..
to explain this in simpler terms without the medical jargon, i will use this narrative...
OPERATION ANTIGEN:
Chapter 1-
Inside:
at 00:30 hrs today, 3 million viruses entered the lungs thru the nasal portal. the lung's sherif and his forces (first line of defence) surround the site. these are huge cells that reside in the lungs and though they r small in no. they r quite powerful and can gobble up viruses and digest them. but 3 million is too large a no..
00:45hrs, the lungs defence is failing... they send for backup. but how? they dont have radios or mobiles... they produce chemicals called cytokines and release them into the nearest blood vessel. these chemicals travel along the flow of blood into larger vessels ( like roads joinin a expressway ) and whom do they contact for back up?? the police force of our body has different classes.. the first to arrive for backup are the leukocytes (like the LAPD squad cars).. these cells r armed with a whole lot of ammo..
01:00hrs, the backup arrives.. they release some small chemicals to make the vessel leaky so that they can get into the lung tissue and assess the situation.. the viruses have been contained in the lung cavity and have not yet breeched the walls. if they did, they cud enter the blood vessels runnin close by.. here lies the catch.. powerful as their ammo is, while injuring the enemy, these cells can also damage the lung tissue thereby breechin the walls.. so they release some other signals into the blood.. they call in the fibroblasts.. these guys produce a net like stuff called fibrin that binds stuff together (this also forms the blood clot)... anyway... they r called to wall off the area to avoid spill over..
01:55, the viruses are provin too strong.. 300 dead cops... 100,000 dead invaders, the lung wall has been breeched and .. the fibroblasts were too late to wall off.. the invaders have entered the blood stream..... and nobody knows wat kinda villians we r dealin with here in the first place.

Outside: at this time... the person starts experiencing slight fever, tiredness and body pain.. not much cough yet..

Inside: the fever is due to this:
- the chemicals that r used to communicate abt the invasion (cytokines) . they also go to the brain via the blood and reach the hypothalamus- the thermo centre of the body. they inform abt the breech in the lungs. the hypothalamus then sets the body temp at a higher degree. this increase in body temp can make the host environment unfavourable to the invaders. and its also the first sign that the attack is a tough one...
so who's gonna stop the bad guys now that they have reached the general circulation... the feds?? yes..

well.. gotto sleep... this kinda helps out in my understanding of the subject in a better way... to be continued.....

mission accomplished..

finally.. after wks of desperation, i was able to wake myself up early morning to go running. but the plan has backfired. now that i have run, i feel too tired to study which is much more important. life and its crooked sense of humour...

all alone..

i am supposed to be studyin for my post graduation now. its rather a little boring. lookin forward to the banglore trip. met some friends last nite.. nice time but got a lil late when i reached home. so had a nice quarrel before slammin into my bunk. wish i were still in college, i am seriously starting to miss that carefree life. its all only a memory now..

new beginning

well.. i messed up the old blog.. kinda wiped it out. so guess i will have to start fresh. hope not all is lost..