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Fuse809 Fuse809 20 January 2015
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Antibodies and disease

It's interesting to think how many diseases and other medical ailments antibodies play a pivotal role in.


  • 1 Relevant background information
  • 2 Antibodies and disease
  • 3 Amyloidosis
  • 4 Notes


Antibodies cells then secrete several compounds that get the B cell ready to produce antibodies.

Antibodies are also called immunoglobulins (Igs) and there are several distinct types (or isotypes) of them: IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG and IgM. They are distinguished by differing specific structural features and roles in the body.




Antibodies play a critical role in most hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs; immune-mediated tissue injury) including: type I HSRs (allergies), type II HSRs (their definition is that they are predominantly due to the direct effects of IgG and/or IgM antibodies…






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Fuse809 Fuse809 15 January 2015
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Bacterial infections I consider the most interesting.

A short while ago I thought I might do a status on my favourite2 immunologic response. I should mention, however, that patients with leprosy fall on a continuous spectrum between tuberculoid and lepromatous subtype.

Interestingly most people are naturally immune to leprosy nowadays, which is likely testament to how long our species has battled against the microbe in the past as this battle could leave marks in the form of favouring genes that convey immunity to the microbe. There exists a vaccine that provides some protection from tuberculosis and leprosy (the BCG vaccine) but the protection from it is limited and even after the vaccine some people still get these diseases after exposure, despite a healthy immune system. The BCG vaccine, btw…

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Fuse809 Fuse809 17 November 2014
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Prescription drugs: dependence and addiction

Note: some terms that are not explained in-text are explained on their corresponding, hyperlinked, page on this Wiki.

Many prescription drugs are capable of causing physical dependence and some can even cause an addiction to develop. Physical dependence is often misunderstood as an addiction, due to the fact they both involve a withdrawal syndrome, but drugs that cause physical dependence are not necessary addictive, in fact the majority are not.

Classes of drugs that frequently cause physical dependence, but not addiction include:

  • Almost all antidepressants which are frequently used to treat major depression and anxiety disorders (like generalized anxiety disorder, phobic disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, etc.)…
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Fuse809 Fuse809 9 November 2014
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Cancers caused by chemotherapy

Note: There is a glossary near the end of this post, just before the reference list, that gives the definition of more technical terms if you see them used and do not understand them. Generally speaking if a term is used that has a glossary definition it will be hyperlinked to said definition. 

It is rather unfortunate how many drugs we use to treat cancer, the chemo drugs, are also known to cause cancer in themselves. In this post I intend to provide some information on which chemo drugs are associated with cancer, which types of cancer they are known to cause, their therapeutic uses, their other major side effects (but not all of them, most drugs have side effects so large they would take up several pages per drug), how they work, their historical b…

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Fuse809 Fuse809 9 October 2014
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Creating molecular structures using free software

If you ever need to draw structures of drugs or other molecules I recommend MarvinSketch and/or ACD/ChemSketch (both of which are available for non-commercial use for free and can produce 3D structures too it's just they're rather non-customizable) for 2D structures and Accelrys DS Visualizer, Avogadro, Jmol and/or QuteMol (all four of which are available for free) for 3D models


  • 1 2D structural editors
    • 1.1 ACD/ChemSketch
    • 1.2 MarvinSketch
  • 2 Notes



ACD/ChemSketch can only export to traditional image formats (BMP, EMF, GIF, JPG, PCX, PNG, TIF, WMF) and not to scaled vector graphics (SVGs). WMF files can be converted to SVG files using Scribus which is also available for free, but of course this adds to the time one spends creating these structures. ACD/ChemSketch only wo…




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Fuse809 Fuse809 2 October 2014
1

The importance of stereochemistry in drug action

Did you know that most newer antidepressants (e.g., sertraline, mirtazapine) and drugs for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and sleep disorders (e.g., atomoxetine, dexamfetamine, lisdexamfetamine, methylphenidate, modafinil, etc.) exhibit chirality? The same is true of ketamine, a veterinary tranquillizer turned miracle drug for treatment-resistant cases of depression.


  • 1 Background
  • 2 Impact of chirality on pharmacology: the thalidomide disaster
  • 3 Examples
    • 3.1 Antidepressants
    • 3.2 ADHD and narcolepsy medicines
  • 4 Reference list


Main page: Chirality

Chirality for those of you that do not belong to a field that requires first year university chemistry knowledge, is basically a fancy way of saying mirror image forms of the same drug molecule. They are …



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