We invited Professor Anna Hansell to share her thoughts on the important questions surrounding the relationship between air pollution levels and disease outcomes of the coronavirus, COVID-19. Anna is a Professor in Environmental Epidemiology and is the Director Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability at the University of Leicester. Hello Anna, could you please describe … Continued
During this difficult time when many of us are thinking more about our health, one question seems to bubble up to the surface time and time again – how can we boost our immune system? The immune system is a complex system made up of body cells, organs, lymph glands and nodes, and bone … Continued
Every day our bodies have the difficult task of selecting what has to be rejected as foreign material to prevent illnesses, including viral illnesses such as COVID-19. This sorting process is carried out by our immune system by our scavenging cells. These are cells that can attack, devour and digest bacteria, foreign particles, and other cells. Every day our bodies will scavenge hundreds of unwanted particles and cells. These will be abnormal cells arising from a multitude of sources including the DNA in our cells being hit by pollutants, allergens and other agents, and viral infections. Our immune system recognises unwanted foreign cells by detecting the proteins present on the surface of cells. Viruses, bacteria, and other foreign cells are recognised as being different from natural healthy cells, and this is when the immune system usually responds and attacks these unhealthy cells…
