Immune-boosting sunshine

Boosting the Immune System

Much of contemporary research in Artificial Immune Systems (AIS) has partitioned into either algorithmic machine learning and optimisation, or modelling biologically plausible dynamical systems, with little overlap between. Although the balance is latterly beginning to be redressed (e.g. [18]), we propose that this dichotomy is somewhat to blame for the lack of significant advancement of the fi...

Sunshine and the cardiovascular benefits – a dose of sunshine!

Sunshine on MS

tion, and thought that visual solar radiation might provide protection from developing MS. In 1970, a study from Switzerland (which is on a similar latitude in the northern hemisphere as Tasmania is in the southern hemisphere) [5] showed a higher clinical RR in winter and spring months, and a later study (also from the northern hemisphere) [6] of seasonal fluctuations in Gd-enhancing lesions on...

Sunshine or Shield?

How does the use of a secret vote affect the likelihood that legislators will punish their peers? Two contending arguments exist in the literature: some argue that secret voting may be prejudicial, while others argue that it may help accountability. We address this controversy by analyzing the case of the Brazilian Congress, which uses a sequential combination of open and secret voting procedur...

Is boosting the immune system in sepsis appropriate?

A relative immunosuppression is observed in patients after sepsis, trauma, burns, or any severe insults. It is currently proposed that selected patients will benefit from treatment aimed at boosting their immune systems. However, the host immune response needs to be considered in context with pathogen-type, timing,and mainly tissue specificity. Indeed, the immune status of leukocytes is not uni...