Virology

Virology

Virology is the study of viruses. It is a subspecialty of microbiology. Viruses can infect all types of life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archetypes. They replicate only inside the living cells of an organism and are submicroscopic infectious agents. They are found in almost every ecosystem on earth and are the most numerous type of biological entity.

When a cell gets infected, it rapidly produces thousands of identical copies of the original virus. When in the process of infecting a cell or not inside an infected cell, viruses exist in the form of independent particles, or virions.

The shapes range from simple helical and icosahedral forms to more complex structures. Most of the virus species have virions that are too small to be seen with an optical microscope as they are one hundredth the size of most bacteria.

The spread of the virus takes place in many ways. One of the ways of transmission is through disease-bearing organisms… Influenza viruses are spread by coughing and sneezing.  Common causes of viral gastroenteritis, are transmitted by the fecal-oral route, passed by hand-to-mouth contact or in food or water by Norovirus and rotavirus. HIV is one of several viruses transmitted through sexual contact and by exposure to infected body fluids like blood and semen, and instruments like needles and scalpels.

They are acellular therefore the viral populations do not grow through cell division. Instead, they use the machinery and metabolism of a host cell to produce multiple copies of themselves, which they assemble in the cell. The host cell is forced to rapidly produce thousands of identical copies of the original virus when infected.

Speech

Human vocal communication using language is Speech. Languages use phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds.

Although people ordinarily use speech in dealing with other persons,  when people swear they do not always mean to communicate anything to anyone, and sometimes in expressing urgent emotions or desires they use speech as a quasi-magical cause, as when they encourage a player in a game to do or warn them not to do something. There are also situations in which people engage in solitary speech. People talk to themselves sometimes in acts that are a development of what some psychologists have maintained is the use of thinking of silent speech in an interior monologue to vivify and organize cognition, sometimes in the momentary adoption of a dual persona as self-addressing self as though addressing another person. Solo speech can be used to memorize.

The speech is compared with written language, which may differ in its vocabulary, syntax, and phonetics from the spoken language, a situation called diglossia. Speech is the subject of study for linguistics, cognitive science, communication studies, psychology, computer science, speech pathology, otolaryngology, and acoustics. Researchers study many different aspects of speech: speech production and speech, perception of the sounds used in a language, speech repetition, speech errors, and the ability to map heard spoken words onto the vocalizations needed to recreate them, which plays a key role in children’s enlargement of their vocabulary, and what different areas of the human brain, such as Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area, underlie speech.  The speech is compared with written language, which may differ in its vocabulary, syntax, and phonetics from the spoken language, a situation called diglossia.

Sleep

Sleep is a naturally recurring state of mind and body, characterized by altered consciousness relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles during rapid eye movement sleep, and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli.

Sleep occurs in repeating periods, in which the body alternates between two distinct modes:  REM sleep and non-REM sleep.  A well-known feature of sleep is the dream, an experience typically recounted in narrative form, which resembles waking life while in progress. During sleep, most of the body’s systems are in an anabolic state, helping to restore the immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems; these are vital processes that maintain mood, memory, and cognitive function, and play a large role in the function of the endocrine and immune systems. The internal circadian clock promotes sleep daily at night.

Humans may suffer from various sleep disorders, including dystonias such as insomnia,  hypersomnia,  narcolepsy, and sleep apnoea; parasomnias such as sleepwalking and Rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder, bruxism; and circadian rhythm sleep disorders. The advent of artificial lights has substantially altered sleep timing in industrialized countries.

The most pronounced physiological changes in sleep occur in the brain. The brain uses significantly less energy during sleep than it does when awake, especially during non-REM sleep. In areas with reduced activity, the brain restores its supply of adenosine triphosphate.

Sleep increases the sensory threshold. In other words, sleeping persons perceive fewer stimuli, but can generally still respond to loud noises and other salient sensory events.

Sleep is divided into two broad types: non-rapid eye movement sleep and rapid eye movement sleep. The sleep cycle of alternate non-rapid eye movement sleep and rapid eye movement sleep takes an average of 90 minutes, occurring 4–6 times in a good night’s sleep.

Awakening can mean the end of sleep, or simply a moment to survey the environment and readjust body position before falling back asleep.

Pollution

The introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that causes adverse change is Pollution. A contaminant is a substance that is present where it should not be or present at concentrations above the background. All pollutants, i.e. the components of pollution, are contaminants, but not all contaminants are pollutants. Pollution can be from chemical substances, energy, noise, heat or light. Pollutants can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants. Major forms of pollution include the following: Air pollution, light pollution, littering, noise pollution, plastic pollution, soil contamination, radioactive contamination, thermal pollution, visual pollution, and water pollution.

The emergence of great factories and consumption of immense quantities of coal gave rise to unprecedented air pollution and the large volume of industrial chemical discharges added to the growing load of untreated human waste. 

Pollution introduced by light at night is becoming a global problem, more severe in urban centres, but contaminating large territories also, far away from cities and towns.

Growing evidence of local and global pollution and an increasingly informed public over time have given rise to environmentalism and the environmental movement, which generally seek to limit human impact on the environment. Three factors determine the severity of a pollutant: its chemical nature, the concentration, the area affected and the persistence.

Nutrition

Nutrition is the science that interprets the nutrients and other substances in food about the maintenance, growth, reproduction, health and disease of an organism. It includes ingestion, absorption, assimilation, biosynthesis, catabolism and excretion

A healthy diet includes; the preparation of food, and storage methods that preserve nutrients from oxidation, heat or leaching, and that reduce the risk of foodborne illness. The seven major classes of human nutrients are carbohydrates,  fats, fibre, minerals, proteins, vitamins, and water. Nutrients can be grouped as either macronutrients or micronutrients.

In humans, an unhealthy diet can cause deficiency-related diseases such as blindness, anaemia, scurvy, preterm birth, stillbirth and cretinism or nutrient excess health-threatening conditions such as obesity and metabolic syndrome; and such common chronic systemic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Undernutrition can lead to wasting

Microbiology

The study of microorganisms, which are unicellular, multicellular or acellular,  is microbiology. Microbiology covers numerous sub-disciplines which include virology, bacteriology, protistology, mycology, immunology and parasitology.

Traditionally Microbiologists relied on culture, staining and microscopy. Less than 1% of the microorganisms present in common environments can be cultured in isolation using current means. Microbiologists therefore often rely on molecular biology tools such as DNA sequence-based identification.

Viruses have been variably classified as organisms as they have been considered either very simple microorganisms or very complex molecules. Prions, never considered microorganisms, have been investigated by virologists.

The branches of microbiology can be classified into applied sciences, or divided according to taxonomy, as is the case with bacteriology, mycology, protozoology, virology and phycology. A pure research branch of microbiology is termed cellular microbiology.

Research on microorganisms has suggested that they could be useful in the treatment of cancer. Of course, we all know that there are good microorganisms and bad microorganisms. Most microorganisms do not cause disease and many are beneficial to us.

Infection

The multiplication of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites, the invasion of the body and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agents and the toxins they produce results in infection.

An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable disease, is an illness resulting from such an infection.

Infections are caused by various infectious agents – Viruses, Bacteria, and Fungi.

Hosts can fight infections through the host’s inherent immune system. Mammalian hosts immunologically fight against infections with an innate response, often with inflammation, followed by an adaptive response.

Specific allopathic medications to treat infections and their toxins include antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, antiprotozoals, and antihelminthics.

An infection may be may not present symptoms and be subclinical or symptomatic and clinically apparent.

Infections are described using different terms. 

Acute infection develops symptoms rapidly and can prolong. Chronic infection happens when symptoms develop gradually, over a prolonged period and are slow to resolve.

In Subacute infection, symptoms take a longer period to develop than in an acute infection but appear quicker than in a chronic infection. Latent infection is a type of infection that may occur after an acute episode; the organism is present but symptoms are not;  later the disease can reappear.

A focal infection is defined as the initial site of infection from which organisms propagate via the bloodstream to various regions of the host’s body.

Hygiene

Hygiene is a set of intentional practices performed to preserve health and spread of disease-causing microorganisms.

An individual’s habits such as how frequently one was to bathe, wash one’s hands, wash one’s clothes, or even trim one’s fingernails would be examples of hygienic practices. Hygiene also pertains to all surfaces being pathogen-free like at home or a workplace, especially kitchen and bathroom facilities.

Hygiene and cleanliness are seen as commendable to society and could be reasons for experiencing disrespect and disdain if neglected.

Hygiene is a trifecta concept related to cleanliness, health, and medicine.

Professional and self-care practices include hygienic standards laid out by sanitation departments. In the field of medicine and daily lifestyles, these hygienic standards are employed as preventive ways to decrease the incidence and propagation of disease.

Cultural differences play a role in what may be accepted to be hygienic or not.

Industrially, the manufacturing of various products including food, clothing, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, etc. requires good hygiene which is a critical aspect of quality assurance.

Health

Health is seen as a state of normal function that could be disrupted from time to time by disease

Systematic activities to prevent or cure health problems and promote good health in humans are undertaken by healthcare providers.  In addition to healthcare interventions and a person’s surroundings, several other factors are known to influence the health status of individuals, including their background, lifestyle, economic, social conditions, and spirituality; these are referred to as “determinants of health.” Studies have shown that high levels of stress can affect human health.

Generally, the context in which an individual lives is of great importance for both his health status and the quality of their life. It is increasingly recognized that health is maintained and improved not only through the advancement and application of health science but also through the efforts and intelligent lifestyle choices of the individual and society.

The maintenance and promotion of health are achieved through different combinations of physical, mental, and social well-being, together sometimes referred to as the “health triangle.

People can improve their health via exercise, enough sleep, spending time in nature, and maintaining healthy body weight. Health and illness can co-exist, as even people with multiple chronic diseases or terminal illnesses can consider themselves healthy.

The environment is often considered an important factor influencing the health status of individuals.  Factors such as clean water and air, adequate housing, and safe communities and roads all have been found to contribute to good health, especially to the health of infants and children.

Headache

Headaches occur as a result of many conditions. The causes of headaches may include dehydration, fatigue, sleep deprivation, stress, the effects of medications, viral infections, loud noises, common colds, head injury, rapid ingestion of very cold food or beverage, and dental or sinus issues. Headache is the symptom of pain in the face, head, or neck. It can occur as a migraine, tension-type headache, or cluster headache.

Treatment of a headache depends on the underlying cause but commonly involves pain medication. A headache is one of the most frequently experienced of all physical discomforts.

About half of adults have a headache in a given year. Tension headaches are the most common, followed by migraine headaches.

There are more than 200 types of headaches. Some are harmless and some are life-threatening. Headaches are broadly classified as “primary” or “secondary”. Primary headaches are benign, recurrent headaches not caused by an underlying disease or structural problems. For example, a migraine is a type of primary headache. While primary headaches may cause significant daily pain and disability, they are not dangerous. Secondary headaches are caused by an underlying disease, like an infection, head injury, vascular disorders brain bleeding, or tumours. Secondary headaches can be harmless or dangerous.

Gastrointestinal may cause headaches. The treatment of gastrointestinal disorders may lead to remission or improvement of headaches.

For chronic, unexplained headaches, keeping a headache diary can help track symptoms and identify triggers.

Some measures can help prevent headaches in children. Drinking plenty of water throughout the day, avoiding caffeine, getting enough and regular sleep, eating balanced meals at the proper times, and reducing stress and excess activities may prevent headaches.[

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