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The ovary is an organ found in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary found on each side of the body. The ovaries also secrete hormones that play a role in the menstrual cycle and fertility. The ovary progresses through many stages beginning in the prenatal period through menopause. It is also an endocrine gland because of the various hormones that it secretes.
In vertebrate anatomy, the pituitary gland, or hypophysis, is an endocrine gland, about the size of a pea and weighing 0.5 grams (0.018 oz) in humans. It is a protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain. The hypophysis rests upon the hypophysial fossa of the sphenoid bone in the center of the middle cranial fossa and is surrounded by a small bony cavity covered by a dural fold. The anterior pituitary is a lobe of the gland that regulates several physiological processes. The intermediate lobe synthesizes and secretes melanocyte-stimulating hormone. The posterior pituitary is a lobe of the gland that is functionally connected to the hypothalamus by the median eminence via a small tube called the pituitary stalk.
The hypothalamus is a portion of the brain that contains a number of small nuclei with a variety of functions. One of the most important functions of the hypothalamus is to link the nervous system to the endocrine system via the pituitary gland. The hypothalamus is located below the thalamus and is part of the limbic system. In the terminology of neuroanatomy, it forms the ventral part of the diencephalon. All vertebrate brains contain a hypothalamus. In humans, it is the size of an almond. The hypothalamus is responsible for the regulation of certain metabolic processes and other activities of the autonomic nervous system. It synthesizes and secretes certain neurohormones, called releasing hormones or hypothalamic hormones, and these in turn stimulate or inhibit the secretion of hormones from the pituitary gland. The hypothalamus controls body temperature, hunger, important aspects of parenting and attachment behaviours, thirst, fatigue, sleep, and circadian rhythms. The hypothalamus derives its name from Greek ὑπό, under and θάλαμος, chamber.
Prolactin (PRL), also known as luteotropic hormone or luteotropin, is a protein best known for its role in enabling mammals, usually females, to produce milk. It is influential in over 300 separate processes in various vertebrates, including humans. Prolactin is secreted from the pituitary gland in response to eating, mating, estrogen treatment, ovulation and nursing. It is secreted heavily in pulses in between these events. Prolactin plays an essential role in metabolism, regulation of the immune system and pancreatic development.
Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) or cytokine storm syndrome (CSS) is a form of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) that can be triggered by a variety of factors such as infections and certain drugs. It occurs when large numbers of white blood cells are activated and release inflammatory cytokines, which in turn activate yet more white blood cells. CRS is also an adverse effect of some monoclonal antibody drugs, as well as adoptive T-cell therapies. Severe cases have been called cytokine storms. When occurring as a result of drug administration, it is also known as an infusion reaction.
Xenotransplantation, or heterologous transplant is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another. Such cells, tissues or organs are called xenografts or xenotransplants. It is contrasted with allotransplantation, syngeneic transplantation or isotransplantation and autotransplantation.
Tryptase is the most abundant secretory granule-derived serine proteinase contained in mast cells and has been used as a marker for mast cell activation. Club cells contain tryptase, which is believed to be responsible for cleaving the hemagglutinin surface protein of influenza A virus, thereby activating it and causing the symptoms of flu.
Treatments for influenza include a range of medications and therapies that are used in response to disease influenza. Treatments may either directly target the influenza virus itself; or instead they may just offer relief to symptoms of the disease, while the body's own immune system works to recover from infection.
John Herbert Humphrey CBE FRS FRCP was a British bacteriologist and immunologist.
Man flu is a phrase that refers to the idea that men, when they have a common cold, experience and self-report symptoms of greater severity, akin to those experienced during the flu. While it is a commonly used phrase in much of the English-speaking world, there is a continuing discussion over the scientific basis.
Bruce Alan Beutler is an American immunologist and geneticist. Together with Jules A. Hoffmann, he received one-half of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for "their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity".
Fiona Watt, is a British scientist who is internationally known for detailing the mechanisms that control epidermal stem cell renewal, differentiation, and tissue aggregation. She is also known for discovering how each of those processes' regulations are removed in diseased cells. She is director of the Centre for Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine at Kings College London, and executive chair of the MRC.
Adolfo García-Sastre, PhD, is a Professor of Medicine and Microbiology and co-director of the Global Health & Emerging Pathogens Institute at The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. His research into the biology of influenza viruses has been at the forefront of medical advances in epidemiology.
Sheila Macdonald Bird OBE FRSE FMedSci is a Scottish biostatistician whose assessment of misuse of statistics in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and BMJ series ‘Statistics in Question’ led to statistical guidelines for contributors to medical journals. Bird's doctoral work on non-proportional hazards in breast cancer found application in organ transplantation where beneficial matching was the basis for UK's allocation of cadaveric kidneys for a decade. Bird led the Medical Research Council (MRC) Biostatistical Initiative in support of AIDS/HIV studies in Scotland, as part of which Dr A. Graham Bird and she pioneered Willing Anonymous HIV Surveillance (WASH) studies in prisons. Her work with Cooper on UK dietary bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) exposure revealed that the 1940–69 birth cohort was the most exposed and implied age-dependency in susceptibility to clinical vCJD progression from dietary BSE exposure since most vCJD cases were younger, born in 1970–89. Bird also designed the European Union's robust surveillance for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in sheep which revolutionised the understanding of scrapie.
Zhu Jiming, better known in English as Chi-Ming Chu, was a Chinese virologist. He was a member of the Chinese Academy of Science and an Honorary Member of the American Society for Microbiology.
Akiko Iwasaki is a Professor of Department of Immunobiology and Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University. She is also a principal investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her research interests include innate immunity, autophagy, inflammasomes, sexually transmitted infections, herpes simplex virus, human papillomavirus, respiratory virus infections, influenza infection, T cell immunity, and commensal bacteria.
Mary Katharine Levinge Collins is a British Professor of Immunology. She is Dean of Research at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan. Formerly, Collins taught in the Division of Infection and Immunity at University College London, and was the head of the Division of Advanced Therapies at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, and the Director of the Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Molecular Virology. Her research group studies the use of viruses as vectors for introducing new genes into cells, which can be useful for experimental cell biology, for clinical applications such as gene therapy, and as cancer vaccines.
Andrew Neil James McKenzie is a molecular biologist and group leader in the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB).
Charles Bangham holds the Chair in Immunology at Imperial College London.
Sabra Klein is an American microbiologist who is a Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research considers how sex and gender impact the immune system. During the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, Klein investigated why men and women have different coronavirus disease outcomes.
References
- ↑ Directory of British Scientists. E. Benn Limited. 1966. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
- ↑ MRC National Institute for Medical Research (2014). "14" (PDF). A century of science for health. London: MRC National Institute for Medical Research.
- ↑ Depoux, R; Mussett, MV (Dec 1954). "Attempts to potentiate immunity to influenza in mice". J Hyg (Lond). 52 (4): 469–74. doi:10.1017/s0022172400036937. PMC 2217830 . PMID 13221811.
- ↑ Bangham, DR; Mussett, MV (1958). "Third international standard for posterior pituitary; re-named third international standard for oxytocic, vasopressor and antidiuretic substances in 1956". Bull World Health Organ. 19 (2): 325–40. PMC 2537666 . PMID 13585079.
- ↑ Humphrey, JH; Lightbown, JW; Mussett, MV (1959). "International Standard for phenoxymethylpenicillin". Bull World Health Organ. 20: 1221–7. PMC 2537888 . PMID 14405369.