1.
Antibody
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An antibody, also known as an immunoglobulin, is a large, Y-shaped protein produced mainly by plasma cells that is used by the immune system to neutralize pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a molecule of the harmful agent, called an antigen. Each tip of the Y of an antibody contains a paratope that is specific for one particular epitope on an antigen, allowing these two structures to bind together with precision. Using this binding mechanism, an antibody can tag a microbe or a cell for attack by other parts of the immune system. Depending on the antigen, the binding may impede the process causing the disease or may activate macrophages to destroy the foreign substance. The ability of an antibody to communicate with the components of the immune system is mediated via its Fc region. The production of antibodies is the function of the humoral immune system. Antibodies are secreted by B cells of the immune system. In most cases, interaction of the B cell with a T helper cell is necessary to produce full activation of the B cell and, therefore, soluble antibodies are released into the blood and tissue fluids, as well as many secretions to continue to survey for invading microorganisms. Antibodies are glycoproteins belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily and they constitute most of the gamma globulin fraction of the blood proteins. They are typically made of basic structural units—each with two heavy chains and two small light chains. There are several different types of heavy chains that define the five different types of crystallisable fragments that may be attached to the antigen-binding fragments. The five different types of Fc regions allow antibodies to be grouped into five isotypes, each Fc region of a particular antibody isotype is able to bind to its specific Fc Receptor, thus allowing the antigen-antibody complex to mediate different roles depending on which FcR it binds. The ability of an antibody to bind to its corresponding FcR is further modulated by the structure of the present at conserved sites within its Fc region. The ability of antibodies to bind to FcRs helps to direct the immune response for each different type of foreign object they encounter. For example, IgE is responsible for an allergic response consisting of mast cell degranulation, igEs Fab paratope binds to allergic antigen, for example house dust mite particles, while its Fc region binds to Fc receptor ε. The allergen-IgE-FcRε interaction mediates allergic signal transduction to induce conditions such as asthma and this region is known as the hypervariable region. Each of these variants can bind to a different antigen and this enormous diversity of antibody paratopes on the antigen-binding fragments allows the immune system to recognize an equally wide variety of antigens
2.
Archaea
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The Archaea constitute a domain and kingdom of single-celled microorganisms. These microbes are prokaryotes, meaning that they have no cell nucleus or any other membrane-bound organelles in their cells, Archaea were initially classified as bacteria, receiving the name archaebacteria, but this classification is outdated. Archaeal cells have unique properties separating them from the two domains of life, Bacteria and Eukaryota. The Archaea are further divided into multiple recognized phyla, classification is difficult because the majority have not been isolated in the laboratory and have only been detected by analysis of their nucleic acids in samples from their environment. Archaea and bacteria are generally similar in size and shape, although a few archaea have very strange shapes, such as the flat, other aspects of archaeal biochemistry are unique, such as their reliance on ether lipids in their cell membranes, including archaeols. Archaea use more energy sources than eukaryotes, these range from organic compounds, such as sugars, to ammonia, metal ions or even hydrogen gas. Salt-tolerant archaea use sunlight as a source, and other species of archaea fix carbon, however, unlike plants and cyanobacteria. Archaea reproduce asexually by fission, fragmentation, or budding, unlike bacteria and eukaryotes. They are also found in the colon, oral cavity. Archaea are particularly numerous in the oceans, and the archaea in plankton may be one of the most abundant groups of organisms on the planet, Archaea are a major part of Earths life and may play roles in both the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle. No clear examples of archaeal pathogens or parasites are known, one example is the methanogens that inhabit human and ruminant guts, where their vast numbers aid digestion. Methanogens are also used in production and sewage treatment, and enzymes from extremophile archaea that can endure high temperatures. For much of the 20th century, prokaryotes were regarded as a group of organisms and classified based on their biochemistry, morphology. For example, microbiologists tried to classify based on the structures of their cell walls, their shapes. In 1965, Emile Zuckerkandl and Linus Pauling proposed instead using the sequences of the genes in different prokaryotes to work out how they are related to each other and this approach, known as phylogenetics, is the main method used today. Archaea were first classified as a group of prokaryotes in 1977 by Carl Woese. These two groups were named the Archaebacteria and Eubacteria and treated as kingdoms or subkingdoms, which Woese. Woese argued that group of prokaryotes is a fundamentally different sort of life
3.
Solid
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Solid is one of the four fundamental states of matter. It is characterized by structural rigidity and resistance to changes of shape or volume, unlike a liquid, a solid object does not flow to take on the shape of its container, nor does it expand to fill the entire volume available to it like a gas does. The atoms in a solid are tightly bound to other, either in a regular geometric lattice or irregularly. The branch of physics deals with solids is called solid-state physics. Materials science is concerned with the physical and chemical properties of solids. Solid-state chemistry is concerned with the synthesis of novel materials, as well as the science of identification. The atoms, molecules or ions which make up solids may be arranged in a repeating pattern. Materials whose constituents are arranged in a regular pattern are known as crystals, in some cases, the regular ordering can continue unbroken over a large scale, for example diamonds, where each diamond is a single crystal. Almost all common metals, and many ceramics, are polycrystalline, in other materials, there is no long-range order in the position of the atoms. These solids are known as amorphous solids, examples include polystyrene, whether a solid is crystalline or amorphous depends on the material involved, and the conditions in which it was formed. Solids which are formed by slow cooling will tend to be crystalline, likewise, the specific crystal structure adopted by a crystalline solid depends on the material involved and on how it was formed. While many common objects, such as an ice cube or a coin, are chemically identical throughout, for example, a typical rock is an aggregate of several different minerals and mineraloids, with no specific chemical composition. Wood is an organic material consisting primarily of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of organic lignin. In materials science, composites of more than one constituent material can be designed to have desired properties, the forces between the atoms in a solid can take a variety of forms. For example, a crystal of sodium chloride is made up of sodium and chlorine. In diamond or silicon, the atoms share electrons and form covalent bonds, in metals, electrons are shared in metallic bonding. Some solids, particularly most organic compounds, are together with van der Waals forces resulting from the polarization of the electronic charge cloud on each molecule. The dissimilarities between the types of solid result from the differences between their bonding, metals typically are strong, dense, and good conductors of both electricity and heat
4.
Tablet (pharmacy)
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A tablet is a pharmaceutical dosage form. Tablets may be defined as the solid unit dosage form of medicament or medicaments with or without suitable excipients and it comprises a mixture of active substances and excipients, usually in powder form, pressed or compacted from a powder into a solid dose. The compressed tablet is the most popular form in use today. About two-thirds of all prescriptions are dispensed as solid dosage forms, a tablet can be formulated to deliver an accurate dosage to a specific site, it is usually taken orally, but can be administered sublingually, buccally, rectally or intravaginally. The tablet is just one of the forms that an oral drug can take such as syrups, elixirs, suspensions. Medicinal tablets were made in the shape of a disk of whatever color their components determined. Tablets are often stamped with symbols, letters, and numbers, sizes of tablets to be swallowed range from a few millimeters to about a centimeter. Pills are thought to date back to around 1500 BC, earlier medical recipes, such as those from 4000 BC, were for liquid preparations rather than solids. The first references to pills were found on papyruses in ancient Egypt, medicinal ingredients, such as plant powders or spices, were mixed in and formed by hand to make little balls, or pills. In ancient Greece, such medicines were known as katapotia, and the Roman scholar Pliny, Pills have always been difficult to swallow and efforts long have been made to make them go down easier. In medieval times, people coated pills with slippery plant substances, another approach, used as recently as the 19th century, was to gild them in gold and silver, although this often meant that they would pass through the digestive tract with no effect. In the 1800s sugar-coating and gelatin-coating was invented, as were gelatin capsules, in 1843, the British painter and inventor William Brockedon was granted a patent for a machine capable of Shaping Pills, Lozenges and Black Lead by Pressure in Dies. The device was capable of compressing powder into a tablet without use of an adhesive, today, pills include tablets, capsules, and variants thereof like caplets—essentially anything with medication that can be digested, minus the liquid forms, colloquially falls into the pill category. A caplet is a smooth, coated, oval-shaped medicinal tablet in the shape of a capsule. Many caplets have a running down the middle so they may be split in half easier. An orally disintegrating tablet or orodispersible tablet, is a dosage form available for a limited range of over-the-counter. In the tablet-pressing process, it is important that all ingredients be fairly dry, powdered or granular, somewhat uniform in particle size, content uniformity ensures that the same API dose is delivered with each tablet. Some APIs may be tableted as pure substances, but this is rarely the case, normally, a pharmacologically inactive ingredient termed a binder is added to help hold the tablet together and give it strength
5.
Capsule (pharmacy)
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These are made in two halves, a lower-diameter body that is filled and then sealed using a higher-diameter cap. Soft-shelled capsules, primarily used for oils and for active ingredients that are dissolved or suspended in oil, both of these classes of capsules are made from aqueous solutions of gelling agents, such as animal protein or plant polysaccharides or their derivatives. Since their inception, capsules have been viewed by consumers as the most efficient method of taking medication, after the 1982 Tylenol tampering murders, capsules experienced a minor fall in popularity as tablets were seen as more resistant to tampering. In 1834, Mothes and Dublanc were granted a patent for a method to produce a single-piece gelatin capsule that was sealed with a drop of gelatin solution and they used individual iron moulds for their process, filling the capsules individually with a medicine dropper. Later on, methods were developed that used sets of plates with pockets to form the capsules, although some companies still use this method, the equipment is not produced commercially any more. All modern soft-gel encapsulation uses variations of a developed by R. P. Scherer in 1933. His innovation was to use a die to produce the capsules. This method reduced wastage, and was the first process to yield capsules with highly repeatable dosage, the current owner of Schrerer’s technology is Catalent Pharma Solutions, the worlds largest manufacturer of prescription pharmaceutical softgels. Softgels can be a delivery system for oral drugs, especially poorly soluble drugs. This is because the fill can contain ingredients that help increase solubility or permeability of the drug across the membranes in the body. Liquid ingredients are difficult to include in any other solid dosage form such as a tablet, in 1949, the Lederle Laboratories division of the American Cyanamid Company developed the Accogel process, allowing powders to be accurately filled into soft gelatin capsules. James Murdock of London patented the two-piece telescoping gelatin capsule in 1847, the capsules are made in two parts by dipping metal pins in the gelling agent solution. The capsules are supplied as closed units to the pharmaceutical manufacturer, before use, the two halves are separated, the capsule is filled with powder or more normally pellets made by the process of Extrusion & Spheronization and the other half of the capsule is pressed on. With the compressed slug method, weight varies less between capsules, however, the machinery required to manufacture them is more complex. The powder or spheroids inside the capsule contains the active ingredient and any excipients, such as binders, disintegrants, fillers, glidant, gelatin capsules, informally called gel caps or gelcaps, are composed of gelatin manufactured from the collagen of animal skin or bone. Vegetable capsules are composed of hypromellose, a polymer formulated from cellulose, the process of encapsulation of hard gelatin capsules can be done on manual, semi-automatic and automatic machines. Softgels are filled at the time as they are produced and sealed on the rotary die of a fully automatic machine. Capsule endoscopy OROS Pharmacy Automation - The Tablet Counter Pharmaceutical formulation Pill splitting L. Lachman, the Theory and Practice of Industrial Pharmacy
6.
Herbal tea
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Herbal teas — much less commonly called herb teas or tisanes — and fruit teas are beverages made from the infusion or decoction of herbs, spices, fruits, or other plant material in hot water. They do not usually contain caffeine, the tea industry often confusingly uses the term fruit tea to refer to what are in fact fruit-flavored black teas, not fruit teas. Herbal teas and fruit teas should not be confused with true teas, as well as from decaffeinated tea, like beverages made from true teas, herbal teas can be served hot or cold. Documents have been recovered dating back to ancient Egypt and ancient China that discuss the enjoyment, among the Chinese, herbal teas are commonly known as liang cha. In any case, the herbal tea is very well established. The word tisane was rare in its modern sense before the 20th century, the word had already existed in late Middle English in the sense of medicinal drink and had already been borrowed from French. As herbal teas can be composed of any plant material, including plants that are known to be toxic. Most retail herbal teas sold as beverages could be considered safe, while most herbal teas are safe for regular consumption, some herbs have toxic or allergenic effects. The deadly foxglove, for example, can be mistaken for the more benign comfrey. The UK does not require herbal teas to have any evidence concerning their efficacy, mint and peppermint herbal teas have significantly stronger ferrous ion chelating ability than true teas. Depending on the source of the ingredients, herbal teas, like any crop. In addition to the mentioned above which are toxic to all people, several medicinal herbs are considered abortifacients. These include common ingredients like nutmeg, mace, papaya, bitter melon, verbena, saffron, slippery elm and it also includes more obscure herbs, like mugwort, rue, pennyroyal, wild carrot, blue cohosh, tansy, and savin. In Egypt, herbal teas such as hibiscus tea are very popular, the Chinese term liang cha, means cooling tea, and the Chinese drink it to cool down the body when it has become overheated due to weather or sickness. In Sri Lanka, herbal teas have a history within the local tradition of indigenous medicine. Iramusu, beli, ranawara, polpala, weniwel, and kothala-himbutu are among the plant species used to make herbal teas. Herbal teas can be made fresh or dried flowers, leaves, seeds or roots, generally by pouring boiling water over the plant parts. Seeds and roots can also be boiled on a stove, the herbal tea is then strained, sweetened if so desired, and served
7.
Gel
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A gel is a solid jelly-like material that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state, by weight, gels are mostly liquid, yet they behave like solids due to a three-dimensional cross-linked network within the liquid. It is the crosslinking within the fluid that gives a gel its structure, in this way gels are a dispersion of molecules of a liquid within a solid in which the solid is the continuous phase and the liquid is the discontinuous phase. The word gel was coined by 19th-century Scottish chemist Thomas Graham by clipping from gelatine, gels consist of a solid three-dimensional network that spans the volume of a liquid medium and ensnares it through surface tension effects. This internal network structure may result from physical bonds or chemical bonds, virtually any fluid can be used as an extender including water, oil, and air. Both by weight and volume, gels are mostly fluid in composition, edible jelly is a common example of a hydrogel and has approximately the density of water. Polyionic polymers are polymers with a functional group. The ionic charges prevent the formation of tightly coiled polymer chains and this allows them to contribute more to viscosity in their stretched state, because the stretched-out polymer takes up more space. A hydrogel is a network of polymer chains that are hydrophilic, hydrogels are highly absorbent natural or synthetic polymeric networks. Hydrogels also possess a degree of flexibility very similar to tissue, due to their significant water content. The first appearance of the term hydrogel in the literature was in 1894, common uses for hydrogels include, Scaffolds in tissue engineering. When used as scaffolds, hydrogels may contain human cells to repair tissue and they mimic 3D microenvironment of cells. Hydrogel-coated wells have been used for cell culture Environmentally sensitive hydrogels and these hydrogels have the ability to sense changes of pH, temperature, or the concentration of metabolite and release their load as result of such a change. Wound gels are excellent for helping to create or maintain a moist environment, reservoirs in topical drug delivery, particularly ionic drugs, delivered by iontophoresis. Natural hydrogel materials are being investigated for tissue engineering, these materials include agarose, methylcellulose, hyaluronan, an organogel is a non-crystalline, non-glassy thermoreversible solid material composed of a liquid organic phase entrapped in a three-dimensionally cross-linked network. The liquid can be, for example, a solvent, mineral oil. The solubility and particle dimensions of the structurant are important characteristics for the elastic properties, often, these systems are based on self-assembly of the structurant molecules. Organogels have potential for use in a number of applications, such as in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, art conservation, a xerogel /ˈzɪəroʊˌdʒɛl/ is a solid formed from a gel by drying with unhindered shrinkage
8.
Protein
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Proteins are large biomolecules, or macromolecules, consisting of one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, responding to stimuli, a linear chain of amino acid residues is called a polypeptide. A protein contains at least one long polypeptide, short polypeptides, containing less than 20–30 residues, are rarely considered to be proteins and are commonly called peptides, or sometimes oligopeptides. The individual amino acid residues are bonded together by peptide bonds, the sequence of amino acid residues in a protein is defined by the sequence of a gene, which is encoded in the genetic code. In general, the code specifies 20 standard amino acids, however. Sometimes proteins have non-peptide groups attached, which can be called prosthetic groups or cofactors, proteins can also work together to achieve a particular function, and they often associate to form stable protein complexes. Once formed, proteins only exist for a period of time and are then degraded and recycled by the cells machinery through the process of protein turnover. A proteins lifespan is measured in terms of its half-life and covers a wide range and they can exist for minutes or years with an average lifespan of 1–2 days in mammalian cells. Abnormal and or misfolded proteins are degraded more rapidly due to being targeted for destruction or due to being unstable. Like other biological macromolecules such as polysaccharides and nucleic acids, proteins are essential parts of organisms, many proteins are enzymes that catalyse biochemical reactions and are vital to metabolism. Proteins also have structural or mechanical functions, such as actin and myosin in muscle and the proteins in the cytoskeleton, other proteins are important in cell signaling, immune responses, cell adhesion, and the cell cycle. In animals, proteins are needed in the diet to provide the essential amino acids that cannot be synthesized, digestion breaks the proteins down for use in the metabolism. Methods commonly used to study structure and function include immunohistochemistry, site-directed mutagenesis, X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance. Most proteins consist of linear polymers built from series of up to 20 different L-α-amino acids, all proteinogenic amino acids possess common structural features, including an α-carbon to which an amino group, a carboxyl group, and a variable side chain are bonded. Only proline differs from this structure as it contains an unusual ring to the N-end amine group. The amino acids in a chain are linked by peptide bonds. Once linked in the chain, an individual amino acid is called a residue, and the linked series of carbon, nitrogen. The peptide bond has two forms that contribute some double-bond character and inhibit rotation around its axis, so that the alpha carbons are roughly coplanar
9.
Liquid
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A liquid is a nearly incompressible fluid that conforms to the shape of its container but retains a constant volume independent of pressure. As such, it is one of the four states of matter. A liquid is made up of tiny vibrating particles of matter, such as atoms, water is, by far, the most common liquid on Earth. Like a gas, a liquid is able to flow and take the shape of a container, most liquids resist compression, although others can be compressed. Unlike a gas, a liquid does not disperse to fill every space of a container, a distinctive property of the liquid state is surface tension, leading to wetting phenomena. The density of a liquid is usually close to that of a solid, therefore, liquid and solid are both termed condensed matter. On the other hand, as liquids and gases share the ability to flow, although liquid water is abundant on Earth, this state of matter is actually the least common in the known universe, because liquids require a relatively narrow temperature/pressure range to exist. Most known matter in the universe is in form as interstellar clouds or in plasma form within stars. Liquid is one of the four states of matter, with the others being solid, gas. Unlike a solid, the molecules in a liquid have a greater freedom to move. The forces that bind the molecules together in a solid are only temporary in a liquid, a liquid, like a gas, displays the properties of a fluid. A liquid can flow, assume the shape of a container, if liquid is placed in a bag, it can be squeezed into any shape. These properties make a suitable for applications such as hydraulics. Liquid particles are bound firmly but not rigidly and they are able to move around one another freely, resulting in a limited degree of particle mobility. As the temperature increases, the vibrations of the molecules causes distances between the molecules to increase. When a liquid reaches its point, the cohesive forces that bind the molecules closely together break. If the temperature is decreased, the distances between the molecules become smaller, only two elements are liquid at standard conditions for temperature and pressure, mercury and bromine. Four more elements have melting points slightly above room temperature, francium, caesium, gallium and rubidium, metal alloys that are liquid at room temperature include NaK, a sodium-potassium metal alloy, galinstan, a fusible alloy liquid, and some amalgams
10.
Immunization
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Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individuals immune system becomes fortified against an agent. This is a function of the immune system. Therefore, by exposing an animal to an immunogen in a way, its body can learn to protect itself. The most important elements of the system that are improved by immunization are the T cells, B cells. Memory B cells and memory T cells are responsible for a response to a second encounter with a foreign molecule. Passive immunization is direct introduction of elements into the body. Immunization is done through various techniques, most commonly vaccination, vaccines against microorganisms that cause diseases can prepare the bodys immune system, thus helping to fight or prevent an infection. The fact that mutations can cause cells to produce proteins or other molecules that are known to the body forms the theoretical basis for therapeutic cancer vaccines. Other molecules can be used for immunization as well, for example in experimental vaccines against nicotine or the hormone ghrelin in experiments to create an obesity vaccine. Immunizations are often stated as less risky and an easier way to become immune to a particular disease than risking a milder form of the disease itself. They are important for both adults and children in that they can protect us from the many diseases out there, immunization not only protects children against deadly diseases but also helps in developing childrens immune systems. Through the use of immunizations, some infections and diseases have almost completely been eradicated throughout the United States, thanks to dedicated health care professionals and the parents of children who vaccinated on schedule, polio has been eliminated in the U. S. since 1979. Polio is still found in parts of the world so certain people could still be at risk of getting it. This includes those people who have never had the vaccine, those who didnt receive all doses of the vaccine, active immunization/vaccination has been named one of the Ten Great Public Health Achievements in the 20th Century. Before the introduction of vaccines, people could become immune to an infectious disease by contracting the disease. Smallpox was prevented in this way by inoculation, which produced an effect than the natural disease. It was introduced into England from Turkey by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu in 1721, in 1798 Edward Jenner introduced inoculation with cowpox, a much safer procedure. This procedure, referred to as vaccination, gradually replaced smallpox inoculation and this can cause confusion if care is not taken to specify which vaccine is used e. g. measles vaccine or influenza vaccine
11.
Bovine submaxillary mucin coatings
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BSM is a substance extracted from the fresh salivary glands of cows. It exhibits unique physical properties, such as molecular weight and amphiphilicity. Each species possesses mucin-secreting submaxillary glands, currently, eight different mucins have been identified for humans. However, it is the mucin from bovine and porcine sources that have used in several biomaterial applications. The most common use of BSM is in coatings for implanted materials, in such applications, the adsorption characteristics of BSM are integral to the behavior of materials in vivo. Survival and rejection of an implant are highly dependent on surface modifications that dictate the interfacial interaction between a material and the body, epithelial tissue lines surfaces throughout the body. A mucous gel layer composed of protein coats this tissue, the main function of the layer is protection from mechanical stress, dehydration, and bacterial infections. It also plays a role in signaling, cellular interactions. The two main components of the gel are mucins and water, with the forming the backbone of the mucous. Mucin originates from the secretions from submaxillary glands, which are salivary glands that are located under the floor of the mouth. The secreted mucin assists in digestion by coating the bolus such that it travels easily through the digestive tract, mucins are constituents of one class of glycoproteins, sialic acid-containing glycoproteins, or mucoproteins. They have a molecular weight and exist as either membrane-bound or secretory mucins. The membrane-bound type have an area that extends along a membrane. Secretory mucins are the components of the mucous gel layer that coats the epithelium. While mucus is composed of water, its structural and rheological properties are characterized by mucin. Under an atomic force microscope, BSM appears as a composition of dumbbell shaped fibers at heights of approximately 1 nm, BSM can be purchased as a powder, in which case it appears white to light brown. Mucin is a matrix with gel-like properties. When mixed into a solution, higher concentrations of mucin result in lower surface tension values
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