Health

Alexander Fleming was a Scottish physician and bacteriologist who discovered penicillin and lysozyme and shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Allergy is an immune-mediated reaction to a substance that is ordinarily harmless, producing symptoms ranging from localized irritation to life-threatening anaphylaxis.

Anatomy is the scientific study of biological structures, their organization, and their relationships, from microscopic components to whole organisms.

Anemia is a reduction in blood hemoglobin that limits oxygen transport and may result from blood loss, impaired red-cell production, or excessive red-cell destruction.

A cell that displays antigen-derived material to T cells, helping initiate, direct, or regulate adaptive immune responses.

An autoantibody is an antibody that recognizes the body’s own components and may contribute to disease or serve as a marker of autoimmunity.

An autoimmune disease results from immune responses against the body’s own tissues, causing damage or impaired function in one or more organs.

Autoimmunity is immune recognition of the body’s own constituents, which can cause disease when it produces tissue damage or impaired function.

A biomarker is a measurable biological characteristic used to indicate normal processes, disease, or responses to an exposure or intervention.

Bone marrow is soft tissue within bones that produces blood cells and provides specialized environments for stem-cell maintenance and immune-cell development.

The brain is the central organ of the nervous system, integrating sensory information, coordinating bodily functions, and supporting thought, emotion, learning, and memory.

Cancer immunotherapy uses or modifies immune responses to recognize and attack cancer, through approaches including checkpoint inhibitors, cellular therapies, antibodies, and treatment vaccines.

Central immune tolerance limits self-reactivity by eliminating, modifying, or redirecting developing lymphocytes in the thymus and bone marrow.

The central nervous system comprises the brain and spinal cord, integrating sensory information and coordinating movement, cognition, and essential bodily functions.

Clonal anergy is an acquired state of lymphocyte hyporesponsiveness that limits immune responses to recognized antigens while leaving the affected cells alive.

Clonal deletion eliminates antigen-reactive lymphocytes through programmed cell death, helping establish and maintain immune tolerance.

A dendritic cell is an immune cell that presents antigens to T cells, linking pathogen detection with adaptive immunity and contributing to immune tolerance.

Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by persistently elevated blood glucose resulting from impaired insulin production or action.

Diagnosis is the process of identifying a disease, condition, or injury by interpreting clinical information and, when appropriate, diagnostic tests.

Dietary fiber comprises food components resistant to digestion in the small intestine, with effects on bowel function, nutrient absorption, and microbial fermentation.

Disability encompasses impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions arising through interactions between individuals’ health conditions and their environments.

A disease is a disturbance of normal bodily or mental functioning, identified through clinical features, biological changes, or established diagnostic criteria.

Epidemiology studies the distribution and determinants of health-related events in populations and applies this knowledge to preventing and controlling health problems.

An epitope is the specific region of an antigen recognized by an antibody or antigen receptor, defining the molecular specificity of an immune interaction.

Glia are diverse non-neuronal cells that maintain the nervous system, form myelin, regulate neural environments, and participate in immune defense and repair.

Health is a multidimensional condition involving physical and mental functioning, well-being, and the social and environmental circumstances that shape them.

Health promotion enables people and communities to improve health by strengthening their capabilities and changing the social, economic, and environmental conditions that shape well-being.

A health system comprises the people, institutions, resources, and activities organized to promote, maintain, and restore population health.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation restores blood-cell production using a patient’s own or donated blood-forming stem cells.

An immune checkpoint is a regulatory pathway that controls immune responses, helps protect healthy tissues, and can be targeted by cancer immunotherapy.

The immune system is a coordinated network of cells, tissues, organs, and molecules that protects against infection while regulating responses to the body’s own tissues.

Immune tolerance is antigen-specific non-responsiveness that protects the body’s own tissues and limits inappropriate immune reactions.

Immunodeficiency is impaired immune function that increases susceptibility to infections and may accompany disturbances of immune regulation.

Immunoglobulin G is the predominant antibody class in human blood, supporting pathogen defense, immune memory, and maternal antibody transfer.

A disease caused by an infectious agent, whose development depends on the agent, the host’s defenses, and environmental conditions.

Inflammation is a coordinated response to infection or tissue injury that supports defense and repair but can cause damage when excessive or persistent.

Informed consent is a voluntary authorization for medical care or research, based on adequate information, understanding, and decision-making capacity.

Insulin is a pancreatic peptide hormone that regulates blood glucose and nutrient storage, and a medicine used to treat diabetes.

A World Health Organization classification that standardizes the recording and comparison of diseases, related health conditions, and causes of death.

Karolinska Institute is a Swedish medical university founded in 1810, specializing in health sciences and associated with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The lymphatic system returns tissue fluid to the bloodstream, transports absorbed fats, and supports immune responses through a network of vessels and lymphoid organs.

Magnetic resonance imaging uses magnetic fields and radiofrequency signals to produce detailed images of internal anatomy and measure selected physiological processes without ionizing radiation.

Medicine is the science and practice of preventing, diagnosing, treating, and managing illness and injury, while maintaining health and relieving suffering.

Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, shaped by individual circumstances, relationships, and wider social conditions.

A monoclonal antibody is an antibody with a defined molecular identity and binding specificity, used in research, diagnosis, and treatment.

A mortality rate measures the frequency of deaths in a defined population over a specified period, with interpretation depending on the denominator, population structure, and data quality.

Myelin is a multilayered, lipid-rich sheath around nerve-cell axons that accelerates electrical signaling and supports axonal function.

A neuron is a specialized nerve cell that receives, processes, and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals.

Neuroplasticity is the nervous system’s capacity to change its structure, connections, and function through development, experience, learning, and responses to injury.

Neuroscience is the interdisciplinary study of the nervous system, examining its structure, development, function, and relationship to behavior and disease.

A neurotransmitter is a chemical messenger released by a neuron that changes the activity of another cell through specific receptors.

An international award established by Alfred Nobel’s will to recognize discoveries in physiology, medicine, and related biological sciences.

A noncommunicable disease is a condition not ordinarily transmitted between people, often requiring long-term prevention, treatment, or care.

Nutrition is the acquisition and use of nutrients for growth, maintenance, and health, and the scientific study of these processes.

Organ transplantation replaces a failing organ with a donor organ and combines surgery, compatibility testing, immune suppression, and long-term monitoring.

Palliative care addresses suffering and supports quality of life for people with serious illness and their families, alongside or independently of disease-directed treatment.

The pancreas is an abdominal gland that secretes digestive enzymes into the intestine and hormones into the blood to regulate glucose and nutrient metabolism.

Pathology is the study of disease, including its causes, mechanisms, structural changes, and laboratory diagnosis.

Peripheral immune tolerance restrains mature lymphocytes outside primary lymphoid organs, preventing harmful responses to self and harmless environmental antigens.

Pharmacology is the science of drug actions, their movement through living organisms, and their beneficial and harmful effects.