Critical Thinking Exercises

Please answer all questions


1		Why is the process of complement fixation not useful against the very simply structured viruses?



2		Suppose you had just invented a great new drug to combat allergies. Your drug works wonderfully to block all types of histamine receptors. Allergy sufferers everywhere hail you as a great scientist. Unfortunately, it is soon discovered that the people who take your drug frequently become ill and sometimes die of serious infectious diseases. Why?



3		Normally, successful organ transplantation requires immunosuppression (as with one of the cyclosporine drugs). However, corneal transplants require no such treatment. Why?



4		Prostate-specific antigen (i.e. PSA) increases in the blood as a man develops prostate cancer. What use can be made of this observation?



5		According to an announcement by the National Institutes for Health in 1997, the leading cause of asthma in urban areas is cockroaches. Insect skin, which must be shed as insects grow, contains proteins and polysaccharides. Can you explain why cockroaches so frequently cause asthma?

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