please dps responsibly

"Two researchers in the US and Australia have discovered important mechanisms that prevent B cells from attacking the body’s own tissues in autoimmune diseases like arthritis, lupus, and multiple sclerosis—and in the process have won a prestigious prize.

Normally, the body’s immune system protects us from viruses, bacteria, and foreign substances. However, in autoimmune diseases, the immune system starts attacking tissues in the body instead.

Researchers had long tried to discover the cause of autoimmune diseases. But, Christopher Goodnow and David Nemazee, independently of each other, adopted a new approach.

They asked why we do not all develop these diseases. Their focus was on B cells which, together with white blood cells and T cells, are the building blocks of our complex immune system.

“They have given us a new and detailed understanding of the mechanisms that normally prevent faulty B cells from attacking tissues in the body, explaining why most of us are not affected by autoimmune diseases,” says Olle Kämpe, member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and chair of the Crafoord Prize committee that awarded the pair 6 million Swedish kronor ($600,000).

Neutralize B cells

In recent years, physicians have started to experiment by using existing drugs to neutralize B cells for patients with severe autoimmune diseases, including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis, which has proven to be very effective at improving their quality of life.

Thanks to this year’s Crafoord Prize Laureates, we have gained fundamental new knowledge about what is happening in the immune system during autoimmune disease attacks.

“This also paves the way for development of new forms of therapies that eventually can cure these diseases—or might prevent them in the future,” said one professor of clinical immunology at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences...

More details from the video, since the article glosses over the particulars:

"The laureates discovered what is now called B cell tolerance.

When B cells develop in the bone marrow, not all of them are perfect. To remove the faulty ones, a mechanism starts, in which defective cells are programmed to destroy themself through apoptosis.

The laureates discovered two new mechanisms that are used if some of the bad cells are left. Re-editing, where the immune system alters the combination of receptors, and anergy, that silences B cells with self-reactive receptors.

The laureates were able to demonstrate that these mechanisms sometimes fail. This means that faulty B cells can cause an attack on the body's own tissues – leading to autoimmune diseases.

Thanks to the laureate’s discoveries, doctors like Anders Bengtsson soon felt able to start treating patients with lupus, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and many other autoimmune diseases, with medicines that eradicated B cells.

Anders Bengtsson: "I'm very happy that B cells has gotten so much attention because of the laureates. I have seen my patients getting so much better and getting a better life."

Autoimmune patient: "Today, I feel very good. I really have hope in the research that it will revolutionise things and perhaps even cure it all. That’s what I want, hope for, and believe in.""

-Article via Good News Network, April 6, 2025. Video via The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, January 29, 2025.

once again i love how star wars takes place in a massive galaxy with thousands of planets and billions of people, and yet every bounty hunter knows each other personally

It's called networking babe

when Boba Fett adds you on LinkedIn you know you've made it

one thing about americans is that they know how to make a fucking milkshake

i hate the stupid milk consistency shit you get here like if you give me a milkshake it better be rock fucking solid. i want that thang thick like concrete. it should piss me off trying to drink it through a straw. i should have to wait for it to thaw

Americans are so good at making Beverage. One of our Foundational Moments was actually a party involving Making Beverage. Google "Boston Tea Party" for more

Happy Confederate Surrender Day!

guild wars is an insane setting because it's a normal fantasy world but also the closest elf analogue that exists is humanity. what people would at first glance assume to be ""elves"" are actually just vaguely humanoid plant monsters made to serve an unbelievably ancient god-dragon that's also a living jungle and also all of the plant people are at maximum 25 years old because their entire species are basically collectively babies in terms of how long they've existed in-universe. also the orcs are giant cat people. the gnomes are rats. the dwarves are normal but also they're steadily going extinct and also all living rock people now. nobody even knows what a horse is

humans are technically legally aliens and their gods are real and you can and should kill them. but also no time for dat goku, the cats are developing fascism

one time an absentee cat father jumped into a portal to the nebulous mindfuck dimension that awaits between the bounds of reality and time and space and whatnot and then he came back like half a year later with inexplicable superpowers and nobody knows how or why this happened. nobody even has a firm grasp on what his superpowers even are. he just has them now. and everyone's just kinda moved on from it. but i haven't moved on. i remember.

don't forget that the cat fathers absentness from his sons life kind of directly lead to said sons rise to by the fascist cat dictators right hand and was instrumental in the rise of the cat fascist party - which was also aided by the Ice and mindfuck dragon and their army of incels

*also* don't forget that while the absentee cat father was being absent in the mindfuck dimension, he unleashed a god who got really angry and tried to destroy the world, and when faced with completely different god, his response was "Yeah, uh… Sorry about that".

It’s kind of unfair to call him an absent father, given that the cat society doesn’t have familial relationships. Instead, their main social units are a D&D party sized group of whichever children decided to be friends in the school playground. If your unit dies, even in war which the cat society is entirely built around, your social standing plummets to the worst it can possibly be

Guild Wars 2 Heritage Post

Winter has arrived on Poob.

Start your 7 day free trial of Poob today, and watch smash hit Martin Scorcese's Goncharov.

new ideas; breakthroughs; mental clarity

honestly bedsheets are developing new topologies and geometric forms in the middle of the night and nobody knows why and its really scary

the asexual double edged sword is that a lot of people, particularly queer discoursers(tm) online, are really really rancid about ace people who have sex, I mean like stunningly awful, so naturally sex favorable/indifferent asexuals will be very keen on making sure that they aren't erased within their own community and that people at large know they exist. at the same time, people are also Very Bad about ace people who don't have sex, and sex averse/repulsed asexuals face a lot of pressure both on societal and interpersonal scales to submit to sex that they don't want, and so naturally it'll really rub them the wrong way to constantly have "but don't worry, ace people can still conform to the societal expectation!" appended to their PSAs about their experiences of asexuality. and so everyone's just kinda upset and annoyed all the time when instead it should be peace and love on planet ace.

@creatures-in-posts

This creature is a sopping wet beast

Boy why are you so paws??

Pipe cleaner lookin lil binch

Boy why are you so paws has become a staple of my damn vernacular bc of this post

Quick! The first OC you think of is dropped in the world of the last movie/show you watched. How are they faring?

Just had my moral compass surgically removed!

This is probably my favourite tweet ever hello we are your bank

This is what made Tony Hawk such a big deal, btw