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Celiac disease (CD) is characterized by an inadequate immune response to gluten, a storage protein in wheat and the related grain species barley and rye. This immune reaction, giving intestinal inflammation and malabsorption, will only occur in genetically susceptible individuals carrying specific human leukocyte antigen (HLA) heterodimers, and consists primarily of a gluten specific T-cell response, although a specific antibody response is also present...

Birdshot chorioretinopathy (BSCR) is an organ-specific, presumably autoimmune disorder of the eye affecting most often middle-aged and elderly individuals of European descent. BSCR manifests as a severe, progressive intraocular inflammation of the posterior eye segment, typically leading to extensive retinal atrophy, visual loss and is potentially blinding...

The endothelium is one of the largest organs in the human body with an estimated total area of blood-endothelium interface of 350m². It envelops the flowing blood in a continuous layer of cells and performs a myriad of functions in fluid exchange, blood pressure control, inflammatory responses and coagulation regulation. Under physiological conditions, the endothelial surface is a potent anticoagulant that inhibits platelet adhesion and blood clotting...

The first research into plasma lipid levels dates back to the 18th century. Albrecht von Haller described aorta plaques in 1755 and noted that a yellow mush effused between the muscular fibre and the intima of the vascular wall. Cholesterol was given its name in 1816, and was subsequently shown to be present in blood and in the atherosclerotic plaques...

Despite the many efforts to discover novel ways of treating cancer, it is still a major health problem. Cancer is characterized by the uncontrolled cell growth of cells that have acquired self-sufficiency in growth signalling and/or unlimited replication 2. Such cells are often insensitive to anti-proliferating signals and are able to evade apoptosis. For therapy, solid tumors are generally removed by surgery...

In The Netherlands, approximately one third of women is diagnosed with cancer during their life span of which breast cancer is the most common form. Of all breast cancer patients, one third will eventually die of metastatic disease...

The life expectancy of the general western population has increased dramatically in the last 200 years (1) and is generally expected to continue this rise. Many people reach a high age, but at the same time on average 25% of the lifespan is spent in disability...

Verbal communication is the most direct means of communication. It is verbal communication that makes men unique, and impairment in oral and aural skills directly affects our quality of life. Communication by speech is an important part of our interactions with the people around us; speech facilitates our thinking, allows us to exchange needs and feelings to others and it contributes to our development and learning processes...

Cell reproduction is fundamental to the development and function of all life. When unicellular organisms undertake cell division, the process produces an entire, new organism. Multicellular organisms depend on cell division for growth and regeneration of damaged tissue...

I suggest, gentle or even angry reader, that you keep this issue of the BMJ. It may well become a collector's item. It's perhaps more than 50 years since we published something as important as the cluster of papers from Nick Wald, Malcolm Law, and others.' The editorial of the British Medical Journal in 2003 could not have been any more promising when introducing the cardiovascular polypill...

The flow of genetic information in a biological system is described by the central dogma of molecular biology. This was first formulated by Francis Crick in 1958 and it states that genomic DNA is transcribed into RNA from which proteins are translated...

The central dogma of biology states that heritable information is passed residue-by-residue from DNA to RNA and finally protein. Moreover it states that such information cannot be transferred back to protein or nucleic acid...

The periodontium are the specialized tissues that surround and support the teeth as well as maintain them in the maxillary and mandibular bones. The word 'periodont' comes from the Greek terms peri-, meaning 'around' and -odons, meaning 'tooth', so literally taken, meaning 'around the tooth'...

The human genome consists of about 3x109 basepairs of DNA that encode for an estimated 22.000 distinct genes. This two meters of DNA is fitted into an approximately 6 μm nucleus by packaging and folding the DNA fiber into chromatin...

Integrated Circuits (ICs), which is a breakthrough in semiconductors' development in the mid 20th century, have reshaped our world completely...