Biology in Human Welfare

Health is defined as a state when an individual is free from illness and injury.

The Biology in Human Welfare comprises of the following three topics:

• Human Health and Diseases

• Strategies for Enhancement of Food

• Microbes in Human Welfare
   

​Human Health and Diseases

Health is affected by different factors such as:

• Genetic disorders

• Infection caused by any bacteria, viruses, fungi etc

• Life style of an individual such as food habits, sleeping habits, exercise etc

There are various diseases that affect the Humans. The disease causing organism is known as Pathogen, Pathogen can be a Bacterium, Virus, Fungi, Nematode etc. Some of the diseases with their causative agent and symptoms are given below-

What is Immunity?

Immunity is defined as the ability of a body to resist the infection.
 

What are different types of Immunities?

There are two types of Immunities - Innate Immunity and Adaptive Immunity.

Innate Immunity refers to the Non-Specific defense mechanism that works immediately when a person is encountered by an Antigen. For Example: Skin, Hydrochloric Acid in Stomach, White Blood Cells etc. 

Fig.2. Different types of Immunity.

Adaptive Immunity refers to the specific defense mechanism. It involves two types of cells:

• B Cells which are formed in Bone Marrow.

• T Cells are formed in Bone Marrow but matures in Thymus.

Note: For detailed study, kindly refer to the topic Human Health and Diseases.
 

Strategies for Enhancement of Food

Biology also worked out in the enhancement of food production. Different mechanisms are employed to enhance the quality, quantity, texture, shelf life of different foods such as fruits, vegetables, milk and milk products etc.

Breeding is the most common methodology used for the enhancement of food production.

Different methods of breeding are given below:

Animal Husbandry is also another strategy that worked a lot for Human Welfare. It is a science of managing and caring of farm animals by human beings. It is a practice to raise livestock for promoting desirable traits in animals for Human Welfare. It includes the management of:

1.Poultry Farm Management (domesticated fowl for food such as meat and eggs)

2. Dairy Farm Management (management of the animals for milk, milk products)

3. Bee Keeping (maintenance of honey bees for the production of honey)

4. Aquaculture/Pisciculture (management of fishes)

Not only biology has helped in enhancement of animals but also plants are being welfared.

Plant breeding is the manipulation of plant species in order to obtain desirable plant traits such as more yield, pest resistance, insect resistance etc. This helps to produce disease resistant, insect/pest resistant varieties of different crops. This also enhances the yield of crops which is very much necessary for a country like India where there is a high demand of food.

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Microbes in Human Welfare

Microbes are harmful as well as useful for human beings. Microbes brings lot of welfare for human beings:

• Microbes in vaccination and antibiotics/microbes in industrial products

• Microbes in household products such as Lactobacillus in curd. This bacterium is essential for curd formation from milk. Cheese is also produced by fermented bacteria known as Propionibacterium Sharmanii.

• Microbes also help in sewage treatment.

• Microbes are also used as biocontrol agents such as Bacillus thuringiensis against insects/pests.

• Some microbes are also used as bio-fertilizers. Rhizobium is a bacteria found in leguminous plants that helps in nitrogen fixation.

• There are certain microbes that colonize the human body such as Streptococcus, Staphylococcus etc. in stomach.

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