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Re:The biological basis for sex differences in autoimmune di... by boardwaalk on Thursday July 15, 2021 @01:16AM (#27841619)
Re: the article title: Isn't "autoimmunity" alone the good thing? -- it's what your body does to fight things off. "Why autoimmune diseases are more..." seems like better title. Maybe I'm just not aware of the common verbiage in medical circles but it seems a little sloppy for Nature.
Re:The biological basis for sex differences in autoimmune di... by coldtea on Thursday July 15, 2021 @04:01AM (#27842406)
>- it's what your body does to fight things off.

That's immunity.

Auto in auto-immunity is not the "auto" from "automatic" but the ancient Greek "auto-" meaning "self-".

So, auto-immunity is like self-fighting (fighting yourself). You don't want that.

Re:The biological basis for sex differences in autoimmune di... by murderfs on Thursday July 15, 2021 @04:17AM (#27842481)
> Auto in auto-immunity is not the "auto" from "automatic"

(which is also from the Greek auto meaning self)

Re:The biological basis for sex differences in autoimmune di... by czrnb on Thursday July 15, 2021 @04:28AM (#27842535)
I think GP meant it's not shorthand for automatic
Re:The biological basis for sex differences in autoimmune di... by coldtea on Thursday July 15, 2021 @04:32AM (#27842562)
Yep. Automatic, autonomous, all are from auto (self), automatic being "doing by itself", autonomous being "governing itself" (or "self-sufficient"), etc.
Re:The biological basis for sex differences in autoimmune di... by jhgb on Thursday July 15, 2021 @01:30AM (#27841693)
> it's what your body does to fight things off

That's just immunity. Auto-immunity is "what your body does to fight itself off". You generally don't want to be fighting yourself off.

Re:The biological basis for sex differences in autoimmune di... by bArray on Thursday July 15, 2021 @01:23AM (#27841646)
Autoimmune diseases/disorders are abnormal immune systems, either being overactive or underactive [1]. It's not generally a good thing and often leads to bad consequences.

[1] https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/autoimmune-diseases

Re:The biological basis for sex differences in autoimmune di... by adw on Thursday July 15, 2021 @03:50AM (#27842349)
Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, lupus, multiple sclerosis; a whole grab-bag of fun.

These are also difficult diseases to treat – often involving biologics (large molecules administered by injection or IV). T1D is insulin, obviously, but the first big blockbuster medications in the space were Humira and Remicade, monoclonal antibodies, which are powerful immune-system suppressants but more selective (and therefore, relatively speaking, safer long-term) than systemic steroids like prednisone.

Re:The biological basis for sex differences in autoimmune di... by swatkat on Thursday July 15, 2021 @01:22AM (#27841642)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoimmunity

” Autoimmunity is the system of immune responses of an organism against its own healthy cells, tissues and other body normal constituents.”

Re:The biological basis for sex differences in autoimmune di... by lthornberry on Thursday July 15, 2021 @12:40PM (#27846710)
My rule of thumb: if the choices are A) "maybe I'm just not aware of the common verbiage in [technical] circles" that I'm not a part of or B) "a little sloppy for" the multiple layers of experts involved in choosing and approving a title in a flagship science journal, it's very very likely to be A.
Re:The biological basis for sex differences in autoimmune di... by folli on Thursday July 15, 2021 @05:08AM (#27842748)
It's sloppy of Nature to use the correct nomenclature?