From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Titanoboa, /tiËtÉËnÉµËbÉµ.É/ ; meaning  titanic boa , is an extinct genus of snake that lived approximately 60â58 million years ago, during the Paleocene epoch, a 10-million-year period immediately following the dinosaur extinction event.
When writer Flannery O'Connor was diagnosed with lupus in 1950 at age 25, the autoimmune disease was poorly understood, often confused with arthritis. O'Connor braved debilitating pain, immobility, and fatigue with her characteristic humor at times, calling her crutches flying buttresses.
Understanding what lupus is as an autoimmune disease and how it affects the body was the focus of a presentation by Dr. Laura Geraldino, MD at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.Dr. Robert Winchester followed her presentation with an open question and answer session. But in an autoimmune disease like lupus, the immune system attacks the body.SLE is characterized by auto-antibodies, meaning that the antibodies attack the âselfâ. 2  SLE is unpredictable, varying in how it affects every person.