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devintrinidad · 7 years ago

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Red Blood Cell, Sighted! Ch. 2

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13022702/2/Red-Blood-Cell-Sighted

4989 was going to be the greatest neutrophil of all time.

Throughout his relatively young life, he had been fascinated with long, sharp objects—as is the wont of most immune cells, but we digress. When they were younger and under the tutelage of older neutrophils and the odd macrophage, he often scampered away from the exercises whenever he could. Sure, he could be the model student if he tried hard enough, but school was boring and going off on his own adventures was far more to his taste. Sometimes, 2626 would accompany him as they pretended to fight bacteria. They would create makeshift weapons or raise general chaos until they were gifted their practice knives...which led to them raising general chaos with actual weapons.

One of those makeshift weapons was a long stick (leaves were optional) with a knife tied onto it.

Throughout the years, the idea of creating his own weapons and improvising with what was in the environment stayed within him. Under regulation, he wasn't supposed to create weapons like that (he might hurt someone, which would result in complaints), but when certain circumstances arose...well, ya gotta do whatcha gotta do, ya know?

So, it was during one of his patrols that he found a single bacterium. It was the run-of-the-mill, standard antigen that would have taken a single swipe of his weapon for it to explode. It was so bland and generic that even a Band Cell, nay, a myelocyte could have destroyed! However, such generic-ness wasn't fitting for 4989's worth ethic—or lack thereof.

The thing was, 4989 was bored.

As in, he was literally melting into the infrastructure of one of the buildings as he watched grass grow. The bacterium would serve as a distraction, yes, but it would be so short lived that he would end up devolving into protons and electrons. Since when was killing germs and bacteria so boring? Yeah, it was nice living with the peace and harmony, but it got to him. After all, he was trained and born just to kill—what life would he lead if he didn't?

At that moment, the gods above smiled upon him and gifted him with a long stick (a pole really, but his inner myelocyte screamed with enthusiasm when faced with unending possibilities).

A smirk stretched out his lips to an unimaginable degree, which only emphasized the hazy look of bloodlust that shadowed his eyes as he charged forward with his weapon.

"DIE, GERM!" He then threw his spear with the strength that he didn't really need for this task and watched as it—

"What the—?"

The bacterium dodged it?

Okay, Plan B.

(In retrospect, this was probably Plan A since he was just reverting to the traditional method, which was boring and efficient—two things that 4989 didn't like).

Knife in hand, he sprinted after the surprisingly agile germ before plunging his knife deep into the contents of the bacterium's stomach. At once, blood splattered his uniform while he could hear the screams of his opponent fade into silence. Job finished, he fished his knife out of the cytosol and bits of leftover guts. Not bad, he mused, but it would have been far more enjoyable to use his spear.

"Excuse me? Er, Mr. Neutrophil?"

Huh? Who was that? Was this person referring to him?

Looking wildly around, 4989 spotted the knife of his shoddy spear was embedded into the deep red uniform of a red blood cell. If he didn't have the signature pallor of the white blood cells, his cheeks would have blushed a fine hue of red to match the erythrocyte's attire. As it were, he jogged over to the red blood cell and pulled his weapon, knife and all, from the uniform. If he wasn't apologizing so profusely, he would have admired how tightly he managed to pin the uniform against the wall with just one throw of his spear.

Geeze, he must have been stronger than he thought.

"Sorry, about that," he laughed awkwardly.

"That's all right," the red blood cell chirped. She reached into the pack that rested against her hip and took out a tissue.

What was she—?

Before he could even finish his train of thought, she immediately caught his attention with an earnest, "Here, please use this so you can clean up!"

4989 glanced disbelievingly at the tissue that she held in her dainty little hand, back to her smiling features, and back to the tissue. She didn't honestly believe that such a tiny little scrap could help "clean him up" as she claimed. But her face was so pure and innocent, that 4989 found himself hesitantly taking the tissue in his right hand. Under her expectant gaze, he wiped his face and found that while the tissue quickly absorbed the cytosol on his face, he managed to get his visage mostly clean.

It was nothing short of miraculous.

"Wow," he exclaimed with all the exuberance and brightness of a young child, "this is awesome! What kind of tissues do you use?" His eyes were shining so bright, he thought that he could blind anyone who looked directly into his eyes. The red blood cell in particular looked like she was blinking dazed tears out of her eyes at his sudden display of gratitude. "If you had more of those bad boys, I wouldn't have to visit a wash station!"

At that, the erythrocyte mirrored his bright disposition.

"Well, you're in luck!" With a slight flourish of her dainty hands, the red haired erythrocyte pulled out an entire sheaf of tissues. "I usually reserve these for a friend, but…" A slight frown tugged her normally cheery complexion downwards, which immediately put a damper on 4989's mood.

Well, we can't have that, can we?

He held up his gloved hands in front of him in a placating gesture. On purpose, he exaggerated his movements as to appear more comedic and to provide levity for the situation. (Don't tell his old mentor or some of the macrophages back at the bone marrow, but he totally used this technique to manipulate them into going easy on him...it also helped that he was one of the youngest neutrophils of the batch at that time). As per usual, his little stunt earned him a small, shy smile that had him melting as if he were playing with a platelet.

Well, not like a platelet, that was weird, but her overall sociable demeanor and pink cheeks and bright wide eyes and—What was he doing again?

"I, uh...You don't have to give me all those tissues, cause ya know...there are several wash stations reserved for neutrophils like me and—" In the name of the mother hematopoietic cells, was he really rambling about tissues? That was definitely not scripted! "—I mean—"

She shook her head in a way that said that she didn't mind being so hospitable.

"No," she smiled softly, "I really respect you neutrophils and what you do for the body. Therefore, I insist that you take these tissues."

The sheer determination to not completely melt could have rivalled any known neutrophil's rage. In the end, 4989 settled for inwardly cooing and taking her tissues from her hand.

"Thanks, Miss Red Blood Cell!"

Now, there was one thing that most cells didn't know about U-4989; he acted completely on instinct and was impulsive. (That actually described neutrophils in general, but 4989 was the poster child for this sect of the famed immune system). Once he had latched onto an idea, it was hard for him to let go—like a cestode gripping the walls of the small intestine. It would take nothing short of the end of the world for him to change his mind.

With a bright smile juxtaposing his early look of bloodlust, he took her by the hand, much to her protests and led her away.

"You seriously didn't need to do this," the red blood cell murmured shyly as she sipped a little from her cup of barley tea. "It was just a bunch of tissues that I saved up in my pack."

4989 shrugged.

"Hey, don't worry about it! I've never been given such lovely gifts before and well…" He scratched the back of his head abashedly. "I wanted to repay you before we parted ways. The body is such a large place."

"Ah, you didn't have to do that! I always—"

4989 smoothly interjected before she went on any further, "You said that you usually reserved these for a friend." From the way that the red blood cell didn't shy away from him and willingly offered her services, he assumed that this friend of hers was probably a neutrophil. If that was the case, then he had a hunch that he knew which neutrophil it was. "Does the number 1146 ring a bell?"

She nodded eagerly.

"Yeah! You're friends with him, right?"

"Yup." He leaned back in his seat as he regarded the red blood cell with a new sense of respect. Strange, he didn't think that the red blood cell 1146 befriended would be so...unlike the stoic white blood cell. "It's good to know that he has friends that look out for him while. It's rare that we get to see each other outside of the battlefield."

"Don't you guys get breaks every once in a while?"

"Of course! If we didn't, we'd probably become all bored and crazy. I mean, I'm already at my wit's end waiting for something to happen. It's only a matter of time before things get out of control."

The red blood cell nodded sagely in accordance with his words of wisdom.

"I see." She brought the cup of tea back to her lips before pausing. "Speaking of getting things out of control, why did you tie your knife to a pole, by the way? You nearly hemolyzed me."

This time 4989 did in fact turn red.

"Well, sometimes...knives just aren't enough? I promise that my aim is much better than that." 4989 grimaced as a thought came to him. "I'm glad that 2001 wasn't here to say that. He would have phagocytized me in a nanosecond if he found out that I was going against regulation again."

The erythrocyte laughed.

"I can actually relate. My mentor told me that I should start acting like a full fledged erythrocyte instead of depending on her all the time or others for directions." She shrugged her shoulders in mock sadness and self-deprecation. "Well, it's a lot better than getting phagocytized, I suppose."

"You get lost?" That was interesting to know. It would have made sense if she were a normal cell because they were usually confined to their apartments due to the cloning business, but in her case, it was an altogether different story. "But you're a red blood cell! You're supposed to know where to go—you guys get everywhere!" At her furiously flushing face—so adorable!—he quickly amended with, "You're different than the others, huh?"

"I'm fairly new; I just enucleated recently and left the bone marrow. I'm allowed to get lost once in a while. What about you?" She asked in an offhand manner. "You're a lot different than the other white blood cells that I have ever met."

"I should hope so." He countered easily. All those days as the runt of the litter in his circle of friends actually did him some good in the comebacks department. "Imagine if all of us happened to be geniuses like me? We'd be throwing spears all over the place!"

The red blood cell looked worried for a moment before gracing him with another bright smile.

"No, you're special all on your own."

For a moment, 4989 felt something deep in his chest, something that told him that he should make her smile again—Wait! No! Make her laugh and smile just for him. Before he could crack a joke or act like his usual childlike self, the red blood cell threw her recyclable cup into a bin and waved a cheerful goodbye.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Neutrophil! Goodbye!"

As he stumbled over farewells, he watched as her form mingled back into the indistinguishable masses of red blood cells.

4989 hummed a little as he strode through the blood vessels, always on the lookout for any threats. As he did so, he let his mind wander about events of his past few patrols. One subject in particular caught and held his attention like one of those caps the normal cells would wear if they were under viral invasion: the red blood cell. It wasn't that she was a particularly outstanding blood cell (well, apart from her fitting red hair), but it was her kindness. Although 4989 liked to believe that cells lived in peace and harmony throughout the body, there was a widespread uneasiness that seemed to emanate profusely from the non-immune community.

Red blood cells would often work together and laugh about their jobs as they ran across the body. Normal cells would play cards with their roommates and several of their neighbors to pass the time. What did the white blood cell community have as a whole? The general image the body had of the immune system was that they were all well trained, disciplined fear mongers who lived for the feel of bacterial flesh within their jaws. While true, that's not what made the immune cells what they were! They were born to protect, to serve the other cells so that the body could survive.

But who would listen to a white blood cell who liked using whatever objects at his disposal to rid bacteria? Certainly not the red blood cells who were passing by him hurriedly.

Really, the cells that usually got along with the white blood cells with little to no prejudice were the dendritic cells and the platelets. Out of the other cell types within the body that was kind of sad and heartbreaking to know that the majority would rather do away with the immune system—bacterial or viral invasion notwithstanding. And yet…

And yet that one red blood cell didn't begrudge him any kindness! She willingly gave him tissues and didn't scold him for nearly spearing her into hemolysis. Wasn't she scared? (He hoped not. He rather liked her compassionate nature). If so, she hid it well and 4989 would be damned if he didn't find her intriguing.

In a world where the general populace would have immediately screamed at him nearly spearing a red blood cell, she was the only to have lent a hand.

Selfishly, a part of him hopes that he would see her again someday.

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newsnigeria · 7 years ago

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Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/breaking-news/teenage-drugabuse-nigeria/

Tackling the rising menace of teenage drug abuse in Nigeria.

Written by Ogundeji Michael O @sauccy360

In the times past, drug or substance abuse was a distant issue. We heard about it in the media or watch scenes in movies. And if there drug takers in our society then, the were closeted – they were the deviants of the society. They were not proud of it and therefore, hid their shameful indulgence form public eye.

Drug abuse, has been described as “a patterned use of drugs in which the user consumes in amounts or with methods which are harmful to themselves or others”. Medical professionals are of the view that any type of drug can be abused. From the commonest of painkillers to prescription drugs.

That said, it is drug abuse in Minors that should be everybody worries. Minors usually youngsters below the age of 18. That is why the increasing prevalence of drugs among youngsters under that age category is a recipe for disaster. Minor drug abuse is therefore, the use of medicine excessively by a set of peer under the the full age of legal responsibility.

Furthermore, this means a group of teenagers ranging from 12-18 years of age taking unprescribed medicine for negative purposes of getting ” high”.

The issue is wide already spread and yet underrated in the country even as it is pervasive in our states, communities,and is accepted as a norm in streets. The rate at which this obscene activity is growing is alarming.

There is need for a sober reflection on this growing menace and a new national action plan combating drug use and abuse especially with a focus on children. We have to do it before it gets worse than what it is currently. Even now, it is bad enough for the future because we are facing an uncertain posterity if we don’t act now to mitigate this malaise.

Sometime ago, i witnessed an Inter-House sport competition held in a secondary school in Lagos. My finding with regards to doping by the youngsters during games left me jaw negatively dropping. This was the height of the unimaginable as i least expected children of their age range to be found wanting in this criminal activity. More so, as they were already using to get unfair advantage and cheating their way to sporting glory at a tender age.

After the game i went to congratulate the overall winner a male and then I asked him a few questions. Immediately he started to talk, i noticed his tongue was bluish. It was apparent. I turned to his teammate, the one i noticed was so closed to him, and asked why their captain had a blue tongue. A being who he is, the youngster boasted about the Captain’s dope. He told me it is baba blue. So i asked if the Captain had cough or cattarh. But the boy laughed, maybe at my naive question and he told me “you won’t understand”.

This discovery happens to be the scariest thing that I have ever seen from this peer. It made me restless and I have been trying to find out more of these. I noticed in my findings that it is not only the kids in this particular school that perpetuate themselves in the taking of illicit drugs. It is something that is widespread and systematic and it is gradually becoming rampant. Kids from your neighborhood may also be guilty of this as I write. Maybe your siblings too or even your children. This thing is the master of all cover-ups and that could be the reason why you have not noticed.

These kids, they have code names for the drugs. An unsuspecting mind may not fathom what the sinister meaning of the words may be in their conversations unless a person is really careful. Some of the code words in words such as Coda for Codeine, Trams for Tramadol, Rochi for Rephenol, while some have even get high on methylated spirits. Yes, it is that bad now.

It baffles me how children of now adays have grown to become “Alpacinos” under their parent’s watch. If you have to imagine it, what the future of these teenagers hold is scary if this unwholesome practices continue in the kindbof flourish that it is now. If a child at such a tender age could not believe in his or her physical ability to do sporting activities, what does the tomorrow hold?

As medical sciences has proven, the effect of these drugs in latter days does more damage to them physically and mentally and could, as a result, lead to memory loss, short sightedness, migraine, increase in heart beat, stroke hypertension, seizures and untimely death.

Children are often motivated by some negative portrayals they see in entertainment content mostly from western cutures, what they see and hear in the media. Some of these negative behaviors are also reinforced in local entertainment content. And in this regard, one can call out Olamide’s song, Science Student, as glorifying this type of behavior. Children often tend to behave or act according to what a particular celebrity whom they see as models do and by that, they end up being motivated negatively.

Lil Wayne, the famous American rapper, for instance sang and explained how codeine makes him feel in his song Me and My Drank. He said

Sippin’ on some drink The color purple like Celie Really They say I should chill Before it kills me But so will A car crash or a nine milli (That’s true) And I ain’t even mention cigarettes or airplanes So grab a Sprite Heres a pint We can share, Wayne Yeah Mayne Tastes so sweeto just pour it in my drink And I’mma sip until I lean hard Drink got me moving slower than a retard”.

As explained in this song, some contents are self expalnatory. The color of codeine is pruple and it is a thick syrup that some drink raw or better still mix them with other beverages. They furher expressed how harmful this syrup is to their health, how it can kill them but the addiction is on a high side and this makes it harder for them to stop.

Lil Wayne has suffered uncountable number of seizure in the past few years and has nearly lost his life from those seizures on several occasions.

It is the duty of parents to notice if there is a slight change in a child behavoural or attitunal mannerism of their children. Be it physical or emotional. If a child who does not sleep ordinarily after coming back from school around 2pm suddenly starts to sleep whenever he come home and doesn’t until, say, 10pm, the parents of such a child should show concern and probe him deep.

If a child does chores that literally takes 2hours in less than 30 minutes, don’t feel yes, my boy is strong. Probe it! Parents have a lead role to play as it is their duty to check what a child does, drinks, eats, wears and even how he or she talks. But instead, it seem that some parents would wave it without questions with typical dismissal “na small pikin dey worry am, he go change”. Most parents don’t even have time for a heart-to- talk with their children. They think it is enough care to buy them clothes, cater for their feedings, and send them to school. But these, important as they are, doesnt justify good parentage.

Issues like drug, alcohol and sex are worth discussing with teenagers. It is absurd how some parent cant build confidence in discussing sexual issues with their teenagers. This shouldn’t be a big deal. You can’t discuss how a child was brought into existence and you feel a Biology teacher would do that better than you, the parents?

The rate at which this obscene calamity is growing in our society is alarming. There is need for this to be curbed fast before it gets messier than it already is.

The bulk of today’s societal faults are mostly traced back to the mass media. This is so because the medium made it paramount for us to uphold issue that needs awareness and this uncultured habit need to be stopped by using all tools in the mass media. The media needs to do more of gatekeeping as to what not just children but its entire audience watch or listen.

Also there is need for government to sensitize children in schools and work with the mass media to create publicity messages to let them know the negative effects of irresponsible behavior as danger to them and that it can ruin there lives. They all should therefore, say a resounding no, to go drugs.

#Health

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