#like how hemoglobin makes human blood red

[iliterallydecepticanteven]

Please do go on and on about this, it brings me so much joy to discover new ways in which Mac is fucked up. Ontolaryngologists are tearing their hair out because something happened to her throat that lets her produce Vosian clicks and various other sounds. She's still kinda radioactive. Their best guess is that she generates a mini-EMP field when accessing Cybertronian information because she keeps knocking out equipment and machines. There's a fairly high chance that her spit is toxic. Hospitals hold staff-wide hazardous waste disposal training strictly because of her.

So I was thinking about this and there's two more Fucked Up things going on:

First, that EMP field that Mac is making could be connected to her brain trauma. The human brain (when not full of Cybertronian knowledge) produces a little bit of electricity. It could be possible that the areas of the brain that are showing up as damaged aren't technically damaged but changed. Neurons and dendrites and axons got rearranged in that area to produce more electricity, hence the detectable EMP field and fried EEG machine.

Second, the issue of Mac's toxic blood. Blue blood has been seen in certain animals, like horseshoe crabs and spiders. Their blood is blue because instead of having iron, they have copper, which makes the blood blue instead of red. Unfortunately, copper is not something you want to ingest large amounts of nor do you want going into the soil or water system.

And the otolaryngologists would absolutely drag the speech pathologists into the room to be like "hey come listen to this" without giving them context before.

[ckret2]

So your Euclidean blood is silver (I'm personally of the opinion we don't know what Bill's blood actually looks like, only how it appears in the gravity falls earth reality)

Has Bill ever seen quicksilver? Mercury? Is his blood MADE of or contain a lot of mercury? Im wondering if he was suprised to see it on earth

I go by the assumption that how it appears on Gravity Falls's Earth is how it appears in general. I personally headcanon that the electric/TV static effect it has going on is particular to Bill and his powers; other members of his species would have more plain-looking silver blood.

Yeah, he's seen mercury; I assume it wasn't surprising to him, it's a whole-ass periodic element. Chemistry probably isn't the same in EVERY dimension, but it's probably pretty similar in a lot of dimensions—otherwise Ford wouldn't have been able to explore so many dimensions without, like, his molecules falling apart. Earth wasn't the first time Bill saw mercury (or silvery liquids in general).

Human blood is red because hemoglobin is red; hemoglobin is red because of its high iron content, because that helps carry oxygen. To determine why Euclideans' blood is silver, we'd need to determine what, on a molecular level, is being moved around by their blood that would result in a chemical composition that causes their blood to look silver. That would involve making a lot of decisions about how their bodies work (like, they probably aren't moving oxygen, due to an absence of the most common oxygen-moving element) and possibly even getting into inventing how chemistry in Euclydia works.

And that seems like a lot of speculative biology effort for no payoff, so I'm not interested in worldbuilding all that. His blood's silver because TBOB says so, that's as deep as I'm getting.

[justkidneying]

Why the Spleen Sucks

The spleen is a really shittily placed organ, making it prone to injury. This injury is usually severe and can lead to death if not properly managed. We're going to look at the function of the spleen, what happens when it is damaged, and how to write about.

Where is the spleen? It's in the upper left quadrant of the abdominal cavity, nestled right against the ribs (typically 9-11) at the midaxillary line. It's behind the stomach and is considered intraperitoneal. The main thing is that the spleen is very vulnerable. It is literally right up against the ribs without much protecting it. It's shaped like a little bean and is purple in humans. It is fed by the splenic artery, which comes off of the celiac trunk (which sticks off of the abdominal aorta).

What does the spleen do? Its main job is to filter out old and malformed red blood cells. It also holds immune cells. Certain diseases can cause the spleen to enlarge, including cirrhosis of the liver (it's connected to the hepatic portal system), sickle cell anemia (RBCs are stuck in it), and autoimmune disorders. The spleen also holds about 250 mL of RBCs in reserve in case you need them.

What happens when it is injured? The spleen can be ruptured and lacerated kinda easily. Blunt trauma to the ribs can cause it to rupture, and this is seen in contact sports and car accidents mostly. Because of those giant gaps between the ribs, it's also prone to injury from knife attacks. Gunshot wounds are another common cause, as well as broken ribs penetrating it (broken ribs are very sharp, like way sharper than you imagine). Rupture is more likely when someone has splenomegaly.

When the spleen is damaged, you're going to get a lot of intraperitoneal hemorrhaging. The spleen filters a lot of blood and has blood in it, so there's going to be a lot of blood in the abdomen (obviously). This will lead to distention, guarding (abs are tense), and hypovolemia. The left upper quadrant will be painful, and there can also be referred pain to the left shoulder (Kehr's sign).

If the patient has a small laceration, the symptoms aren't always as dramatic. Sometimes they'll just have low hemoglobin (which is on RBCs), maybe some thrombocytopenia (lots of platelets in the blood).

How do you fix this? If the injury is small and the patient is hemodynamically stable, they can usually be given a blood transfusion and the spleen can heal itself. Sometimes surgery is also performed to clamp a vessel or repair the outer layer of the spleen.

If the injury is major, then surgery will be performed. If the patient is less critical, they may go in and try to fix the problem. If it can't be fixed, they may do a splenectomy (remove the spleen). In a critical patient, they might forgo the nice pretty incision on the left side, and instead just split the patient down the middle. In these situations (in my experience), there isn't a lot of time to waste. One thing that we aren't going to waste time on is anesthesia, for example. This is with a lot of very critical surgeries, at least from what I have seen. Like the surgeon will start cutting as they are working on knocking out the patient, but usually they are in so much pain that they don't even register it.

If you remove the spleen, the patient is more at risk for infections, but with modern medicine and vaccinations, it's not as much of a big deal as it used to be. The patient will probably be fine.

Writing tips: (new section idea, hope you guys like it, lol) As with any injury, you have to make sure that you are giving them an acceptable mechanism of injury. With the spleen, this is either blunt trauma or penetration/laceration. Getting tackled, getting stabbed, getting shot, all great MOIs.

Second thing, present the appropriate signs and symptoms. A sign would be like bruising, hypotension, tachycardia, etc. A symptom would be LUQ pain, Kehr's sign, etc.

Next, figure out what you're going to do and where you're going to do it. In the field, there probably isn't much you can do. The most would probably be a laparotomy and clamping the splenic artery, but I mean, when I was an EMT, we were not doing this. There's a lot of stuff you can theoretically do, but never gets done. But I mean you can write it. If the patient makes it to the hospital, I think it would be more fun to do emergency surgery and just split them right down the middle. There's going to be a lot of blood in the greater omentum, very high stakes and exciting.

Anyways, hope you guys liked this, please let me know if I got anything wrong. I wrote this off of my personal experience and a few good textbooks, but there can always been mistakes in things.

[sunsetsands]

Completed the reference photo for how an akada's internal organs are laid out. Each organ system and their most noteworthy traits will be indicated and explained under the keep reading barrier.

Gray: The nervous system. Rather than being located in the head, an akada's brain is stored in the center of its body, protected on all sides by its shell. This is accompanied by a long central nervous cord that extends up into the eyestalks. All the other nerves in an akada's body branch off of this cord, including the ones situated behind its brain, which loop back around somewhere in the middle. In addition to its different structure, the brain of an akada also functions slightly differently from a human's. Their lives involve a lot less quick, on-the-move decision making than ours do, instead prioritizing a lot more meticulous long-term planning. This means that akada, generally, think about as slowly as they move. An akada's thought output is more about quality over quantity.

Beige: The shell. You probably know what this does. While tucked in, the shell tilts down and the front organs get folded up to make room for the squished-down head. Although akada can pull their heads into their shells, this doesn't do a lot to protect their arms, tail, or skirt. This ability is more or less vestigial, only being used while startled or sleeping.

Light Blue: The respiratory system. This is comprised of one lung that is also technically ten lungs, each one being surrounded by a mesh of muscle tissue that squeezes and unsqueezes them to pump air. This air enters the body through a series of small slits along the top of their faces. Not a lot to say here. Pretty standard set of breathey parts.

Dark Blue: The circulatory system, though every part of it except the heart has been excluded here for simplicity. As you can probably deduce from the color choice, akada have blue blood, using hemocyanin where we use hemoglobin. Again, not much of note.

Red: The digestive system. Akada chew using two distinct sets of teeth: One three-part beak in the front used for crushing, and one two-part radula in the back used for grinding. Though these parts look and act completely differently, they are adapted from the same parts, that being many rows of identical, keratinous spikes that an ancient ancestor species had in their mouths. Also noteworthy here is the camera shutter-esque organ inside of their throat. These are their vocal chords, which use air pumped out of the stomach to produce speech, assisted on the way out by the radula and lips. The organ is fully retracted while eating to make way for food.

Pink: The reproductive system. Typically, akada have two penises and two vaginas, one of each located in pouches in their cheeks. These are also accompanied by twin uteri, attached in the middle by a series of glands I haven't put much thought into the function of. These uteri store fertilized eggs, which are incubated until they are ready to be vomjaculated into the nearest body of water to hatch. It should be noted that, since an akada's reproductive organs are situated behind their teeth, it is very possible, and in fact quite common, for one to accidentally bite their own penis off. Don't worry, it usually grows back.

Green: A slime production gland. Like Earth's gastropods, akada produce slime to make it easier to slide along the ground. This is technically also their urinary system. Out of context, the idea of a species that talks by burping and moves by peeing sounds a bit childish, but you probably wouldn't have realized that had I not pointed it out.

Teal: A spongy water storage/filtration organ with no direct terran equivalent. Aside from the main organ pictured in the drawing, there also exists a layer of similar spongy tissue spread all throughout an akada's skin, acting both as an emergency moisture reserve and a hydrostatic skeleton.

[14dyh]

Science and Insanity | H.Z.

a/n: watching Re-Animator and all i could think about is Hange as a mad scientist

Mad Scientist Hange as your lover...

who loves it when you listen to their experiments and express fascination with their new findings

who creates or shows you weird stuff they think you'll find interesting

who has a very optimistic yet calculating attitude (charming, right?)

who makes science jokes that you find funny (but doesn't sound funny to other people, I'm afraid)

who loves having silly conversations with you because they know you won't find them annoying

"If you're gonna ask me if I would still love you as a worm, I'll s–" "Hange, I won't ask you that, you dork." "Well, I see that. But you know worms are really fascinating creatures with great abilities. I can make you a superworm!" "If I become superworm, are you willing to sacrifice your corporeal body to be a superworm with me and rule the world with our superworm powers?" "YES!"

who loves having you around the workplace because you support their madness and don't insult their curiosity

who loves it when you rationalize situations where the experiment could be hazardous and has the potential to harm them

who appreciates the way you remind them to sleep, eat, and take baths (they secretly love the power of your persuasion because they notice they listen and obey you)

“what if I make a chemical that would allow me weeks of no sleep, untiringly? You won't have to tell me to get my ass to bed every night, haha!” “then you won't have an excuse to sleep with me,” you responded with a smug smile. “hmm, on another note, my idea is reeeeally terrible let's go to sleep darling forget what I said.” “you dork,” you chuckled as they playfully snuggled closer to you.

who entrusts their experiments and findings to you because your viewpoint matters a lot to them

who would hug you excitedly in the morning and tell you about everything that happened in the lab because they knew you wouldn't be shaken no matter how horrific the story would sound

who loves you and kisses you with heart eyes every time you tell them that you found a new specimen they could experiment on

who appreciates it when you show everyone that you love every inch of their twisted mind

who gets a little embarrassed when your Friday date nights turn to “let's clean up your bloody clothes and dispose of this body right away so we can finally sleep together” night

who won't admit how good you look covered in blood that wasn't yours

who would say “I love the texture of your brain!” to compliment your cleverness

who gave you a human heart carved with a short love note on it as a gift (or on any occasion, they love giving gifts even if there's nothing special about the day)

who gave you a perfume made of blood on valentine's day (dw they removed the hemoglobin so it's not red, it looks like an innocent perfume)

who tells you fascinating facts about your body (“do you know that your body doesn't react to medicine as fast as the average?” “hmm do you know that your blood is darker than most people?”)

who will further tell you what possibilities can be made possible with how your biological body is structured

who promised they would never try dangerous experiments with you ("we could try a loooot of better, more fun experiments, though" *winks*)

whose idea of pillow talk is to discuss "what if" or "how would it be like if" questions with you

who always smiles and pepper you with kisses when you manage to give them even crazier ideas they won't conceive by themself (that's so weird darling I love you so much *smooch*)

who always plays crazy science-themed car games with you because they know you enjoy it too

who never fails to let you know how grateful they are to share this fascinating, insane world with you

who doesn't regret the life of madness they led because you always stand with their choices and desires

who will ask you to marry them so they can continue a life of creativity and insanity with you forever

***

Congratulations, reader, you're officially a walking “i stand with my cancelled wife” text post

[bri-does-art]

Do humans taste good to the mers? I know they are probably not very picky, but I don't imagine people taste very good.

Oh man. Okay. So. I'm only just stumbling out of a google deep dive so bear with me, this is probably going to be a little all over the place. This may look disorganised on the surface but I swear I'm working towards a point.

So, most Subnautica creatures bleed yellow blood, don't they? Initially they bled red, but the devs changed it during development to avoid getting too severe ratings from the ESRB and having the game removed from shelves or outright banned in certain countries.

But, ignoring the Doylist perspective and looking at it from the Watsonian perspective, this would mean that the creatures of Subnautica do not have iron-based blood as we do, and use a different metallic compound in their blood to transport oxygen... if they breathe oxygen at all. But, uh, let's just assume they do. The most likely candidate would maybe be cobalt-based blood.

For the protagonist's sake, let's hope it's not. Eating the local fish would have poisoned them from the very first bite. |'D Now, I'm no biochemist or biologist. I couldn't tell you what other compound would make yellow blood. That's not my point here anyway. The point is, they would have different biochemistry. Which would most likely affect how they taste.

And how human, with their alien, iron-based hemoglobin, would taste to them. And, I don't imagine it would taste very good, if they're not used to having such iron-rich food. (If they even can digest such iron-rich food.) It would probably taste surprisingly bitter, a rusted, coppery taste they wouldn't be used to. Maybe they could get used to it, like an acquired taste, or they just wouldn't care, food is food and beggars don't get to be choosers when you don't know when your next meal might come.

But I imagine if given the option between eating a human and eating one of the less tasty morsels of S/2202 B2's oceans, most would probably choose the crappy morsel over the human. So, the answer would be: no, humans don't taste all that good to most mers. But hey, everyone has different tastes...

[themarchrabbit]

It's my favorite subject in the entire world, plants.

Spoiler alert: They're all vicious. The Venus Flytrap is just honest about it.

TL;DR It's time for Teatime With March! Today's episode is titled "Plants (Mostly) Would Prefer You Dead" As a reminder, all links are to academic journals, university resources, archives, etc.

This post gets a trigger warning. Not only will I be discussing animal slaughter with some detail and how it becomes the fertilizer you buy at Home Depot, I will be including links that explain the specifics more thoroughly, and they will have diagrams.

Okay, first off, what do plants needs to survive? You, a human, you need air, water, and food. Specifically, you need the vitamins, nutrients, etc. that your food contains.

Plants need vitamins and nutrients too. And a lot of them are conveniently all wrapped up in our bodies. A corpse in the forest is like getting delivery for the flora. Incidentally, also why it's so difficult to find people who go missing in national forests and other similar places. See, a corpse will not only be torn apart by scavengers and insects, those pieces will be very quickly broken down by the plant life. It is a very morbid and uncomfortable thing to explain to people, and why it's always phrased so vaguely. No one wants to be the asshole who says "realistically, they died of exposure the first night, and their corpse was ripped apart, scattered, and devoured, across a 20km square radius by scavengers, maggots, and corpse beetles, and whatever they left is fertilizer, so there's nothing to really find".

"Thanks, that's horrifying. But why?"

Plants have six essential nutrients. The main three are:

Nitrogen

Phosphorus

Potassium

The lesser three are:

Calcium

Magnesium

Sulfur

Phosphorus and calcium can be found in abundant amounts in our bones and teeth. Thus why bone meal is a fertilizer used for plants. In this term, the definition being used for "meal" is this one:

Meal: 1: the usually coarsely ground and unbolted seeds of a cereal grass or pulse especially: cornmeal 2: a product resembling seed meal especially in particle size or texture

Plants use calcium and phosphorus much the same way animals do, including us humans. We need phosphorus for cell growth, and calcium does like, a hundred things, including the production of hormones and helping cells move other nutrients around between them.

Now, how to make bone meal is pretty simple: you grind up bones. Basically into a sandy-texture, and then you mix it into the soil around plants.

Blood meal, on the other hand, is a little more complicated. Blood meal, like bone meal, is a commercial byproduct from the meat industry. Animals that are slaughtered for consumption don't usually have any wasted parts. Bones and teeth are used for making bone meal fertilizer, or sold for soup stock, the hides are sold to leather-making industries, and a lot of the leftovers are used to make gelatin. About the only thing not used is the spine and brains, at least in cows. Mad-cow disease is a real thing, humans can get a variant called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and it's fatal. Not like rabies, where it's 99.99% fatal (hi, Jeanna Giese!), 100% fatal. (Also you will not survive rabies. Ms. Giese is pretty much still a complete fluke. If there's a chance you've been exposed to rabies, get to the hospital now.) The blood is purified, dried, and ground up into meal, full of nutritious nitrogen, which plants desperately need to make chlorophyll.

"But the blood is still in the meat I get at the grocery store."

No, it's not. During slaughter, all blood is drained from the animal. This is done by cutting the main arteries and hanging the animal carcass. That red stuff on meat is myoglobin, not hemoglobin, which is from the muscle breaking down. The iron in it turns red when exposed to oxygen. It's why your muscles are red. But it's not blood.

The blood has been made into blood meal!

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A small pile of sandy particles, colored a dark reddish-brown. Blood meal.]

But the blood is only made into this meal because the process allows for the blood to be stripped of any diseases, and this form makes it easy for transport, and for mixing into feed and using as fertilizer. Plants aren't actually all that picky. Plants feed through their root systems, and they are just as capable of sucking up all that wonderful nitrogen in raw blood form.

Actually, it wouldn't matter if they couldn't. Plants can influence the soil around them to do what they want it to do:

Some nutrients are present in the soil in a chemical form inaccessible to the plant. Root exudation contributes to make these elements more available to the roots. Mechanisms of soil acidification by the exudation of protons or phytosiderophores [9] promote the acquisition of iron in certain plants [10]. Root exudation is also a plastic process and depends on the environment in which the root develops. White lupin plants growing in phosphorus-poor soil, for example, produce short and dense root clusters called “proteoid roots” [11]. These roots secrete large amounts of acidic molecules capable of lowering the soil pH, making phosphorus ions more assimilable. In this plant species adapted to nutrient-poor soils, this plasticity of root activity is a major adaptation mechanism. In one experiment, it was shown that a lupin plant growing on phosphorus-poor soil can secrete up to 25 times more exudates than a plant growing on phosphorus-rich soil [12].

Want to know what chemical composition of the human body is?

The human body is approximately 99% comprised of just six elements: Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, calcium, and phosphorus. Another five elements make up about 0.85% of the remaining mass: sulfur, potassium, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. All of these 11 elements are essential elements.

It's like I said before, a corpse is pretty much a take-away order for plants. All corpses. As tasty as you find that strawberry, it finds you just as delicious.

"So what's up with Venus Flytraps?"

They're actually not bloodthirsty terrors.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: View of a Venus flytrap plant in a terracotta pot from above. Plant consists of multiple green semicircle shell-like structures, with long green "hairs" along the open edges of the shell.]

The Venus flytrap is a feisty, flesh-eating plant with toothed leaves like snapping-jaws that trap and devour insects and spiders.  They live in nutrient-poor soils so rely on their elaborate traps for food. When an insect lands and bumps into tiny trigger hairs on the inner surface of a Venus flytrap’s leaves, they snap shut and the interlocking teeth seal the trap shut. The leaves then close tighter, squashing the prey, which is then digested by enzymes into a nutritious soup. Venus flytraps are only found on the East Coast of the United States

Venus Flytraps are native to a patch of land on the east coast of North America where the soil is mostly nutrient-poor swamp. It's also highly-acidic. This same area also produced one of the pitcher plants, another carnivorous plant.

Openly carnivorous plants aren't actually all that uncommon. We know about 630 species so far. These are all plants that live in nutrient-poor areas, and had to find a way to get that sweet, sweet nitrogen and phosphorus.

Meet the Giant Montane Pitcher Plant, native to Borneo.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large, reddish-purple plant. Modified leaves grow in the shape of a hollow pitcher/vase, with a modified leaf resembling the structure of a hinged lid. Inside of pitcher structure is yellow. Out of sight within the pitcher structure is a digestive liquid produced by the plant that dissolves prey.]

It can reach 41cm/16 inches in height. They're known to catch rats and birds.

As somebody who studied to be a botanist, let me tell you how deeply, deeply amusing it is to listen to people talk about the serene and peaceful nature of plants. Plants have spent their billions of years on this planet adapting, just like the rest of us. And while we, humans, are definitely a bigger threat to them, rest assured, they also want us dead. Mostly so they can eat us. And remember, most plants have a much shorter maturation period and can propagate by the hundreds or thousands in their lifetimes, unlike humans humans, meaning they adapt faster than us. And they are capable of adapting to maim and kill us. [After which they will eat us]

This has been Teatime With March!

i think it's fucked up that there are plants that decided they wanted to eat meat

[b12shot93]

Vitamin B6 Injections: An Effective Treatment for Nausea and Morning Sickness

Women who are pregnant often feel sick in the morning, especially in the first three months of their pregnancy. For many, feeling sick and throwing up can be very bad, making daily life difficult and upsetting. Luckily, Vitamin B6 injection have been shown to help with morning sickness, which is good news for women who are expecting. But how does Vitamin B6 help with nausea, and why is it so helpful during pregnancy?

What makes you sick in the morning?

Hormonal changes during pregnancy, especially the rise in human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and estrogen, are thought to cause morning sickness, which includes feeling sick and sometimes vomiting. Even though no one knows for sure what causes morning sickness, it's usually thought to be the body's response to higher hormone levels. Some women only feel a little sick in the morning, but for others, it can be very bad and last all day.

How vitamin B6 can help with feeling sick

Vitamin B6, also known as pyridoxine, is a water-soluble vitamin that helps the body do many things, like making neurotransmitters and breaking down proteins. It is thought that its effect on the central nervous system is linked to its ability to make people feel less sick. Vitamin B6 lowers the messages that make you feel sick and make you throw up by helping to control some neurotransmitters in the brain.

Several studies have shown that vitamin B6 can help with morning sickness, and many doctors suggest it as the first thing you should try. When used in the right amounts, it's safe for both the mother and the baby, which makes it a good choice for pregnant women who want to feel better.

Advantages of Vitamin B6 Injections

Work fast: One great thing about Vitamin B6 shots is that they work quickly. The vitamin goes straight into the bloodstream instead of going through the digestive system, where it might not be properly taken if you are feeling very sick and throwing up a lot. Since this fast absorption means faster comfort than oral supplements, injections are the best choice for people who are really sick in the morning.

Natural and safe choice: A lot of pregnant women are worried about taking medicines while they are pregnant because they might hurt their baby. As an option to synthetic drugs that make you feel sick, vitamin B6 is a natural and safe substance that can help. Vitamin B6 is often suggested by doctors as a first cure before prescription drugs are considered.

Helps the development of the fetus: Vitamin B6 is important for the brain and nervous system growth of the baby and also helps with nausea. Making sure the mother has enough B6 during pregnancy not only helps her feel better by reducing morning sickness, but it also helps the baby grow and develop normally.

In most cases, a healthcare provider gives non-invasive and convenient vitamin B6 injections, but in some cases, the person can give themselves the injections at home with medical supervision. Because of this, they are a useful choice for women who need regular relief from morning sickness but don't want to take pills or supplements that could make their symptoms worse.

Other Health Problems That Vitamin B6 Injections Can Help With

Vitamin B6 shots are often used to treat morning sickness, but they can also help with a number of other problems, such as

Mood Disorders: Vitamin B6 helps regulate serotonin and dopamine levels, which can help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety.

For people who have premenstrual syndrome (PMS), B6 is often used to help with symptoms like mood swings, irritability, and bloating.

If you have anemia, vitamin B6 can help make hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. Injections can help treat some kinds of anemia that are caused by not getting enough B6.

Vitamin B6 shots are a quick, safe, and effective way for pregnant women who are sick to get rid of their nausea and morning sickness. B6 injections are a good way for pregnant women to get relief because they can help with nausea and promote the baby's healthy growth. If you want a safe way to treat morning sickness, talk to your doctor about Vitamin B6 injections.

[sfriindia1]

Benefits of Hematology Analyzers over Manual Blood Analysis

The healthcare industry is constantly evolving, and the world of laboratory diagnostics is no exception. Hematology analyzers—also known as blood analyzers or CBC machines—have revolutionized how blood samples are processed, delivering rapid and accurate results. These automated cell counters have significantly reduced diagnostic times, enabling clinical laboratories to handle high volumes of blood tests efficiently. Yet, despite these advancements, some medical experts still prefer manual blood analysis for certain cases. Why is this, and does it mean that manual methods are superior?

As an in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) manufacturer, it's essential to acknowledge the concerns of healthcare professionals while also shedding light on the undeniable benefits of automated blood analyzers. Let’s dive into the reasons behind the preference for manual blood analysis and why, ultimately, hematology analyzers are the future of clinical diagnostics.

Manual Blood Analysis: Why Some Experts Still Prefer It

1. Complexity of Blood Cell Morphology

One of the primary reasons some medical experts still favor manual blood analysis is the complexity of blood cell morphology. Certain conditions, such as leukemia or other blood disorders, can cause abnormal shapes or sizes of blood cells that may be difficult for automated systems to accurately detect or interpret. Pathologists often argue that their trained eyes can spot subtle abnormalities in red blood cell (RBC) count, white blood cells, or platelets that a machine might overlook.

In cases where the cellular morphology is highly irregular, manual microscopy allows for a detailed examination of the cells, helping to make more nuanced diagnoses. However, it’s important to remember that such cases represent a minority of diagnostic situations. For the majority of routine blood tests, hematology analyzers provide sufficient accuracy and speed.

2. Unique or Rare Conditions

Certain rare hematological disorders may not be well-represented in the reference databases used by automated cell counters. For example, diseases like hereditary spherocytosis or parasitic infections, such as malaria, may present unique challenges for automation. In such instances, a hematologist or lab technician might argue that manually reviewing a blood smear offers more insight into the patient’s condition.

However, advances in hematology analyzers have begun to address these limitations. Many modern analyzers incorporate AI-based software and flow cytometry techniques that provide enhanced analysis of cell morphology. This reduces the need for manual review, even in more complex cases.

3. Personalized Expertise

There’s a certain level of trust that many clinicians place in their own expertise or the expertise of their colleagues in the lab. The manual process allows for a hands-on review that some experts believe cannot be replicated by machines. This personalized approach can be reassuring for doctors, especially in cases where human judgment is considered paramount.

That said, this argument is often driven by tradition rather than a critique of modern technology. In fact, hematology analyzers have evolved to the point where they are extremely reliable in delivering consistent and accurate results across a wide range of parameters, including RBC count, hemoglobin concentration, and white blood cell differentials.

Why Hematology Analyzers Are Still the Best Choice for Most Situations

While manual blood analysis may have its place in certain specialized or complex cases, the overwhelming majority of blood tests conducted today benefit from the use of hematology analyzers. Here’s why these blood analyzers continue to outshine manual methods in most clinical scenarios:

1. Speed and Efficiency

In today’s healthcare system, speed is critical. Manual blood analysis can be time-consuming, especially when large volumes of samples need to be processed. In contrast, hematology analyzers can process hundreds of samples per hour, delivering results within minutes.

For routine blood tests—like complete blood counts (CBCs) to measure RBC count, white blood cells, and hemoglobin concentration—automated CBC machines significantly cut down diagnostic times. This is particularly crucial in high-pressure environments like emergency rooms and intensive care units, where rapid results can make the difference between life and death.

2. Accuracy and Consistency

While it’s true that manual analysis can offer detailed insights into cell morphology, hematology analyzers excel in providing precise, reproducible measurements for the vast majority of cases. The technology behind these machines has advanced to the point where they offer highly accurate readings for RBC count, platelets, and white blood cell differentials.

In fact, automated cell counters virtually eliminate human error in the counting process—a common issue in manual analysis. The consistency provided by hematology analyzers ensures that every test is performed with the same level of precision, something that can be difficult to achieve with manual methods due to natural variations in human performance.

3. High Throughput

One of the major challenges facing clinical laboratories today is managing the sheer volume of blood tests that need to be processed. Manual methods are not scalable in environments where hundreds or even thousands of samples must be analyzed daily.

Hematology analyzers solve this problem by offering high-throughput capabilities. They can handle large volumes of samples with minimal human intervention, freeing up lab personnel to focus on other tasks, such as reviewing flagged samples or conducting more specialized tests.

4. Cost-Effectiveness

The cost of manual labor in laboratory settings can be substantial, especially in facilities that process high volumes of tests. Automated CBC machines and blood analyzers streamline the workflow, reducing the need for extensive manual labor and enabling faster turnaround times for patient results.

Moreover, the long-term financial benefits of investing in hematology analyzers often outweigh the initial cost. Automation allows labs to operate more efficiently, decreasing operational costs and reducing the likelihood of costly errors.

5. Advanced Technologies in Hematology Analyzers

The latest generation of hematology analyzers has overcome many of the limitations that previously led clinicians to prefer manual methods. These machines now incorporate technologies like flow cytometry, optical light scatter, and artificial intelligence, all of which enhance their ability to detect rare or subtle abnormalities in blood samples. This technological evolution is helping to close the gap between manual analysis and automation, making hematology analyzers a more robust solution for both routine and complex diagnostic tasks.

Additionally, modern automated cell counters are equipped with software that can flag suspicious or abnormal results, ensuring that such samples receive further manual review if needed. This combination of automation and expert oversight ensures that no detail is overlooked, while also allowing for faster processing of routine samples.

Dispelling the Myths: Manual Analysis vs. Hematology Analyzers

It’s easy to understand why some medical experts may hold onto traditional manual methods—they are tried and tested. But it’s essential to recognize that hematology analyzers are not designed to replace human expertise; rather, they are tools that enhance it.

Automation helps improve the speed, accuracy, and scalability of blood diagnostics, making them indispensable in today’s healthcare landscape. Manual analysis, while still valuable in certain niche situations, simply cannot compete with the efficiency and consistency that blood analyzers provide for the vast majority of tests.

Conclusion: Hematology Analyzers Are the Future of Blood Diagnostics

While some medical experts may continue to advocate for manual blood analysis in specific cases, the reality is that hematology analyzers offer the best balance of speed, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness for most clinical needs. As an IVD manufacturer, we believe in the power of automation to improve healthcare outcomes, streamline laboratory operations, and ultimately provide better patient care.

Manual analysis may still have a role in rare or highly specialized scenarios, but for the vast majority of diagnostic tasks, blood analyzers are the future. By embracing these cutting-edge technologies, clinical laboratories can provide faster, more accurate results while also reducing costs and improving workflow efficiency.

In a world where time and precision are of the essence, hematology analyzers offer an undeniable advantage.

[cellajames011new]

What are the 85 Minerals Found in Shilajit?

Shilajit, often referred to as the "destroyer of weakness" in ancient Ayurvedic texts, is a sticky, tar-like substance found primarily in the rocks of the Himalayas. Revered for centuries, it contains a rich blend of minerals, trace elements, and bioactive compounds, making it a powerful natural supplement for health and vitality. Among its many components, Shilajit is known for containing 85 minerals in ionic form, which are easily absorbed by the human body. Let's delve into what these minerals are and how they contribute to Shilajit's status as a potent natural remedy.

Know the Rich Mineral Composition of Shilajit

Shilajit's unique composition is the result of a long process of plant matter decomposition, which has been compressed and preserved over centuries. This process imbues Shilajit with an abundance of minerals and other active compounds like fulvic acid, humic acid, and dibenzo-alpha-pyrones. The 85 minerals found in Shilajit exist in ionic form, which means they are readily bioavailable, allowing the body to easily absorb and utilize them. Here’s a breakdown of some of these essential minerals:

1. Major Minerals

Calcium: Essential for strong bones and teeth, calcium also plays a role in nerve transmission and muscle function.

Magnesium: Vital for over 300 biochemical reactions in the body, including energy production, muscle function, and nervous system regulation.

Phosphorus: Supports bone health and is a crucial component of ATP, the body's primary energy molecule.

Potassium: Helps regulate fluid balance, muscle contractions, and nerve signals.

Sodium: Essential for maintaining proper fluid balance, nerve function, and muscle contractions.

2. Trace Minerals

Iron: Critical for the production of hemoglobin, which transports oxygen in the blood.

Zinc: Plays a vital role in immune function, protein synthesis, and wound healing.

Copper: Essential for iron metabolism, the formation of red blood cells, and maintaining healthy nerves.

Manganese: Involved in bone formation, blood clotting, and reducing inflammation.

Selenium: An antioxidant that helps prevent cell damage and supports thyroid function.

Chromium: Enhances the action of insulin and is involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.

Iodine: Crucial for thyroid hormone production, which regulates metabolism.

Molybdenum: Important for processing proteins and genetic material.

Cobalt: A component of vitamin B12, necessary for red blood cell production.

3. Ultratrace Minerals

These minerals are required in very small quantities, but they play significant roles in maintaining optimal health:

Lithium: May have neuroprotective properties and support mental health.

Germanium: Believed to enhance the immune system and possess antioxidant properties.

Vanadium: Supports bone growth and helps regulate blood sugar levels.

Nickel: Involved in iron absorption and the production of red blood cells.

Rubidium: Plays a role in maintaining electrolyte balance.

Boron: Important for bone health and the metabolism of magnesium and phosphorus.

4. Fulvic Acid and Humic Acid

While not minerals themselves, fulvic and humic acids found in Shilajit are crucial because they help in the absorption and transport of these 85 minerals into the cells. Fulvic acid, in particular, is a powerful antioxidant and a natural electrolyte that aids in cellular processes, improves nutrient uptake, and helps detoxify the body.

The Health Benefits of Shilajit’s Mineral Composition

The combined effects of these minerals and bioactive compounds make Shilajit a powerhouse of health benefits:

Boosts Energy and Stamina: The minerals and fulvic acid in Shilajit help in the production of ATP, enhancing energy levels and endurance.

Supports Cognitive Function: Minerals like magnesium, iron, and zinc support brain health and cognitive functions, while fulvic acid may aid in protecting against Alzheimer's disease.

Enhances Immune System: Shilajit's mineral-rich composition boosts immunity by promoting the production of immune cells and enhancing antioxidant defenses.

Improves Digestion and Nutrient Absorption: The presence of fulvic acid increases the bioavailability of nutrients, aiding in better digestion and nutrient uptake.

Promotes Healthy Aging: Its antioxidant properties help fight free radicals, slowing down the aging process and reducing the risk of chronic diseases.

How to Incorporate Shilajit into Your Routine

Shilajit is typically available in resin, powder, or capsule form. When choosing a supplement, ensure it is pure and free of contaminants. It is advisable to consult with a healthcare professional before incorporating Shilajit into your daily regimen, especially if you have existing health conditions or are on medication.

Conclusion

Shilajit is a natural treasure trove of 85 minerals and bioactive compounds that support overall health and well-being. Its unique mineral composition, enhanced by the presence of fulvic and humic acids, makes it an unparalleled supplement for boosting energy, improving cognitive function, enhancing immunity, and promoting healthy aging. By including Shilajit in your wellness routine, you can harness the ancient power of this remarkable Ayurvedic remedy for optimal health and vitality.

[tunsun44]

I work in a blood bank.

Most of the blood we don't use (small hospital) gets redistributed (to large hospitals) before it gets expired. Where I am, in BC, we're constantly importing blood from other provinces. So this could maybe work in some cases, but it's not a good solution for the long-term problem of vampires because so little blood expires before being used.

The second problem (more like question) is what part of the blood vampires would need. We don't use whole blood anymore in general, because in lots of cases a person who needs a transfusion will only need either red cells, plasma, or platelets. Also, all blood products are leuko-reduced (white blood cells removed) because there are more risks associated with transfusion foreign white blood cells into a person than the red blood cells (or other products). So if these hypothetical vampires need all parts of human blood for their nourishment, blood bank blood as it is isn't a viable option. You'd have to find a way to preserve whole blood for distribution.

Also, you can't just freeze red blood cells, they'd break apart and then can't do their job transporting oxygen. Which would be fine if the vampires just need the iron or something, but if the reason they're sucking blood is because their dead bones can't make their own hemoglobin or RBCs, you'd have to glycerolize the units of red cells you gave them. (also also the 42 days is specifically because of the process of separating the parts and the preservatives we use. If you didn't process the whole blood at all it would only be usable for a few hours; think about how fast even a lot of blood dries and/or clots).

If vampires instead only need the plasma components of blood, it would be much easier. Frozen plasma has an outdate of year, and there are new fancier ways of processing it too that also have long outdates. It also takes the human body much less long to replenish plasma than red cells; that's why you can donate plasma every month but you have to wait way longer if you donate whole blood (they take whole blood into some sort of machine that separates it and returns your red cells to you - not sure of the exact parts, that's not my side).

So vampires out there, I pose the question to you: what exactly do you need in our blood? And if you ABSOLUTELY NEED to steal blood from a blood bank (and can't go in to get transfusions through the normal means), please take AB positive (and then AB neg) first. ABPos patients can receive any blood type, and there are only a few of them so their blood is often the most common to be redistributed.

I know that’s kind of the go-to thing to show that a vampire character is “one of the good ones” or whatever but it actually seems a little bit more fucked up for a vampire to steal blood from a blood bank than for a vampire to attack people for blood, at least as long as it’s not the kind of vampire where a bite is instantly lethal like it never stops bleeding. 

People can recover from losing some blood but blood bank blood is constantly in short supply and is reserved for people who imminently need blood transfusion of a specific blood type or else they die.

[justkidneying]

ANOTHER regen question!

Let's see if I phrase this one right it's been rolling in my brain a bit

Assumptions are the character heals a slower than Wolverine and they've just suffered some serious blood loss. Like they lost ~3L of it and the wound has now closed up and the body's working to create as much blood as possible.

Given how bone marrow is where blood comes from, what sorts of things might they have to deal with in the recovery period? Like, as the body is taxing the marrow like that (and/or whatever else it has to)?

I'm going to assume this is a ~200lb man, just to give some leeway. So a big guy like this would have maybe 6 liters of blood in him (most humans range from 4-6 L). If he loses ~3 L, I would say he would probably just die. If blood loss is >40%, that's a Class IV hemorrhage, which presents with absent peripheral pulses, hypotension (low blood pressure), and no peepee output. This person will go into hemorrhagic shock. Since they lack the oxygen-carrying hemoglobin that is found in blood, they will not be able to supply oxygen to their tissues. This stops the usually metabolic processes and switches the body to anaerobic metabolism, which makes lactic acid and very little ATP (energy). Lactic acid leads to acidosis. Acidosis leads to cell death, coma, and plain ole death. He will die.

But wait! He's got regenetative powers to save him, right? No. If his powers aren't magical, then he will still die. Because regeneration is based on being able to replicate cells very quickly, he would need to do it fast enough to beat the cells that are dying. Unfortunately, he doesn't have enough ATP to do normal cell stuff and make a bunch more. Replication of cells requires a lot of ATP (energy). So he will still die.

Now, let me answer the second question, and we will go back to when he is still alive. Let's change it so he only lost ~30% of his blood volume (1.8L). He's still not doing good (he has Class III hemorrhage) but he can live. This will present with pallor, coolness in the limbs, altered mental status, narrowing blood pressure (the top and bottom numbers are getting close together), increased respiratory rate, and increased heart rate. The body is trying to keep blood flow to the vital organs. Let's say he survives and now he's home and trying to recover.

Blood has a lot of things in it, but the important bits are plasma (the liquid bit which makes up ~55% of blood), red blood cells (they carry oxygen), platelets (for clotting) and white blood cells (part of the immune system).

The most important one here are the RBCs. 90% of plasma is water, and you won't die right away without the other ones. The body measures RBCs through the kidney. If the kidney sees that you don't have enough of them, then it sends a hormone (EPO) to the spongey inner bone where blood is made. EPO causes more stem cells to turn into RBCs (instead of WBCs or platelets). To make these, you need iron. The iron stores of the body will be used, and you will take up more iron from your food.

Overall, I'd say the guy will feel like shit, and he should probably take a break for about 3 months while he replinishes his blood supply. He should eat foods high in iron, maybe take an iron supplement. But he'll be anemic while he recovers and be low on those other blood cells. Honestly, his regen powers aren't that useful here. They were useful in fixing whatever caused the blood loss, keeping him from losing a ton of cells to blood supply issues, and that's about it. If he doesn't have an advanced factor, then he can't really be helped with making more RBCs.

I hope I answered your question, and thank you very much for asking it!

[today3467h]

Anemia — blood shortage

In simple words, when the red blood cells are lacking in the human body and do not function properly. The oxygen flow and hemoglobin in one’s body in this case becomes too slow when one is suffering from anemia.

Overview

anemia cannot be seen immediately and it takes time to affect the whole body. Regular Tiredness and headaches are early symptoms that can be seen. More than 10 million cases of anemia come up every year in India and 30% of the world population suffers from this. anemia is a signature given by the body that something is not proper. Iron deficiency is the biggest cause of anemia and responds in different ways in different bodies, it may be mild or moderate in one’s body and may be severe in other ones.

If the following signs should be noticed in one, there may be a risk that he/she must be suffering from anemia –

• Pail skin and breathing problems

• Faster heartbeat

• Vagued and unconsciousness

• Drinking water in a high quantity but still feeling restless and tired

Major symptoms of anemia

• Frizzing hands and feet

• Chest pain

• Fatigue

• Yellowish face

• Always feeling week

• Often pain in bones, belly, and joints

• Bitter tongue

Whom does anemia affect the most?

Anyone can suffer from this. But most likely it is among -

• Pregnant women and women during periods

• Children and infants

• Aged people above 60

• Unfit people and people on blood thinners mostly suffer

Causes of anemia

The most common causes of anemia are deficiencies in vitamin A and vitamin B12, iron deficiency, and deficiencies in folate. The major causes are -

• When your body is unable to develop enough red blood cells

• Not taking proper nutritious foods which contain proper vitamins and folic acid

• Inherited an autoimmune disorder

• A person suffering from diabetes, cancer, tuberculosis, mental trauma, ulcer, or cod has a risk of developing anemia

• Alcohol-dependent people

• HIV/AIDS or parasitic infections

• Other bone marrow disorders

• Age factors and genetics also matter

How can you prevent anemia?

You cannot prevent it if you are already affected by anemia but you can take care that your body won’t face any deficiency of iron and vitamins so anemia should be avoided.

• Have a proper iron and vitamin-rich diet which includes beef, meats, beans, dried fruits

• Have a proper amount of vitamin C and vitamin B12 diet like citrus food, juices, peppers, broccoli, etc.

• Concern your doctor if you have a heavy menstrual cycle, constipation, or other stomach-related issues.

• Do regular exercise and stay hydrated

• Stay hygienic ( take care of your teeth and tongue)

Myths created –

# You cannot exercise if you are anemic patient

No, if you exercise it makes your lungs healthier

# It is always anemia if there is iron deficiency

No, it is not always necessary

# If I follow a vegan diet, I may suffer from anemia

If you follow vegan you may not eat meats and many other foods which are necessary for a complete diet but it’s not necessary that you will suffer from anemia because anemia is the cause of many deficiencies, not only nutrients.

# Anemia is largely genetic

anemia can transfer genetically but it doesn’t need to be always genetic. It mostly happens due to deficiencies in one.

How do doctors diagnose anemia?

Doctors perform several tests for the patient to diagnose anemia.

• Complete Blood count samples and urine tests are performed to check anemia

• Bone marrow is also studied for anemia diagnosis

• Red blood cells are examined for the shape, size, and color of the cells

• Colonoscopy of your stools can also be performed if necessary

How to treat anemia

The first and foremost rule is to visit a doctor.

Different anemia disease is treated differently.

• Iron deficient anemia is treated by taking enough iron supplements and through transfusion.

• Surgery is placed for internal bleeding

• Genetic disorders require bone marrow transplant

• Erythropoietin is supplied for CKD anaemic treatment

• Proper amount of vitamins and drugs help resolve them

Frequently asked questions –

# Is anemia curable?

Anemia is curable if treatment is provided properly at the right time but if it’s delayed then it may cause death also.

# Can I breastfeed if I’m a patient with anemia?

Yes, you can

# can I play sports if I suffer from anemia?

Yes, why not, it will boost you up and provide healthy lungs

Read More:-

[berezet]

Session With Rachel

Simon J. types in a password on a keyboard, and blinks into a capsule inside of a larger capsule, specifically one of many teleporters on a space colony orbiting the ice giant known as "Mint". As the noise ceased and the doors opened outward, Simon begins walking through the sterile hallways and stairwells of the capsule, deliberately taking the long way to the room he wants, reveling in the excitement for today's plans.

The pathways are utilitarian in design, with basic white colors and a general lack of flair in construction, the only features being the occasional screen and windows showing Mint's blue-green curvature against star-dotted darkness. It was hard to believe that Rachel, one of the most interesting people Simon knew (aside from the cyborg and the psychic alien), lived here by choice. Eventually, he finally reached the door Rachel messaged him about, and knocks on the white door.

The white slab of metal slides into its crevice, revealing the most jarring room possible. Contrasting the bright lights and barren walls of the hallway is a borderline parodic show of Blood-Drinker Culture: Dark-red walls, empty candle holders modeled after the ancient "Victorian Era", and emptied blood bags in a trash can next to a slightly messy bed. What really catches Simon's eyes is a leathery briefcase resting on a shelf, a thought that gets interrupted by a lively voice on his right:

"Ready for thralldom?"

Her pale skin and artificial fangs are heavy contrasts against the dark walls, to the point where Simon is wondering how he didn't notice her just by looking through the door. Rachel runs towards the leather briefcase on the shelf, and stumbles back towards Simon, apparently forgetting how heavy the briefcase was until she picked it up. She confidently reveals the contents of the case to him.

"What do you think?"

Rachel's briefcase is filled with what Simon calls "Tools": Metronomes, pocket watches, and other things that make his head fuzzy, all with a vampiric edge. Wanting to properly immerse himself in the "Vampire's Thrall" scenario, he picks out a bright red candle, and Rachel places it in a slightly over-designed holder. Simon sits in front of the candle, legs crossed, and Rachel lights it, immediately trying not to coo as his eyelids instantly begin dropping.

She slowly sits down on Simon's left, and the session begins.

-----------

The next twenty minutes go like a dream, in that it is kind of hazy and weird things suddenly make sense. Objectively speaking, Simon is watching a candlestick melt while Rachel calmly tells him stuff. But in Simon's trance, it feels a lot different.

Rachel is a vampire, but only the barest definition of one. She has the fangs, she drinks blood, and she prefers darkness, but that's where the qualifiers end (No immortality, bat transformation, sun weakness, and her vampirism itself is the result of a modified digestive system). She still loves playing up her hemoglobin cravings as a form of paranormal role-play, and when Simon asked her for a vampire-themed hypnosis session, she was genuinely elated. Also, he's letting her drink a bit of his blood after he wakes up. If she wasn't already on board, that would've done it.

And so Rachel, in the calmest voice she can, describes a scenario for Simon to picture in his head, that she is a bona-fide vampire queen looking for new servants to carry out her work in the daytime, while spending the night being cute and docile, occasionally giving phrases of encouragement so that Simon still feels comfortable. Even as she describes the imaginary process of turning a human into a thrall for a creature of the night, she makes sure this hypothetical procedure isn't overly spooky or fetishistic.

It just isn't his style.

Eventually, the time limit they decided on is reached, and with it comes Simon's personal favorite part of hypnosis: Awakening. Rachel isn't exactly sure why, and she doesn't want to be told why. She wants to (eventually) learn firsthand. Nonetheless, Rachel gently brings him back to reality and begins counting, watching her previously slumped-over subject slowly become upright. When she finally says "Ten', Simon clumsily hugs her, still somewhat out of it from the previous twenty minutes.

-----------

"You sure you don't still think you're my brainwashed servant?"

"…No, pretty sure. If I did, I still have plenty of stuff for unwanted suggestions."

They are now outside of the room, looking at the planet Mint through a window in the corridor. Simon lightly rubs the bandage on his left arm, having delivered his promise to Rachel. After another few minutes of staring at the ice giant, Simon smiles towards her and says:

"You did great."

And he begins walking back to the teleporters.

[polyacrylamidepensieve]

Hey - ferritin actually is the only iron level that matters / actually reflects the body’s stores of iron rather than just what’s circulating in the bloodstream. Ferritin is what we always check for iron deficiency anemia, because it is an ABSOLUTE measure. None of the other numbers truly reflect iron stores, they are mostly RELATIVE measures that give percentages of iron in your body that’s in the bloodstream as free ions (iron level), bound to carrier molecules (transferrin saturation), how many carrier molecules you have (total iron binding capacity), what percent of your blood is red blood cells by volume (hematocrit), how much light gets absorbed by the hemoglobin in your blood when they run light through it (hemoglobin level) etc.. You need to take an iron supplement if your ferritin is below 15.

You probably already know this, but hemolytic anemia is a process wherein something causes your red blood cells to start fragmenting / lysing in your bloodstream and releasing their contents. It makes sense for iron / ferritin to go DOWN after hemolytic anemia as your body uses your iron stores to make more red blood cells to replace those that were killed during the acute bout of hemolysis. That iron now needs replenishing.

Take it from a pathologist who, unlike most clinicians, doesn’t see patients and instead spends all of her doctor time on the back end diagnosing everyones’ specimens. I actually took and passed a board exam in LABORATORY medicine - the branch of medicine that oversees all laboratory testing, including blood counts and iron testing. Having only ferritin be low is not uncommon in anemia. It should honestly probably be part of the initial panel. Having an extremely low iron is not immediately life threatening, but it will deplete your body’s ability to cope with anything that causes red blood cell loss, and may lead to a very low red blood cell count / hemoglobin / oxygen carrying ability which is what causes fatigue, shortness of breath, looking pale, etc. If you cannot tolerate iron by mouth (it will constipate you), ask for it IV.

The “not immediately life threatening” part may lead clinicians to try to reassure you with “everything is okay, don’t panic, just take some iron.” But labs and how and why they work are something most doctors learn about on the fly rather than on purpose, because when they have questions they can just call us for the scientific explanation. They just have to know that they work.

That said. They should rly know that ferritin is just a measure of your body’s iron stores, and that there is no such thing as a ferritin supplement. It’s just an iron supplement. Of course, years of only thinking about and focusing on your own specialty WILL make you forget basic things you learned in med school, but at that point you need to know that you probably don’t know and just refer to hematology. Who would know all of this, you’re right about that OP. @thebibliosphere

All of the doctor bashing on this site is… well, a lot of it is warranted. But I think people forget that doctors are people just like them, just… people who were raised being told they were “smart” and who worked themselves into the ground to get through residency. After all of the hundreds of tests and the insane amount of info we try to stuff into our heads, we are going to forget anything that we don’t have to use every day. Because after all of that training comes real life. And kids. And everyone still expects you to earn that high pay, but you spent four to six years AFTER med school sleeping minimally, eating on the go, and getting paged in the middle of the night, and your body and mind just cannot sustain that. So you loosen up after residency is finally over and you can just be human again for a bit, and that’s when you forget a lot of things if you don’t use them everyday.

That said. The most important skill for a doctor should be knowing when to say “I don’t know.” And when to ask for help. Because the sheer volume of information now available within medicine is not possible for one person to learn. We have had to specialize as a field to cover all of the info. And when a patient has a disease, they are gonna want to know everything about that one disease. And they may outstrip their doctor’s knowledge of that disease, because when you’re learning about just one disease and its satellite diseases, you can often remember it pretty easily.

None of that excuses doctors who are mean, or who don’t listen actively, or who fat shame, or any of that. Every med school class has its sociopaths, too. Humans will be human, even the doctor ones. Don’t go to the doctor immediately after lunch, and try not to schedule at the end of the day when they’re less sharp.

Hey, so, guess who has hidden secret anemia that wasn’t detected by a basic iron panel? Again.

🫠

[jcmarchi]

Seeing Deep Blood Flow With Sound and Laser Light - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/seeing-deep-blood-flow-with-sound-and-laser-light-technology-org/

Seeing Deep Blood Flow With Sound and Laser Light - Technology Org

Many health problems, and consequently the medical treatments for them, involve how blood flows through the body.

Heart attacks are caused by restricted blood flow to the heart muscle. Many symptoms of diabetes are the result of damaged blood vessels. Tumors, meanwhile, often promote the growth of new vessels that deliver blood specifically to them. And blood flow is a crucial physiological parameter for measuring brain function.

Laser imaging of blood vessels. Image credit: Caltech

Because of this, medical professionals want to be able to examine blood vessels and assess their condition, but with many of those vessels buried quite deeply in the body, such an examination can be difficult without exploratory surgery.

New research conducted in the laboratory of Caltech’s Lihong Wang, Bren Professor of Medical Engineering and Electrical Engineering, is now making it possible to image deep blood vessels in humans, and even the blood flowing through them, in a non-invasive way.

In an article appearing in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, Wang and his colleagues describe this technology, which they call photoacoustic vector tomography, or PAVT. This technology is similar in many ways to Wang’s other photoacoustic imaging technologies, which make use of laser light that is well absorbed by hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying molecule found in red blood cells.

The energy that the hemoglobin molecules absorb from the laser causes them to vibrate ultrasonically. Those vibrations travel throughout the tissue until they arrive at the skin’s surface, where they are detected by sensors connected to a computer. The computer then creates an image of the features of the tissue, in this case, the blood vessels.

This is not the first time Wang’s lab has shown the ability to image blood vessels using photoacoustic technology, but the new method can image blood flow deeper in the human body than previously possible and shows for the first time not just the presence of blood vessels and their oxygenation status but how the blood is flowing through the vessels.

“Before, we could only show the sizes of blood vessels, concentrations of blood, and oxygen saturations,” says Wang, also the Andrew and Peggy Cherng Medical Engineering Leadership Chair. “Now, we can measure the vector flow, which indicates both flow rate and direction.

Our field has been working on photoacoustic technology for more than 20 years, but nobody predicted anything like this. We surprised ourselves because our field didn’t think this was possible.”

“When I first saw our images of blood flow, I was absolutely amazed,” says Yang Zhang, the lead author and a postdoctoral scholar research associate in medical engineering. “The most exciting part of this work is that we synergized engineering and physiology to overcome a hurdle previously thought to be insurmountable by the field.”

The team is able to see the direction and flow rate because PAVT has such fine resolution that it can make out signals arising from the distribution of red blood cells deep in the body. An algorithm integrated into the system tracks the motion of these distributions and deduces the speed and direction of the flow. It’s kind of like how Google determines how heavy traffic is on a freeway by looking at the speed at which mobile phones are moving in that area.

The researchers hypothesize that their images and videos of human blood flow are facilitated by the heterogenous distribution of red blood cells, which arises, in part, from the way blood vessels are structured throughout the body.

Wang likens the situation in veins to what happens when two rivers with different water qualities, one clear and one muddy, for example, join into one larger stream. At such a confluence, it is not uncommon to see the streams remain unmixed for a long distance even while flowing through the same channel.

A similar phenomenon is seen when two veins carrying blood with differing blood contents (oxygenated and unoxygenated) join together. Even though the blood from those two vessels has joined as a single stream, it will remain unmixed for a while. The PAVT system can distinguish these unmixed patches and track their motion.

At the confluence of the Amazon River and the Rio Negro in Brazil, the waters from each river can be seen running parallel and remaining unmixed for some time after the rivers join. Similar phenomena can be seen in blood vessels. Image Credit: Portal da Copa/Wikimedia Commons

And since red blood cells absorb laser light from the PAVT system differently depending on whether they are oxygenated or not, PAVT can also determine how much oxygen the blood in a particular vessel is carrying.

“This allows us to quantify oxygen consumption, which is an important measure of metabolism,” Wang adds.

Written by Emily Velasco

Source: Caltech

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