#erythrocyte

[neuroandhemo]

blood cells design i made for printing out my totebags. I still have a bunch of em

[kusochek-cat]

Here is the drawing of Erythrocyte

Guess who returned to the Cells At Work fandom after finding their old collection (300+ pictures) of platelets? : ]

[kkilljoys]

materializes into your askbox. did you know that kity is very soft 👍

OMGGG KITT Y KITT7YKITT6 CAN I PET THEBKITTY PLEASE

[corporalkiheart]

blood replenishing potion but it’s just vitamin c, b12, folate, and iron

[sunshine-zenith]

Watching this counts as studying

[bpod-bpod]

Blown-up in Blood

An atlas of development of the malaria parasite as it proliferates in its blood cell stage generated using expansion microscopy – a means of physically inflating tissue to enhance the microscopic view

Read the published research article here

Image from work by Benjamin Liffner and Ana Karla Cepeda Diaz, and colleagues

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in eLife, December 2023

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

[shiraishi--kanade]

Not usually a fan of medical imaginary but I have to admit I have a particular soft spot towards erythrocytes. Look at them. They're just soft squishy lil pillows.

[crippleprophet]

homegrown health literacy part 1.1: WTF is ESR?

hello and welcome to the first post in my series about knowing when your doctors are full of shit! part 1 will be about interpreting bloodwork results.

disclaimer: i’m Just Some Guy

ESR is a blood test that measures inflammation. it’s a general test, so it can’t say what chronic or acute condition is causing the inflammation, just that it’s there.

ESR stands for erythrocyte sedimentation rate. it may also be listed on bloodwork reports as a Westergren test, and may be referred to as “sed rate.” the test essentially measures how quickly your red blood cells settle to the bottom of a container; sinking faster means you’re more inflamed.

normal results for ESR are classified by “sex.” current medical science is not transparent about what factors obscured under the label of “sex” actually affect test results – hormones? organs? body size? social factors? – so it’s unclear what variables are at play here. most likely, the average higher results in people classified as “female” are due to a combination of body size, hormones, and menstruation. however, many autoimmune conditions that cause inflammation are more common in people considered “female” by mainstream medicine, so i maintain some skepticism about whether the people considered healthy when constructing these averages actually were.

personally, as a tall, fat person who takes testosterone and does not menstruate, i compare my results to the “male” category. use your best judgement when evaluating your own results.

results considered “normal” for an ESR would be as follows, measured in mm/hr:

children before puberty: less than 10

“females” age puberty through 50: less than 20

“males” age puberty through 50: less than 15

“females” over 50: less than 30

“males” over 50: less than 20

results on the high end of normal would often merit redoing the test a few weeks or months later, or conducting other tests for inflammation such as CRP. as a point of reference, my ESR was 40 when it was used to help diagnose me with ankylosing spondylitis at age 22.

ESR increases with age, so a thirteen-year-old cisgender perisex girl who’s going through puberty would be expected to have a lower ESR than a 49-year-old cisgender perisex woman, even though their results are classified within the same category. it is also common for ESR to be elevated during pregnancy.

keep in mind:

averages are just that; ideally, comparing results from the same person over time gives the best clinical picture.

similarly, age 50 is not a magic number; an ESR of 30 in a cisgender perisex woman at age 49 might not indicate an underlying condition, and an ESR of 30 in a different cisgender perisex woman at age 51 might.

no one blood test can rule most conditions in or out; a negative/normal ESR does not mean you don’t have an autoimmune disease.

[laqueus]

I got my ears pierced yesterday!

[fluffycatofdooom]

Little guy

He's delivering oxygen and he's doing a very good job. Look at him.

[onlymollygibson]

what part of human blood do vampires need? Red blood cells? Just the hemoglobin? Is it any part of blood? Do lymphocytes count? Could they fish around in the biohazard container at the hospital for a snack and be fine with that? Could we make a vampire version of beyond burgers in the lab?

[microscope-world]

These are Erythrhocytes (red blood cells) captured under a hematology microscope. You can learn more about hematology and blood cell types here.

[kkilljoys]

turns you into a fish burger

why would you do that to me. while im asleep even. im going to turn u into a chicken burger

[academicelephant]

Red blood cells (or more scientifically, erythrocytes) are blood cells that deliver oxygen to the body tissues. To see them yourself, look at the sky and let your eyes relax. You'll see these transparent round things floating in your vision. They're called red cell ghosts and they're the red blood cells that travel along the blood vessels in your retina

Source: 'Oxygen in the blood' mini-lecture by Dr. John Campbell

[mindfulnutritionsblog]

Why Your Blood Test Matters: The Settling Rate

Understanding the Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR)

The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), also known as the sedimentation rate or "sed rate," is a simple blood test that measures the rate at which red blood cells settle at the bottom of a tube over a specified period. This test is a nonspecific marker of inflammation in the body and has been used for decades as a screening tool for various medical conditions.

How the Test Works:

During the ESR test, a blood sample is collected and placed in a tall, thin tube, where it is allowed to stand vertically for a specific amount of time. Over time, red blood cells in the sample gradually settle to the bottom of the tube under the influence of gravity. The rate at which they settle is measured in millimetres per hour (mm/hr) and is influenced by various factors, including the concentration of proteins and cells in the blood that affect the viscosity or thickness of the plasma.

Clinical Utility:

While the ESR test itself does not diagnose specific diseases, it can provide valuable information to healthcare providers as part of the diagnostic process. Elevated ESR levels are often seen in conditions associated with inflammation, such as:

- Inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or polymyalgia rheumatica

- Infections, including bacterial, viral fever, fungal, or parasitic infections

- Autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

- Certain types of cancer, particularly those involving inflammation or tissue damage

- Tissue injury or necrosis

- Chronic kidney disease

- Giant cell arteritis or other vasculitis

However, it's important to note that an elevated ESR level is not specific to any one condition and must be interpreted in conjunction with other clinical findings and diagnostic tests.

Limitations:

While the ESR test is widely available and relatively inexpensive, it has several limitations. For example, ESR levels can be influenced by factors such as age, gender, pregnancy, anemia, medications, and certain medical conditions. Additionally, the test is nonspecific and can be elevated in the absence of disease or normal in the presence of significant pathology.

Conclusion:

The ESR test remains a valuable tool in the evaluation of patients with suspected inflammatory or infectious conditions. While it does not provide a definitive diagnosis, it can help guide further diagnostic testing and treatment decisions in collaboration with other clinical findings. As with any laboratory test, interpretation of ESR results should be done in the context of the individual patient's clinical presentation and medical history.

[theblacklordgoldeyew]

This is something viscerally horrifying about parasites. They're a little too sentient for my liking.