Circulating reactive plasma cells

A 57-year-old man presented with a history of peripheral T-cell lymphoma that was diagnosed 2 years previously and that recurred 1 year later after 6 cycles of combination therapy with cyclophosphamide, daunorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone. A complete blood count showed an elevated white blood cell count (1.53 × 103/μL), normocytic anemia, and thrombocytopenia. A comprehensive metabolic panel showed an increase in total protein (9.7 g/dL) and decreased albumin level (3.3 g/dL). Serum immunoglobulin G level was elevated as well (5310 mg/dL). A peripheral blood smear was reviewed, which showed prominent rouleau formation with circulating plasma cells and plasmacytoid lymphocytes (>20% of the white blood cells). These findings were indicative of a plasma cell leukemia.


Read more:
Circulating reactive plasma cells in the setting of peripheral T-cell lymphoma mimicking plasma cell leukemia

Source: Blood Journal

Lemon juice and human norovirus

Citric acid may prevent the highly contagious norovirus from infecting humans, scientists discovered from the German Cancer Research Center. Therefore, lemon juice could be a potentially safe and practical disinfectant against the most common pathogen of severe gastrointestinal infections.

"Maybe a few drops of lemon juice on contaminated food or surfaces may prevent the transmission of these viruses." 

Read more:
Lemon juice and human norovirus

Source: dkfz

Pipette Tip Art

"Starry Night" - Art and science


Read more:
TipArt » "Starry Night"

Source: Tipart
Image credits: Lauren

Petri Dish Kitty Ornament

Perfect decorations for microbiology and cat lovers


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Petri Dish Ornament J2

Source: Etsy by  Gray Tabby Cat Microbe by artologica

The Dance of the Double Helix

A single helical strand twists randomly in the wind
All that steadies the twisting are the aetheric strings
Connected to base pairs...adenine...thymine...
Those strings steady the storms
But where do they lead
Where any path leads of course
And our destination is always our Self
That's how we know when we've arrived
We mirror back to our other Self exactly what We are
Adenine's other self is thymine
We live in duality
Until we're ready to leave that duality and become...
who we are
Non-dual
Citizens
of
Gaia


Read more:
The Dance of the Double Helix

Source: Hello Poetry by AD Mullin

Painless Blood Sampling at Home

HemoLink is a disposable, needleless blood-collection device developed by a research team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A medical startup company called Tasso Inc. in Madison, Wisconsin has been formed to commercialize this device.

HemoLink is a golf ball sized device that is placed against an arm or the abdomen for 2 minutes. Microfluidics create a slight vacuum that pulls blood from capillaries through tiny channels in the skin and into a small tube. The device collects 150 uL of blood.

Tasso plans to market the device to patients who regularly need to have blood drawn to monitor chronic disease or treatment. Patients will be able to draw their own blood sample and send it to a clinical laboratory.

Read more:
HemoLink Blood Collection Device

Source: ClinLab Navigator

Laboratory Love

Great drawing of great feelings in the lab


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Laboratory Love 

Source: Devianart
Image credits: QuantumPhysica

Blood Cell Differential Count

I´m ready for peripheral blood cell differential count....

Sunday Parasite Challenge

Can you identify these particles in human faeces?

Case: 44 years old woman from Wisconsin, USA has lost weight and suffering fatigue lately, but no other symptoms. Basic blood count and infection markers were within normal limits.Stool sample was taken and the findings are in the image. The lenght of the particles is around 60 micrometers.

Correct answer: Diphyllobothrium species eggs (broad fish tapeworm). There are other species of Diphyllobothrium (e.g. D. pacificum, D. ursi) that can also infect humans and they are essentially indistinguishable by morphologically alone. Therefore, it is best to simply identify these as "Diphyllobothrium sp."

 Please read all comments and suggestions from my FB page.

Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites
Image credits: Bobbi Pritt

Tree of life created with bacterial cultures

Recent
microbiological research has shown that thinking of plants and animals,
including humans, as autonomous individuals is a serious
over-simplification.

A series of groundbreaking studies have revealed that what we have
always thought of as individuals are actually "biomolecular networks"
that consist of visible hosts plus millions of invisible microbes
that have a significant effect on how the host develops, the diseases
it catches, how it behaves and possibly even its social interactions.





Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-08-pronoun-obsolete.html#jCp

Don't look now, but the pronoun "I" is becoming obsolete

Recent microbiological research has shown that thinking of plants and animals, including humans, as autonomous individuals is a serious over-simplification. A series of groundbreaking studies have revealed that what we have always thought of as individuals are actually "biomolecular networks" that consist of visible hosts plus millions of invisible microbes that have a significant effect on how the host develops, the diseases it catches, how it behaves and possibly even its social interactions.

Read more:
The pronoun 'I' is becoming obsolete

Source: PHYS org
Image credits: Robert Brucker / Harvard University

POCT ring can diagnose sexually transmitted diseases in a minute

A ring with the ability to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and trichomoniasis was designed by the Mexican Ernesto Rodríguez Leal. The portable medical device called Hoope is a ring that is placed in the thumb, contains a disposable cartridge with a retractable needle for single use and sends the data to a smartphone in less than a minute.

The ring functions as a home diagnostic tool that distributes blood into four microfluidic channels. There are antigens specifically synthesized to catch antibodies for each of the diseases, their interaction functions as a lock and key mechanism. If antibodies for any of the conditions exists, the antigens trap them and produce an electrochemical reaction. After, these data is wirelessly transmitted to a smartphone or tablet, where an app gives results in less than a minute

Read more:
New ring can diagnose sexually transmitted diseases in a single test

Source: Investigación y Desarrollo

Lady in red

Beautiful "dancing lady" figure in urine sediment

Source: Instagram
Image credits: mrsninams

Snowman in the lab

Snowman is taking care of reagent stability during the delivery.

Source: Facebook, trust me I´m biologist
Image credits: Maria Teneva

Puppy cell

Cute puppy found in peripheral blood smear.

Source Facebook, lab humor

Diagnosing Plasmodium falciparum in a teenage traveler by peripheral blood smear

A 17-year-old teenager presented with fever and jaundice for 1 week that was preceded by 3 weeks of abdominal pain and malaise. The patient was born in The Gambia but had lived in the United States for most of his life except for the last 2 years, when he had returned to The Gambia. He was in the United States for 10 days at time of admission. Physical examination revealed depressed sensorium with a Glasgow Coma Scale of 15. He was afebrile and hemodynamically stable on admission but developed hypotension refractory to intravenous fluids, leading to transfer to the intensive care unit within 12 hours of presentation. A complete blood count showed a hemoglobin level of 6.1 g/dL with a nadir of 5.8 g/dL. The peripheral blood smear was diagnostic for Plasmodium falciparum, showing numerous intracellular parasites, with a calculated 28% parasitemia. There were crescent-shaped gametocytes, ring forms with split chromatin giving the typical “headphone” appearance, erythrocytes infected with multiple parasites, and appliqué forms.

Read more:
Diagnosing Plasmodium falciparum in a teenage traveler by peripheral blood smear

Source: Blood Journal

Pseudomonas Cupcake

Petri dish art by Sharyn Mills

Source: Facebook
Image credits: Sharyn Mills

Benign Pelger-Huët anomaly

The Pelger-Huët anomaly is characterized by neutrophils with hypolobated nuclei, including bilobed forms connected by a thin chromatin filament. Congenital Pelger-Huët anomaly is a benign condition associated with autosomal dominant inheritance of mutations in the lamin B–receptor gene and with 55% to 95% of circulating neutrophils exhibiting classic dysmorphology. Lamins create a structural link between chromatin and the internal nuclear membrane, thereby influencing nuclear shape. Acquired or pseudo Pelger-Huët can be associated with myelodysplastic syndrome, acute myeloid leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia, and leukemoid reactions, or can be drug-induced. In these conditions, nuclear bilobation is generally asymmetric and is present in roughly 25% (clonal disorders) to 50% (drug-induced) of granulocytes. An additional distinguishing feature is chromatin clumping in multiple hematopoietic cells in the congenital form that is present only in granulocytes in the acquired anomaly. Importantly, cytopenias are not associated with congenital Pelger-Huët anomaly and likely reflect underlying hepatitis C virus cirrhosis in this case.

Read more:
A case of benign Pelger-Huët anomaly

Source: Blood Journal

Point-of-Care Asthma and Tuberculosis Diagnostics

A device to mix liquids utilizing ultrasonics is the first and most difficult component in a miniaturized system for low-cost analysis of sputum from patients with pulmonary diseases such as tuberculosis and asthma. The device, developed by engineers at Penn State in collaboration with researchers at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Washington University School of Medicine, will benefit patients in the U.S., where 12 percent of the population, or around 19 million people, have asthma, and in undeveloped regions where TB is still a widespread and often deadly contagion.

Stewart J. Levine, a Senior Investigator and Chief of the Laboratory of Asthma and Lung Inflammation in the Division of Intramural Research at NHLBI, said “This on-chip sputum liquefier is a significant advance regarding our goal of developing a point-of-care diagnostic device that will determine the type of inflammation present in the lungs of asthmatics. This will allow health care providers to individualize asthma treatments for each patient and advance the goal of bringing precision medicine into clinical practice.”

Read more:
On-Chip Processor the First Step in Point-of-Care Asthma and Tuberculosis Diagnostics

Source: The Pennsylvania State University
Image credits: Journal Lab on a Chip

Salmonella Turtle

Turtle was created on a Muller Hinton Agar using three different species of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus for the outline. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the only species of Pseudomonas that will produce pyocyanin, which is what creates Sammy’s green color. These bacteria are found naturally in the environment, especially in lakes, ponds, and soil. They are also found in insufficiently cleaned pools or hot tubs, making them a major cause of swimmer’s ear.

Read more:
Sammy Salmonella

Source: Microbeworld
Image credits: LaceyStan21