Enjoying The Little Things And Taking Life One Day At A Time

Who doesn't love a good ole PAS stain?

Ft some lovely Cryptococcus organisms

Let's learn about the Babesia parasite!

Caused by infected ticks

Leads to anemia & low platelets

Testing: thin & thick smears, morphology, parasitemia levels, PCR

Treatment depends on severity (ranges from antiprotozoal meds or exchange transfusion)

Ring-like formation in the RBCs = Babesia parasite! (Very similar morphology to Malaria)

The Birth of Brain Cells

This might look like a distant web of galaxies captured by a powerful telescope, but it’s actually a microscopic image of a newborn nerve cell. The human brain contains more cells than there are stars in our galaxy, and the most important cells are neurons, which are nerve cells responsible for transmitting and processing electro-chemical signals at up to 320 km/h. This chemical signalling occurs through synapses—specialised connections with other cells, like wires in a computer. Each cell can receive input from thousands of others, so a typical neuron can have up to ten thousand synapses—i.e., can communicate with up to ten thousand other neurons, muscle cells, and glands. Estimates suggest that adult humans have approximately 100 billion neurons in their brain, but unlike most cells, neurons don’t undergo cell division, so if they’re damaged they don’t grow back—except, apparently, in the hippocampus (associated with memory) and the olfactory bulb (associated with sense of smell). The process by which this occurs is unclear, and this image was taken during a project to determine how neurons are born—it actually depicts newborn nerve cells in an adult mouse’s brain.

(Image Credit: Dana Bradford)

A prominent Human Gut Bacterium in the intestine.  Bacteria form symbiotic relationships with many organisms, including humans. One example is the bacteria that live inside the human digestive system. These microbes break down food and produce vitamins that humans need. In return, the bacteria benefit from the stable environment inside the intestines. Bacteria also colonize human skin. The bacteria obtain nutrients from the surface of the skin, while providing people with protection against more dangerous microbes.

the lichen knowledge iceberg i have constructed on request

Type B orcas using ice to exfoliate!

Natgeo

Church of Whale Fall

pssssst...

guess what.

you deserve to be happy.

pass it on.

Gastric cancer patient with bone marrow metastasis #oncology #cancer #laboratory #diagnostics #oncologia #microscopy

Literally on the day of Halloween I have managed to chance upon a cell in a splenic impression smear that looks vaguely like fatso from Casper and I couldn't be happier