Hematopoietic Stem Cells Ready For Re-injection. Image From Steve Gschmeisserner.

Aspirate of a mammary mass from a 8 year-old, female-intact, Yorkshire Terrier.  The patient was found wondering in a field by a good Samaritan-turned-owner over the 4th of July weekend.  Although she was acting normally, the owner brought the little dog in for a ‘look over.’  On physical examination a 2cm mass was felt in the left mammary chain.  No obvious spay scar was present.

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On cytology there were copious clusters of epithelial cells.  These epithelial cells (top picture) were very non-descript, making for large, jumbled piles of cells.  Notice how you cannot see any well-defined cell borders between them?? Just a ton of nuclei (and nucleoli) blending in together!  That’s a sign of cell craziness!  Many clusters were surrounded by this gorgeous, pink-magenta material.  Likely secretory product or matrix.

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Cytologic diagnosis:  Mammary tumor!  Although the cells look quite malignant on cytology, many studies have shown you cannot reliably determine malignancy with cytology alone.  Thus, you NEED a biopsy to determine if a mammary tumor is malignant or benign in a dog.  And flip a coin on that - about 50% are malignant and 50% are benign.  Intact female dogs have an almost 35% lifetime chance of developing one of these beasts!

Colleen Conway-Welch (1944-2018) was an American nurse, known for her public health advocacy and numerous projects. She served as Dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing for almost 30 years.

She received her doctorate from New York University and went on to work in various hospitals and universities throughout the United States. Under her leadership at VUSN, the university introduced an accelerated master’s programme and a PhD programme. She was named a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing.

Ms. Holly Aaron, Dr. Karen Dehnert, Dr. Scott Laughlin, and Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi

University of California, Berkeley, California, USA Specimen: Fucosylated glycans in a zebrafish embryo. Technique: Confocal microscopy

2021 BABY LETS GO

My best friend is defending next month, and he has decided to dedicate his thesis to his son and daughter (who are cats) and to his godson (who is my cat). I will never be sad again. This has cured all that ails. 

Behold the Gastric Rainbow. Sounds gross, but it’s actually beautiful. This cross-section of a mouse intestine is labeled with a spectrum of fluorescent molecules. From the green and magenta digestive enzyme-producing cells to the red mucus-secreting cells, this is one of the most dynamic areas in the mammalian body: Each cell is replaced by another every 3-5 days.

(via The Scientist Magazine)

My blog is a private thing that is open to everyone in the world except to the people I know in real life.

About to burst

A geyser forms due to water being heated by the energy beneath the Earth’s surface. The water is heated past the normal boiling point of water, but remains in a liquid state because of the pressure of the water on top of it.

Eventually, enough water turns to steam that it begins blasting the column of water upwards. Once the first bit of water is removed, the pressure drops, causing more water to turn to steam and leading to a runaway eruption of the water.

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