Encounters: Raw Meat

         Yesterday, after a long day of being in class for about seven consecutive hours, my roommate and I were preparing to have dinner and she was getting ready to cook meat for tamales. Tamales are a traditional food for most Hispanics. I say most Hispanics, because I'm Mexican and my roommate is Guatemalan and we both love to eat tamales. I was clearly not exposed to all this diversity in South Texas. Anyway, her meat had been in the freezer for a quite some time and she asked me if she should be worried about it acquiring bacteria. I get so excited when information that I learn in class comes up during the day.

     I remembered how in one of our labs we had a question about freezing and thawing meat. One of the questions on the report asked, "Why does repeated freezing and thawing increase bacterial growth?" When meat is repeatedly thawed, the meat sits at room temperature for a while and this allows bacteria to grow. Freezing the meat after it has thawed does not kill or eliminate any of the new bacteria that could have possibly grown. It is always important to properly store meat in the freezer to avoid bacteria from growing on it. In the end, my roommate decided not to use the meat and threw it out. She saved herself from ingesting some possible bacteria, I guess I'm her hero now :P

 

Reflections: Blood Typing

     In last week's lab, we did a process where we actually tested our own or someone else's blood type. I was interested in the lab because I had never been tested for my blood type before and I was curios in finding out. We started the procedure by cleaning the finger that was going to be used. Then we pricked the finger and pointed it downward to help the blood flow, we also massaged the palm to further aid in the blood flow. This method really improved the amount of blood flow that we got because before doing this we were unsuccessful in obtaining enough blood for testing. After we had sufficient blood we placed a drop on three different slides. On the first slide, we added anti-A, on the second slide we added anti- B, and on the third slide we added the anti- Rh. The agglutination of the blood and antigen determined which blood type was present. This test is fairly reliable, of course, you are better off having your blood type tested by a professional. My results showed that I am blood type O. So, if anyone needs blood, I can be your donor!

Immunoglobulin theories

 

Immunoglobulins: They are antibodies that are produced by B cells which are a lymphocyte. They function in neutralizing foreign substances that invade the body such as bacteria and viruses. They are Y- shaped structures that have heavy chains and light chains.

http://myplace.frontier.com/~dffix/medmicro/igs.htm

 

Germ- line theory: This theory states that each immunoglobulin has genetic information that is encoded in the germ- line genome.

Somatic mutation theory: This theory is based on the limited amount of inherited antibodies that undergo a mutation with their B cells to generate the observed repertoire
 
http://nsdl.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/546/1/AntibodyDiversity.pdf 
http://www.nature.com/icb/journal/v86/n2/fig_tab/7100160f1.html

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

     I enjoy learning about the components of blood, it is fascinating for me. So, for my disease project I chose a disease that dealt with the blood, more specifically with leukocytes. I think part of the reason that I find the blood so intriguing is because at first, it was confusing to me and it seemed too complicated to understand. Once I learned the material it all made sense and now it's kind of fun. Hope you enjoy this quick overview as much as I did!
     Leukocytes are white blood cells and there are five different types. There are all pretty cool and unique. Blood stem cells are what give rise to the various type of cells. They are grouped into myeloid cells and lymphoid stem cells. The myeloid cells can become erythrocytes (red blood cells), thrombocytes (platelets), or granulocytes (Neutrophils, Basophils, and Eosinophils). As opposed to the lymphoid cells that become B cells, T cells, and NK cells (they are also leukocytes). Myeloid and lymphoid stem cells both have the capability of developing into leukocytes, although they are different type of leukocytes (nonetheless, they are still leukocytes). As a result, this can be detrimental to an individual because an overproduction of leukocytes means that there is less space for other cells (erythrocytes, thrombocytes, and leukocytes). Another factor that affects this abundance is that the granulocytes developing from the myeloid stem cells (hence the name of the disease, pretty cool) are produced with a defect that makes them abnormal and not healthy.
     In conclusion, a person with leukemia has two harmful events occurring simultaneously in the body. Not only is there an over production of leukocytes, they are also not functioning properly. This is crucial to their health because it is the neutrophils, basophils, and eosinophils that are being defected. These three granulocytes perform necessary functions for keeping the body healthy. Thankfully, individuals with this disease do have several treatment options to choose from. Hope you learned something new and are willing to share your knowledge to educate the world one person at a time! :)