Erythropoiesis (or why you're never doing "nothing")

Next time you are lounging around in your pajamas zoning out to your favorite trash TV show, remember that you have nothing to feel lazy about. Even when you're parked on your couch, you are far busier than you could ever imagine. Consider this: your body produces 2 MILLION red blood cells PER SECOND. That's just ONE of countless cellular processes it's engaged in, but I'll save the others as fodder for future posts.

The amazing feat of red blood cell production is scientifically termed "erythropoiesis". This process occurs in your bone marrow, which is basically a crazy goo filled with a type of stem cell that differentiates into all the types of blood cells your body produces. When a stem cell in your bone marrow decides it wants to grow up to be a red blood cell, the process of maturation takes a few days. However, because this process is happening continuously, 2 million red blood cells are ready to break out from their birth place in bone marrow and into your bloodstream every single second. 

To make things even more mind-boggling, consider how many oxygen molecules can be transported on each new red blood cell that you produce. Red blood cells are like giant rafts for hemoglobin, a protein that binds to oxygen allowing it to be efficiently transported throughout your body in a matter of seconds. A single red blood cell contains approximately 250 million hemoglobin molecules. Each hemoglobin molecule can bind to 4 oxygen molecules. This means that 1 BILLION oxygen molecules can be transported on a single red blood cell. 

Yeah, so next time you are watching the Kardashians, don't feel guilty. Not only are you processing sensory input from your television, you are also producing millions of oxygen hoarding red blood cells per second. Now that's what I call multitasking. 

Toxoplasma gondii: Danger for Baby Mamas

As you may know, pregnant women are advised against cleaning cat boxes for the duration of their pregnancy. You may wonder if OB/GYNs banded together and declared that since pregnant women are busy growing human life in their wombs and all, they might as well be given a free pass from cat box duty for 9 months. Or perhaps it is because if a pregnant woman stoops down to clean the cat box she'll get stuck? These seem like legitimate enough reasons to me, but if you need more incentive to keep pregnant ladies away from cat boxes, try this one on for size: PARASITES! Yep. There is a parasite (a protozoan parasite to be scientifically accurate) named Toxoplasma gondii that can be transmitted in cat poo. Most people who become infected don't get sick because their kick-ass immune system takes charge before the little buggers cause any harm. At the most, they might get flu-like symptoms and never suspect that a cat poo parasite is the culprit. However, if a pregnant women becomes infected for the first time (i.e. she has no previous immunity) she can pass the infection onto her unborn baby. This can result in miscarriage, giving birth to a stillborn baby, or giving birth to a baby who goes on to develop vision loss, mental disability, or seizures. Is that reason enough??

Side note: Recent press has scared cat ladies everywhere by claiming that Toxoplasma gondii causes brain cancer. These rumors have been put to rest. Cat ladies should only worry about their cat negatively affecting their health if they happen to be pregnant cat ladies. Even then, there is no need to avoid your feline friends, just avoid their poo box.

Novel Swine Flu Prevention

The CDC has recently reported that cases of individuals becoming infected with new strains of swine flu are on the rise. Viruses, tiny as they are, have the incredible capacity to infinitely evolve new ways to infect hosts, including jumping from species to species. Most of the time, swine flu only infects swine and is not transmissible to humans. However, under the right conditions, a pig carrying swine flu might infect a human in close contact. Viral strains that make this species jump, can over time learn to be quite successful at infecting humans. This means that they acquire the capacity to spread from human to human. So, now when Babe infects Farmer Hoggett, he can infect his neighbor Bob, who infects his wife Betty, and so on and so forth.

Many of the humans that have contracted swine flu this summer have been in contact with pigs at county fairs, which prompted the CDC to issue these guidelines. If you want to hang with  swine, that's cool. But, just remember these guidelines so that you aren't used as a human vat for swine flu while it brews its next pandemic strain. The good news: you can still eat bacon! There is NO evidence that eating properly handled and cooked pork puts you at risk for catching swine flu. Artherosclerosis? What? That's not what this post is about.

What Not to Share

Supposedly, we all learned to share in kindergarten. Sharing is caring, right? Well, not always. What your kindergarten teacher didn't mention is that some things should NEVER, under any circumstances whatsoever, be shared. NEVER. Case in point: needles. No matter what you are doing with needles - injecting insulin or hormones, having a botox party, getting a garage piercing/tattoo, or using illicit substances - do not share. Needles give nasty viruses, such as HIV and hepatitis, a free ride right into your blood stream. That kind of sharing is definitely not caring. If you or someone you know is at risk for sharing needles  and doesn't have access to clean ones, inquire as to whether an organization in your community offers needle exchange programs. And remember, sometimes it's ok not to share.