Red Blood Cells, Functions, Diseases A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment, And Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

This book describes Red Blood Cells, Functions, Diseases, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases
The blood comprises 45% red blood cells (RBCs) or erythrocytes.
RBCs are formed in the bone marrow and do the essential work of delivering oxygen to all of the body's cells.
About 2.5 million RBCs are destroyed and reinstated every second.
In early development, the production of RBC:
1.Begins in the yolk sac
2.Shifts to the liver and spleen during the 3rd month of gestation and finally to
3.The bone marrow in the 5th month.
4.From then on all the RBCs are produced in the bone marrow.
When the medical adulthood is reached, the creation of RBCs is mostly restricted to the marrow from the ends of the long bones, the vertebrae ribs and pelvis.
The life cycle of a normal RBC is about 120 days.

Life and Death of A Red Blood Cell:
My name is Red Bull, the red blood cell.
They called me Red because of the redness of my color and Bull because I am always charging along the Blood stream like a Bull.
There are 5 million red blood cells per cubic millimeter of blood which means that the entire body contains approximately 25 trillion red blood cells
Yes it is true that I have 25 trillions brothers in the human body.
I was born in the bone marrow of the pelvis of my human host.
The other cells wanted to call me Red Pelvis which is a horrible name so I start to chase them in my bull like fashion until they finally called me Red Bull.
I have a best friend who was called Humorous Red because he was born at the bone marrow end of the humerus. He does not mind the name and was always making humorous jokes:
“A man let out a large burp.
Nearby, a man loudly says “How dare you burp before my wife!”
The burper replies “I didn't even know she wanted to burp first!”Hahaha!”
I called him HR. We have lots of fun together
I was born on Christmas day 25/12/2012 at 10.am in the pelvis of my human host.
It took me 7 days in the bone marrow before I was transformed from a stem cell into a developing red blood cell or reticulocyte and then released into the blood stream.
In fact 2 million of new RBCs are released into blood stream every second.
I am expected to live for 120 days which means that I may die on 4/4/2013.
My friend HR was born 2 days after me in the humerus bone.
The first time that I was released into the blood circulation from the bone, I was still an immature RBC or reticulocyte.
It took me 1 day before my Hemoglobin was fully developed and I was able to carry oxygen and carbon dioxide.
That makes me a fully mature RBC.
A mature RBC is biconcave in shape with a disk diameter of 8μm and a thickness of 2μm.
My responsibility is to carry oxygen to the tissues and remove waste carbon dioxide.
My unique biconcave shape gives small volume and large surface and my induced large surface-to-volume ratio will allow me to contain more hemoglobin which is helpful to increase the rate of diffusion of the Oxygen and Carbon Oxide.
My first day in the blood circulation was in the blood capillary from the bone marrow.
From the capillary I was taken into the venous blood system which then leads me to the heart where I was pumped into an area (the lungs) full of bubbly gas that cling to me.
That gas (oxygen) was so refreshing.
In a short while I was pumped out of the heart into the blood stream.
I literately went round the whole body in 20 seconds.
There are so many stories I can tell about my journey around the body with encounters with bacteria, virus and being saved by the WBC and platelets.
At the end of 120 days , I was engulfed by a macrophage and my heme and protein were recycled to form a new red blood cell. You must read my story!!
TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Red Blood Cells
Chapter 2 Functions
Chapter 3 Diseases
Chapter 4 Polycythemia Vera
Chapter 5

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: Dec 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463470459

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

Red Blood Cells, Functions,

Diseases

A

Simple

Guide

To

The Condition,

Diagnosis,

Treatment,

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2018 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes Red Blood Cells, Functions, Diseases, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases which is seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

(What You Need to Treat Red Blood Cells, Functions, Diseases)

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog: http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Disorder) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiolographical account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog: http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiolographical account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 800 eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical disorders.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring the patient the latest information about a disorder or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

The Red Blood Cells

The blood comprises 45% red blood cells (RBCs) or erythrocytes.

RBCs are formed in the bone marrow and do the essential work of delivering oxygen to all of the body's cells.

The hematocrit evaluates the volume of RBCs in the blood.

A normal hematocrit reading for women is between 36 - 44 %; for men it is 41 - 50 %.

Appearance of a RBC:

The RBC is disc-shaped and concave on both sides.

The concave shape of the RBC enlarges the surface area, which permits them to distribute more oxygen to the body's cells.

The shape also allows the cells to bunch together more compactly helping them travel through the bloodstream more effectively.

Some RBCs are slightly thicker or thinner, wider or longer than others but can alter their shape to go with the demands of their environment.

The cell membranes of the RBCs are protein lattices that give them flexibility, permitting them to find the way through the twists and turns of the blood vessel network.

The diameter of a RBC is 7 μm.

Hemoglobin of Red Blood Cell

Hemoglobin is an iron-containing protein present in red blood cells that attaches oxygen and carbon dioxide for transport and delivery to different parts of the body.

Hemoglobin besides being a transport molecule has a pigment which gives the cell its red color.

Hemoglobin also has an important part in preserving the shape of the red blood cells.

The nearly 300 million hemoglobin molecules contained within each RBC readily move and slide past each other within the cell, modifying their positions to conform to the RBC's shifting shape.

Abnormal hemoglobin structure can interfere with the shape of red blood cells and hinder its function and its flow through blood vessels.

Life Cycle of Red Blood Cell

There are a total of 20 to 30 trillion RBCs in the body.

To preserve the body's healthy equilibrium, about 2.5 million RBCs are destroyed and reinstated every second.

In early development, the production of RBC:

1. Begins in the yolk sac

2. Shifts to the liver and spleen during the 3rd month of gestation and finally to

3. The bone marrow in the 5th month.

4. From then on all the RBCs are produced in the bone marrow.

When the medical adulthood (at the age of 10-11 years for girls and 11-12 years for boys) is reached, the creation of RBCs is mostly restricted to the marrow from the ends of the long bones, the vertebrae ribs and pelvis with a little produced in the skull too.

The life cycle of a normal RBC is about 120 days around four months.

In the 120 days the RBC makes an amazing 75000 round trips between the lungs, heart and cells of the body.

RBCs do not have a nucleus.

As a result they are not able to repair or synthesize new cellular components.

Ultimately they wear out.

Then most aging RBCs are removed from circulation by specialized white blood cells called macrophages that are present within the liver spleen and lymph nodes.

The macrophages swallow up RBCs, digest them and release some of their components to be recycled within the body.

Old RBCs are taken apart and their components re-used.

The bone marrow is continuously at work producing new RBCs.

In a healthy human being this is a energetic and ongoing process.

The formation of a RBC is a long process.

The erythropoietin hormone in the kidney has to inform the stem cell in bone marrow in the bone to become a proerythroblast (a RBC stem cell).

The blast cell is a building cell.

It is an immature or baby blood cell.

The proerythroblast will form a basophilic erythroblast in 0.5 day.

This erythroblast will develop into a polychromatophilic erythroblast with the shrinking of nucleus and darkening of the cytoplasm with ribosome in 0.8 day.

At this stage the cell forms hemoglobin.

The production of hemoglobin progresses in the cell throughout its early development from the proerythroblast to the reticulocyte in the bone marrow

Heme is a chemical compound of a group comprising an iron ion contained in the