CureYourBody.com is excited to announce the launch of
its new forums. The next several months will be critical to setting up the
forums the way you want them to be. So
if you feel we should add more categories or sub forums, please let us know.
We'll add sub forums on our own as well, if we feel a
large number of posts are being made on a specific topic. For example, "Colon Cleansing" was added as a sub forum to the Gastroenterology forum since there seems
to be a lot of posts for that specific subject.
Blood is an extremely complex fluid and one that we oftentimes probably don't consider so. Its composed of both formed elements (Red Blood Cells, White Blood Cells, and platelets) as well as plasma.
The Players: RBCs, WBCs, Platelets, and Plasma Proteins
Red Blood Cells (aka - erythrocytes; abbreviated RBCs) are the most common formed elements with a very important function. They carry oxygen to the cells of the body via their major component, Hemoglobin (abbreviated: Hb), which you may have heard of before.
White Blood Cells (abbreviated WBCs) are significantly outnumbered by the RBCs. A textbook average is about 1 WBC for every 700 RBCs! Of course, there are significant times the number of WBCs can be increased (namely immune response to infection or other stimuli of inflammation that will likely be pertinent in this subforum).
The last of the formed elements - Platelets (aka - megakaryocytes) who's primary role is to participate in coagulation. Under normal physiology, this is a very important function as it can certainly dictate healthy blood clotting in response to trauma, etc... When things go bad (pathology response), excessive clotting can also be a sign of negative discussion we'll use, so just keep this role in mind.
Plasma is the last discussion point of blood. Plasma is largely water, electrolytes, and plasma proteins - which themselves are very complex. THe plasma proteins most important in blood clotting are the coagulation factors and this will certainly come in to play with discussion of some disease states (i.e. - Hemophilias, etc...).
Hematology: The Medical Study of the Blood
Hematology refers to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases of the blood and bone marrow as well as of the immunologic, hemostatic (blood clotting) and vascular systems. Because of the nature of blood circulating throughout the human body, alterations in normal blood physiology - either formed elements or plasma proteins - may have widespread adverse consequences. Therefore, the science of hematology profoundly affects the understanding of many diseases including such topics as: Anemia, Polycythemia, Multiple Myeloma, Hemophilia, Transfusions, and so on…
