Looking into past blood test requirements I found out that: In the 1930s & 40s, blood testing to screen for syphilis and or rubella became a prerequisite for obtaining a marriage license in most states.Sexually transmitted diseases were extremely common during that time. Premarital blood tests identified those who were infected and gave them a chance to seek medical treatment before infecting their future spouse. While rubella is not a serious disease for adults, it can be extremely dangerous to an unborn fetus. Premarital testing for rubella was designed to protect the health of a newlywed couple’s unborn children.

     This raises the question “Why don’t all states require blood testing still?  With increased infection rates of HIV/AIDS, Herpes, etc.  this appears to be a healthy provision. It is my understanding that the goal to keep the majority healthy and safe is to prevent further spread of such disease…

Click this link to the CDC for more information on disease statistics.

     In January 1793, the king of France, Louis XVI was executed for high treason. It is told that many citizens went up onto the scaffold to moisten their handkerchiefs in the blood and kept them as a souvenir of his execution. Researchers from Bologna University analyzed the blood from one of these handkerchiefs and observed that its genetics could match those of the French king. For example the “blue eye” color gene.

     The renowned gourd, owned by a Bologna family for over a century has a value of 2 million euros. The gourd shows the portraits of some of the leading figures of the French Revolution. For instance: Georges Danton, Maximilien Robespierre, Llitera Desmoulins, Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Jean-Paul Marat, Queen Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI himself.     The text next to the pictures on the gourd, tells the story of one of the witnesses during the execution, which is of particular interest. Thanks to the  text, we know that Maximilien Bourdaloue moistened his handkerchief in the blood, placed it inside the gourd and ordered the Parisian artist Jean Roux to decorate it, which he finished on 18 September 1793.

     The inscription on the gourd backs up the long help story that the handkerchief was dipped in the blood of the King during his execution…giving some validity.

*** I am curious as to what his blood type was… Interesting story.

Are the use of Stem Cells controversial to you even though

embryonic cells do not have to be used ?

Click this link to more information on Stem Cells…

How donation works…click this link

Hello !!

     I am reaching out to everyone in a search to help my mother Find a kidney donor. She was diagnosed with lupus when she was 16 years old. She is blood type O+.  After about 25 years on surviving on her 1 remaining kidney it started to fail in 2005. She then had no choice but to start dialysis which she does 3 times a week with each session lasting 3 hours. She has been doing this for the past 6 years. She has also been on the transplant waiting list for 6 years & they estimate another 2 1/2 – 3 years.

     Our Family would appreciate all the help we can get whether your interested in being a donor or you just pass this info on to your friends & family members. My mother is a O positive blood type. Her lupus has also been in remission for the past year. Testing to see if you’re a match can be done anywhere. Must be over the age of 22. Due to kidney swap programs, any blood type can apply!

     If you are interested in applying to be a potential donor, please contact me and I’ll send you the application and information on the process via mail or email. We appreciate everyone’s time & effort in helping us find a match for my mom!! May God bless you all!!

Crystal B.

Thank you

Help My Mom Find A Kidney Donor

Appears to be no AB – amongst the Native Americans and Aborigines…

What is your blood type?.

]]> http://rhesusnegativebloodgroup.com/2012/01/02/what-is-your-blood-type/feed/ 0 mellissaneg1111 arrow down ??? http://rhesusnegativebloodgroup.com/2012/01/01/types-of-white-blood-cells/ http://rhesusnegativebloodgroup.com/2012/01/01/types-of-white-blood-cells/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:34:10 +0000 Mellissa B. http://rhesusnegativebloodgroup.com/?p=1070 ]]>

Article link below…

Types of White Blood Cells.

Link to —> The Temple of Theola

The life cycle of a Red Blood Cell.

a) Kidneys respond to a lower than normal oxygen concentration in the blood by releasing the hormone erythropoietin. 
b) Erythropoietin travels to the red bone marrow and stimulates an increase in the production of red blood cells (RBCs). 
c) The red bone marrow manufactures RBCs from stem cells that live inside the marrow. 
d) RBCs squeeze through blood vessel membranes to enter the circulation. 
e) The heart and lungs work to supply continuous movement and oxygenation of RBCs. 
f) Damaged or old RBCs are destroyed primarily by the spleen.

Group A and B Subgroups

The serum of group B persons contains two antibodies: anti A and anti A₁. By proper absorption, the two antibodies can be separated. Cells of group A that react with anti A₁ are part of the subgroup A₁. Cells that react with anti A but not with antiA₁  fall into subgroups weaker than A₁, thus being classified as A₂.

Subgroup A_{1 : Makes up to 80 Percent of the A gene pool and most of the H is changed to A antigen because of the large number of antigen sites on the cells.}

Subgroup A_{2: make up 20 percent of the A gene pool, and have less H changed to A antigen because of the smaller amount of sites on the cells compared to A1. Could produce anti A1.} 

*** Subgroups of B are rare in most populations. They are usually recognized by variations in the strength of a reaction with anti B. There is no reagent available to distinguish among them. The patient’s serum may contain anti B antibodies.

ABO antibodies and antigens

Antibodies produced by exposure to antigens  (bacteria and plants) are not seen until four to six months old. The anti A and anti B found in the serum of a newborns is of maternal origin. In healthy individuals, ABO antibodies are always present peaking at age five to ten years.

Percentage of ABO Antigens and Antibodies in United States Populations

***ABO antigen frequency can vary in other populations with different ethnic mixes.

Link

Genotype Diet, Allergies, etc. for A1, A2, B, & O Types

 

The ONLY True Universal Blood Donor 

~ ~ ~

FACTS ABOUT BOMBAY BLOOD:

 1. This type is commonly mistaken as type O

2.  It can be Rh positive (Rh+) or  Rh negative (Rh-)

3.  It is lacking the H antigen that we all have

4. ONLY 179 people in India have this type

5. ONLY 4 people in India are reported as having Rh- type of Bombay (hh-)

~ ~ ~

Understanding The Bombay Blood Group:

When we say someone has blood group A, it means the person has antigen of type A and antibody of type B in their blood. People with AB have both antigen A and B in their blood and no antibodies.

People with O blood group have only antibodies A and B and no antigens. 

It is not generally known that all these groups have an H antigen in the blood as well. There are very few people who do not have this antigen H also in their blood. These people are known to have BOMBAY BLOOD.

Why does Bombay Blood Group  generally type as O?

Most places where blood type tests are done, the presence & absence of AB and Rh alone is tested in the blood. Bombay Blood Group does not have A or B antigens, it types as O blood. It is only when a specific test for H antigen is done that it can be differentiated between O and Bombay Blood group.

Bombay Blood is the ONLY true Universal Donor…they also can only receive blood from their own type.

Image by abekat via Flickr

The human genome is the complete list of coded instructions needed to make a human.

~ There are 4 types of nucleotide base: A- adenine, T- thymine, C- cytosine, G- guanine.

~ The total number of human genes is estimated to be between 30,000 – 40,000.

~ Worms have 19,098 genes, fruit flies have 13,602 and yeast has 6,034.

~ The vast majority of the DNA in the genome (>97%) has no known function.

~ The functions remain unknown for over 50% of discovered genes.

~ Chromosome 1 has the most genes (2,968) and chromosome Y has the least (231).

~ There are 100 trillion cells in your body.

~ If unwound and tied together, the strands of DNA in one cell would stretch 6 feet.

~ 12,000 letters of DNA are decoded by human genome project computers every second.

~ The entire human genome requires more than 3 gigabytes of computer storage space.

~ To sequence the human genome, researchers collected a large number of blood samples from females and sperm from males. A few of these samples were then chosen at random for sequencing. The identities of the sample sources have never been disclosed, either to the donors or to the scientists. 

Image via Wikipedia

The Neanderthal Genome Project

~ DNA sequencing is an extremely important tool in the fields of Genetics and Molecular Biology. This article explains the complicated process quite well.

~ The Human Genome sequence was finished in 2001. That is 3,000,000,000 bits of information were decoded and put in order – a BIG job.

~ Now, using 38,000-year-old bone fragments, researchers have sequenced 3.7 billion base pairs of Neanderthal DNA.

~ Neanderthals are our closest relatives on the hominid family tree. We split from them about 500,000 years ago and for the next 475,000 years or so, modern humans and Neanderthals coexisted on   the planet and sometimes even in the same region.

~ Neanderthals vanished about 30,000 years ago, leaving modern humans to inherit the Earth. Why humans ended up being more successful has long been a topic of debate.

~ Interestingly, the newly completed sequence shows that humans and Neanderthals have genomes that are 99.5 percent the same.

~ By comparing the human and Neanderthal genomes with that of our closest living relative, the chimpanzee, researchers hope to tell which genes changed very recently, giving modern humans an edge.

you can enter your own blood types or suspected blood types

Blood Type Calculator

. . .

The power of stems cells are great.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Notice that Type O-, O+, A- and B- are preferred for donation of Whole Blood OR Red Blood Cells

Blood Types A+ and B+ are preferred for donation of Platelets OR Plasma

Blood Types AB+ and AB- are preferred for donation of Plasma only

Image via Wikipedia

HIV-1 and HIV-2 are transmitted by exchange of bodily fluids through sexual contact, needle sharing, etc. It appears that HIV-2 is less easily transmitted, and the period between initial infection and illness is longer in the case of HIV-2.

The predominant virus is HIV-1. Generally when people refer to HIV, HIV-1 is the type being referred to. HIV-2 is relatively uncommon and is concentrated in West Africa. It is rarely found elsewhere.

What is artificial blood?

Blood produced from stem cells and can be manufactured as type “O-negative”, which is produced by only 7 % of the World and is suitable for use in up to 98 % of population.

A success story…

“A French doctor has completed the first-ever artificial blood transfusion after extracting stem cells from a patient‘s bone marrow, which were then used to grow the red blood cells under laboratory settings. After five days, 94 to 100 percent of the blood cells remained circulating in the body. After 26 days, 41 to 63 percent remained, which is a normal survival rate for naturally produced blood cells. The cells carried oxygen throughout the patient’s body, just as normal red blood cells would.”

What is Oxygent?

Often used as an “additive” during blood transfusions…

One of the newest chemical blood type products known as an artificial blood addictive. Synthetic substitutes for human blood have been a goal for a long time.

Image via Wikipedia

Are Neanderthals part of modern human ancestry?

Neanderthals inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia starting about 230,000 years ago. They cohabited with modern humans for thousands of years before becoming extinct about 29,000 years ago. Since 1999, several DNA samples have been extracted from Neanderthal fossils and sequenced, allowing scientists to compare large sections of the Neanderthal genome with that of modern humans. This is possible because DNA fragments can survive for 50,000 to 100,000 years.

Neanderthal DNA sequences were found to be about 99.5% similar to the modern human genome, indicating that modern humans and Neanderthals had a common ancestor about 700,000 years ago. The genetic difference between Neanderthals and modern humans, however, was on average about three times greater than the genetic difference between any two modern humans. Studies of the mtDNA of nearly 80,000 people found no traces of mutations known to be common in Neanderthal mtDNA. These differences indicate no significant interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans after the two species diverged.

http://www.carolina.com/product/life+science/genetics/human+genetics/abo+rh+eldoncard+student+kit.do?sortby=ourpicks

The Du positive cells are likely to elicit an immune response in D negative individuals and the Du cells could be destroyed if the recepient is already immunised. Therefore, Du positive donor is treated as D positive and recepient is treated as negative. Hemolytic disease of the new born has also been reported in a D negative mother with D antibodies due to earlier Du positive baby.

* Informative blood typing procedure videos…

1.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gHl3PMv5BU&feature=relmfu

2.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0IC3fwsP6U&feature=relmfu

3.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJpcNcZ_rlk&feature=relmfu

The D antigen, whether from a D positive or Du positive individual, is considered to be mosaic of many parts or many antigenic determinants, called EPITOPES. Under certain circumstances, perhaps by mutation or unequal crossing over, one or more of these epitopes is missing or changed, or a substitution has occured, so that the shape of total D antigen is altered. Presumably this change involves a very small portion of the D antigen. Since most of the antigen remains intact and most Rh antisera are heterogenous, the red cells react only in the test for Du. If the person is lacking common D positive cells either by pregnancy or transfusion, that epitope of the total antigen may be recognized as foreign by the reception and an antibody may be produced against that epitope cells because they have the total antigen. It is not known how many epitopes there are to the mosaic. Based on the work of Tippett in England and work done in the Phillip Levine laboratories, no fewer than eight varients of D and Du have been identified. Some varients may be the result of more than one missing epitope.

Du Testing

Not all red cells can be classified as Rh positive or negative by direct agglutination tests. The cells of a few persons react weakly with anti-D or requires a longer reaction time than most Rh positive cells. An even smaller number of persons have red cells that are not agglutinated by antiglobulin serum. These cells are called Du. Cells of the Du phenotype may fall anywhere within this spectrum of reactivity with anti-D.

Because Du is a form of D, red cells of the Du phenotype can stimulate the production of anti-D in Rh negative receipients and, more importantly, react with anti-D in vivo. It is for these reasons that donor blood must be shown to be negative not only in the test for D but also in the test for Du. In general,testing the red cells of recipients for Du is considered unnecessary. The recipient’s welfare is not compromised if he or she is of the Du phenotype but is typed as D negative and recieves Rh negative red cells. In such circumstances Rh negative donor blood may be used unnecessarily.

It is important that the Du status of the D negative pregnant woman be established early in pregnancy. If the mother is found to be Rh positive, Du varient, she is not a canditate for Rh immuneglobulin prophylaxis- either antepartum or postpartum- whereas the Rh negative (D and Du negative) mother is a canditate. The reason for performing the Du test early in pregnancy is to avoid mis-interpreting the cause of a positive fetal cell screening test at the time of delivery.

In addition to prenatal patients, newborn babies are also tested for Du if they type as D negative. Again, this relates to the need for Rh immune globulin: the D negative, Du negative baby cannot immunize its mother; for this reason she does not need Rhimmune globulin protection. However, the mother should receive Rh immune globulin if the baby is of the Du phenotype.

Du red cells fall into a wide spectrum of reactivity when tested with anti-D reagents. How each cell is detected depends on the type of anti-D that is used and the kind of test that is performed. To test for Du, red cells are incubated at 37C with an IgG anti-D and an antiglobulin test is performed. If serum suspended cells are used, some blood samples at the upper end of the Du spectrum will be agglutinated weakly by most anti-D reagents prior to the antiglobulin test, either at room temperature or at 37C. When the same red cells are suspended in saline, direct agglutination may not be observed, or it may be seen with one reagent and not another. Regardless of whether the red cells are agglutinated directly by anti-D or they absorb abti-D and it is detected in the antiglobulin phase of the test, they are Rh positive, provided both controls for D typing and the Du test are negative

Unusually Weak Agglutination

Each of the common antigens of the Rh system has been found in a varient form. The varient form of D (Du) has already been described. There are also varients of C, c, E and e as well as individual whose red cells show depression of all the Rh antigens. In some cases varient antigen may react with one antiserum of a given specificity and not with another of the same apparent specificity. This occurs because the two antisera are not infact identical, although the difference between them is insignificant when testing the vast majority of blood samples.

Cells sensitized with anti-D in vivo, such as cells of babies with hemolytic disease due to anti-D, may not type correctly by any direct agglutination method because all or almost all D antigen sites may be blocked. When all the D antigen sites on the cells take up anti-D in vivo, no sites are available for the attachment of the anti-D in the reagent and the cells appear to be Rh negative. false negative tests due to such heavy sensitisation are extreamely rare. If an eluate prepared from sensitized red cells is shown to contain anti-D, the red cells are then established as Rh positive; were they really Rh negative, they would not have absorbed anti-D in vivo and eluates could not contain anti-D.

“Researchers have discovered a potentially important new resistance factor in the battle against HIV: blood types. An international team of researchers from Canadian Blood Services, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Lund University in Sweden have discovered that certain blood types are more predisposed to contracting HIV, while others are more effective at fending it off.

A carbohydrate-containing antigen, termed Pk blood group which is distinct from the well-known ABO and Rh blood grouping systems, is present at variable levels on the surface of white and red blood cells in the general population. A study published today in Blood, which is currently available online, shows that cells from rare individuals (˜ 1 in a million) who produce excess of this blood group antigen have dramatically reduced sensitivity to HIV infection. Conversely, another slightly more common subgroup of people who do not produce any Pk (˜ 5 in a million) was found to be much more susceptible to the virus.

“This study is not suggesting that your blood type alone determines if you will get HIV,” says lead author Dr. Don Branch of Canadian Blood Services. “However, it does suggest that individuals who are exposed to the virus, may be helped or hindered by their blood status in fighting the infection.”

Increasing the level of the Pk antigen in cells in the laboratory also resulted in heightened resistance to HIV, while lowering it increased susceptibility. The Pk molecule has been previously studied extensively by The Research Institute at the Hospital for Sick Children Senior Scientist Dr. Cliff Lingwood; Lund University’s Dr. Martin Olsson has identified underlying genetic reasons for Pk blood group variation.

“This discovery implicates the Pk level as a new risk factor for HIV infection and demonstrates the importance of blood-group-related science,” says Dr. Olsson.

“The conclusions of this study pave the way for novel therapeutic approaches to induce HIV resistance and promote further understanding of the pandemic as a whole,” says Dr. Lingwood.”

Eyes are so important. They are the first thing we see on the face. We notice them for color, and shape, especially if they are rare.

Amber
If you have strong yellowish/golden pigments with a copper or rust tin, your eyes are amber-colored. Your eyes are amber-colored due to the deposition of ‘lipochrome‘, the yellow pigment. This is a very, very rare eye color and people with this eye color are called ‘wolf eye’. This is because amber eyes are very common in wolves.

Green Eyes
Many green-eyed people ask ‘is green a rare eye color’? Well, the answer is a straight forward yes. There are only 1 to 2% people in the world who have green eyes. There is a moderate amount of melanin produced in the iris that leads to green eyes. People of Northern Europe, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany and Netherlands have green eyes.

Red
Red is a rare eye color and probably the most rare eye color in the human world. The red eyes are seen in albino humans, as they have large quantities of the normally scarce red areas in the eye. Sometimes a small leakage of blood in the iris can also result in red-eye color.

Black
One of the rare eye colors in the world is black. Many people have extremely dark brown eyes that appear to be black. But there are true black colored eyes that are an extremely rare eye color in humans.

Violet Eyes
Violet is a very rare eye color that is due to lack of enough pigment in the iris that covers the blood vessels. This leads to reflection of light in such a way that the eyes appear violet in color.

Heterochromia
This is a very rare condition in which one iris is a different color than the other iris. In some cases a part of one iris is different from the remaining part. This is a very rare eye color that may be due to genetics and Waardenburg syndrome. Many times increased or decreased pigmentation can result due to some trauma and medications.

Your genes play a role in development of rare eye colors. The eyes are the window to the soul. If you are one of the individuals with a rare eye color, it may be due to genes & pigment levels.

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