{"product_id":"2940045342018","title":"Life and Death of a Red Blood Cell (Red Bull)","description":"\u003cp\u003eMY STORY as a Red Blood Cell\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy name is Red Bull, the red blood cell.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey called me Red because of the redness of my color and Bull because I am always charging along the Blood stream like a Bull.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere are 5 million red blood cells per cubic millimeter of blood which means that the entire body contains approximately 25 trillion red blood cells\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYes it is true that I have 25 trillions brothers in the human body.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI was born in the bone marrow of the pelvis of my human host.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI 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:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A man let out a large burp.\u003cbr\u003eNearby, a man loudly says “How dare you burp before my wife!”\u003cbr\u003eThe burper replies “I didn't even know she wanted to burp first!”Hahaha!”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI called him HR. We have lots of fun together\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI was born on Christmas day 25\/12\/2012 at 10.am in the pelvis of my human host Ken.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn fact 2 million of new RBCs are released into blood stream every second.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI am expected to live for 120 days which means that I may die on 4\/4\/2013.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy friend HR was born 2 days after me in the humerus bone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe first time that I was released into the blood circulation from the bone, I was still an immature RBC or reticulocyte.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt took me 1 day before my Hemoglobin was fully developed and I was able to carry oxygen and carbon dioxide.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat makes me a fully mature RBC.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA mature RBC is biconcave in shape with a disk diameter of 8μm and a thickness of 2μm.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy responsibility is to carry oxygen to the tissues and remove waste carbon dioxide.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy first day in the blood circulation was in the blood capillary from the bone marrow.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat gas (oxygen) was so refreshing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a short while I was pumped out of the heart into the blood stream.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI literately went round the whole body in 20 seconds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy biconcave shape helps me to squeeze through small lumen of the capillaries so easily.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe diameter of most of the capillaries is 25% smaller than the width of our cell body but because of our concave shape we were able to squeeze through the capillaries.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs I went through the body my oxygen gas is released to the cells.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSome of them needed the oxygen and thanked me profusely.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOthers left me holding on to their carbon dioxide.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Wow” I exclaimed “This is an amazing job.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI loved moving in the blood stream and helping the other cells.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI first met Humorous Red when he was just coming out in his capillary blood vessel from his bone marrow at the humerus bone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe was slightly bigger than me and was caught in a kink in the capillary.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI was smaller than him and was so used after 2 days to moving around in the capillaries that I was able to push and pull him out of the kink of the capillary. I was also able to release ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and S-nitrosothiols which relax the blood vessel walls to relax and open wider.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe was so happy that he now follows me whether I went.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTABLE OF CONTENT\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChapter 1 Story of Red Bull RBC\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChapter 2 Life Cycle of Red Blood Cell\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChapter 3 Formation of a RBC\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChapter 4 Death of a RBC\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChapter 5 The Red Blood Cells\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChapter 6 The Blood\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChapter 7 The Blood Cells\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kenneth Kee","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47067462271216,"sku":"2940045342018","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940045342018_p0.jpg?v=1763974618","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940045342018","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}