The March meeting was held on Thursday in the Expanse Hotel when the chairman, Dave Vernon welcomed members and the guest speaker. He began by inducting two new members, John Dawson and John Davies, who were presented with club ties and badges. The chairman also informed members of the situation concerning members who are ill.
After lunch the chairman then introduced the speaker Janice Leak. Her talk had the title “Haematology....the Wonderful World of Blood”. She began by pointing out that Haematology was the study of blood and its diseases. She was a microbiologist whose career had been spent in medical laboratories, 10 years in Canada and the rest working for the Surrey and Sussex NHS trust. William Harvey first demonstrated the circulation of blood in the early 1600’s, that blood was pumped from the heart to the lungs where it picks up oxygen and gets rid of carbon dioxide then back to the heart to be pumped round the body. It also carries nutrients, enzymes and food product to cells throughout the body.
Janice then described the process of blood testing for a range of problems and related some interesting facts that it takes less than a minute for blood to circulate all round the body, it takes only 30 seconds to lose all 5 litres of blood with damage to a main artery and the modern analysis of blood can be done in a few seconds, the body has about 5million red cells and five thousand white ones.
She then went on to speak of diseases of the blood. A common disease of red cells is various forms of anaemia often brought about by poor diet. Diseases of white blood cells tend to be more serious and include various forms of leukaemia. Glandular Fever also known as the “kissing disease” is more common amongst young people and is a disease of affluence.
Normal platelets are a part of blood which help with what the speaker described as the “clotting cascade”. Janice then referred to the use of warfarin as a blood thinner to reduce the risk of strokes. She concluded a fascinating talk with a mention of blood parasites which cause malaria and African sleeping sickness.
Mike Thompson expressed his own and members appreciation for a most interesting talk on an unusual topic which held everyone’s attention.
Further information can be found on www.probusbridlington.weebly.net
After lunch the chairman then introduced the speaker Janice Leak. Her talk had the title “Haematology....the Wonderful World of Blood”. She began by pointing out that Haematology was the study of blood and its diseases. She was a microbiologist whose career had been spent in medical laboratories, 10 years in Canada and the rest working for the Surrey and Sussex NHS trust. William Harvey first demonstrated the circulation of blood in the early 1600’s, that blood was pumped from the heart to the lungs where it picks up oxygen and gets rid of carbon dioxide then back to the heart to be pumped round the body. It also carries nutrients, enzymes and food product to cells throughout the body.
Janice then described the process of blood testing for a range of problems and related some interesting facts that it takes less than a minute for blood to circulate all round the body, it takes only 30 seconds to lose all 5 litres of blood with damage to a main artery and the modern analysis of blood can be done in a few seconds, the body has about 5million red cells and five thousand white ones.
She then went on to speak of diseases of the blood. A common disease of red cells is various forms of anaemia often brought about by poor diet. Diseases of white blood cells tend to be more serious and include various forms of leukaemia. Glandular Fever also known as the “kissing disease” is more common amongst young people and is a disease of affluence.
Normal platelets are a part of blood which help with what the speaker described as the “clotting cascade”. Janice then referred to the use of warfarin as a blood thinner to reduce the risk of strokes. She concluded a fascinating talk with a mention of blood parasites which cause malaria and African sleeping sickness.
Mike Thompson expressed his own and members appreciation for a most interesting talk on an unusual topic which held everyone’s attention.
Further information can be found on www.probusbridlington.weebly.net