Rod Information and Courses from MediaLab, Inc.
These are the MediaLab courses that cover Rod and links to relevant pages within the course.
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| Which of the following appear in the budding form? | View Page |
| Cocci and Rods Notice that Gram positive and Gram negative organisms can be either cocci (round) or bacilli (rod-shaped). A mixture Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria may be present in the same field.
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| Gram Negative Bacilli Examples of Gram negative bacilli or rod shaped bacteria are present in this field. | View Page |
| Variations in the Ends of Rods The ends of rod-shaped organisms may be rounded or tapered. | View Page |
| Hereditary ovalocytosis and elliptocytosis Ovalocytes are rod shaped erythrocytes with nearly parallel lateral walls. If the long axis of an erythrocyte is no more than twice as long as the short axis, the cell is an ovalocyte. If the long axis is more than twice as long as the short axis, the cell is an elliptocyte. Hemoglobin tends to collect at each end of these cells. The ends of the cells are rounded and never pointed, to be differentated from sickle cells. Ovalocytes present in greater than 25% of red cells on the blood smear are characteristic of hereditary ovalocytosis. The oval shape is attributed to a defect in horizontal red cell membrane protein interactions. Lesser numbers of circulating ovalocytes may be present in various anemias including megaloblastic, sideroblastic, iron deficiency, and in thalassemias. A rare ovalocyte (less than 1%) may be found on almost any peripheral blood smear. Resistance to malarial infection may be a beneficial attribute of hereditary ovalocytosis. | View Page |
| Drepanocyte Drepanocytes or sickle cells are formed as a result of the presence of hemoglobin S in the red cell. As the red cell ages, it becomes less flexible or deformable and becomes rigid as it passes through the low oxygen tension atmosphere of the small capillaries in the body. In the absence of oxygen, hemoglobin S polymerizes into rods, causing the sickle cell shape. Sickle cells can be somewhat pointed at the ends, as the cell shown in the center, or more rounded or cigar-shaped, as the one slightly to the left. Several sickle cells are indicated by S, and a target cell or dacrocyte is indicated by T in the smear shown on the right. | View Page |
| Bacteria Bacteria may also be present, especially during a urinary tract infection. This view shows bacteria as solid gray rods or cocci. Since bacteria may also be a contaminant in specimens remaining at room temperature, or due to an unclean catch, caution must be observed in reporting bacteria. If 20 organisms per hpf are seen, the bacteria are considered to be clinically significant. | View Page |