Explain what causes the average value of the hematocrit to b

Explain what causes the average value of the hematocrit to be higher in males than in females. _____ A person had severe pain episodes, several bouts of infections, signs of damage to vital organs, low RBC count and hemoglobin, and fatigue. A smear preparation of the blood showed deformed RBC. Give a brief account of the disorder, cause, and how it is inherited. At 1:00 AM, someone breaks a window in the back of a store and robs the safe. On the way out, the thief cuts himself (or herself) on a piece of broken glass. You are a forensic detective called to the scene. You test a sample of blood left behind by the thief. It is O-. While you are there the police bring in a suspect with a cut forearm who was arrested just three blocks from the store. You take a sample of the suspect\'s blood and mix it with anti-A. You immediately know that the suspect is not the person who cut himself on the broken glass in the store. How do you know this? Suppose the suspect\'s blood does not agglutinate when tested with anti-A or anti-B, but does agglutinate when tested with anti-Rh. Would this connect the suspect with the crime scene? _____ Explain. _____

Solution

1. Males have more hematocrit value because of more volume of blood, more muscle mass and mainly due to androgens which constrict the blood vessels and stimulate erythropoisis.

2. The condition refers to Sickle Cell Anemia. In SCA, the RBC are deformed due to mutation in the hemoglobin coding gene. Instead of Glutamic acid, valine is coded in the sixth position. This results in change of confirmation of Hb. This makes the RBC rigid and sickle shaped. The sickle shaped rbc tend to form clumps at the fine cappilaries as they fail to pass through them and cause severe pain. It is inherited by autosomal recessive pattern. The person who receives two recessive alleles of sickle cell gene suffers from the disease and the persons with only one allele becomes carrier.

3. The suspect\'s blood is O negative type. When the blood of the arrested person is mixed with Anti A, it agglutinated, which means, the arrested person\'s blood group may be type A. Not O. So it can be said that he is not the one who robbed the safe.

If the suspect\'s blood does not agglutinate when tested with Anti-A or anti-B, but agglutinate when tested with anti-Rh, it indicates, the blood is of O Positive type. This doesnot connect the suspect with the crime scene. Because O negative doesnt agglutinate with anti Rh.