The Hematologist

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After many years of looking through a microscope at human blood slides, a hematologist in a hospital laboratory is very excited that he found five different types of leukocytes (white blood cells) in a row. The hematologist gives you the following hints so that you can identify the white cells:

  1. The lymphocyte is immediately to the right of the basophil.
  2. The neutrophil is immediately to the left of the monocyte.
  3. The eosinophil is not adjacent to the monocyte, the neutrophil, or the basophil.

Can you name the white cells from left to right?

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  • 1 Answer(s)

    The logic puzzle can be solved by letting the letters N, M, B, L, and E represent the neutrophil, monocyte, basophil, lymphocyte, and eosinophil, respectively. From Clue 1 we know that L is to the right of B; this is the sequence BL. Clue 2 tells us that NM is another sequence. Clue 3 only allows the sequences LE and EL, but EL is not possible because of Clue 1. Combining BL and LE, we now have the sequences BLE and NM. From Clue 3 we know that E is not adjacent to N, therefore the sequence of the lymphocytes is NMBLE.

    The white cells are: 1) neutrophil, 2) monocyte, 3) basophil, 4) lymphocyte, 5) eosinophil. The background shows some erythrocytes (red blood cells) which have no nucleus.

    Microscopic blood analysis can be very useful for identifying or diagnosing many types of diseases such as anemia, malaria, syphilis, heavy metal poisoning, leukemia, appendicitis, etc.

    Leukocytes are the first line of defense of the immune system. Leukocytes are derived from bone marrow stem cells and have three main categories: Lymphocytes, Phagocytes, and Auxiliary Cells. Neutrophils, basophils, and eosinophils are called granulocytes because they have granules in their cytoplasm.

    anikam Expert Answered on 18th August 2015.
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