## Hello Steemit Community! 

My name is Andrea and I live in Venezuela, a medium-sized country in South America. Here, I work as a *Bioanalyst*. You might wonder *what a bioanalyst does*. Well, the answer is not simple at all, because we analyze **everything** from blood, tissues, urine, feces and body fluids.

So in my first post I bring you a selection of things that I have seen through the microscope while I work.

![GitHub Logo](https://image.ibb.co/jNoJrG/1491930216466_copia.png)
- **Image**: Uric acid crystals (400x).
- **Sample**: urine.

> Your body produces uric acid when it breaks down purines —substances that are found naturally in your body—.  Yeah, they can be beautiful (but painful sometimes).

![GitHub Logo](https://image.ibb.co/nuQEWG/1491929857894_copia.png)
- **Image**: Hematuria and pyuria (400x).
- **Sample**: urine.

![GitHub Logo](https://image.ibb.co/hAhuWG/1491930059698.png)
- **Image**:  *Enterobius vermicularis* eggs (400x)
- **Method**: Graham.

> Also known commonly as **pinworm** is *the most common intestinal parasite*. It is a nematode that inhabits the human terminal ileum, colon and appendix. 

![GitHub Logo](https://image.ibb.co/f5Yq5b/1491930128075.png)
- **Image**: leukocytes 400x.
- **Sample**: urine.

> The presence of leukocytes in the urine could be a sign that you have an infection or an obstruction in the urinary tract or bladder (ouch!). 

![GitHub Logo](https://image.ibb.co/iyTJrG/1491930289502.png)
- **Image**: Squamous epithelial cells (400x).
- **Yellow arrow**: leukocyte.
- **Sample**: urine.

![GitHub Logo](https://image.ibb.co/mq0yrG/Sin_t_tulo_1_copia.png)
- **Image**: Hematuria (400x).
- **Sample**: urine.

![GitHub Logo](https://image.ibb.co/jPbDrG/Sin_t_tulo_1.png)
- **Image**: Leukocytes and erythrocytes result of infection by *Entamoeba histolytica* (400x).
- **Sample**: feces.

> *Entamoeba histolytica* is well recognized as a pathogenic ameba, associated with intestinal and extraintestinal infections.

![GitHub Logo](https://image.ibb.co/dz7mBG/IMG_3akek.png)
- **Image**: *Entamoeba coli* cysts (400x).
- **Sample**: feces.

> *Entamoeba coli* is generally considered nonpathogenic and reside in the large intestine of the human host.  Tip: they can have between 1-8 nuclei.

![GitHub Logo](https://image.ibb.co/gyPmvb/Round_Photo_Jun272017_120209.png)
- **Image**: *Entamoeba histolytica/dispar* cyst (400x).
- **Sample**: feces.

> Infections caused by the *Entamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar* complex are of cosmopolitan distribution. *E. histolytica* is known as the pathogenic specie of the complex, while *E. dispar* is considered commensal (non-pathogenic). They can be differentiated through Polymerase Chain Reaction (*PCR*)

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## Extra 
 
![GitHub Logo](https://image.ibb.co/dWiUyw/IMG_20170616_152610_706_copia.png)
**Image**: (yellow arrow) *Babesia* spp. merozoite found in the peripheral blood of a puppy (1000x).
**Method**: Buffy coat smear.
**Sample**: peripheral blood.

> Babesia is a genus of protist parasites that cause babesiosis in animals and humans. Babesia has the ability to infect red blood cells, where it carries out its life cycle, resulting in lysis of red blood cells and therefore, severe anemia. Tip: They spread by certain ticks.

![GitHub Logo](https://image.ibb.co/nQcskb/Round_Photo_Aug112017_145941.png)
**Image**: Tick (40x).

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## Let me know if you enjoy science related posts to keep sharing, saludos.