Abnormal Gallery

Gallstones, artwork

Gallstones. Cutaway computer artwork showing gallstones (brown, lower left) in a human gall bladder (red, oval). The gall bladder is a small muscular sac lying under the liver (not seen). It expels bile (a fat emulsifier) into the intestine through the bile duct (tube, lower right). Gallstones are hard deposits of salts or cholesterol that form in the gall bladder when the chemical composition of bile is upset. They are most common in women, the elderly and the obese. They usually cause no symptoms unless one becomes stuck in the bile duct, which can lead to acute pain, jaundice and infection. Surgical removal of the gall bladder is sometimes necessary

© GUNILLA ELAM/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Dohle bodies in blood cell, micrograph

Dohle bodies in blood cell. Light micrograph of a neutrophil white blood cell (centre) with Dohle bodies. These are small inclusions within the cell's cytoplasm. This abnormality is associated with a process called toxic granulation, and is characteristic of several blood disorders. Neutrophils, like all white blood cells, are part of the body's immune system. They are involved in the body's immune response and help to defend the body from pathogens. Granules within their cytoplasm contain enzymes used to destroy invading organisms. Like all granulocytes, neutrophils have a multi-lobed nucleus

© PR. J. BERNARD/CNRI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Total solar eclipse

The large, shining corona of the Sun, seen during the total solar eclipse of 11 July 1991 from Baja Caifornia, Mexico. The visible corona is in fact the overlapping K-corona and F-corona. Usually it is only visible during eclipses, as the light from the Sun's photosphere drowns it out. The K-corona consists of fast-moving free electrons at a temperature of about 2 million Kelvin, at heights of about 75, 000km above the Sun's surface. The F- corona extends for many million km, and consists mainly of slow-moving particles of cosmic dust. The shape of the corona changes during the cycle of solar activity under the infuence of the Sun's magnetic field

© REV. RONALD ROYER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY