Unhealthy Gallery

Solar prominence

Solar prominence. Ultraviolet SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) satellite image of a solar prominence (bottom left). The prominence is erupting from the chromosphere (orange), which lies above the Sun's visible surface. Prominences are dense clouds of plasma, or ionised gas, in the Sun's outer layer, the corona. They are typically at temperatures of 60, 000 Kelvin, much cooler than the several million Kelvin of the corona. Active regions (white) mark areas of high solar activity. The Sun's activity peaks every 10-11 years. Image produced by SOHO's Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT)

© NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

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