Friday, May 20, 2011

Blood.

No, I'm not gonna freak you out with some creepy pictures. (Maybe.)


Anyway... Hi! I've got some.. answers, I suppose. To my own questions.

The other day I was talking to my wife, Maya, about slitting wrists in the bathtub. Why? It's not because I was being suicidal or I'm thinking about it, or ANYTHING at all in the line. *coughs* Yeah, so it's because once upon a time, when I was in Form 3 (15 year old, for those not familiar with the forms), I stumbled on this book. Yes, I literally stumbled on it. I almost fell over. (awkward laugh) Nah, joking.

So yeah, this book was about this Polish woman with her family (I almost said 'he' there..) and stuff went on. Don't judge me, I don't remember half the things that happen in my life. And, yeah, so in this one particular chapter, her father, torn apart from humiliation (since they were living in a foreign country, you know how it goes) decided to slit his wrist.

And guess what? He placed his slitted wrist in a bowl of water.


Also, because I saw the video clip 'Perfect' by Pink.



The part where the girl, in the bathtub, with blood. Yeah. She slit her wrist, I came to that conclusion.


So it got me thinking... Why do people slit their wrists in the bathtub? Or the bowl of water? Is there some sort of explanation to it? Yes. Thank you Detective Conan.


Shinichi (Conan, the main character, genius detective [took me so long to spell that! xD]) solved this mystery, as usual.


I won't spoil it to y- .. oh what the heck, I'm gonna spoil it to you anyway. =]

It's a two part episode (meaning the case had to be in two episodes [614-615]) where Shinichi and his friends went up to the mountain with the professor, Professor Agasa (sorry, I don't really know how to spell his name) and their car broke down on the way back. So Shinichi and the others had to stay whilst the professor went downtown with the tow truck. It started to rain so Shinichi decided that they had to take shelter. Bla bla bla, they went back to the villas they crossed before, and heard a peculiar tune. On a piano. Known as, Air on the G-String. If I'm not mistaken, it's by Bach. Yeah, Google it for me, will you? =P


On and on with the case, and in the end, the culprit had slit his wrist and placed it in a running hot water in the bathtub. (Again with the bathtub, right?)

Fuh, so long until the conclusion; this is where Shinichi (Conan, for those not catching up with the names) explains why.

Apparently, if you place your bleeding hand into hot water, or water in general I suppose, it prevents clotting of the blood. And I had to apply my Biology in here;


The Mechanism of Blood Clotting.

I have to take my book so that I know I got this right.

So, essentially, when you cut yourself, accidentally or not, the blood will naturally clot. Unless you have haemophilia, in which case; cut yourself and you'd literally bleed out to death.
I'm not gonna type out all the specifics, but I'll put some in as much as I can without sounding like a textbook.

1) When a blood vessel is damaged/cut/impaired, a tissue called the connective tissue in the vessel wall will be exposed to blood plasma.

2) Platelets that release chemicals known as clotting factors, making the surrounding platelets sticky, stick immediately to the connective tissue.

3) The forming of platelets becomes something called a platelet plug; that in turn, can stop blood completely, providing the impairment is small.

4) If said damage is severe, the plug has a backup; a clot of fibrin.

5) Platelets, damaged cells and clotting factors in the plasma (still with the blood) form activators (also knowns as thromboplastins).

6) Thromboplastins, acting with Ca+ and vitamin K, converts prothrombin (an inactive plasma protein) to thrombin (active plasma protein.)

7) Skipping out on all the names, in the end, the fibrin earlier aggregates, forming a 'bandage' over the wound, trapping red blood cells and sealing the wound.

The end.

And where's our question? Why slit your wrist and put it in running hot water?

Because it'll stop the formation of platelets, the proteins, preventing blood clotting thus making it easier for you to bleed out to death. If so you wish.

Long explanation and such a short answer, I know. But it's still good to know all those things.

Yes, so I'm ending. Goodbye.

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