A friend recently attended a diabetes presentation, and the nurse who
was giving the talk had a stuffed red blood cell that she was using to
demonstrate how sugars can stick to the surface of the cells. Anyone
know where I can get ahold of a stuffed red blood cell? It was fairly
accurate, donut-shaped with a dent in the middle.

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Request for Question Clarification by tehuti-ga on 13 Jun 2002 02:59 PDT

By stuffed presumably you mean it was fabric?  Would a plastic one do
instead?  I have found one that is enlarged 11,000 times the real size
(unfortunately, no dimensions are given).

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Clarification of Question by yprime-ga on 13 Jun 2002 16:08 PDT

Yes, it was fabric, like a stuffed animal. Did the plastic one you
found have the Velcro strips for the sugars?

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Request for Question Clarification by tehuti-ga on 14 Jun 2002 02:14 PDT

No, it didn't.  I wonder if what you saw was made by the nurse.  I've
trawled the sites of a number of manufacturers of anatomical models
and drawn a complete blank.

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Clarification of Question by yprime-ga on 14 Jun 2002 09:07 PDT

Well, I guess contacting the nurse is probably the best way to go
about it then. I was just curious if someone could find information
online, since I already exhausted all my searching resources and came
up with nothing. Thanks for the help.

Suggestion:

1) Ask your friend for the name of the presenter.
2) Locate the organisers of the presentation.
3) Ask how they contacted that particular nurse.
4) Phone or e-mail her, and ask where she got it.  If she made it,
perhaps     she'd consider doing another for you?

If you've already tried this, my apologies.

At 7 microns in diameter per typical red blood cell (i.e. 0.000007 m),
I reckon that the 11,000 x model mentioned above would be 7.7 cm in
diameter if the advertiser is being accurate about "11,000 x".

At just under 8 cm in diamter, it could probably make a reasonable
throw-toy, too!

Hi yprime!
Since you've had no success on finding a commercially available
example, I'd be glad to make one up for you.  All I need is the
dimensions you'd like.

Just let me know

HELLO, I MIGHT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.  THERE IS A "RED BLOOD
CELL" LOOKING MATERIAL THAT THE HOSPITAL USE TO PREVENT CERTAIN BED
SORE CALLED "DONUT PILLOW".  WHEN THE COVER IS REMOVED OFF THE DONUT
PILLOW IT LOOKS LIKE A RED BLOOD CELLS.

HOPE THAT ANSWERS YOUR QUESTION.