pardon my curiosity and ignorance.

[Guest guest]

Howdy,

A few thought have been going through my head after reading the 'avg.

hgt/wt.' posts.

To give some background. When I lived in Columbus, OH, I took and EMT class.

One of the things they talked about was dealing with a femoral fracture, and

the dangers of blood loss from damaging the femoral artery. Most of this

blood is displaced into the pelvic and abdominal cavities. So much that it

is possibly a fatal amount, and without the victim noticing.

Anyway, the questions, if anyone has a clue are:

As I understand it, Achondroplasia affects the cartilage of the long bones

(ex. the femur). Would the reduction of the cartiliginous tissues reduce the

shock absorbing capacity of the long bones? If so, how much less is the

fracture point?

With the reduction in body mass from the effects of dwarfism, what is the

'average' amout of blood capacity, and how much does this differ with the

different types of dwarfism? How dangerous is blood loss if ya'll donated in

a blood drive or via a transfusion?

Once again, my apologies for my ignorance.

Thanks,

Dave

[Guest guest]

My understanding about " donating " blood is that you have to weigh a certain

amount to be a canidate to donate blood.

[Guest guest]

red cross regs say you have to weigh 110 pounds

Re: pardon my curiosity and ignorance.

> From: Keeblertam@...

>

> My understanding about " donating " blood is that you have to weigh a

certain

> amount to be a canidate to donate blood.

>

> ---------------------------

[Guest guest]

Hello

Achondroplasia was named before it was understood. Even though the name

means without chondrocytes (cartilage cells), the cartilage cells are

present. The achondroplasia gene changes a protein (fibroblast growth

factor receptor-3, fgfr3) which transfers growth factors through cell

membranes. Since the FGFR3 protein is in growing bone cells, it causes a

reduction in the amount of growth factor getting inside of the growing bone

cells which results in decreased bone elongation. The FGFR3 protein is also

highly expressed in brain tissue, and may be responsible for the larger

brains of achondroplasts (not hydrocephalus that is a separate issue).

Achondroplasia does not affect other soft tissue growth, at least that is

my understanding of achondroplasia, but I am just a mom. Check out on line

Mendelian inheritance in man for a more complete explanation.

http://www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/Omim/

Marie

5:04 PM 8/13/99 EDT, you wrote:

>From: Actinolite@...

>

>Howdy,

>

>A few thought have been going through my head after reading the 'avg.

>hgt/wt.' posts.

>

>To give some background. When I lived in Columbus, OH, I took and EMT class.

> One of the things they talked about was dealing with a femoral fracture, and

>the dangers of blood loss from damaging the femoral artery. Most of this

>blood is displaced into the pelvic and abdominal cavities. So much that it

>is possibly a fatal amount, and without the victim noticing.

>

>Anyway, the questions, if anyone has a clue are:

>

>As I understand it, Achondroplasia affects the cartilage of the long bones

>(ex. the femur). Would the reduction of the cartiliginous tissues reduce the

>shock absorbing capacity of the long bones? If so, how much less is the

>fracture point?

>

>With the reduction in body mass from the effects of dwarfism, what is the

>'average' amout of blood capacity, and how much does this differ with the

>different types of dwarfism? How dangerous is blood loss if ya'll donated in

>a blood drive or via a transfusion?

>

>Once again, my apologies for my ignorance.

>

>Thanks,

>

>Dave

>

>---------------------------