For the first time, Cale, Nick and Bashar have managed to maintain a contiguous thought across two different episodes and are returning to school - for the basics of immunology. But they’re not going back as teachers, no, the boys are going undercover as a naïve B-cell and following the journey to the lymph node. Will they be shunned to the uncool table like they were in high school? Can they avoid the murderous hunger games of the dark zone. Will they switch classes or somatically hypermutate? Find out on the next episode of 21 Ju… Lymph Node Street.

TIMESTAMPS

 0:53 - Disguise 101
 5:10 - Naive B cells journey
 7:56 - Lymph node anatomy refresher
 13:31 - Activation of naive B cells
 18:50 - Class switching
 21:38 - Into the dark zone
 24:45 - Diseases at the various stages of maturation
 27:18 - Take Home Messages 

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Have you been asked to review “TLS” bloods?? Are you concerned the nursing staff are pranking you with haematology bloods that don’t include a FBC or coags? Why could you possibly want to look at something that isn’t a cell count? What crazy person decided after hours bloods needed to be collected on ICE? And WHY ?!?! Join us for an On The Wards approach to dealing with those TDS TLS SOS calls.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:56 - The team breaking stuff
3:40 - Episode overview
5:07 - Setting the scene
6:33 - The history of TLS
7:28 - (nailed it)
8:00 - Pathophysiology of TLS
10:41 - Mechanisms of renal injury in TLS
11:39 - Clinical consequences of TLS
12:46 - Diagnostic criteria in TLS
15:10 - Clinical TLS vs lab TLS
15:35 - Grading TLS
16:55 - Other clues of TLS
18:09 - Who is at risk of TLS?
23:15 - Prevention of TLS
24:27 - Allopurinol
26:58 - Rasburicase
33:03 - Fluids fluids fluids
33:44 - Deciding who gets prophylaxis
35:50 - What ARE TLS bloods?
36:31 - What to do with a TLS on the ward
40:05 - Take home messages

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It’s the heaviest matter of haematology as we look at the role of heavy metals in our favourite metalloenzymes. What - you don’t have a favourite metalloenzyme?  But nothing else matters?! Anyway, this is no esoteric surgical content, join us as Nick, Cale and Bashar get comfy with the weirder parts of the periodic table and how they apply to less common deficiencies or toxicities in haematology. Look we’ll be honest with you - this is pretty low yield listening but it was fun, and really isn’t that point at the end of the day. 

TIMESTAMPS

0:55 - Wacken Open Air or Bloody Minded?
3:58 - Molybdenum ft. Black Eyed Peas
11:07 - Copper ft. Calf Livers
14:41 - Zinc ft. Dentures
18:35 - Cobalt - ft. Goblins and Beer
22:40 - Lead ft. Basophilic Stippling
26:13 - Aluminium ft. Pronunciation Issues
28:29 - Take Home Messages

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Is it a giant Cthulu-esque sea monster? Is it an excellent Australian parody breakfast show? No - it’s everyone’s favourite (well everyone who counts) coagulation related Vitamin - Vitamin K! Where does it come from? Why is it so hard to find on the eMR when you want to prescribe it and what is it doing under phytomenadione? Can we test for it? After listening to Nick, Cale and Bashar wax lyrical about carboxylation for half an hour you’ll be ready to vitamin K-nock yourself out.

TIMESTAMPS

0:53 - Birdsong
3:54 - The history of Vitamin K
10:02 - Types of Vit K
12:02 - K1 + K2
13:16 - K3 + K4
14:18 - K1-4 without the possession
15:46 - What does Vit K actually do?
19:37 - Dietary sources of Vit K
23:20 - Vit K Absorption Pathway
28:00 - Vit K + Gamma glutamyl carboxylase
33:20 - Practical aspects of Vit K replacement
38:48 - Take Home Messages

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Four humours in balance, the ancients decreed -
so open a vein, let the bad blood be freed.
From Galen to Harvey, from humours to genes, 
From black bile and phlegm to the things on our screens.
From PML::RARA to blood counts okay 
Let’s celebrate our specialty - we’ve come a damn long way

Join us as we travel from the first man to see a red cell, to the first to give people arsenic on purpose who was actually well-intentioned! Pour one out for Galen who was confidently incorrect for fifteen centuries but everyone just went with it anyway because it seemed pretty good at the time. We interrupt your scheduled haematinic programming for a historical grab bag and some chat about the podcast as we celebrate 100 episodes and still going strong. 

TIMESTAMPS

1:49 - Sappy Stuff
7:15 - In the Beginning
9:52 - Leeches
12:57 - Harvey
14:43 - Microscopes
16:08 - Leukaemia
18:11 - Transfusion
20:30 - Anticoagulants
22:55 - Molecular
27:23 - Chemo
29:34 - Transplant
31:07 - Coags
33:07 - CAR-T
35:11 - Wrapup

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Two vitamins survived the great B-numbering cull to become the tests we order most and trust least. Meet the 80% of your B12 result your cells can't touch, and the antibody that sabotages the very test built to catch it. Join the Bloody Minded Crew as we come to the lab for a second time this season to learn how B12 and folate assays are performed. 

TIMESTAMPS

0:55 - The boys check out a new lab
 2:25 - Episode overview
 3:43 - Sample requirements
 4:12 - B12 refresher
 6:03 - Total B12 assays
 9:36 - Caveats in interpretation
 14:00 - Active B12
 15:59 - MMA and Homocysteine
 18:13 - Folate testing
 22:18 - Take home messages

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‘This bad boy can fit so much iron in it’ he said slapping the roof of a badly photoshopped molecule of apoferritin superimposed on a car. Is too much ferritin bad for you? Of course it is - too much is precisely the quantity that is in excess. But most of the time hyperferritinaemia has nothing to do with iron overload. Strap in to your 1992 Honda Civic as the Bloody Minded Crew learn all about ferritin, and why most of the time too much of it has nothing to do with your iron levels at all. Also join Cale specifically as he continues his vendetta against hepatology and their referrals. 

Timestamps

0:59 - Bashar visits the salon
2:03 - Hyperferritinaemia overview
3:13 - Ferritin vs Iron Overload
6:08 - Signs and Symptoms associated with Hyperferritinaemia
10:50 - Causes of Hyperferritinaemia w/o Iron Overload
16:59 - Hyperferritinaemia w/ Iron Overload
21:30 - Chelation
22:43 - Erythoferrone
24:16 - Summary

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It's a BONUS episode today as the Bloody Minded Crew are delighted to partner with the Thrombosis and Haemostasis Society of Australia and New Zealand (THANZ). After (correctly) exiling Nick to another country after he suggested yet more coagulation themed episodes, he's returned like Gandalf stronger and more powerful than ever. We cornered THANZ members at the International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis 2026 meeting to chat about what was keeping them interested.

Special thanks to Dr Danny Hsu, Dr Sara Ng, Dr George Mason, Dr Angela Huang, Dr Ibrahim Tohini-Esfahani, Dr Emily Powley, Dr Catherine Neal, Dr Marc Ellis, Dr Charithani Keragala, Hadley Bortz and Danielle Boyle for their contributions.

Check out the THANZ website (www.thanz.org.au) and consider signing up if you're an Australian based scientist, clinician, nurse or allied health professional with an interest in Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

There will be no show notes for this episode and our regular programming will continue as usual. 

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Nick wanted to talk about buckets all episode. I’ve convinced him to at least let us get angry at iron polymaltose, hypophosphatemia and nangs all over again. You don’t think you need this episode but you’d be amazed how many consults come through to Haem thinking we’re the gatekeepers of iron in the building. Ironic, really.

TIMESTAMPS

0:56 - 1960s pop culture reference
3:20 - Episode overview
4:40 - Iron deficiency
6:28 - Pica chat
7:53 - Presentations of iron deficiency
8:36 - Causes of iron deficiency
11:10 - Taking a menstrual history
12:53 - Non-menstrual causes of iron deficiency
14:40 - Oral iron replacement
18:19 - IV iron replacement
25:01 - Folate deficiency
27:18 - Folate replacement
29:18 - B12 deficiency
31:19 - Causes of B12 deficiency
32:00 - Diagnosis of B12 deficiency
32:55 - B12 replacement
34:58 - Dealing with concurrent deficiencies
36:20 - Take home messages

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On the Ning Nang Nongs where the youths smoke bongs and the marrow all screams HELP! Join the Bloody Minded crew as they go through the round window, follow B12 and folate around the body in a Nang induced haze, presumably just like the writers on Play School once were. 

Mandatory viewing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SUU1f3Mgpc&list=RD3SUU1f3Mgpc&start_radio=1

TIMESTAMPS

0:53 - A Bloody Minded After School Special
1:50 - Megaloblastic Anaemias
2:59 - An Intro to B12
7:49 - B12 Absorption
12:55 - Role of B12
15:07 - MMA + Homocysteine
16:40 - Causes of B12 Deficiency
20:04 - Nangs - Again
23:18 - Intro to Folate
25:32 - Folate Absorption
27:03 - Folate Deficiency
30:00 - Concurrent B12 + Folate Deficiency
32:18 - Take Home Messages

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Check out show notes, additional references and (sometimes) extra content at www.bloodyminded.com.au