By July of 2011, Yun "Jack" Ma had achieved his goal of creating one of the world's leading e-commerce companies. Ma founded the Alibaba Group and took advantage of growing internet usage in China to launch the leading B2B, C2C and B2C sites in the country and capture a huge market. Despite his success, Ma had a troubled relationship with Yahoo!, the largest investor in the Alibaba Group. Ma's decision in January of 2011 to transfer Alipay (the Alibaba Group's online payment unit) from the Alibaba Group to a company under his personal control was just making matters worse

1 What is favism?

2 What is the haemoglobin content of reticulocytes and how can this be measured or determined?

3 We are told that an erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) above 100 mm/h has a limited differential diagnosis, mainly vasculitis, malignancy and granulomatous diseases. Could you explain whether that applies to an ESR after one hour or two?

4 What causes a raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)?

5 What are the causes of very raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)? I mean an ESR 100 mm/h. Is this test diagnostic in any disease besides polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis?

6 1. Does the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) rise with age? 2. Can an ESR of 50 mm/h in an 80-year-old female with no evidence of systemic disease be considered normal?

7 1. What is a 'normal' erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)? Is the equation of a normal ESR age

10, correct? 2. Would a normal ESR exclude a vasculitic cause in the case of stroke? 8 In which conditions is C-reactive protein (CRP) more informative than the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)?

9 What is the management of an isolated high ferritin (without any signs, symptoms or changes in the other blood investigations)?

10 Is the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) useful? What is the RDW and when is it used?