Despite significant developments in neonatal medicine over the past decade or two there has been no overall reduction in the number of neonatal deaths according to the results of a recently published US study.  Researchers at the University of Colorado in Denver performed a retrospective study of all 779,385 live...

The notion that orange juice may be harmful to health seems counterintuitive if not bizarre, but as a recently published case history reveals, orange juice contains significant amounts of potassium and ingestion of large quantities of orange juice can lead to hyperkalemia of sufficient severity to threaten life.  Over ...

Arterial oxygen saturation sO₂(a) is a parameter calculated during blood gas analysis that is useful for monitoring respiratory function. Pulse oximetry provides a safer and more convenient, non-invasive means of measuring oxygen saturation that is used in many clinical settings.  The value of pulse oximetry depends...

Umbilical cord blood gas analysis provides objective evidence of neonatal condition at birth; a particular utility of the test is to identify those babies who have suffered significant oxygen deficit prior to delivery. Traditional obstetric practice is to clamp the umbilical cord within seconds of delivery but some...

Maintaining lasting progress in laboratory test utilization is difficult to do without a reminder tool for providers. Since implementation of a quarterly physician report card in 2003, we have seen sustained improvement in the ordering of wellness tests in an ambulatory care network in the United States for over four...

Respiratory acidosis and alkalosis are characterized by primary change in pCO₂ (increase in the case of acidosis and decrease in the case of alkalosis). Secondary physiological compensation, aimed at returning blood pH to normal, is evident in blood gas results as a change in bicarbonate concentration (increase in the ...

Measurement of plasma CRP might be helpful in deciding if patients recovering from critical illness can be safely discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU) to other wards, according to the results of a recently published study conducted at the ICU of the Royal Perth Hospital in Australia. A significant minority of ...

Two very different reviews of acid-base pathophysiology are recently published. The first, written by a nurse educator is a comprehensive overview and serves as an introduction to the topic. The approach is familiar and reflects standard physiology texts.  After a very brief synthesis of the significance of...

Transient increase in serum bilirubin concentration is a normal physiological feature of the neonatal period and this rise is sufficient to cause visible jaundice in around 60 % of newborns. For most the condition is harmless and resolves spontaneously with no long-term effects. However for those neonates with...

In the USA it is permissible to store donated blood for transfusion for up to 42 days. Although this is helpful in matching supply with demand for blood products, red cells undergo a number of changes in storage that affect their function.  There is conflicting evidence to suggest that the structural and functional...