Adolescent Presents With Altered Mental Status and Elevated Anion Gap After Suicide Attempt by Ethylene Glycol Ingestion.

We report the case of a 16-year-old healthy adolescent male who presented to the local emergency department with altered mental status. En route to a tertiary care facility, he began to decompensate and was found to be markedly acidotic. Further investigation revealed an elevated anion gap, and physical examination showed only abdominal pain and decreased level of consciousness. A broad differential diagnosis was considered at the time of the patient's presentation at the tertiary care center including ingestion of a volatile alcohol, sepsis, and an abdominal catastrophe. Although fomepizole and emergent dialysis were being initiated, laboratory tests confirmed ethylene glycol poisoning. This case demonstrates the importance of early recognition of potential ingestions in patients with altered mental status and supportive laboratory findings.

A Review of Pediatric Chronic Kidney Disease.

Chronic kidney disease is complex in both adults and children, but the disease is far from the same between these populations. Here we review the marked differences in etiology, comorbidities, impact of disease on growth and quality of life, issues unique to adolescents and transitions to adult care, and special considerations of congenital kidney and urinary tract anomalies for transplantation.

Does oral sodium bicarbonate therapy improve function and quality of life in older patients with chronic kidney disease and low-grade acidosis (the BiCARB trial)? Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Metabolic acidosis is more common with advancing chronic kidney disease, and has been associated with impaired physical function, impaired bone health, accelerated decline in kidney function and increased vascular risk. Although oral sodium bicarbonate is widely used to correct metabolic acidosis, there exist potential risks of therapy including worsening hypertension and fluid overload. Little trial evidence exists to decide whether oral bicarbonate therapy is of net benefit in advanced chronic kidney disease, particularly in older people who are most commonly affected, and in whom physical function, quality of life and vascular health are at least as important outcomes as decline in renal function. METHODS/DESIGN: BiCARB is a multi-centre, double-blind, placebo controlled, randomised trial evaluating the clinical and cost-effectiveness of oral sodium bicarbonate in the management of older people with chronic kidney disease and severely reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR) who have a mild degree of metabolic acidosis. The trial will recruit 380 patients from renal, Medicine for the Elderly, and primary care services across centres in the United Kingdom. Male and female patients aged 60 years and older with an estimated glomerular filtration rate of <30 mL/min/1.73 m(2), not on dialysis, and with serum bicarbonate concentrations <22 mmol/L will be eligible for participation. The primary clinical outcome for the trial is the between-group difference in the Short Physical Performance Battery score at 12 months. Secondary outcomes include muscle strength, quality of life measured using the EQ-5D score and KDQoL tools, cost effectiveness, renal function, presence of albuminuria and blood pressure. Markers of bone turnover (25-hydroxyvitamin D, 1,25-hydroxyvitamin D, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase-5b and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase) and vascular health (B-type natriuretic peptide) will be measured. Participants will receive a total of 24 months of either bicarbonate or placebo. The results will provide the first robust test of the overall clinical and cost-effectiveness of this commonly used therapy in older patients with severely reduced kidney function. TRIAL REGISTRATION: www.isrctn.com; ISRCTN09486651, registered 17 February 2012.

Acid-base dysregulation and chemosensory mechanisms in panic disorder: a translational update.

Panic disorder (PD), a complex anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent panic attacks, represents a poorly understood psychiatric condition which is associated with significant morbidity and an increased risk of suicide attempts and completed suicide. Recently however, neuroimaging and panic provocation challenge studies have provided insights into the pathoetiology of panic phenomena and have begun to elucidate potential neural mechanisms that may underlie panic attacks. In this regard, accumulating evidence suggests that acidosis may be a contributing factor in induction of panic. Challenge studies in patients with PD reveal that panic attacks may be reliably provoked by agents that lead to acid-base dysbalance such as CO2 inhalation and sodium lactate infusion. Chemosensory mechanisms that translate pH into panic-relevant fear, autonomic, and respiratory responses are therefore of high relevance to the understanding of panic pathophysiology. Herein, we provide a current update on clinical and preclinical studies supporting how acid-base imbalance and diverse chemosensory mechanisms may be associated with PD and discuss future implications of these findings.

Acidosis: progression of chronic kidney disease and quality of life.

Metabolic acidosis (MA) is relatively common in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) particularly in stages 4 and 5. It is assumed to play a contributory role in the development of several complications including bone disease, skeletal muscle wasting, altered protein synthesis, and degradation. Recent evidence also suggests that even mild acidosis might play a role in progressive glomerular filtration rate loss. Experimental and clinical studies suggest that correction of acidosis by alkali therapy attenuates these complications and improves quality of life. Despite several recent small and single-center studies supporting this notion, more robust evidence is required with regard to the long-term benefits of alkali therapy, type of alkali supplements, and the optimal level of serum bicarbonate.

Relationship between severe acidemia, verbal abilities, and behavior in a Spanish cohort of 5-year-old children born at term.

AIM: To determine whether a relationship exists between the markers of severe acidemia (SA) and the developmental, verbal, and behavioral characteristics of children with SA born at term 5 years previously, without apparent neurological impairment. METHODS: A cohort of 76 children-38 with SA (pH < 7, base deficit ≥12 mmol/L) and 38 non-SA (pH ≥ 7.20)-were evaluated using the Battelle Developmental Inventory, McCarthy's Verbal Scale, the Token Test for Children, and the Conners 3rd Edition-Parent. The relationships between markers of SA and verbal and behavioral scores were analyzed with parametric correlations. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the possible effect of these markers on verbal abilities, verbal memory, and attention. RESULTS: Although none of the scores were in the "impaired" range, the SA group scored lower in verbal index (p = .000) and verbal memory (p = .004) on the McCarthy's Scales and in verbal comprehension (p = .001) on the Token Test for Children-2, and higher on the inattention (p = .003) and hyperactivity-impulsivity domains of the Conners Scales (p = .009) compared with the control group. There were no differences between the groups in the motor, personal-social, or cognitive domains on the Battelle Developmental Inventory. The SA markers were found to be predictors, accounting for 61.6% of verbal variability. CONCLUSIONS: SA markers reflect mild long-term consequences regarding verbal abilities and inattentiveness among children born at term without apparent neurological impairment on discharge but do not suggest severe impairment to the 5-year development of children. The authors recommend that these children should be monitored to determine whether they need or might benefit from an early intervention program.

Is salt, vitamin, or endocrinopathy causing this encephalopathy? A review of endocrine and metabolic causes of altered level of consciousness.

Altered level of consciousness describes the reason for 3% of critical emergency department (ED) visits. Approximately 85% will be found to have a metabolic or systemic cause. Early laboratory studies such as a bedside glucose test, serum electrolytes, or a urine dipstick test often direct the ED provider toward endocrine or metabolic causes. This article examines common endocrine and metabolic causes of altered mentation in the ED via sections dedicated to endocrine-, electrolyte-, metabolic acidosis-, and metabolism-related causes.

Propionic acidemia: case report and review of neurologic sequelae.

We describe late-onset propionic acidemia in a 12-year-old boy who presented with vomiting, cough, and fever, and manifested a precipitous decline in mental status, accompanied by acute encephalopathy and severe neurologic damage, with bilateral basal ganglia involvement upon neuroimaging. He exhibited metabolic acidosis, hyperammonemia, hypocarnitinemia, and elevated plasma glycine. Urinary organic-acid analysis demonstrated very highly elevated 3-hydroxypropionate, propionylglycine, methylcitrate, and tiglylglycine, without an elevation of methylmalonate. Despite intensive medical care, this particular case proved fatal, highlighting the importance of metabolic testing in cases of acute mental-status changes and encephalopathy of unknown etiology.

Repeated ruminal acidosis challenges in lactating dairy cows at high and low risk for developing acidosis: feed sorting.

An experiment was conducted to determine whether the susceptibility of cows to ruminal acidosis influences feed sorting and whether feed sorting changes during a bout of ruminal acidosis. Eight ruminally cannulated cows were assigned to 1 of 2 acidosis risk levels: low risk (LR, mid-lactation cows fed a 60% forage diet) or high risk (HR, early lactation cows fed a 45% forage diet). As a result, diets were intentionally confounded with milk production to represent 2 different acidosis risk scenarios. Cows were exposed to an acidosis challenge in each of two 14-d periods. Each period consisted of 3 baseline days, a feed restriction day (restricting TMR to 50% of ad libitum intake), an acidosis challenge day (1-h meal of 4 kg of ground barley/wheat before allocating the TMR), and a recovery phase. Ruminal pH was measured continuously for the first 9 d of each period using an indwelling system. Feed and orts were sampled for 2 baseline days, on the challenge day, and 1 and 3 d after the challenge day for each cow and subjected to particle size analysis. The separator contained 3 screens (18, 9, and 1.18 mm) and a bottom pan to determine the proportion of long, medium, short, and fine particles, respectively. Sorting was calculated as the actual intake of each particle size fraction expressed as a percentage of the predicted intake of that fraction. All cows sorted against the longest and finest TMR particles and sorted for medium-length particles. Sorting was performed to a greater extent by the HR cows, and this sorting was related to low ruminal pH. Both HR and LR cows altered their sorting behavior in response to acidosis challenges. For the HR cows, severe acidosis was associated with increased sorting for the longer particles in the diet and against the shorter particles, likely to lessen the effects of the very.

Repeated hypoglycemia and cognitive decline. A case report.

OBJECTIVE: Diabetes mellitus has a high incidence in general population and goes by high morbidity by specific micro vascular pathology in the retina, renal glomerul and peripheral nerves. In type 1 DM, intensive therapy can prevent or delay the development of long-term complications associated with DM but hypoglycaemia especially severe hypoglycaemia defined, as a low blood glucose resulting in stupor, seizure, or unconsciousness that precludes self-treatment is a serious threat. Hypoglycaemia that may preferentially harm neurons in the medial temporal region, specifically the hippocampus, is a potential danger for the brain cognitive function which several studies failed to detect any significant effects, whereas others indicated an influence on it. A young diabetic case presented here with severe cognitive defect. Great number of severe hypoglycaemic or hyperglycaemic attacks and convulsion episodes were described in his medical history. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Neuroradiologic findings on CT and MRI, pointed that global cerebral atrophy that is incompatible with his age. Brain perfusion studies (SPECT, (99m)Tc-labeled HMPAO) also showed that there were severe perfusion defects at superior temporal region and less perfusion defects at gyrus cingulum in frontal region. These regions are related with memory processing. Severe cognitive defect in this patient seems to be closely related these changes and no another reason was found to explain except the repeated severe hypoglycaemic episodes.

Experimental tissue acidosis leads to increased pain in complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of local acidosis in the generation of pain in complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). We investigated ten patients with CRPS of the upper extremity with a mean duration of the disease of 43 weeks (range 4-280 weeks) and ten control subjects for sensitivity to infusion of fluids with low pH (pH 6.1). Another group of five CRPS patients and three healthy controls was investigated using the same protocol but neutral infusion fluid (pH 7.4). A motorized syringe pump was installed for a constant infusion of synthetic interstitial fluid (SIF, either acidified (pH 6.1) or neutral) into the skin at the back of the hands and, thereafter, into the interosseus I muscle on both sides. A flow rate of 30 ml/h was chosen for intradermal and 7.5 ml/h for intramuscular infusion over a period of 10 min. The magnitude of pain was rated on an electronic visual analogue scale. Patients were requested to give their ratings every 10 s during the whole stimulation period. The ratings were normalized as fractions of individual grand mean values. We found significantly increased pain perception during infusion of acidified SIF on the affected side in CRPS patients. Low pH fluid into the skin was significantly more painful between 4 and 6 min (ipsi 1.27 normalized rating (NR) (0. 19-1.94), contra 0.31 NR (0.03-0.51), P<0.02) and between 8 and 10 min (ipsi 1.38 NR (0.19-1.94), contra 0.08 NR (0-0.27), P<0.03) on the affected side, while analysis over the whole stimulation period just failed to reach statistical significance (ipsi 281 area under the curve (AUC) (187-834), contra 87 AUC (28-293), P=0.059). Low pH infusion into the muscle was significantly more painful on the affected side during the whole infusion time (ipsi 861 AUC (308-1377), contra 190 AUC (96-528), P<0.01). The quality of the deep pain during infusion into the muscle was described by the patients as very similar to the CRPS-related pain. In controls we found no side differences of pain intensity during low pH stimulation. Neutral SIF evoked no pain at all, neither in CRPS patients (ipsi 0 AUC, contra 0 AUC) nor in healthy controls. Our results suggest that hyperalgesia to protons is present in patients with CRPS. Further, we could demonstrate that pain is not only restricted to the skin but is also generated in deep somatic tissue of the affected limb.

Effect of chemically induced propionic acidemia on neurobehavioral development of rats.

High levels of propionic acid (PPA) comparable to those of human propionic acidemia were achieved in blood (1-5 mmol/l) and brain (1 micromol/g) of rats by administering saline-buffered propionate (pH 7.4) subcutaneously twice a day from the 6th to the 28th day of life. PPA doses ranged from 1.44 to 1.92 micromol/g body weight as a function of animal age. Control rats were treated with saline in the same volumes. Growth and development of physical landmarks were assessed by monitoring the following parameters daily: body weight, upper incisor eruption, eye opening, and hair coat. Development of some reflexes was also monitored, and a specific subset of motor skills was evaluated at days 14 and 21 of life by the free-fall righting test and the spontaneous alternation test. Chronic PPA administration had no effect on body weight, cerebral cortex weight, or cerebellum weight, but caused slight but significant delays in the day of appearance of hair coat and eye opening, indicating an effect of PPA on the development of physical parameters. Free-fall righting was impaired in PPA-treated animals. On the other hand, PPA administration had no effect on the performance of the animals in the spontaneous alternation tests. Long-term effects of early PPA administration were investigated by assessing animal performance in an aversive task (two-way shuttle avoidance task) and in a nonaversive (open-field task) behavioral task at 60 days of age. PPA-treated rats did not habituate to the open field, and presented a lack of retention of the shuttle-avoidance task. Our results suggest that early postnatal PPA administration to rats alters normal development and induces long-term behavioral deficits in aversive and nonaversive tasks.

Long term outcome after umbilical artery acidaemia at term birth: influence of gender and duration of fetal heart rate abnormalities.

OBJECTIVE: To study the outcome after acidaemia at term birth, and the relation to gender and duration of pathological fetal heart rate changes. DESIGN: Population based study of 154 infants with umbilical artery pH < 7.05 at term birth. Neonatal outcome and the result of developmental screening at age four years were compared with a control group with pH > 7.10. Fetal heart rate traces in infants with acidaemia were reviewed, and the relation between duration of fetal heart rate changes and outcome was analysed. RESULTS: Of the 154 newborns with acidaemia at birth, 10 had encephalopathy, of which two died and two developed cerebral palsy. Nine of these 10 infants were boys, and eight had pH < 7.00. Male newborns (n = 39) more often had pronounced acidaemia (pH < 7.00) than females (n = 22). Although few infants had severe impairment, infants born with acidaemia significantly more often had speech problems at follow up than controls (19/102 versus 8/98; P = 0.03). In infants with acidaemia, duration of abnormal fetal heart rate changes was significantly associated with neonatal encephalopathy and speech problems at age four years. CONCLUSIONS: Acidaemia at term birth was associated with neonatal encephalopathy and with speech problems at four years of age. Boys had more often pronounced acidaemia and a complicated course. A protracted abnormal fetal heart rate trace was associated with poor outcome.

Malonic aciduria.

Three infants with malonic aciduria are reported, one of whom could be studied in detail. All children had severe and progressive encephalopathy with intermittent ketoacidosis and hypoglycemia. One infant died of cardiomyopathy. Biochemical studies revealed that one patient had neither malonyl-CoA decarboxylase nor glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiencies. This variant of malonic aciduria is different from that of four patients previously reported, both in its clinical and biochemical presentations. The biochemical pathology of this variant malonic aciduria is unknown.