Ammonia Information and Courses from MediaLab, Inc.
These are the MediaLab courses that cover Ammonia and links to relevant pages within the course.
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| Urine Specimen The urine specimen should be freshly voided. Urine is an ideal medium for the proliferation of bacteria due to the large amount of urea present. These bacteria metabolize urea, producing ammonia that increases the urine pH. If there is a delay before performance of the test, the sample should be refrigerated. This will: Prevent urease-producing organisms, such as Proteus and Pseudomonas, from converting urine urea to ammonia, which results in an increased pH. Prevent loss of CO2 which increases pH to the alkaline range.The "run-over" phenomenon may occur if excess urine remains on the strip. The protein area, adjacent to the pH area, contains an acid buffer which may "run-over" the pH portion resulting in an acid reading on a neutral or alkaline urine. | View Page |
| Patients with which of the following conditions would benefit most from washed red cells: | View Page |
| Increases in blood ammonia levels would be expected in which of the following conditions: | View Page |
| What is the largest constituent of plasma nonprotein nitrogen: | View Page |
| Discussion Hemolysis can easily be caused by improper phlebotomy techniques. Hemolysis occurs when RBCs are broken up and hemoglobin is released into the plasma, causing it to become pink rather than its natural straw color. Hemolysis can occur by using too small a needle, pulling a syringe plunger too rapidly, expelling blood vigorously into a tube, or shaking a tube of blood too hard. Hemolysis can cause falsely increased potassium, magnesium, iron, and ammonia levels, and other aberrant lab results.In this case, Marcie did not properly wipe the site with gauze after cleaning it with alcohol, and alcohol contacting the blood could have caused RBCs to break up or hemolyze. Marcie also squeezed the baby’s foot too hard, causing hemolysis.Relevant topics:Site selection and preparation, Heelstick: Puncture, Hemolysis, Causes of hemolysis | View Page |
| Green top tubes Contain either sodium or lithium heparin.Used for tests requiring whole blood or plasma such as ammonia or whole blood potassium.
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