Diet Information and Courses from MediaLab, Inc.
These are the MediaLab courses that cover Diet and links to relevant pages within the course.
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| A patient that is on a vegetarian diet will most likely have an acid urine pH. | View Page |
| pH Value Due to the wide range in urine pH values in healthy individuals, pH results must be evaluated in conjunction with the patient's medical condition. Factors to be considered include: respiratory or metabolic acidosis respiratory or metabolic alkalosis renal function crystal or calculi formation urinary tract status diet | View Page |
| Acid and alkaline urine pH Reasons for acidic urine pH include: a high-meat diet, respiratory/metabolic acidosis, and hypochloridemia. A urine with a high concentration of glucose may also have a lower pH. An alkaline pH may be the result of a vegetarian diet, respiratory/metabolic alkalosis, or a bacterial infection caused by urease-producing bacteria. Urine that contains bacteria can become more alkaline if the specimen remains at room temperature for an extended period of time. | View Page |
| Match the following factors with the expected pH: | View Page |
| Three Kinds of Ketones When the body breaks down fat for energy, three intermediate products are formed. These products, collectively referred to as ketones, are acetone, acetoacetic acid, and beta-hydroxybutyric acid. Normally, the body gets the energy it needs from carbohydrates in the diet. However, stored fat is broken down and ketones are produced and appear in the urine if the diet does not contain enough carbohydrate to supply the body with glucose for energy or if the body cannot use glucose properly. | View Page |
| False Negative Results False negative results may occur in urine specimens that did not remain in the bladder a sufficient length of time for the bacteria to reduce a measurable quantity of nitrate to nitrite. Other reasons for false negative results include high specific gravity, ascorbic acid levels above 25mg/dL or low pH (<6). Less frequently, the cause may be due to a lack of sufficient nitrate in the diet (green vegetables) or further reduction of nitrite to nitrogen when large numbers of bacteria are present. In patients receiving antibiotics, the metabolism of the bacteria may be inhibited which would also produce a false negative reaction. | View Page |
| Increased excretion of creatinine would be expected in which of the following groups: | View Page |
| Other Causes of Ketonuria Ketonuria can also be found in conditions associated with a decreased intake of carbohydrates (starvation), digestive disturbances, dietary imbalance (high fat/low carbohydrate diet), eclampsia, prolonged vomiting and diarrhea, glycogen storage diseases, vigorous exercise, fever, and following administration of anesthesia. Ketone bodies are mildly toxic to the body, tending to interfere with the excretion of uric acid, produce mild depression of the central nervous system, and cause acidosis. | View Page |
| Coagulation Disorders - Acquired A lack of Vitamin K can cause a loss of functionality in Vitamin K dependant coagulation factors, specifically, factors II, VII, IX and X.
Most often associated with a diet lacking in Vitamin K, it may also present in situations of broad spectrum antibiotic use, where normal flora in the gut have been eliminated.
As one might expect, treatment involves a diet rich in Vitamin K containing foods, and judicious use of broad spectrum antibiotics. | View Page |
| This photomicrograph is an acid-fast stained smear prepared from a yeast colony growing on ascospore agar. A helmet-shaped, red-staining, acid fast yeast cell is seen in the center of view at the tip of the arrow, against the background, blue-staining blastoconidia. The presumptive identification of Hansenula anomala was made. Predisposing conditions that may indicate that this isolate is more than a contaminant include: | View Page |
| Oral candidiasis may be directly exasperated by the habitual ingestion of: | View Page |
| TDM and PGx Can we use therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) to assess PGx?TDM of the drug in question can also tell us a good deal about a drug's metabolism and will also take into account all the other variables at play (co-medications, diet, impaired organ function, etc.) However, unlike genotyping and probe-drug testing, therapeutic drug monitoring must be performed during therapy, not before. So, in fact, TDM is not really used to predict therapy in PGx but serves as a confirmation of PGx findings. TDM and genotyping should be considered complementary and can be used in tandem to, first, predict and then verify appropriate serum drug levels. | View Page |
| 12 hour fast Patients should be on a normal diet, and be normally active for 3 days prior to the test.Patients must fast for 12 hours before beginning the test. | View Page |
| Calcium Oxalate Crystals Calcium oxalate crystals have a characteristic octahedral or envelope shape. Fine focusing will cause the "x" to be refractile. Size may vary from extremely small to quite large. They are associated with diets high in oxalic acid or chemical toxicity. Occasionally calcium oxalate crystals are dumbbell or oval in shape. | View Page |