Sodium/potassium ratio

All patients with ascites require counseling on dietary sodium restriction. Salt intake should be limited to less than 800 mg sodium (2 g sodium chloride) per day. More stringent restriction may cause faster mobilization of ascitic fluid, but adherence to such strict limits is very difficult. Patients usually respond well to sodium restriction accompanied by diuretic therapy.14,22,31,32 The goal of therapy is to achieve urinary sodium excretion of at least 78 mEq (78 mmol) per day.22 While a 24-hour urine collection provides this information, a spot urine sodium/ potassium ratio greater than 1.0 provides the same information and is much less cumbersome to perform. 

Measure spot urine sodium/potassium ratio to assess adherence to dietary sodium restrictions. 

Assess dietary sodium intake by patient food recall or by spot urine sodium/potassium ratio for appropriate sodium excretion. 

The aim is to remove the fluid gradually with a maximum weight loss of 0.5 kg/day in the absence of peripheral oedema, or 1.0 kg/day if peripheral oedema is present. Too rapid a diuresis will result in intravascular fluid loss rather than the peripheral oedema. The diuretic should be stopped if the serum sodium falls below 120 mmol/L or if there is a rising serum creatinine. Urinary electrolytes should be monitored to ensure that the spironolactone therapy is effective. The aim is to reverse the sodium/potassium ratio in the urine so that more sodium than potassium is excreted. Most frequent side-effects of spironolactone are those related to its anti-androgenic activity, such as decreased libido, impotence and gynaecomastia in men and menstrual irregularities in women. Other side-effects include hyperkalaemia, uraemia, hyponatraemia and nausea. 

Tbe mean fall in sodium potassium ratio was similar on the first postoperative day in patients in both control and spironolactone-treated groups this finding suggested that at that time factors other than aldosterone were controlling sodium and potassium losses. However, in subsequent days more sodium was lost, and potassium was retained, in... 

Because sodium and potassium must be in balance, excessive use of salt depletes the body s potassium supply. Although sodium intake may be the most important dietary determinant of blood pressure, variations in the sodium potassium ratio in the diet affect blood pressure under certain circumstances. 

The safe service temperature of unfired vermiculite heat insulation materials is determined by the binder and may vary considerably, depending on processing and the sodium/potassium ratio (Fig. 2.90). The materials with sodium liquid glass binder have a lower safe service temperature than materials with potassium liquid glass binder, because of different high-temperature deformations (Fig. 2.84). 

In vasogenic oedema of white matter the fluid content, tissue sodium chloride and sodium potassium ratio are increased. Total proteins, albumins and alpha fractions 2ire also augmented [2, 3]. Incorporation of labelled amino acids into... 

Xenates and Perxenates. Alkali metal xenates of composition MHXe04-1.5H20, where M is sodium, potassium, mbidium, or cesium, have been prepared by free2e-dryiQg mixtures of xenon trioxide and the corresponding metal hydroxides ia 1 1 molar ratios. The xenates are unstable, explosive solids. 

Ratio of basic (calcium, sodium, potassium) to acidic (iron, silicon, aluminum) ash constituents, and specifically irou-to-calcium ratio... 

The first column of the periodic table, Group 1, contains elements that are soft, shiny solids. These alkali metals include lithium, sodium, potassium, mbidium, and cesium. At the other end of the table, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and astatine appear in the next-to-last column. These are the halogens, or Group 17 elements. These four elements exist as diatomic molecules, so their formulas have the form X2 A sample of chlorine appears in Figure EV. Each alkali metal combines with any of the halogens in a 1 1 ratio to form a white crystalline solid. The general formula of these compounds s, AX, where A represents the alkali metal and X represents the halogen A X = N a C 1, LiBr, CsBr, KI, etc.). 

Potentiometric titration has been applied to the determination of potassium in seawater [532-534], Torbjoern and Jaguer [533-544] used a potassium selective valinomycin electrode and a computerised semiautomatic titrator. Samples were titrated with standard additions of aqueous potassium so that the potassium to sodium ion ratio increased on addition of the titrant, and the contribution from sodium ions to the membrane potential could be neglected. The initial concentration of potassium ions was then derived by the extrapolation procedure of Gran. 

Current nutritional intake Complete blood cell count Serum electrolytes Sodium Potassium Chloride Bicarbonate Magnesium Phosphorous Calcium Serum glucose Serum albumin Markers for organ function Liver function tests Alkaline phosphatase Aspartate aminotransferase Alanine aminotransferase Total bilirubin Prothrombin time or International normalized ratio Renal function tests Blood urea nitrogen Creatinine Fluid balance Input Oral... 

In contrast to the ionic complexes of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, barium, and cadmium, the ease with which transition metal complexes are formed (high constant of complex formation) can partly be attributed to the suitably sized atomic radii of the corresponding metals. Incorporated into the space provided by the comparatively rigid phthalocyanine ring, these metals fit best. An unfavorable volume ratio between the space within the phthalocyanine ring and the inserted metal, as is the case with the manganese complex, results in a low complex stability. 

Benzene and its homologs can be converted to the corresponding cyclo-hexadienes and cyclohexenes, and even cyclohexanes, by treatment with dissolving metals lithium, sodium, potassium or calcium in liquid ammonia or amines. Conversions are not complete, and the ratio of cyclohexadienes to cyclohexenes depends on the metal used, on the solvent, and on the presence of hydrogen donors (alcohols) added to the ammonia or amine [392, 393, 394]. 

Potassium and sodium are good conductors of heat.23 If the conductivity of silver be unity, that of sodium is 0 365. J. W. Hornbeck found the temp, coeff. of the thermal conductivity of potassium or sodium falls with rise of temp. The alkali metals are also good conductors of electricity 24 for example, the conductivity of sodium for heat and electricity is exceeded only by silver, copper, and gold. According to E. F. Northrup, the metals sodium, potassium, mercury, tin, lead, and bismuth have the same value for the ratio of the coeff. of electrical resistance to the coeff. of cubical expansion at the same temp. The electrical conductivity of lithium is nearly ll-4xl04 reciprocal ohms at 20°, that is, about 20 4 per cent, of the conductivity of hard silver of sodium at 2T 70, 22 4 XlO4 reciprocal ohms, that is, about 36 5 per cent, of the value of silver. 

Potassium is the principal cation in intracellular fluid in the body. Variations in the sodium-to-potassium ratio in the diet can affect blood pressure under certain circumstances (Shank et al. 1982 NAS 1980A). In fact, preliminary evidence suggests that potassium may protect against a sodium-induced increase in blood pressure (Langford 1983 Tannen 1983). Milk and milk products are shown in the FDA Total Diet Study to be the largest contributors of potassium in the diet (Shank et al. 1982). Milk contributed about 55% and 40% of the total potassium in the diet of infants and toddlers, respectively, and dairy foods accounted for 26% of the potassium in the adult diet. Whole milk contains 152 mg potassium per 100 g. 

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