A 46-year-old man with hypokalemic periodic paralysis (HypoPP) and diabetes mellitus (DM) had worsened muscle weakness after acetazolamide (ACZ) treatment. During the paralytic episode, serum potassium levels were reduced, and serum chloride and insulin levels were increased. The data suggested proximal renal tubular acidosis due to ACZ. We determined arterial-venous concentrations of potassium...

A system is described for automatic feedback control of plasma potassium concentration in experimental animals. Plasma potassium was monitored continuously and the signal compared with the desired plasma potassium concentration. The resulting error signal controlled the infusion rates of a concentrated potassium chloride solution (50 or 200 mmol litre-1) and a solution of 50% glucose with insul...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Insulin has several physiologic actions that include stimulation of cellular glucose and potassium uptake. The ability of insulin to induce glucose uptake by cells is impaired in type 2 diabetes mellitus, but whether potassium uptake is similarly impaired is not known. This study examines whether the cellular uptake of these molecules is regulated in concert or indepen...

Rats fed a high-fructose diet represent an animal model for insulin resistance and hypertension. We recently showed that a high-fructose diet containing vegetable oil but a normal sodium/potassium ratio induced mild insulin resistance with decreased insulin receptor substrate-1 tyrosine phosphorylation in the liver and muscle of normal rats. In the present study, we examined the mean blood pres...

Potassium plays a critical role in cellular metabolism and normal neuromuscular function. Tightly regulated homeostatic mechanisms have developed in the process of evolution to provide primary defense against the threats of hyperand hypokalemia. The kidney plays a primary role in potassium balance, by increasing or decreasing the rate of potassium excretion. Distribution of potassium between th...

∑ Hyperkalemia develops when the regulation between potassium intake and potassium excretion, or the distribution between intraand extracellular potassium is disturbed. It is a common, silent, and potentially lethal clinical condition, which seldom occurs in patients with normal renal function. Clinically, the most important effect of hyperkalemia is that which the condition has on the myocardi...

A 99-year-old woman was admitted following a mechanical fall. The patient suffered from frequent falls averaging around six falls per year. On this occasion the patient explained that she had simply lost her balance and denied any further symptoms. The patient’s past medical history was significant for essential thrombocythaemia diagnosed 10 years earlier which was initially managed with hydrox...

Infective endocarditis (IE) is an uncommon disease but is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. In the contemporary era, despite advancements in diagnosis and both antimicrobial and surgical therapies, IE is associated with an in-hospital mortality rate of nearly 20%. Given this high mortality, numerous studies have investigated clinical characteristics of IE that are associated ...