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The Composition of Growth.
Author(s) -
HAMILTON BENGT,
SHOCK NATHAN W.
Publication year - 1934
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1934.tb08407.x
Subject(s) - potassium , sodium , medicine , dehydration , magnesium , metabolism , calcium , intracellular , zoology , atrophy , composition (language) , endocrinology , biochemistry , chemistry , biology , linguistics , philosophy , organic chemistry
Summary In a case of chronic malnutrition (infantile atrophy), metabolism experiments were conducted over a period of 106 days, 60 of which the infant actually spent on the metabolism bed. In five periods, covering 41 days, there was a gain in weight. The retentions of sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, magnesium and nitrogen were calculated per kilogram gain in weight from these five periods, and compared with normal figures previously obtained by S wanson . It was found that in respect to the retentions of sodium and potassium, the atrophic infant differed markedly from the normal infants. The sodium retention was low, probably indicating that the new tissues formed were not holding a normal amount of interstitial fluids. The potassium retention was very high, both absolutely and in relation to the retention of nitrogen. It is argued that this increased retention of potassium indicates either the repair of intracellular dehydration, or the formation of cells abnormally rich in fluids.