ABSTRACT
Sniffing of volatile organic solvents containing toluene, such as acrylic paints, glues, adhesives, paint thinners, varnishes and shoe polishes, has become increasingly frequent in recent years. Renal tubular acidosis is one of a number of human complications reported in the offspring of mothers inhaling toluene during pregnancy. This article reports a case of a premature newborn with renal tubular acidosis probably due to maternal sniffing of paint containing toluene. Characteristics of this condition are described as well as its medical management. With increasing frequency of maternal glue and paint sniffing, more cases of newborn renal tubular acidosis will likely appear. Physicians should be prepared to manage neonatal tubular acidosis that may accompany maternal toluene sniffing in order to lessen newborn morbidity and/or mortality.
Subject(s)
Acidosis, Renal Tubular/chemically induced , Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects , Toluene/adverse effects , Female , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Infant, Premature , Male , Pregnancy , Substance-Related Disorders/complicationsABSTRACT
Four healthy male volunteers < 30 years of age participated in a blinded study of placebo versus low (0.45 g/kg lean body weight = LBW), medium (0.80 g/kg LBW) and high (1.05 g/kg LBW) dose ethanol ingestion to investigate its effect upon gaze and posture control. Serial electronystagmography and computerized platform posturography were performed at different points along each subject's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) curve as measured by breath analysis. Smooth pursuit and positional testing revealed subtle abnormalities at sub-intoxicating BACs. In addition, instability on posturography was evident on the Sensory Organization Test with no statistically significant influence observed on muscle latency testing as determined by sway analysis. We conclude that even low ethanol BAC levels produce widespread gaze and posture control effects which can be easily documented.
