Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center reported that a deficiency in short-chain L-3-hydroxyacyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase (SCHAD) may be responsible for a small portion of otherwise unexplained deaths in children younger than one year old. The researchers studied 150 infant deaths and found the deficiency present in 2% of the cases. A deficiency of SCHAD is a congenital metabolic error that occurs as fatty acids derived from fat stores in the body are metabolized. As a result, fatty acids can enter the liver but cannot generate energy or produce ketones. The brain starves from the deficit of ketones, and the infant becomes comatose.
-JAMA Vol. 2, No. 12, Sept. 22/29, 1999
Reprinted from Midwifery Today E-News (Vol 1 Issue 40, Oct 1, 1999)
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