Answer to Question #210122 in Biochemistry for Whatever

Question

A female in her sixties (Mrs J) makes an appointment with her GP because she has been suffering with pains in her legs and having difficulty walking. She is also having problems with her vision. She presents as overweight, bordering on obese. When questioned about her appetite she mentions that she seems to feel thirsty a lot of the time. The GP takes a blood sample and asks the patient to provide an MSU urine specimen. After using a dipstick on both samples, the GP arranges for the patient to attend the clinic for a glucose tolerance test. The results are in Table 1 below.

 

Table 1: Plasma glucose concentrations (mmol/L) determined for Mrs J

 

Subject

minutes after glucose load

 

0

30

60

90

120

Patient T

8.5

16.1

16.8

15.9

15.5

 

Question 3

Describe the profile for this patient and suggest the clinical implications.

Answer 1

The patient is suffering from diabetes mellitus

 

The presence of glucose in the urine is due to inefficient reabsorption at the proximal convoluted tubule