Q: About Micronutrients and pregnancy

 

A very anxious 30 year-old female patient goes  to your office because she is late 10 days.  The patient tells you that she is trying to have a baby,  since in a former pregnancy, two years ago, she lost a baby that was born with anencephaly. You indicate pregnancy tests but they do not confirm pregnancy.

Even when the pregnancy test were negatives, which of the following micronutrients you should prescribe to this patient?

 

a)     Ascorbate

 

b)     Calcium

 

c)      Cianocobalamine

 

d)     Folate

 

e)     Iron

 

f)       Niacin

 

g)     Riboflavin

 

h)    Vitamin A

 

i)       Vitamin D

 

j)       Vitamin E

 

k)     Vitamin K

 

Q: About dry eyes, dry skin…

 

A 45-year-old, overweight male patient  presents to his physician complaining of dry skin with rash episodes, a sensation of dry eyes and lost of vision, mainly at night.  During  questioning,  he says he lost 60 lbs. during the previous year, following a very strict fat-free diet that he modified from some readings.

 

Which of the following liposoluble vitamins could be deficient in the patient and causing the above described symptoms?

 

a)     Vitamin A

 

b)     Vitamin D

 

c)      Vitamin E

 

d)     Vitamin F

 

e)     Vitamin K

 

Vitamin K and Newborns

 

Given that:

 

- Vitamin K is not easily transported from the mother to the fetus through the placenta

- Newborns have sterile intestines and cannot initially synthesize vitamin K.

- Human milk has very low concentrations of vitamin K,

 

some authors recommends that all newborns receive a single intramuscular dose of Vitamin K, since Vitamin K is a liposoluble vitamin necessary for:

 

a)     the prevention of oxidative damage

 

b)     Ca++ and phosphate metabolism

 

c)      the vision process

 

d)     the synthesis of some coagulation factors

 

e)     the differentiation of epithelial cells.