Question

CSI: Hot Tub..too hot to handle?

            After waking up in the yard with a severe hangover, a woman finds her husband dead in the hot tub in Palm Springs. It had been a cool day for January, with temperatures hovering around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The couple had apparently come home the previous night and gone to the hot tub, which was set at 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Both had been drinking a great deal of wine, and the male had been taking Lasix (a high-ceiling loop diuretic) for congestive heart failure.   Your job is to come up with a probable cause of the male’s death.

Clues and Background:

1. The hot tub's upper safe temperature is 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. The blood alcohol level (BAL) in each person was 0.2% (legally intoxicated is 0.08% in CA).

3. The man weighed 160 lbs and the woman weighed 120 lbs.

4. LASIX is a diuretic. A is a drug that elevates the rate of urination and thus provides a means of forced diuresis.

5. Alcohol is a depressant (i.e., it decreases the activity of the nervous system).

6. ADH (antidiuretic hormone or vasopressin) is synthesized in the nervous system (hypothalamus) and is released in response to osmotic stress.

7. Normal to high ADH levels result in water reabsorption by the body (act on kidney collecting tubules).

9. Heat tends to cause vasodilation of blood vessels.

Please answer the following questions in a logical way:.

2. How would Lasix affect the feedback loops regulating blood pressure?

3. How would heat affect the feedback loops regulating blood pressure?

4. How would alcohol affect the feedback loops regulating blood pressure?

Answer 1

2)Acoording to the above given information person is using Lasix for congestive heart failure Furosemide also known as Lasix is a loop diuretic that are used to stimulate the kidneys to remove sodium and water from the body by acting on the loop of Henle in the nephron of the kidneys.It is given to the patients with congestive cardiac failure,pulmonary edema ,renal failure and hyper tension.Loop of Henle is a key area where water is balanced between the blood and urine a large amount of sodium and water are filtered from he filtrate into the blood in the loop of Henle.The loop of Henle is responsible for reabsorbing about 20% of the filtered sodium and 15% of the filtered water out of the filtrate back into the blood .Lasix drug work by blocking the function of membrane co-transporter protein in the cells of the thick ascending loop.Lasix prevent sodium from being pumped out of the filtrate into the interstitial fluid of the medulla of the kidney and as a result there's lower concentration of sodium and other solids hence water is not drawn out of the decending loop and remains in the filtrate and get release in to the urine.This medication might caused lightheadedness and low blood pressure since this medication basically can dehydrate.

According to the above information the person has set bath tub at 110 degress Fahrenheit but bath tubs upper safe temperature is 104 degress Fahrenheit.The hot tubs increases body temperature and he id drinking alcohol which increases the body temperature too.The body maintains homeostasis by sending signals through hypothalamus which cause vasodilation .When blood vessels of skin dilate warm blood flows closure to the body surface and looses heat to the surrounding area. This causes extreme dehydration and low blood pressure.

3)Since alcohol is a depressant it inhibit the release of ADH from the hypothalamus and it causes dehydration.

Long term and heavy drinking is linked with cardiomyopathy drinking excessive amounts of alcohol above moderation can weaken heart muscle and stop it from pumping the blood efficiently.