Robert,
I have had a lot of experience measuring osmolality
(by depression of freezing point) and calculated gap
even before medics thought of alcohol ingestion as a
cause of reduced conciousness, and I believe it is a
good indicator of ingestion of solvents ie ethanol,
methanol. I even had reason to question the
reliability of an osmometer or a kinetic glucose assay
(which in the past didn't have substrate deficiency
limits), when confronted with your problem.
I am semi-retired living in Spain studying labs here,
and I am able to see too much "who's fault is it" from
this distance. I was an analyst, and my first and
persistent thought would have been, not insulting the
intelligence of the consultant(not in public anyway),
butwhy?, why?, and why? the discrepancy.
David Brown
=====
David G Brown
Calle Salamanca 23/3
Valencia
46005
Espaņa
Tel 00 34 96 328 7207
e-mail [log in to unmask]
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