Spuriously raised serum amylase in a five-year-old girl: a note of caution in paediatric blood sampling.

Introduction: Capillary (finger prick) blood sampling is commonplace in paediatric practice but this method is prone to produce spurious laboratory results.

Case Presentation: A five-year-old girl presented with abdominal pain, epigastric tenderness, tachycardia and reduced oxygen saturation. A venous blood sample haemolysed, and serum amylase on a finger prick sample was reported as 2831 units/L.

Quantification of urinary sodium concentrations in term infants.

Background: Infants with gastrointestinal conditions and poor weight gain are administered sodium supplementation based on urinary sodium concentrations. However, the reference range of urinary electrolytes is unknown. The aim of this study was to ascertain the normal values of urinary electrolytes in healthy, term infants.

Puff and bite: the relationship between the glucocorticoid stress response and anti-predator performance in checkered puffer (Sphoeroides testudineus).

Individual variation in the endocrine stress response has been linked to survival and performance in a variety of species. Here, we evaluate the relationship between the endocrine stress response and anti-predator behaviors in wild checkered puffers (Sphoeroides testudineus) captured at Eleuthera Island, Bahamas. The checkered puffer has a unique and easily measurable predator avoidance strategy, which is to inflate or 'puff' to deter potential predators.