B Vitamins
                                ==========

þ Thiamine (General)
 - required cofactor for Krebs cycle and thus complete oxidation
 - humans can store about 2-3 weeks' worth in the liver (less if liver is
   diseased, as in alcoholics).

þ Thiamine Deficiency (Beri-Beri)
 (Can have both wet and dry together)
 Wet Beri-Beri (cardiovascular dysfunction)
  - initially: peripheral vasodilation and tachycardia
  - later:  high-output congestive cardiomyopathy
 Dry Beri-Beri (miscellaneous central and peripheral neurological dysfunctions)
  - Wernicke's encephalopathy   <N-Wernic.TXT>
  - Korsakoff's psychosis
  - peripheral neuropathy

þ Role of glucose loading in thiamine deficiency:
 - [Nadel A, BurgerP. Wernicke's encephalopathy following prolonged IV therapy.
   JAMA1976;235(22):2403]
 - Above reports on two patients who died of unrecognized Wernicke's.  Authors
   theorize that glucose IV made it worse.
 - moral:  give 100 mg thiamine (or the whole "rally pack" "banana bag" "gomer
   grow" or whatever) to the demented nursing home patient as well as the
   alcoholic.
 - Wernicke's can develop in stressed postop patients getting a large glucose
   load despite 10 mg/day of thiamine [Arch Neruol 1980;37:255.]