has part has part characteristic of has modifier Abnormality of blood and blood-forming tissues Abnormality of acid-base homeostasis Alkalemia When describing acid-base abnormalities, acidosis and alkalosis refer to physiological processes that lower or raise the pH, respectively, while acidemia and alkalemia simply describe the state of an abnormal blood pH. This distinction is important: a patient with acidemia could have both a respiratory and metabolic acidosis as well as a concurrent metabolic alkalosis. abnormal decreased acidity blood