Urine is formed from the breakdown of substances excreted by the body (including nutrients consumed by the patient). Urine is primarily made of water, urea, and sodium chloride, however, also contains many other dissolved substances from the body. Urea is the product of protein also known as carb amide. Although the urine contains the three primary substances named above other substances in the urine are determined by what the patient consumes and what state of health the patient is in. For Example, a “true” vegetarian is someone who completely refrains from consuming any of the animal kingdom, this includes dairy products-such as eggs and milk. Although a vegetarian doesn’t eat any of the animal origin many vegetarians only practice abstaining from meat and not from dairy.
This kind of vegetarianism can be health, however, complete vegetarianism can result in nutrition deficiency. Another heath issue that can effect what the urine contains is . Diabetes mellitus is a disease diagnosed when either the pancreas stops producing insulin or when the body’s cells no longer respond to the insulin produced to except the glucose into the bloodstream. Diabetes mellitus is a serious health condition, and plays a role in the causes of diseases such as heart disease, renal failure, and blindness. Although there are no known causes of the disease today, diabetes mellitus has been found to be genetic. Treatment of this disease includes daily injections of insulin, oral medications, and a change in diet.
So, in question, using urinalysis, what disease do the patients have? Patient number 086 in the urinalysis is a vegetarian and patient number 329 in the urinalysis has diabetes mellitus. The results following will support the diagnosis. In determining the diagnosis the Fundamentals Life Science Manual, (Leady, 2003), was used. No changes were made in the protocol. The tests performed were on the physical characteristics-color, odor, and transparency and tests on acidity, specific gravity and the presents of chlorides, glucose, protein, and ketones.
The results are presented in a chart like form. The tests performed are listed in the first column, the normal patient’s results are listed in column two, patient number 329 are listed in column three and patient number 086 are listed in column four. The results, of each test, can be found attached, on the Lab 6 Worksheet (from the Fundamentals Life Science Manual, (Leady, 2003). For an example of test results, we ” ll refer back to the ketone test. The ketone test consists of a test strip dipped into the urine removed and compared to a color strip. If the test strip is negative the color will show as a light nude, and if tested positive the color will present as a light pink to a darker color as more than a trace is present.
What disease does patient 329 have? The patient number 329 has diabetes mellitus. The results will support my diagnosis. When testing the color of patient 329’s urine it’s shown to be colorless-which may be due to untreated diabetes mellitus. The transparency of the urine was completely transparent. The urine had an odor of acetone.
This result was unexpected because the odor is a sign of a urinary tract infection which was not detected. The ph of the urine was then tested and resulted at a four (strongly acidic) which again is potential for diabetes mellitus. A ph of a four however is not a characteristic of a urinary tract infection. The specific gravity of patient 329’s urine is 1. 028. The specific gravity was normal and played no roll in the diagnosis.
Chloride in the urine was then tested and results were positive. The result also did not play a roll. Chloride is usually determined by the food consumed by the patient-not a disease. When glucose was tested it was found at 4. 1% and above in the urine. Normally glucose would not be found in urine except when deposits are to large for the bloodstream to absorb then glucose will spill over into the urine.
This is another characteristic of diabetes mellitus. No protein was detected during the albumin test. This result has no significance with diabetes mellitus. However, when testing for ketones a trace was detected. The detection of ketones are a result of the body’s cells not responding to the insulin and absorbing glucose-which will then again spill into the urine (a characteristic of diabetes mellitus. ) The diagnosis is supported for patient 329.
The experiment had one weakness. The results of the odor test. The odor of acetone was unexpected because the presents of ketones should have given the urine a sweet smell. No problems arouse during the experiment. What was the diagnosis for patient 086? Patient 086 is a vegetarian. The diagnosis will be supported.
Testing patient 086’s physical characteristics showed the color of the urine a light green tint. This was an unexpected color but very significant. In that a characteristic of vegetarian’s urine may present as green. The urine was very transparent but this played no major roll in the diagnosis, due to the fact that cloudy urine may indicate presence of bacteria although not indefinitely. Patient 086’s urine was odorless and this was unexpected because the patient was potentially a vegetarian and the consumption of asparagus and cabbage gives urine a strong odor. The ph of the urine tested at a 10 (strongly alkaline).
This is a major indication of vegetarianism due to the fact that vegetarian’s urine will present at an unusually high alkaline level. The specific gravity of the urine was 1. 009. This test result had no significance with the diagnosis for reasons that 1.
009 falls between the range of a normal result. Chlorides are present in the urine. This was expected because the majority of sodium chloride (found in urine) is the result of the diet. Glucose was then tested and test results came back negative. When albumin was tested the results proved negative.
This plays a slight roll in the diagnosis because meat contains protein and if the patient were consuming excessive amount of protein it would show in the urine and the patient would not be a vegetarian (one who does not consume meat). Ketones were last tested and the results were negative of any traces. This was expected because ketones in the urine are a result of a high protein diet and again this would verify the patient is not a vegetarian. Thus, the diagnosis that patient 086 is a vegetarian is supported by the test results.
Although the only weakness detected was the results of the odor (odorless) which may have been because the patient may not eat asparagus or cabbage, there were no problems with the experiment itself. In conclusion, the diagnosis of the patients have been strongly supported. The protocols were carefully followed and the experiment was successful. Leady, B.
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