Urinalysis: Human Chorionic Gonadotropin and Urine Drug Tests
Urine Testing Science Research What is urinalysis? It is the physical, chemical, and microscopic examination of urine. Urine testing is an important tool used for medical testing on patients. It can be useful for providing information on a person’s body. Its checks many things like, for diseases, sugar, pH (acidity), protein, and bacteria. Doctors or adults at home use urine dipsticks. They are narrow plastic strips which have several squares of different colors attached to it. Each square represents a subject that will be tested. When the strip is dipped all the way the results are noted. Every square changes to a different color and each mean something different. How is the test performed? There are three ways doctors look at urine. When looking at urine, doctors look for the appearance and color. Normal urine is usually light yellow and clear without any cloudiness. Any urine that is cloudy and abnormal in color may result to infections, dehydration, and blood in urine, liver disease, or break down in red blood cells in the body. Three common questions are what does the urine look like to the naked eye? Is it clear or cloudy, and is it pale or dark yellow or another abnormal color? Another is the microscopic appearance. This is when the urine sample is examined under a microscope. They look at the cells, urine crystals, mucus, and other substances. They also identify any bacteria or any other microorganism that can be spotted. They then look at the chemical appearance. For this they use the dipsticks. These sticks contain pads with chemicals in them. The chemicals make the strips change colors when it comes in contact with an object. Certain medicines can change the appearance of urine. It can sometimes affect you and but usually it won’t. Some medicines that can change the color of your urine are chloroquine, iron supplements, levodopa, nitrofurantoin, phenazopyridine, phenothiazines, phenytoin, riboflavin, and triamterence. The normal
Bibliography: April 23, 2009 http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/testing/testing_info1.shtml