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Urine sample test: new way to detect and screen for early stages of Alzheimer’s disease

<p>When it comes to <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/alzheimers-peer-review/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alzheimer’s disease</a>, an early diagnosis – one made well before signs of irreversible dementia are apparent – is key to providing effective intervention and treatment. Now early detection might be as simple as a urine test, allowing for wide-scale and early screening across large populations of the elderly.</p> <p>A collaboration of researchers in China investigated urine samples for biomarkers from a large group of patients with varying severity of Alzheimer’s disease, comparing them with healthy controls.</p> <p>A compound known as <a href="https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/molecule-of-the-week/archive/f/formic-acid.html?cid=home_motw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">formic acid</a> (which is also produced by some ant and bee species) was a particularly sensitive marker for cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Significant increases in urinary formic acid levels were found in all samples from Alzheimer’s sufferers (including those with only early-stage subjective cognitive decline) as compared with those from the healthy controls.</p> <p>“Alzheimer’s disease is a continuous and concealed chronic disease, meaning that it can develop and last for many years before obvious cognitive impairment emerges,” say the authors. “The early stages of the disease occur before the irreversible dementia stage, and this is the golden window for intervention and treatment.”</p> <p>When blood samples of the participants were analysed for Alzheimer’s biomarkers in combination with the urinary formic acid level, the researchers were able to predict to what stage of the disease the patient had progressed. Their report is in <em><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2022.1046066/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Ageing</a></em>.</p> <p>Other methods currently used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, such as positron emission tomography brain scans, <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/medicine/alzheimers-blood-test-developed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">invasive blood draws</a> and lumbar punctures, tend to be costly and invasive. Although other urinary biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease have been found, none have been able to detect the disease at its earliest stages.</p> <p>The links between urinary formic acid and Alzheimer’s disease are still not fully understood, but this research is an important step towards developing tools to diagnose and treat this debilitating condition amongst a vulnerable group in society.</p> <p>“Urinary formic acid showed an excellent sensitivity for early Alzheimer’s screening,” said the authors. “The detection of urine biomarkers of Alzheimer’s is convenient and cost-effective, and it should be performed during routine physical examinations of the elderly.”</p> <p><!-- Start of tracking content syndication. Please do not remove this section as it allows us to keep track of republished articles --></p> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=227116&amp;title=Urine+sample+test%3A+new+way+to+detect+and+screen+for+early+stages+of+Alzheimer%E2%80%99s+disease" width="1" height="1" data-spai-target="src" data-spai-orig="" data-spai-exclude="nocdn" /></p> <p><!-- End of tracking content syndication --></p> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/urine-new-way-detect-alzheimers-disease/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on Cosmos Magazine and was written by Clare Kenyon. </em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p> </div>

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ANZAC disgrace: Man charged with "offensive act" at war memorial

<p>A man who allegedly relieved himself on the ANZAC memorial in Sydney’s CBD has been charged.</p> <p>The 23-year-old man was grabbed by officers after allegedly urinating on the western corner of the memorial building in Hyde Park. This occurred just before 11 pm on Thursday.</p> <p>He is due to face the Downing Centre Local Court on January 22 after being charged with committing an offensive act in or on a war memorial.</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BTSML4-DPY6/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BTSML4-DPY6/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">Today we remember the brave men and women who have served our country. Lest we forget. Pic: @zxlee618</a></p> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/cityofsydney/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank"> City of Sydney</a> (@cityofsydney) on Apr 24, 2017 at 3:05pm PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>Police say that he is the second man to be arrested for that specific offence this month, as a French tourist was allegedly caught doing the same thing on December 10.</p> <p>The 22-year-old man was walking through Hyde Park at around 10 pm when he stopped to relieve himself on the building.</p> <p>He was arrested by officers as well and charged with committing an offensive act in or on a war memorial or internment site.</p> <p>The man was granted conditional bail and is due to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on January 15th .</p>

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Why is urine yellow?

<blockquote> <p><strong>Why is urine yellow? – Ronan, aged 9, Greenslopes, Brisbane.</strong></p> </blockquote> <hr /> <p>Our bodies use nutrients from the food we eat. But the processes involved in digestion also create what we call “byproducts”. That’s where a new chemical is created along the way.</p> <p>Some of these byproducts in the body are waste and our bodies have clever waste processing systems to get rid of them.</p> <p>Some of the waste goes out in your poo. And waste that can be dissolved in water goes out in your wee. We call this “water-soluble” waste. Water-soluble means it can be dissolved in water.</p> <p>And the parts of your body in charge of “making” the wee are called the kidneys. They’re shaped like kidney beans.</p> <p><strong>A delicate balance</strong></p> <p>The kidneys work around the clock to make sure the body has the right balance of water, salt and chemicals and not too much water-soluble waste in it.</p> <p>Kidneys have special filters in them that help sort out the useful bits from the waste. They also are in charge of transporting the water-soluble waste from your kidneys, down two special pipes called “ureters” and into your bladder (which is down near the genitals).</p> <p>When the bladder gets full, it sends a message along your nerves to your brain that makes you feel like you need to wee.</p> <p><strong>So…. why is it yellow?</strong></p> <p>One of the water-soluble waste products that your kidneys put into your urine is a chemical called urobilin, and it is yellow.</p> <p>The colour of your urine depends on how much urobilin is in it and how much water is in it.</p> <p>If your urine is light yellow, it means you have been drinking a lot of water and there’s a lot of water in your urine. We call this being “hydrated”.</p> <p>If your urine is dark yellow, that means there’s less water, and a relatively high amount of urobilin. It probably means you haven’t been drinking enough water and could be dehydrated.</p> <p><strong>Too much water versus not enough</strong></p> <p>When you haven’t been drinking enough water, the kidneys get a message from your brain to try to keep more water in your body (and out of your bladder). You will also start to feel thirsty.</p> <p>If people can’t drink water (because they have a vomiting illness, for example), they might need water put directly into their blood. This usually happens in a hospital using a drip (which is where a bag of salt water is put into your blood via a needle in your arm).</p> <p>If you have been drinking more water than your body needs, the body tells the kidney filters to get rid of the spare water. That’s when your urine will look paler.<!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em>Written by <span>Jaquelyne Hughes, Research Fellow, Menzies School of Health Research</span>. Republished with permission of </em><a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-is-urine-yellow-117747" target="_blank"><em>The Conversation</em></a><em>. </em></p>

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