False proteinuria in patients with alkaptonuria Sirs, Alkaptonuria (AKU) is a rare autosomal re-cessive disorder characterised by the inability to metabolise homogentisic acid (HGA). In the absence of HGA oxidase, HGA is rapidly oxidised to benzoquinone acetic acid, which polymerises to a melanin-like pigment and deposits in connective tissue. Mus-culoskeletal involvement (ochronosis) is the mo...

background: accumulation of pleural and peritoneal fluid is seen in some diseases. in order to diagnose the disease and start the treatment, one of the most important actions will be to differentiate between exudates and transudates. the objective of this study was to determine the diagnostic value of measuring the specific gravity of the fluid through refractometer and strip in differentiation...

The diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) remains difficult in rural endemic areas and practical and reliable tests are badly needed. Two serological tests, the Direct Agglutination Test (DAT) and an rK39-antigen-based dipstick test, were compared to parasitological diagnosis in a group of 184 patients presenting at a tertiary care centre in south-eastern Nepal with a history of fever...

BACKGROUND Conflicting evidence exists regarding whether reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and proteinuria are independent risk factors for stroke and its subtypes in hypertensive patients. This study investigated the association of these renal measures with first incident stroke in adults under treatment for hypertension in China. METHODS AND RESULTS The study included 19 5...

BACKGROUND Childhood hypertension has been associated with target-organ damage in young adults. It is often asymptomatic in both children and adolescents; when persistent, and long-standing, it could be a significant risk factor for kidney damage and increased glomerular permeability. OBJECTIVES Burden of hypertension and its impact on glomerular permeability were prospectively determined in ...

BACKGROUND Microscopic haematuria without proteinuria is a common clinical finding. When urological causes are excluded, usual findings on renal biopsy are IgA nephropathy (which can progress to end-stage renal failure) or thin basement membrane nephropathy (which has an excellent prognosis). A non-invasive test to discriminate between the two would be useful. AIM To examine the value of meas...

We evaluated the individual and combined levels of urine dipstick and total lymphocyte count (TLC) as surrogate markers for CD4 count in a low-resource community in Ghana. This cross-sectional study recruited 200 HIV-infected patients from the Saint Francis Xavier Hospital, Assin Fosu, Ghana. Complete blood count, CD4 count, and urine dipstick analysis were measured for participants. The thresh...

Urine dipsticks are a useful and easy bedside test. Screening all patients older than 60 years is costeffective for chronic kidney disease. However, there is no clear evidence that screening low-risk patients younger than 60 years is cost-effective. This study describes the results of screening dipstick urinalysis of patients at Mankweng Hospital’s Primary Healthcare Clinic. This was a descript...

Although chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with functional decline, whether proteinuria alone is associated with functional statuses over the course of acute illnesses independent of CKD is unclear. During 2014, we prospectively enrolled non-dialysis patients aged ≥65 years, and all participants underwent spot dipstick urinalysis on admission, divided into 3 groups according to the res...

BACKGROUND The newly recognized endemic focus of leishmaniasis in Satluj river valley of Himachal Pradesh (India) has both localized cutaneous leishmaniasis (LCL) and visceral leishmaniasis (VL) predominantly caused by Leishmania donovani. Rapid rK39 immunochromatographic dipstick test detects circulating antibodies to recombinant K39 antigen of L. donovani-infantum complex and is highly specif...