John Jacob Abel was an American biochemist. He was born in 1857 at Cleveland, Ohio and died in 1938. He determined the molecular weight of cholesterol and in 1897 isolated the hormone adrenaline from the adrenal gland. In 1892 he discovered carbonic acid in horseurine and associated it with the production of urea. He also pioneered kidneydialysis. Research John Abel
In Mediaeval England, a walker was a person who was employed to trample woollen cloth in a bath of urine so as to soften the cloth. From the profession came the family name 'Walker'. Research Walker
Acute prostatitis is inflammation of the prostate, a condition often heralded by symptoms similar to those of cystitis: frequent, painful urination and nocturia. There may also be a discharge from the urethra. Prostatitis may also be accompanied by fever, chills, and pain in the perineal region behind the scrotum, the lower back, or above the pubic bone. The most common cause of acute prostatitis is bacterial infection, which can result from infected urine. Research Acute Prostatitis
Androgen is a term embracing any of the male sex hormones, substances that induce and maintain secondary sex characteristics in males. The principal androgens are testosterone and androsterone. They are found in the male testes and adrenal glands, in which they are produced; in the blood, in which they circulate; and in the urine, in which they are excreted. Androgens function principally, beginning at puberty, in the stimulation of such secondary sex characteristics as development of the genital organs and maturation of sperm, growth of body hair, and changes in the larynx that lower the voice. They also account for the growth of muscle mass and bonetissue in the developing male. Research Androgen
Blackwater fever is a rare and serious complication of chronic malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum following quinine treatment and characterised by massive destruction of the red blood cells, producing dark red or blackish urine. The patient has fever, rigors, jaundice, vomitting, pain in the loins and thirst. Recovery may follow, or death may occur from exhaustion, high fever or suppression of urine. Research Blackwater Fever
The bladder is a sac-like organ composed of musculomembranous fiber. Located in the pelvis, the bladder stores urine until it is excreted. The urine is passed to the bladder through ureters from each kidney in peristaltic waves. During excretion, the urethral orifice below the bladder is opened and the urine passes through the urethra. Though the urge to void the bladder of urine generally occurs when it has about 250 - 300 milliliters in it, the average human bladder can hold almost twice this amount. An average human excretes one to two liters of urine per day, though this is greatly dependent upon the health, diet, and level of activity of the adult. Ingested water usually is excreted within four hours of ingestion. Urine is usually clear or yellow, though this depends upon the diet and health of the individual. Urine has a distinct, ammonia-like smell which is primarily due to the nitrogenous wastes which make up 5% of the urine. The chief constituent of these wastes is urea, though ammonia, uric acid, creatinine, and a host of other waste products also are present. Research Bladder
In males, the bulbospongiosus originates from the bulb of the penis and inserts in the perineal membrane and dorsal penile aponeurosis. It aids in the emptying of urine and ejaculation from the urethra. In the female, the bulbospongiosus closes the vaginal orifice. It originates from the bulb of the vestibule and inserts in the clitoral aponeurosis. The bulbospongiosus is innervated by the perineal branch of the pudendal nerve. Research Bulbospongiosus
A catheter is a tube that is inserted into a hollow organ of the body in order to drain or introduce fluids. A urinary catheter is inserted into the bladder through the urethra to relieve obstruction to the flow of urine. Cardiac catheters are used to measure blood pressure in the heart. Similar catheters are used to inject radio- opaque substances into blood vessels for X-ray examination. Research Catheters
The collecting tubules of the kidney are responsible for collecting the urine from the distal convoluted tubule of the nephron and passing it to the calyces, and from there into the renal pelvis reservoir. The collecting tubules are relatively straight, distinguishing them from the proximal and distal convoluted tubules. Research Collecting Tubule
Consumption, or Phthisis was a name formerly given for various diseases known by emaciation (serious loss of weight), debility, cough, hectic fever, and purulent expectoration, particularly tuberculosis which was unknown at the time. The predisposing causes were believed to be very variable, and around 1900 were reliably listed as: hereditary taint, scrofulous diathesis, syphilis, small-pox, etc; exposure to fumes and dusty air in certain trades; violent passions and excess of various kinds, sudden lowering of the temperature of the body, etc. The more immediate or occasional causes were thought to be pneumonic inflammation proceeding to suppuration, catarrh, asthma, and tubercles in the lungs, the last of which is was by far the most general.
The incipient symptoms usually varied with the cause of the disease; but when it arose from tubercles it was usually marked by a short dry cough that became habitual, but from which nothing was spat up for some time except a frothy mucus. The breathing was at the same time somewhat impeded, the body became gradually leaner, and great languor, with indolence, dejection, and loss of appetite prevailed. At a later stage the cough became more troublesome, particularly by night, and was attended with an expectoration, the matter of which assumed a greenish colour and purulent appearance, being on many occasions streaked with blood. In some cases a more severe degree of blood-spitting attended, and the patient spat up a considerable quantity of florid, frothy blood. At a more advanced period of the disease a pain was sometimes felt on one side in so high a degree as to prevent the person from lying easily on that side; but it more frequently happened that it was felt only on making a full inspiration, or coughing.
At the first commencement of the disease the pulse was often natural, but it afterwards became full, hard, and frequent. At the same time the face flushed, particularly after eating, the palms of the hands and soles of the feet were affected with burning heat; the respiration was difficult and laborious; evening exacerbations became obvious, and by degrees the fever assumed the hectic form with remittent exacerbations twice every day, at noon and evening. From the first appearance of the hectic symptoms the urine was high coloured, and deposited a copious branny red sediment. At this time the patient was usually costive; but in the more advanced stages a diarrhoea often came on, colliquative sweats likewise broke out, and these alternated with each other, and induced great debility.
Some days before death the extremities became cold. In some cases a delirium preceded that event. The morbid appearance most frequently to be met with on the dissection of those who had died of phthisis was the existence of tubercles in the cellular substance of the lungs, most usually at the upper and back part, or occupying the outer part, and forming adhesions to the pleura.
By about 1905 the tubercles were generally attributed to a special bacillus, and this was correctly being regarded as the originating cause of the disease, which could be conveyed from one person to another, that is, it was infectious. In fact, what had been discovered was Tuberculosis, but as it was not yet identified, various diseases were being blamed and the whole grouped under the popular term 'consumption'.
The treatment for consumption at the end of the Victorian era in Britain was based around healthy diet and fresh air, one source quoting: 'The diet should be nutritious, but not heating, or difficult of digestion. Milk, especially that of the ass; farinaceous vegetables; acescent fruits; animal soups; and, above all, cod-liver oil, etc, are usually given. It is also of the utmost importance to see that the digestive organs are in proper working order. As much open air as possible, combined with abundance of nutritious food, is at present the treatment in vogue. With regard to urgent symptoms requiring palliation, the cough may be allayed by demulcents, but especially mild opiates swallowed slowly; colliquative sweats by acids, particularly the mineral; diarrhoea by chalk and other astringents, or by small doses of opium.' Research Consumption
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Abbreviations
Research John Abel
