OBJECTIVE To evaluate the behavior of fractional excretion of potassium in the course of acute kidney injury in critically ill patients. METHODS As part of a larger study in which we have evaluated blood and urinary parameters in the course of acute kidney injury, 168 patients were included. Blood and urine samples were collected daily until the removal of the urinary catheter or the initiati...

Whereas ambiguity in everyday life is often negatively evaluated, it is considered key in art appreciation. In a facial EMG study, we tested whether the positive role of visual ambiguity in paintings is reflected in a continuous affective evaluation on a subtle level. We presented ambiguous (disfluent) and non-ambiguous (fluent) versions of Magritte paintings and found that M. Zygomaticus major...

The fractional excretion of urea (FEU) is a useful index for differentiating the main categories of causes of acute kidney injury, ie, prerenal causes and intrinsic causes. It may be used in preference to the more widely used fractional excretion of sodium (FENa) in situations in which the validity of the latter is limited, such as in patients taking a diuretic.

1. The associations between the renal clearance of ingested lithium (used as a marker of renal proximal tubular sodium handling) and a number of biological variables have been investigated in an unselected sample of 592 healthy and untreated white men (aged 21-68 years) under their usual living conditions and drawn from a population at work. 2. Renal excretion of lithium was expressed both as c...

1. In 37 patients with cirrhosis of the liver of different severity (11 in class A, 18 in class B, and 8 in class C, according to Child's criteria modified by Hobbs), inulin and p-aminohippurate clearances, total fractional protein excretion and the fractional clearances of alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, albumin, transferrin, alpha 2-macroglobulin and beta 2-microglobulin (in 20 patients) were dete...

In order to determine the possible role of endogenous oxytocin in controlling electrolyte and water excretion in animals whose renal function is being assessed by invasive techniques, rats were anaesthetized and subjected to micropuncture surgery. Clearance measurements were made in the presence and absence of the potent oxytocin receptor antagonist d(CH(2))(5)[Tyr(Me)(2), Thr(4), Orn(8), Tyr(N...

1. The renal effects of insulin may play a central role in the association between insulin resistance, hypertension and hyperuricaemia. After a 2-h baseline period, we investigated the effects of exogenous insulin for 4 h (50 m-units h-1 kg-1) on fractional renal sodium and urate excretion in 13 healthy subjects, using the euglycaemic clamp and lithium clearance technique, and performed a contr...

The preferred ligand of angiotensin (Ang) II type 2 (AT(2)R)-mediated natriuresis is Ang III. The major enzyme responsible for the metabolism of Ang III is aminopeptidase N, which is selectively inhibited by compound PC-18. In this study, urine sodium excretion rates (U(Na)V), fractional excretion of sodium, fractional excretion of lithium, glomerular filtration rate, and mean arterial pressure...

Urinary excretion of aluminium after a successful transplant can reverse pre-transplant aluminium intoxication. We have evaluated the time course of urinary aluminium excretion and its correlation with several parameters of renal function and mineral metabolism in 49 patients (33 men and 16 women) with a wide range of pre-transplant serum aluminium concentrations, performing sequential determin...