It is difficult to describe hydration status and hydration extremes because fluid intakes and excretion patterns of free-living individuals are poorly documented and regulation of human water balance is complex and dynamic. This investigation provided reference values for euhydration (i.e.; body mass; daily fluid intake; serum osmolality; M +/- SD); it also compared urinary indices in initial morning samples and 24-hr collections. Five observations of 59 [...]

Levels of thirst and ad libitum drinking decrease with advancing age, making older people vulnerable to dehydration. This study investigated age-related changes in brain responses to thirst and drinking in healthy men. Thirst was induced with hypertonic infusions (3.1 ml/kg 0.51M NaCl) in young (Y) and older (O) subjects. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured with positron emission tomography (PET). Thirst activations were identified by correlating rCBF with thirst ratings. Average rCBF was measured from regions [...]

To determine if athletes' muscle mass affects the usefulness of urine specific gravity (U(sg)) as a hydration index. Nine rugby players and nine endurance runners differing in the amount of muscle mass (42 +/- 6 vs. 32 +/- 3 kg, respectively; P = 0.0002) were recruited. At waking during six consecutive days, urine was collected [...]

To determine how the sodium content of ingested fluids affects drinking and the restoration of the body fluid compartments after dehydration, we studied six subjects during 4 h of recovery from 90-110 min of a heat [36 degrees C, less than 30% relative humidity (rh)] and exercise (40% maximal aerobic power) exposure, which caused body [...]

In an experiment, multiple reagent test strips from 90 urine samples were examined twice: observed visually by one of two persons and analyzed by spectrophotometry. Interobserver and intra-observer agreement were calculated and expressed as Cohen's K. Interobserver and intra-observer agreement were moderate to good, but lower than one might expect. Enhancing discoloration of the test pads could improve reproducibility. FULL-TEXT AVAILABRLE IN [...]

AIM:To evaluate the reliability of dipstick measurements of urine specific gravity (U-SG). METHODS: Fresh urine specimens were tested for urine pH and osmolality (U-pH, U-Osm) by a pH meter and an osmometer, and for U-SG by three different methods (refractometry, automatic readout of a dipstick (Clinitek-50), and (visual) change of colour of the dipstick). RESULTS: The correlations between the visual U-SG dipstick measurements and U-SG determined by a refractometer and the comparison [...]