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| Disorders of the Urinary System |
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| Gout |
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| Uric acid accumulates in the blood and deposits as crystals in joints, kidneys and cartilages. This is a hereditary disease. |
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| Renal Failure and Technology for Survival |
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| The kidney slowly deteriorates and stops functioning. The symptoms are water retention, acidosis, anaemia and increase in blood urea level. |
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| You have learnt how important the kidneys are for survival. Though kidney failure is not common, sometimes kidney infection, injury to kidneys or restricted blood flow to kidneys result in kidney damage and malfunctioning. In order to clean the blood of metabolic wastes and to maintain normal levels of water and mineral ions in the body fluids, an 'artificial kidney' is employed as shown in the figure below. The procedure used in artificial kidney in place of the normal one is called dialysis. A matching kidney from another person may also be transplanted. |
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| Artificial Kidney - Dialysis |
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| Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) |
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| The infection may be bacterial or viral. The symptoms are burning sensation or painful urination. |
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| Kidney Stones |
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| Stones are formed from accumulation of mineral substances filtered by the kidneys during the formation of urine. The compounds of kidney stones are calcium oxalate, calcium phosphate, magnesium ammonium phosphate, uric acid and cystine stones. |
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| Uremia |
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| Excessive amount of urea in the blood causes this condition. |
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