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46-569: The Maltese freshwater crab ( Potamon fluviatile lanfrancoi ) is a subspecies of freshwater crab , endemic to certain areas within the Maltese Islands . It is very rare and its numbers have been decreasing in recent years. The Maltese freshwater crab (known as the Qabru in Maltese ) is a decapod (a crustacean with 10 legs). It can grow up to 80 millimetres (3 in) in width. It

92-573: A body's level of hydration , interactions with drugs, compounds and pigments or dyes found in food, or diseases. Normally, urine is a transparent solution ranging from colorless to amber, but is usually a pale yellow. Usually urination color comes primarily from the presence of urobilin . Urobilin is a final waste product resulting from the breakdown of heme from hemoglobin during the destruction of aging blood cells. Colorless urine indicates over-hydration. Colorless urine in drug tests can suggest an attempt to avoid detection of illicit drugs in

138-506: A fertilizer compared to dry manufactured nitrogen fertilizers such as diammonium phosphate , the relative transport costs for urine are high as a lot of water needs to be transported. Given that urea in urine breaks down into ammonia, urine has been used for cleaning. In pre-industrial times, urine was used – in the form of lant or aged urine – as a cleaning fluid. Urine was also used for whitening teeth in Ancient Rome . Urine

184-457: A range of pathogens , including HIV -1. Urine can also be used to produce urokinase , which is used clinically as a thrombolytic agent. Applying urine as fertilizer has been called "closing the cycle of agricultural nutrient flows" or ecological sanitation or ecosan . Urine fertilizer is usually applied diluted with water because undiluted urine can chemically burn the leaves or roots of some plants, causing plant injury, particularly if

230-663: A result of pollution of water, drying up of streams and because of its capture by humans. SCIBERRAS, A., SCIBERRAS, J. & VELLA, S. (2009) On the Occurrence of a New Population of Potamon Fluviatile Lanfrancoi at Wied Ghajn Zejtuna,Mellieħa . The Central Mediterranean Naturalist 5(1)24-27. Nature Trust Malta publications SCIBERRAS, A. & SCIBERRAS, J. (2010) An Ecological Survey On The Valley Of Wied Għajn Żejtuna. Commissioned by Ghaqda tar-Residenti ta’ Santa Marija Estate. 42pgs Freshwater crab More than 1,300 described species of freshwater crabs are known, out of

276-413: A series of drops. Average urine production in adult humans is around 1.4 L (0.31 imp gal; 0.37 US gal) of urine per person per day with a normal range of 0.6 to 2.6 L (0.13 to 0.57 imp gal; 0.16 to 0.69 US gal) per person per day, produced in around 6 to 8 urinations per day depending on state of hydration, activity level, environmental factors, weight, and

322-416: A similar effect, as their compounds pass through the kidneys without being fully broken down before exiting the body. The pH normally is within the range of 5.5 to 7 with an average of 6.2. In persons with hyperuricosuria , acidic urine can contribute to the formation of stones of uric acid in the kidneys, ureters, or bladder. Urine pH can be monitored by a physician or at home. A diet which

368-734: A specific gravity of 1.003–1.035. Urine is not sterile, not even in the bladder. In the urethra, epithelial cells lining the urethra are colonized by facultatively anaerobic Gram-negative rod and cocci bacteria . One study conducted in Nigeria isolated a total of 77 distinct bacterial strains from 100 healthy children (ages 5–11) as well as 39 strains from 33 cow urine samples, a considerable amount being pathogens. Pathogens identified and their percentages were: The study also states: Multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) rates recorded in children urinal bacterial species were 37.5–100% ( Gram-positive ) and 12.5–100% ( Gram-negative ), while MAR among

414-504: A sweetened urine odor. This can be due to kidney diseases as well, such as kidney stones . Additionally, the presence of amino acids in urine (diagnosed as maple syrup urine disease ) can cause it to smell of maple syrup . Eating asparagus can cause a strong odor reminiscent of the vegetable caused by the body's breakdown of asparagusic acid . Likewise consumption of saffron , alcohol , coffee , tuna fish , and onion can result in telltale scents. Particularly spicy foods can have

460-555: A total of 6,700 species of crabs across all environments. The total number of species of freshwater crabs, including undescribed species , is thought to be up to 65% higher, potentially up to 2,155 species, although most of the additional species are currently unknown to science. They belong to eight families, each with a limited distribution, although various crabs from other families are also able to tolerate freshwater conditions ( euryhaline ) or are secondarily adapted to fresh water. The phylogenetic relationships between these families

506-533: A variety of other compounds. The resulting urine contains high concentrations of urea and other substances, including toxins. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureter, bladder, and finally the urethra before passing through the urinary meatus . Research looking at the duration of urination in a range of mammal species found that nine larger species urinated for 21 ± 13 seconds irrespective of body size. Smaller species, including rodents and bats , cannot produce steady streams of urine and instead urinate with

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552-499: A wide range of metabolites , varying by what is introduced into the body. The total solids in urine are on average 59 g (2.1 oz) per day per person. Urea is the largest constituent of the solids, constituting more than 50% of the total. The daily volume and composition of urine varies per person based on the amount of physical exertion, environmental conditions, as well as water, salt, and protein intakes. In healthy persons, urine contains very little protein and an excess

598-466: A wide range of water bodies, from fast-flowing rivers to swamps , as well as in tree boles or caves . They are primarily nocturnal , emerging to feed at night; most are omnivores , although a small number are specialist predators, such as Platythelphusa armata from Lake Tanganyika , which feeds almost entirely on snails . Some species provide important food sources for various vertebrates . A number of freshwater crabs (for example species from

644-444: Is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. In placental mammals , urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder and exits the urethra through the penis or vulva during urination . In other vertebrates , urine is excreted through the cloaca . Urine contains water-soluble by-products of cellular metabolism that are rich in nitrogen and must be cleared from

690-525: Is attributed to Vespasian – said to have been his reply to a complaint from his son about the unpleasant nature of the tax. Vespasian's name is still attached to public urinals in France ( vespasiennes ), Italy ( vespasiani ), and Romania ( vespasiene ). Alchemists spent much time trying to extract gold from urine, which led to discoveries such as white phosphorus by German alchemist Hennig Brand when distilling fermented urine in 1669. In 1773

736-419: Is generally a sign of adequate hydration. Dark urine is a sign of dehydration . The exception occurs when diuretics are consumed, in which case urine can be clear and copious and the person still be dehydrated. Urine contains proteins and other substances that are useful for medical therapy and are ingredients in many prescription drugs (e.g., Ureacin, Urecholine , Urowave). Urine from postmenopausal women

782-673: Is greenish-grey with some occasional orange-yellow patches, and an overall purple hue on the legs. The Maltese freshwater crab is found where fresh water / running water is present throughout the year although it does live near pools and springs too. It is found in Imtaħleb , Baħrija , Għajn Żejtuna in Mellieħa and San Martin in Malta and in Lunzjata Valley in Gozo . When threatened,

828-471: Is high in protein from meat and dairy, as well as alcohol consumption can reduce urine pH, whilst potassium and organic acids, such as from diets high in fruit and vegetables, can increase the pH and make it more alkaline. Cranberries, popularly thought to decrease the pH of urine, have actually been shown not to acidify urine. Drugs that can decrease urine pH include ammonium chloride , chlorothiazide diuretics, and methenamine mandelate . Human urine has

874-556: Is of critical importance for classification . Development of freshwater crabs is characteristically direct, where the eggs hatch as juveniles , with the larval stages passing within the egg. The broods comprise only a few hundred eggs (compared to hundreds of thousands for marine crabs), each of which is quite large, at a diameter around 1 mm (0.04 in). The colonisation of fresh water has required crabs to alter their water balance; freshwater crabs can reabsorb salt from their urine , and have various adaptations to reduce

920-467: Is rich in gonadotropins that can yield follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone for fertility therapy. One such commercial product is Pergonal . Urine from pregnant women contains enough human chorionic gonadotropins for commercial extraction and purification to produce hCG medication. Pregnant mare urine is the source of estrogens , namely Premarin . Urine also contains antibodies , which can be used in diagnostic antibody tests for

966-455: Is still a matter of debate, so how many times the freshwater lifestyle has evolved among the true crabs is unknown. The eight families are: The fossil record of freshwater organisms is typically poor, so few fossils of freshwater crabs have been found. The oldest is Tanzanonautes tuerkayi , from the Oligocene of East Africa , and the evolution of freshwater crabs is likely to postdate

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1012-402: Is suggestive of illness, as with sugar. Organic matter, in healthy persons, also is reported to at most 1.7 times more matter than minerals. However, any more than that is suggestive of illness. However, it is important to note that lesser amounts and concentrations of other compounds and ions are often present in urination of humans. Urine varies in appearance, depending principally upon

1058-664: Is the consumption of urine . Urine was used in several ancient cultures for various health, healing, and cosmetic purposes; urine drinking is still practiced today. In extreme cases, people may drink urine if no other fluids are available, although numerous credible sources (including the US Army Field Manual ) advise against using it. Urine may also be consumed as a sexual activity . ( Full article... ) The US Army Field Manual advises against drinking urine for survival. The manual explains that drinking urine tends to worsen rather than relieve dehydration due to

1104-611: The Friends episode "The One With the Jellyfish", an early episode of Survivor , as well as the films The Real Cancun (2003), The Heartbreak Kid (2007) and The Paperboy (2012). However, at best it is ineffective, and in some cases this treatment may make the injury worse. Urine has often been used as a mordant to help prepare textiles, especially wool, for dyeing. In the Scottish Highlands and Hebrides,

1150-495: The Umayyad empire. Diabetes mellitus got its name because the urine is plentiful and sweet . The name uroscopy refers to any visual examination of the urine, including microscopy , although it often refers to the aforementioned prescientific or Proto-scientific forms of urine examination. Clinical urine tests today duly note the color, turbidity, and odor of urine but also include urinalysis , which chemically analyzes

1196-446: The bloodstream , such as urea , uric acid , and creatinine . A urinalysis can detect nitrogenous wastes of the mammalian body. Urine plays an important role in the earth's nitrogen cycle . In balanced ecosystems , urine fertilizes the soil and thus helps plants to grow. Therefore, urine can be used as a fertilizer . Some animals use it to mark their territories . Historically, aged or fermented urine (known as lant )

1242-653: The rainforest ; in East Africa , species from the mountains have restricted distributions, while lowland species are more widespread. Every species of freshwater crab described so far has been assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ; of the species for which data are available, 32% are threatened with extinction . For instance, all but one of Sri Lanka 's 50 freshwater crab species are endemic to that country, and more than half are critically endangered . Urine Urine

1288-400: The urinary system and, to a lesser extent in terms of urea , removed by perspiration . In placental mammals, the urinary system consists of the kidneys , ureters , urinary bladder , and urethra . The system produces urine by a process of filtration , reabsorption , and tubular secretion . The kidneys extract the soluble wastes from the bloodstream, as well as excess water, sugars, and

1334-630: The French chemist Hilaire Rouelle discovered the organic compound urea by boiling urine dry. The English word urine ( / ˈ juː r ɪ n / , / ˈ j ɜːr ɪ n / ) comes from the Latin urina ( -ae , f .), which is cognate with ancient words in various Indo-European languages that concern water, liquid, diving, rain, and urination (for example Sanskrit varṣati meaning 'it rains' or vār meaning 'water' and Greek ourein meaning 'to urinate'). The onomatopoetic term piss predates

1380-472: The bloodstream through over-hydration. Sometime after leaving the body, urine may acquire a strong "fish-like" odor because of contamination with bacteria that break down urea into ammonia . This odor is not present in fresh urine of healthy individuals; its presence may be a sign of a urinary tract infection . The odor of normal human urine can reflect what has been consumed or specific diseases. For example, an individual with diabetes mellitus may present

1426-405: The break-up of the supercontinent Gondwana . Members of the family Aeglidae and Clibanarius fonticola are also restricted to fresh water, but these "crab-like" crustaceans are members of the infraorder Anomura (true crabs are Brachyura ). The external morphology of freshwater crabs varies very little, so the form of the gonopod (first abdominal appendage, modified for insemination)

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1472-409: The cow urinal bacteria was 12.5–75.0% (Gram-positive) and 25.0–100% (Gram-negative). Many physicians in ancient history resorted to the inspection and examination of the urine of their patients. Hermogenes wrote about the color and other attributes of urine as indicators of certain diseases. Abdul Malik Ibn Habib of Andalusia ( d. 862 AD) mentions numerous reports of urine examination throughout

1518-437: The crab takes shelter by hiding under rocks or stones in the water and among vegetation, or by entering the burrows it digs. These burrows are dug in mud or clay and can be more than 50 cm deep. Part of the burrow is normally flooded. The Maltese freshwater crab is carnivorous and feeds on other smaller animals such as tadpoles . It usually feeds after sunset. The numbers of this freshwater crab are steadily declining as

1564-436: The first German chlorine gas attacks, Allied troops were supplied with masks of cotton pads that had been soaked in urine. It was believed that the ammonia in the pad neutralized the chlorine. These pads were held over the face until the soldiers could escape from the poisonous fumes. Urban legend states that urine works well against jellyfish stings. This scenario has appeared many times in popular culture including in

1610-481: The genus Nanhaipotamon ) are secondary hosts of flukes in the genus Paragonimus , which causes paragonimiasis in humans. The majority of species are narrow endemics , occurring in only a small geographical area. This is at least partly attributable to their poor dispersal abilities and low fecundity , and to habitat fragmentation caused by the world's human population. In West Africa , species that live in savannas have wider ranges than species from

1656-456: The individual's health. Producing too much or too little urine needs medical attention. Polyuria is a condition of excessive production of urine (> 2.5 L/day), oliguria when < 400 mL are produced, and anuria being < 100 mL per day. About 91–96% of urine consists of water. The remainder can be broadly characterized into inorganic salts, urea, organic compounds, and organic ammonium salts. Urine also contains proteins, hormones, and

1702-417: The loss of water. In addition to their gills , freshwater crabs have a "pseudolung" in their gill chamber that allows them to breathe in air. These developments have preadapted freshwater crabs for terrestrial living, although freshwater crabs need to return to water periodically to excrete ammonia . Freshwater crabs are found throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. They live in

1748-434: The process of " waulking " (fulling) woven wool is preceded by soaking in urine, preferably infantile. Urine plays a role in olfactory communication , since it contains semiochemicals that act as pheromones . The urine of predator species often contains kairomones that serve as a repellent against their prey species. The fermentation of urine by bacteria produces a solution of ammonia ; hence fermented urine

1794-403: The quantity of 1.5 L urine per day (or 550 L per year), the concentration values of macronutrients as follows: 7.3 g/L N; .67 g/L P; 1.8 g/L K. These are design values but the actual values vary with diet. Urine's nutrient content, when expressed with the international fertilizer convention of N:P 2 O 5 :K 2 O, is approximately 7:1.5:2.2. Since urine is rather diluted as

1840-400: The salts in it, and that urine should not be consumed in a survival situation, even when there is no other fluid available. In hot weather survival situations, where other sources of water are not available, soaking cloth (a shirt for example) in urine and putting it on the head can help cool the body. During World War I , Germans experimented with numerous poisonous gases as weapons. After

1886-860: The soil moisture content is low. The dilution also helps to reduce odor development following application. When diluted with water (at a 1:5 ratio for container-grown annual crops with fresh growing medium each season or a 1:8 ratio for more general use), it can be applied directly to soil as a fertilizer. The fertilization effect of urine has been found to be comparable to that of commercial nitrogen fertilizers. Urine may contain pharmaceutical residues ( environmental persistent pharmaceutical pollutants ). Concentrations of heavy metals such as lead , mercury , and cadmium , commonly found in sewage sludge, are much lower in urine. Typical design values for nutrients excreted with urine are: 4 kg nitrogen per person per year, 0.36 kg phosphorus per person per year and 1.0 kg potassium per person per year. Based on

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1932-420: The urine and quantifies its constituents. A culture of the urine is performed when a urinary tract infection is suspected, as bacteriuria without symptoms does not require treatment. A microscopic examination of the urine may be helpful to identify organic or inorganic substrates and help in the diagnosis. The color and volume of urine can be reliable indicators of hydration level. Clear and copious urine

1978-419: The word urine , but is now considered vulgar. Urinate was at first used mostly in medical contexts. Piss is also used in such colloquialisms as to piss off , piss poor , and the slang expression pissing down to mean heavy rain. Euphemisms and expressions used between parents and children (such as wee , pee , and many others) have long existed. Lant is a word for aged urine, originating from

2024-479: Was also used for gunpowder production, household cleaning, tanning of leather and dyeing of textiles. Human urine and feces are collectively referred to as human waste or human excreta, and are managed via sanitation systems. Livestock urine and feces also require proper management if the livestock population density is high . Most animals have excretory systems for elimination of soluble toxic wastes. In humans, soluble wastes are excreted primarily by

2070-455: Was used before the development of a chemical industry in the manufacture of gunpowder . Urine, a nitrogen source, was used to moisten straw or other organic material, which was kept moist and allowed to rot for several months to over a year. The resulting salts were washed from the heap with water, which was evaporated to allow collection of crude saltpeter crystals, that were usually refined before being used in making gunpowder. Urophagia

2116-562: Was used in Classical Antiquity to wash cloth and clothing, to remove hair from hides in preparation for tanning, to serve as a mordant in dying cloth, and to remove rust from iron. Ancient Romans used fermented human urine (in the form of lant ) to cleanse grease stains from clothing. The emperor Nero instituted a tax ( Latin : vectigal urinae ) on the urine industry, continued by his successor, Vespasian . The Latin saying Pecunia non olet ('money does not smell')

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