Reference intervals for 24 laboratory parameters determined in 24-hour urine collections.

BACKGROUND: Reference intervals for many laboratory parameters determined in 24-h urine collections are either not publicly available or based on small numbers, not sex specific or not from a representative sample. METHODS: Osmolality and concentrations or enzymatic activities of sodium, potassium, chloride, glucose, creatinine, citrate, cortisol, pancreatic α-amylase, total protein, albumin, transferrin, immunoglobulin G, α1-microglobulin, α2-macroglobulin, as well as porphyrins and their precursors (δ-aminolevulinic acid and porphobilinogen) were determined in 241 24-h urine samples of a population-based cohort of asymptomatic adults (121 men and 120 women). For 16 of these 24 parameters creatinine-normalized ratios were calculated based on 24-h urine creatinine. The reference intervals for these parameters were calculated according to the CLSI C28-A3 statistical guidelines. RESULTS: By contrast to most published reference intervals, which do not stratify for sex, reference intervals of 12 of 24 laboratory parameters in 24-h urine collections and of eight of 16 parameters as creatinine-normalized ratios differed significantly between men and women. For six parameters calculated as 24-h urine excretion and four parameters calculated as creatinine-normalized ratios no reference intervals had been published before. For some parameters we found significant and relevant deviations from previously reported reference intervals, most notably for 24-h urine cortisol in women. Ten 24-h urine parameters showed weak or moderate sex-specific correlations with age. CONCLUSIONS: By applying up-to-date analytical methods and clinical chemistry analyzers to 24-h urine collections from a large population-based cohort we provide as yet the most comprehensive set of sex-specific reference intervals calculated according to CLSI guidelines for parameters determined in 24-h urine collections.

Elaborated Literary Violence: Genre and Ideology of the Two Stories I Sam 22,6-23 and II Sam 21,1-14

The present article focuses on two stories dealing with acts of big blood shed. I Sam 22,6-23 relates the massacre of the priests of Nob; II Sam 21,1-14 is about the execution of seven descendents of Saul, as atonement for Saul's attempt to exterminate the Gibeonites. Most researchers consider both stories or at least certain parts of them old.1 For both stories few verses are regarded as secondary. In this paper I try to reassess the analysis of these stories and will point to indices favoring a late date of origin for both of them. They concern the language in use, intertextual connections and particular motifs. A further indication consists in the fact that the reported events of the stories lack significant resonance in the corpus of the Hebrew Bible. There are only two texts, I Sam 2,33 and Ps 52,2, which allude or refer to I Sam 22,6-23.With regard to the importance of the related events and acts this silence in the Biblical context is astonishing. Interestingly, also in the Book of Chronicles one does not find any allusions to these stories. This raises the question whether the latter were composed after the formation of the book of Chronicles.