Diurnal variation in urinary oxalate

The diurnal variation in urinary oxalate concentration and output was measured in 10 catheterised males. There was an increase in urinary oxalate concentration and output during the day and evening and an early morning decrease. It is thought that the daytime increase is related to dietary oxalate. These data suggest an elevated urinary oxalate excretion is more likely to occur during the day and a 24-hour urine collection may mask this effect.

Aluminium hydroxide in bile-salt diarrhoea

The treatment of choleraic diarrhoea remains a problem. Cholestyramine is effective but long-term treatment is often impracticable. In-vitro studies have shown that aluminium hydroxide has bile-acid-binding properties comparable with those of cholestyramine. The bile-acid-binding properties of aluminium hydroxide have now been investigated in vivo and applied to the treatment of patients with choleraic diarrhoea. Aluminium hydroxide increased the faecal bile-salt concentration of patients with a normal bowel habit whereas magnesium hydroxide had no effect. Eight patients with severe choleraic diarrhoea were treated with aluminium-hydroxide suspension: bowel motion became less frequent and daily faecal weight fell.