Aldosterone as a modifier of chemical composition of urine

Speaking about the impact of aldosterone on chemical composition of urine, it should be pointed out that it plays a very important role since it affects kidneys, which, in their turn, are responsible for the formation of urine. In order to better understand the way aldosterone modifies the composition of urine, it is firstly necessary to dwell upon the role of aldosterone.
Aldosterone is a steroid secreted by the cortex of the adrenal gland and its main function is the regulation of the body’s electrolyte balance. As it has been already said aldosterone affects directly kidneys by decreasing the amount of sodium-ion excretion, with accompanying retention of water, and, at the same time, increase the amount of potassium-ion excretion.
Consequently it is possible to speak about the change of the composition of urine depending on the amount of aldosterone. In actuality it may be expressed, for instance, in the increased amount of potassium in urine, while the amount of sodium will be less significant. However, normally the amount of these components is insignificant since water constitutes 95% of urine.
In such a situation a patalogically elevated aldosterone secretion with concomitant excessive retention of salt and water often results in edema. At the same time any changes in the composition urine, which may result from the aldosterone secretion higher than normal, can indicate at some diseases of not only urogenital organs but also of some disorders of other body systems.
Obviously a deep understanding of such impact of aldosterone on the composition of urine and a human organism at large are particularly important for a nurse because it provides the possibility to reveal and prevent possible health problems on the early stages of development of certain diseases and act adequately.

The role of respiratory system in controlling acid-base balance
Respiratory system is vitally important for human organism as well as for many other living beings. One of its functions is controlling acid-base balance, providing normal functioning of all organs of a human body.
First of all it is probably necessary to briefly define acid-base balance in order to better understand the role of respiratory system in its controlling. In fact acid-base balance may be defined as the state that exists when acidic and basic ions in solution neutralise each other.
Furthermore, it should be pointed out that metabolic reactions are very sensitive to pH level of the fluid in which they occur. This is because hydronium ions can influence enzyme function. At first glance it seems that it is basically kidneys that are responsible for this and the kidneys maintain blood plasma acid-base homeostasis by hydronium regulation. But it is also true that gain and loss of hydromium should be balanced and respiratory system plays a very important role in this process since the sources of hydrogen ion gain are carbon dioxide, the amount of which is regulated by gas exchange that is impossible without respiratory system. Also hyperventilation, i.e. abnormally fast or deep respiration resulting in the loss of carbon dioxide from the blood, may cause both gain and loss of hydrogen ions. In such a way, hyperventilation may result, for instance, in elevated amount of carbon dioxide that leads to increasing of the amount of hydrogen ions, or vice versa, if such changes are very significant it may break the acid-base balance.
Obviously it is important to know in order to realise what may be the consequences of hyperventilation for instance, or what may be the cause of the break of acid-base