The Full form of RE/ME test for Urine is Reaction, Appearance, Color, Reducing Substances, Acidity/Alkalinity, Specific Gravity, Albumin, Sugar. It checks for Bilirubin and its breakdown products also.
Reaction is the first step in the test. It is the reaction of the urine with a reagent and it is a qualitative test. A chemical substance called reagent reacts with a specific substance present in your urine to produce a visible change when viewed through an instrument called spectrophotometer, i.e., it changes its colour and this change can be read by an expert to determine if you are positive or negative for that particular substance. Reagents are used to detect specific substances such as glucose (sugar), proteins, urobilinogen (a pigment formed during metabolism) etc., but they cannot identify which drug has been taken by you, who gave you that drug or whether it was taken as per prescription or not!
The appearance of urine is influenced by the amounts of water, urobilinogen, and enzymes in it. The color also depends on your diet, drugs you may be taking, or diseases that you may have. For example:
The amount of reducing substance present in urine influences its reaction with reagent paper — for example:
A normal urine is light yellow to deep orange. The color of urine can be affected by what you eat and drink, medications, vitamins, or underlying medical conditions. The color varies from person to person and even within the same person on different days.
Reducing substances:
Reducing substances are the chemicals that reduce hydrogen ions to form water. The three reducing substances in urine are urea, uric acid and creatinine. These chemicals can be tested by using Re/Me test for urine. This is a simple test that is done on an automated system to detect reducing substances in the sample of urine provided for testing.
pH (acidity/alkalinity)
The pH of urine is the measure of acidity or alkalinity. A pH less than 7 indicates that a substance is acidic, while a pH greater than 7 indicates that a substance is alkaline.
Urine has a small range in its pH due to the fact that it is made up primarily of water and waste products from your kidneys and digestive system. The kidneys are responsible for balancing out your body’s pH levels by releasing bicarbonate ions into your bloodstream when you need more acidity (for example, when you eat spicy food), or by producing more acidity if too much bicarbonate builds up in the body (which happens when you have an upset stomach).
Specific gravity is a measure of the density of urine. It is the ratio between the weight of a specific volume of urine to an equal volume of distilled water at 4 degrees Celsius. The term "specific gravity" is used because it measures not only the density, but also the concentration, of urine.
Specific gravity is typically measured using a refractometer or hydrometer, which are instruments that measure refractive index (how much light bends when passing through different substances) and brix (the amount of dissolved solids). These devices can cost from $50-$200 depending on their brand name or quality; however, there are several smartphone apps available for free which do essentially the same thing!
If you're looking for more information about how specific gravities work in practice, check out our article How To Interpret Your Urine Tests Results: A Step by Step Guide
Albumin is a protein that is found in the blood and urine. It is used to measure kidney function and for monitoring the progress of kidney disease.
Urine is a bodily fluid that contains salts and waste products. Urine is excreted from the kidneys, which are two bean-shaped organs located on either side of the spine.
Bile pigments are made by the liver in small amounts to keep bile salts dissolved in bile. Bile pigments include biliverdin (green), bilirubin sulfate (yellow/green) and urobilinogen (blue/green).
Biliverdin is also referred to as green pigment because it turns urine green when present at high levels. Bilirubin sulfate and urobilinogen may turn urine blue/green or brown depending on their concentration in your system.
Re/ME test for urine:
Reaction: The test is positive if the color of the dye turns yellow-green.
Appearance: The appearance of urine can be affected by various factors such as medications and diet. So, it is important to note how you feel before taking this test and also report any changes in your normal daily routine that may affect your normal urination patterns.
Color: It is not necessary for you to use a thermometer but if you are using one then make sure you do so correctly! Take three separate readings and add them up together before averaging them out to get an accurate reading for temperature; this will help ensure accuracy when taking temperature readings during lab tests since there might be slight variations between different thermometers used by different people performing the same task with similar equipment from different manufacturers etcetera...
Now, you have got the full form of RE/ME test for Urine. This is very important and helpful for medical students as well as doctors. You can also check it from any medical book or on Google.