Method and apparatus for urinalysis, method of measuring optical rotation and polarimeter

Claim 2

The method of urinalysis in accordance with claim 1, wherein the angle of rotation is measured in the urine containing a substance to be measured having an optical rotatory power and an optically active substance of a known concentration thereby to determine the range of concentration C [kg/dl] of said substance to be measured using the following equation: (A - A h )/(α × L) ≤ C ≤ (A - A 1 )/(α × L) A h = L × a × C h A 1 = L × a × C 1 where A: angle of rotation [degree] of urine measured, C h : maximum value [kg/dl] of concentration of optically active substance of a known concentration, C 1 : minimum value [kg/dl] of concentration of optically active substance of a known concentration, α: specific angle of rotation [degree/cm·dl/kg] of a substance to be measured, a: specific angle [degree/cm·dl/kg] of rotation of optically active substance of a known concentration, and L: measurement light path length [cm].

Claim 3

The method of urinalysis in accordance with claim 1, wherein the urine containing N kinds of optically active substances is subjected to the measurements of the angle of rotation using the light of at least N kinds of wavelengths, respectively, to determine the concentrations of optically active substances in said urine.

Claim 4

The method of urinalysis in accordance with claim 1, wherein the concentration of said optically active substance and the concentration of a light scattering substance in said urine are determined by measuring a quantity of light scattered by said urine in addition to the measurement of the angle of rotation of said urine.

Claim 6

The method of urinalysis in accordance with claim 1 or 5, wherein said optically active substance is at least one selected from the group consisting of protein, sugar and L-ascorbic acid.

Claim 7

The method of urinalysis in accordance with claim 1 or 5, wherein said angle of rotation of the urine is measured with respect to the light having a wavelength of 500 nm or more.

Claim 9

The method of measuring the angle of rotation in accordance with claim 8, wherein the changes in the direction of polarization of said light due to two or more different magnetic fields are detected respectively.

Claim 10

The method of measuring the angle of rotation in accordance with claim 8, wherein said magnetic field is swept.

Claim 11

The method of measuring the angle of rotation according to claim 8, wherein a reference specimen having a known angle of rotation is measured in the same manner as said specimen, and a value obtained by measuring said specimen is corrected using a value obtained by measuring said reference specimen.

Claim 12

A polarimeter comprising a monochromatic light source for projecting light, a polarizer for transmitting only a polarized component in a specific direction of the projected light, a sample cell for holding a specimen and arranged in such a manner that the light transmitted through said polarizer is transmitted through said specimen, magnetic field application means for applying a magnetic field to said specimen, magnetic field sweeping means for sweeping said magnetic field, an analyzer for transmitting only a polarized component in a specific direction of the light transmitted through said specimen, a light sensor for detecting the light transmitted through said analyzer, and calculation means for calculating an angle of rotation of said specimen based on a magnetic sweep signal of said magnetic field sweeping means and an output signal of said light sensor.

Claim 13

A polarimeter in accordance with claim 12, wherein said calculation means calculates the angle of rotation of said specimen based on the output signal of said light sensor in at least two different magnetic fields.

Claim 14

A polarimeter comprising a monochromatic light source for projecting light, a polarizer for transmitting only a polarized component in a specific direction of the projected light, a sample cell for holding a specimen and arranged in such a manner that the light transmitted through said polarizer is transmitted through said specimen, magnetic field application means for applying a magnetic field to said specimen, magnetic field sweeping means for sweeping said magnetic field, magnetic field modulation means for vibration-modulating said magnetic field at the time of sweeping said magnetic field, an analyzer for transmitting only the polarized component in a specific direction of the light transmitted through said specimen, a light sensor for detecting the light transmitted through said analyzer, a lock-in amplifier for phase-sensitively detecting an output signal of said light sensor with a vibration-modulated signal of said magnetic field modulation means as a reference signal, and calculation means for calculating an angle of rotation of said specimen based on a magnetic sweep signal of said magnetic field sweeping means and an output signal of said lock-in amplifier.

Claim 15

A polarimeter comprising a monochromatic light source for projecting light, a polarizer for transmitting only a polarized component in a specific direction of the projected light, a sample cell for holding a specimen and arranged in such a manner that the light transmitted through said polarizer is transmitted through said specimen, magnetic field application means for applying a magnetic field to said specimen, magnetic field modulation means for vibration-modulating said magnetic field, an analyzer for transmitting only a polarized component in a specific direction of the light transmitted through said specimen, an analyzer rotation means for rotating said analyzer about a rotation shaft parallel with the direction of advance of the projected light, a light sensor for detecting the light transmitted through said analyzer, a lock-in amplifier for phase-sensitively detecting an output signal of said light sensor with the vibration-modulated signal of said magnetic field modulation means as a reference signal, and calculation means for calculating an angle of rotation of said specimen based on a rotation signal of said analyzer rotation means and an output signal of said lock-in amplifier.

Claim 16

The polarimeter in accordance with claim 15, wherein said calculation means calculates the angle of rotation of said specimen based on the output signal of said lock-in amplifier at two or more different rotational angles of said analyzer.

Claim 17

A polarimeter comprising a monochromatic light source for projecting light, a polarizer for transmitting only a polarized component in a specific direction of the projected light, polarized light modulation means for vibration-modulating the direction of polarization of the light transmitted through said polarizer, a sample cell for holding a specimen in such a manner that the light transmitted through said polarizer is transmitted through said specimen, magnetic field application means for applying a magnetic field to said specimen, magnetic field sweeping means for sweeping said magnetic field, an analyzer for transmitting only a polarized component in a specific direction of the light transmitted through said specimen, a light sensor for detecting the light transmitted through said analyzer, a lock-in amplifier for phase-sensitively detecting the output signal of said light sensor with a vibration-modulated signal of said polarized light modulation means as a reference signal, and calculation means for calculating an angle of rotation of said specimen based on a magnetic sweeping signal of said magnetic sweeping means and an output signal of said lock-in amplifier.

Claim 18

The polarimeter in accordance with claim 14 or 17, wherein said calculation means calculates the angle of rotation of said specimen from the output signals of said lock-in amplifier in at least two different magnetic fields.

Claim 19

A polarimeter comprising a monochromatic light source for projecting light, a polarizer for transmitting only a polarized component in a specific direction of the projected light, a sample cell for holding a specimen and arranged in such a manner that the light transmitted through said polarizer is transmitted through said specimen, magnetic field application means for applying a magnetic field to said specimen, magnetic field modulation means for vibration-modulating said magnetic field, an analyzer for transmitting only a polarized component in a specific direction of the light transmitted through said specimen, a light sensor for detecting the light transmitted through said analyzer, a first lock-in amplifier for phase-sensitively detecting an output signal of said light sensor with reference to a vibration-modulated signal of said magnetic field modulation means, a second lock-in amplifier for phase-sensitively detecting an output signal of said light sensor with reference to a signal of a frequency twice that of the vibration-modulated signal of said magnetic field modulation means, and calculation means for calculating an angle of rotation of said specimen by standardizing an output signal of said first lock-in amplifier by an output signal of said second lock-in amplifier.

Claim 20

A urinalysis apparatus comprising a monochromatic light source for projecting light, a polarizer for transmitting only a polarized component in a specific direction of the projected light, a sample cell for holding a specimen and arranged in such a manner that the light transmitted through said polarizer is transmitted through said sample cell, magnetic field application means for applying a magnetic field to said urine, magnetic field sweeping means for sweeping said magnetic field, magnetic field modulation means for vibration-modulating said magnetic field, an analyzer for transmitting only a polarized component in a specific direction of the light transmitted through said urine, a light sensor for detecting the light transmitted through said analyzer, a lock-in amplifier for phase-sensitively detecting an output signal of said light sensor with reference to a vibration-modulated signal of said magnetic field modulation means, and calculation means for calculating an angle of rotation of said urine based on a magnetic field sweeping signal of said magnetic field sweeping means and an output signal of said lock-in amplifier and further calculating a concentration of an optically active substance in said urine based on said angle of rotation.