Sieve
Sieve (Medical Term)
Sieve (pronounced: /si:v/) is a term used in the medical field to describe a process or mechanism that selectively includes or excludes certain elements, much like a literal sieve used in cooking or baking.
Etymology
The term "sieve" originates from the Old English sife, which is of Germanic origin; related to Dutch zeef and German Sieb. In a medical context, it is often used metaphorically to describe biological processes that function similarly to a sieve, such as the glomerulus in the kidney.
Related Terms
- Glomerulus: A network of tiny blood vessels, or capillaries, in the kidney, where waste products are filtered from the blood. The glomerulus functions much like a sieve, allowing certain substances to pass through while retaining others.
- Permeability: The quality of a material or membrane that allows liquids or gases to pass through it. In the human body, many tissues and membranes function as sieves, controlling the permeability of various substances.
- Filtration: The process of filtering out or removing certain elements from a substance. Many organs in the body, such as the kidneys and liver, perform filtration functions similar to a sieve.
- Selective permeability: A property of cellular membranes that only allows certain molecules to enter or exit the cell. This is another example of a biological process that functions like a sieve.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Sieve
- Wikipedia's article - Sieve
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