The Latin word gutta came to our language as a drop . This is the name given to a very small portion of a liquid , which has an appearance similar to a sphere. For example: "I got a few drops of oil on my shirt," "The drops of sweat were running down the athlete's forehead shortly after the marathon began," "The sound of raindrops falling on the roof woke up the old man." .
Rain is generally considered to fall in drops (that is, there is no continuous stream of water coming off the clouds). Droplets are also generated when something splashes: if a person throws a piece of meat into a pot of boiling water, some droplets are likely to fly out.
In the field of nursing and medicine , the drop is considered a unit of measurement . It is usually estimated that 20 drops are equivalent to 1 milliliter. In this way, doctors can dose remedies in drops.
Gout is also the name of a disease that occurs when uric acid crystals accumulate in the joints of the extremities. This accumulation causes inflammation that causes acute pain.
If the levels of uric acid recorded in the blood increase, either due to an increase in its production or due to a defect in its elimination, hyperuricemia appears. Excess uric acid crystals, in this context, are deposited in the joints, affecting mobility.
People most likely to develop gout are those who have one or more of the following risk factors:
* a diet that is based on large proportions of beef, seafood and fruit sugar (the so-called fructose , which is used to sweeten drinks. The reason is that all this collaborates with the increase in uric acid levels. The situation is It becomes even worse if alcoholic beverages are added, particularly beer;
* being overweight , since it causes special difficulty for the kidneys to function properly in eliminating uric acid;
* suffer from conditions and diseases such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, high blood pressure (unless treated), heart disease and kidney disease;
* taking certain medications, such as aspirin (even in small doses), thiazide diuretics (generally used in treatments for hypertension) and those administered to combat rejection of newly transplanted organs;
* family history of this disease. This risk factor is not decisive but must be taken into account to prevent or trace the causes of gout;
* sex, since statistics indicate that men have a greater predisposition to this disease than women, because their uric acid level is usually higher. Regarding age, men are most likely between ages thirty and fifty, but women are at greater risk once they reach menopause ;
* having undergone surgery or trauma can also be a risk factor for gout.
Suffering from gout can lead to certain complications. We speak of recurrent gout , for example, when the patient suffers from it more than once a year. This can cause joint erosion to the point of destruction. Advanced gout occurs when a case of common gout is not treated, and nodules form under the skin. Finally, there are kidney stones , caused by the accumulation of urate crystals in the urinary tract.
For architecture , finally, the drop is a truncated cone or pyramid that is used as an ornament beneath a triglyph. These drops also help repel water.