Mass Components (mass + component)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Mass components in ordered and in chaotic motion in galactic N -body models

MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 2 2002
N. Voglis
ABSTRACT Two self-consistent (N -body) non-rotating equilibrium models of elliptical galaxies with smooth central density profiles (called ,Q' and ,C' models) are constructed, starting from quiet and clumpy cosmological initial conditions, respectively. Both models are triaxial. The Q model has an E7 maximum ellipticity in the inner parts and tends to E6 or E5 maximum ellipticity in the outer parts. The C model has a maximum ellipticity E4 in the inner parts and tends to an E2 or E1 in the outer parts. For each model, we identify the particles moving in chaotic orbits with the Lyapunov number exceeding a particular threshold (namely, 10,2.8, in units of the inverse radial periods of the particular orbits). At energy levels in the deepest 30 per cent of the potential well, no chaotic orbits were detected in the above limit of chaoticity. In the Q model, the detected chaotic part is 32 per cent of the total mass. This part has a nearly spherical distribution. It imposes limitations on the maximum ellipticity of the system, in spite of the fact that only a part of less than about 8 per cent of the total mass moves in chaotic orbits and is able to develop chaotic diffusion within a Hubble time. In the C model, the detected chaotic part is about 26 per cent of the total mass, but only less than 2 per cent can develop chaotic diffusion within a Hubble time. These chaotic components produce surface density profiles flatter than the profiles of the rest of the mass, particularly in the Q model. The two profiles intersect at a given distance, where the overall profile forms an observable hump, especially if the surface density profiles are taken along the shortest axis of the projection. [source]


Squamous cell carcinoma of the urachus

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF UROLOGY, Issue 10 2007
Chisato Fujiyama
Abstract: A 64-year-old man was admitted with complaints of abdominal pain and pollakisuria. A soft mass was palpable under his navel. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a 9 × 6 cm tumor, which was composed of a cystic lesion arising from the urachus and a solid mass component at the urinary bladder dome. Urine cytology specimens showed squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Serum SCC level was increased and the tumor was removed surgically. Histological examination detected well-differentiated SCC, which had invaded the urinary bladder and the peritoneum. The patient has been followed up without recurrence for 6 months. [source]


Gizzard and other lean mass components increase, yet Basal Metabolic Rates decrease, when red knots Calidris canutus are shifted from soft to hard-shelled food

JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2004
Theunis Piersma
We measured basal metabolic rate (BMR), body mass, lean mass, and gizzard mass of captive red knots Calidriscanutusislandica maintained on a trout chow diet (soft-texture, low ash and water content) for several years and then shifted to small mussels Mytilus edulis (hard-texture, high ash and water content). During a 3-week period of feeding on mussels, body mass, lean mass, and gizzard mass increased 7.3 g (+7%), 10.5 g (+12%), and 4.9 g (+213%), respectively, yet BMR decreased from 0.96 to 0.89 W (,8%). Under the new mussel regime, red knots must have reduced the metabolic intensity of some of the tissues. This suggests that the experimental red knots experienced the transition to a mussel diet as stressful and energy limiting, resulting in an energy-saving strategy by reducing BMR in spite of hypertrophy of the gizzard and other organs. [source]


Functional characteristics of antibodies induced by Arg-gingipain (HRgpA) and Lys-gingipain (Kgp) from Porphyromonas gingivalis

MOLECULAR ORAL MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2001
T. Nakagawa
Arginine-specific gingipain (HRgpA) and lysine-specific gingipain (Kgp), enzymes produced by Porphyromonas gingivalis, may be candidates for an anti,P. gingivalis vaccine. The purpose of our study was to determine whether HRgpA and Kgp have opsonic target sites and whether these sites are available and accessible on intact P. gingivalis cells. Rabbits were used to generate polyclonal antibodies to both proteins. Animals were immunized and immunoglobulin G (IgG) fractions were isolated from preimmune and immune sera. Functional characteristics of the antibodies were assessed by determining antibody titers by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), generating Western immunoblots, and measuring antibody enhancement of P. gingivalis opsonization, phagocytosis and killing by polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) of intact cells of strains of P. gingivalis representative of the four serotypes. Strains studied included 33277 (serotype A), A7A1,28 (serotype B), W50 (serotype C) and 381 (serotype D). Both HRgpA and Kgp induced high titers of IgG antibody. Anti-HRgpA and anti-Kgp bound to both HRgpA and Kgp demonstrating a large proportion of shared antigenic epitopes. The two antibodies bound equally well to all four P. gingivalis serotypes with titers ranging from 77 to 205 ELISA units when compared to preimmune IgG set at 1 ELISA unit. The immunoblot patterns of binding of the two antibodies to HRgpA and Kgp and to sonicates of the four P. gingivalis serotypes were virtually identical. Both antibodies detected components in HRgpA at 27, 35 and 45 kDa and in Kgp at 27, 32, 35, 40 and 55 kDa. The antibodies also detected components at or near these same positions in addition to multiple high molecular mass components in the cell sonicates of P. gingivalis. Both proteins induced antibodies that significantly enhanced opsonization as assessed by chemiluminescence, with values ranging from 130 mV to 375 mV for anti-HRgpA IgG and from 240 mV to 475 mV for anti-Kgp IgG. Both antibodies significantly enhanced PMN-mediated bacterial killing of the four P. gingivalis serotypes, although the percentage of killing varied among the serotypes (24,81% for anti-HRgpA and 37,89% for anti-Kgp). Thus, both HRgpA and Kgp express opsonic target sites and induce high titers of antibodies that opsonize and enhance killing of all four serotypes of P. gingivalis. These two proteins appear to be potential candidate antigens for an anti,P. gingivalis vaccine. [source]


Desorption sonic spray ionization for (high) voltage-free ambient mass spectrometry

RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY, Issue 19 2006
Renato Haddad
Sonic spray ionization is shown to create a supersonic cloud of charged droplets able to promote efficient desorption and ionization of drugs directly from the surfaces of commercial drug tablets at ambient conditions. Compared with desorption electrospray ionization (DESI), desorption sonic spray ionization (DeSSI) is advantageous since it uses neither heating nor high voltages at the spray capillary. DeSSI therefore provides a more friendly environment in which to perform ambient mass spectrometry (MS). DeSSI-MS is herein evaluated for the analysis of drug tablets, and found to be, in general, as sensitive as DESI-MS. The (high) voltage-free DeSSI method provides, however, cleaner mass spectra with less abundant solvent cluster ions and with enough abundant analyte signal for tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). These features may therefore facilitate the DeSSI-MS detection of low molar mass components or impurities, or both. The higher-velocity supersonic DeSSI spray also facilitates matrix penetration thus providing more homogenous sampling and longer lasting ion signals. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Sterol Composition of Pneumocystis jirovecii with Blocked 14,-Demethylase Activity

THE JOURNAL OF EUKARYOTIC MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 6 2004
JOSÉ-LUIS GINER
ABSTRACT Several drugs that interact with membrane sterols or inhibit their syntheses are effective in clearing a number of fungal infections. The AIDS-associated lung infection caused by Pneumocystis jirovecii is not cleared by many of these therapies. Pneumocystis normally synthesizes distinct C28 and C29 24-alkylsterols, but ergosterol, the major fungal sterol, is not among them. Two distinct sterol compositional phenotypes were previously observed in P. jirovecii. One was characterized by ,7 C28 and C29 24-alkylsterols with only low proportions of higher molecular mass components. In contrast, the other type was dominated by high C31 and C32 24-alkylsterols, especially pneumocysterol. In the present study, 28 molecular species were elucidated by nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of a human lung specimen containing P. jirovecii representing the latter sterol profile phenotype. Fifteen of the 28 had the methyl group at C-14 of the sterol nucleus and these represented 96% of the total sterol mass in the specimen (excluding cholesterol). These results strongly suggest that sterol 14,-demethylase was blocked in these organisms. Twenty-four of the 28 were 24-alkylsterols, indicating that methylation of the C-24 position of the sterol side chain by S-adenosyl-L-methionine:sterol C-24 methyl transferase was fully functional. [source]


Variability and size in mammals and birds

BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 4 2000
BENEDIKT HALLGRÍMSSON
Body size, its variability, and their ecological correlates have long been important topics in evolutionary biology. Yet, the question of whether there is a general relationship between size and size-relative variability has not previously been addressed. Through an analysis of body-mass and length measurements from 65 074 individuals from 351 mammalian species, we show that size-relative variability increases significantly with mean species body size. Analysis of mean body mass and standard deviations for 237 species of birds revealed the same pattern. We present three plausible alternatives explanations and eliminate several others. Of these, the hypothesis that the increase in size-relative variability with mean body mass is related to the scaling of body mass components is most strongly supported. In effect, larger mammals and birds are more variable because their body mass is composed to greater relative degree of components with higher intrinsic variability (bone, fat, and muscle). In contrast, smaller mammals and birds have lower body mass variability because they are composed to a greater relative extent of components (viscera and nervous system) in which size variation is more highly constrained by energetic and functional factors. [source]