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At least 793 records · Page 44Linked to original sources

Acoustic destruction of a microcapsule having a hard plastic shell.

Acoustic destruction of a microcapsule having a hard plastic shell is discussed. In an ultrasonic drug delivery system, microcapsules having thin elastic shells release drugs that are contained therein when the shell is destroyed. In this paper, two subjects related to capsule destruction are discussed: the driving pulse duration for capsule destruction and the frequency dependence of capsule destruction. Optical observation of microcapsule destruction is performed with a high-speed video camera. In the case of capsule destruction by a pulse wave, the internal gas of the microcapsule cannot be ejected completely, and a portion of the internal gas remains inside the broken shell. It is found that capsule destruction by pulse waves depends on both the amplitude of the driving pressure and the pulse duration. The frequency dependence of microcapsule destruction also is investigated. In the case of capsule destruction by a low-amplitude acoustic wave, the destruction rate under the resonance condition is higher than under nonresonance conditions. By controlling the driving frequency, selective capsule destruction can be achieved.

Capsules↗

Variation of shell shape in the clonal snail Melanoides tuberculata and its consequences for the interpretation of fossil series.

Interpreting paleontological data is difficult because the genetic nature of observed morphological variation is generally unknown. Indeed, it is hardly possible to distinguish among several sources of morphological variation including phenotypic plasticity, sexual dimorphism, within-species genetic variation or differences among species. This can be addressed using fossil organisms with recent representatives. The freshwater snail Melanoides tuberculata ranks in this category. A fossil series of this and other species have been studied in the Turkana Basin (Kenya) and is presented as one of the best examples illustrating the punctuated pattern of evolution by the tenants of this theory. Melanoides tuberculata today occupies most of the tropics. We studied variation of shell shape in natural populations of this parthenogenetic snail using Raup's model of shell coiling. We considered different sources of variation on estimates of three relevant parameters of Raup's model: (1) variation in shell shape was detected among clones, and had both genetic and environmental bases; (2) sexual dimorphism, in those clones in which males occur, appeared as an additional source of shell variation; and (3) ecophenotypic variation was detected by comparing samples from different sites and years within two clones. We then tested the performance of discriminant function analyses, a classical tool in paleontological studies, using several datasets. Although the three sources of variation cited above contributed significantly to the observed morphological variance, they could not be detected without a priori knowledge of the biological entities studied. However, it was possible to distinguish between M. tuberculata and a related thiarid species using these analyses. Overall, this suggests that the tools classically used in paleontological studies are poorly efficient when distinguishing between important sources of within-species variation. Our study also gives some empirical bases to the doubts cast on the interpretation of the molluscan series of the Turkana Basin.

Animals↗

Purification and characterization of a protein cryoprotective for Vibrio cholerae extracted from the prawn shell surface.

A substance cryoprotective for Vibrio cholerae on the prawn shell surface was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation and gel filtration. It was a protein of 81 kDa and called cryoprotective protein (CPP). The cryoprotective activity of this protein for V. cholerae was sensitive to heat at 100 C and trypsin treatment. In the presence of Mg ion the protein can bind to the bacterial cell surface. V. cholerae can adhere to the shell surface of the prawn. The number of adhered bacteria was reduced by treating the shell with anti-CPP serum, heat or by trypsin. The presence of Mg ion promoted the adherence. These results suggest that the CPP could serve as an adherence site for V. cholerae on the shell surface.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Use of shell crowns in Hong Kong dental hospital attenders.

In 1984 an oral health survey of Hong Kong adults aged 35-44 years revealed that 15% of subjects presented with metal shell crown restorations, often as components of fixed-bridge reconstructions. The aim of this study was to describe the patterns and means of use of shell crowns, and to describe the patterns of tooth loss in patients who presented with such restorations, attending for treatment at the dental teaching hospital in Hong Kong over a 2-year period. A total of 1563 such patients attended. The records, which included radiographs, of 165 of these patients aged 35 years and above, obtained by means of a systematic sampling frame, were studied by one trained examiner. On initial presentation each patient was found to have a mean of 4.0 shell crowns, 77% of these being components of bridge restorations. The bridges involved a mean of only 3.9 units (retainers and pontics). The tooth type most commonly replaced by a bridge of this type was the first molar. It was concluded that most shell crowns used in this patient group are abutment retainers for predominantly short-span bridge restorations.

Adult↗

Activation of a subpopulation of orexin/hypocretin-containing hypothalamic neurons by GABAA receptor-mediated inhibition of the nucleus accumbens shell, but not by exposure to a novel environment.

Gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA)A receptor stimulation in the nucleus accumbens shell produces intense hyperphagia in rats and increases Fos expression in the lateral hypothalamus. To explore the involvement of hypothalamic orexin/hypocretin- or melanin concentrating hormone-immunoreactive neurons in this effect, the GABAA agonist, muscimol (0, 50 ng), was infused directly into the nucleus accumbens shell of rats; 90 min later, their brains were collected and subsequently processed for immunohistochemistry. A group exposed to a novel environment was included to evaluate the specificity of Fos expression changes with regard to general arousal. Alternating sections through the hypothalamus were double-stained for orexin/hypocretin-Fos or melanin concentrating hormone-Fos combinations. Intra-accumbens shell muscimol treatment significantly increased the percentage of orexin/hypocretin-containing neurons expressing Fos in the lateral, but not medial, portion of the perifornical/lateral hypothalamic area. Regardless of treatment condition, greater percentages of orexin/hypocretin-containing neurons in the medial portion of the hypothalamus expressed Fos relative to cells located more laterally. None of the manipulations increased Fos expression in melanin concentrating hormone-immunoreactive neurons. Muscimol treatment also markedly increased Fos expression in the arcuate nucleus, which connects reciprocally to the lateral/perifornical hypothalamic area. Thus, orexin/hypocretin-containing neurons in lateral sectors of the hypothalamus, along with cells in the arcuate nucleus, display phasic increases in Fos expression after an orexigenic pharmacological manipulation of the nucleus accumbens shell, but to a lesser degree after the heightened arousal associated with exposure to a novel environment.

Animals↗

Gene transfer of GLT-1, a glutamate transporter, into the nucleus accumbens shell attenuates methamphetamine- and morphine-induced conditioned place preference in rats.

Several lines of evidence have suggested that the glutamatergic system in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) plays an important role in the conditioned rewarding effect of drugs of abuse. In addition, it is recognized that extracellular glutamate is rapidly removed from the synaptic cleft by Na+-dependent glutamate transporters in neurons and glial cells, thereby maintaining physiological levels of glutamate. We previously reported that activation of glutamate uptake by a glutamate transporter activator attenuated the acquisition of conditioned place preference induced by methamphetamine and morphine in mice. In the present study, we examined the effects of gene transfer of a glial glutamate transporter, GLT-1, into the NAc shell by recombinant adenoviruses on methamphetamine- and morphine-induced conditioned place preference in rats. Bilateral infusion of the recombinant adenoviruses into the NAc shell efficiently increased GLT-1 expression surrounding the infusion site, at least during the period 2-8 days after the infusion. In the conditioned place preference paradigm, animals were conditioned with repeated subcutaneous injections of methamphetamine (2 mg/kg) or morphine (3 mg/kg). Intra-NAc shell overexpression of GLT-1 before the conditioning significantly attenuated the conditioned place preference induced by methamphetamine or morphine, when compared with control. However, it had no effect on the somatic signs of naloxone-precipitated morphine withdrawal. These results suggest that GLT-1 within the NAc shell plays an inhibitory role in the conditioned rewarding effects of methamphetamine and morphine but not the physical dependence on morphine.

Adenoviridae↗

Drug migration into soft gelatin capsule shells and its effect on in-vitro availability.

Analysis of the shells and contents of soft gelatin capsules containing acetomenaphthone, ephedrine, 4-hydroxyenzoic acid or phenobarbitone, dissolved in isopropyl myristate, revealed that the percentage of solute taken up by the shells increased with increasing aqueous solubility of the substrate. Thus no acetomenaphthone, which has a negligible aqueous solubility, was found in the shells, in comparison with 92% of the 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, which has a significant solubility in water. Uptake was not influenced by the solubility in isopropyl myristate. The effect of the oily solvent was studied using blends of 1-octanol and isopropyl myristate in which either 4-hydroxybenzoic acid or phenobarbitone were dissolved. Solute release shows that both release and migration can be predicted from a knowledge of the aqueous solubility of the solute and its partition coefficient between water and the non-polar solvent. Samples of capsules containing 4-hydroxybenzoic acid in isopropyl myristate were withdrawn at various stages of the manufacturing process, and the distributions between shell and contents noted. Most of the transfer took place while the capsules were being dried in rotating basket driers, and at this point 67% of the acid had migrated. This increased to 92% during tray drying, and remained so for at least 6 months after manufacture.

1-Octanol↗

On a nonlinear theory for muscle shells: Part II--Application to the beating left ventricle.

This paper specializes the nonlinear laminated-muscle-shell theory developed in Part I to cylindrical geometry and computes stresses in arteries and the beating left ventricle. The theory accounts for large strain, material nonlinearity, thick-shell effects, torsion, muscle activation, and residual strain. First, comparison with elasticity solutions for pressurized arteries shows that the accuracy of the shell theory increases as transmural stress gradients and the shell thickness decrease. Residual strain reduces the stress gradients, lowering the error in the predicted peak stress in thick-walled arteries (R/t = 2.8) from about 30 to 10 percent. Second, the canine left ventricle is modeled as a thick-walled laminated cylinder with an internal pressure. Each layer is composed of transversely isotropic muscle with a fiber orientation based on anatomical data. Using a single pseudostrain-energy density function (with time-varying coefficients) for passive and active myocardium, the model predicts strain distributions that agree fairly well with published experimental measurements. The results also show that the peak fiber stress occurs subendocardially near the beginning of ejection and that residual strains significantly alter stress gradients within each lamina, but the magnitude of the peak fiber stress changes by less than 20 percent.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗

Analysis of the acoustic scattering at variable incidences from an extra thin cylindrical shell bounded by hemispherical endcaps

Through an experimental approach, in this paper we investigate the acoustic wave scattering processes involved in the acoustic backscattering at variable incidences from an air-filled submerged cylindrical shell with hemispherical endcaps. Given the 1% shell thickness and the explored low frequency domain, the wave types studied are the circumferential or helical S0 wave and the helical T0 wave only. Between the axial (in the direction of the main axis of the object) and the normal incidences (normal to the main axis), two distinct angular zones can be observed depending on hemispherical or cylindrical excitation. In these zones, after a pressure wave excitation, different series of echoes on the echo wave forms are identified by their arrival times and related wave types. From results in the time domain and those obtained in the frequency domain, each acoustic response from the target corresponding to the two zones of excitation is compared with the acoustic response of canonical objects (spherical shell for axial excitation and tube for normal excitation). This analysis of the acoustic response from the target at various incidences, highlights the influence of both the endcaps and the finite length for a cylindrical shell on scattering. The study is intended to make a contribution to the knowledge of the identification of such geometrically complex objects.

Journal Article↗

Behavior of first guided wave on finite cylindrical shells of various lengths: experimental investigation.

Acoustic backscattering from elastic cylindrical shells of finite lengths, immersed in water, is investigated. These objects, characterized by the ratio of length over diameter (L/2a = 9.76, 4.88, 2.44, a: outer radius), are excited by an obliquely incident plane acoustic wave. In the three cases studied here, the radii ratio b/a (b: inner radius) is fixed at 0.97. The investigated dimensionless frequency range extends over 10 k1a < or = 50 (k1 : wave number in water). The first guided wave, T0, is of particular interest here. The influence of the shell's length on the backscattered pressure is experimentally observed in the time-angle and frequency-angle representations. In support of this experimental study, a time-domain representation is used by extending a theoretical model that provides a geometrical description of the helical propagation of the surface waves around the shell [Bao, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 94, 1461-1466 (1993)]. Theoretical results on cylindrical shells considered as infinitely long, with identical characteristics, are compared with both experimental representations.

Journal Article↗

Transient response of an acoustic medium by an excited submerged spherical shell.

An exact closed-form solution is obtained for the transient response of an acoustic fluid due to an excited submerged spherical shell. Step axisymmetric stress acting on the inner surface of the shell is expanded into modal Fourier components in which for each modal stress systematic exact expressions for modal radial displacement of the shell, fluid pressure, fluid particle velocity and displacement are presented. The superiority of the formulations herein is its applicability to any time and spatial distance in the fluid as well as on the shell. The formulation also does not require additional numerical computations associated with other methods.

Journal Article↗

Backscattering of transients by tilted truncated cylindrical shells: time-frequency identification of ray contributions from measurements.

Impulse backscattering measurements by a thick-walled finite cylindrical shell are examined in the time-frequency domain to identify and characterize individual ray contributions from generalized Lamb waves excited on the shell. Previous experiments and analysis in the frequency-aspect angle domain [S. F. Morse et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 103, 785-794 (1998)] indicate that large backscattering enhancements occur in the midfrequency region for the shell tilted at large angles. Presently this experimental data is examined in the time-frequency domain for selected angles of incidence. Individual ray contributions are evident and their evolution over aspect angle is discussed. The most prominent contribution is due to the meridional ray of the a0 leaky Lamb wave. This feature distinctly highlights the truncation of the shell and is found over a range of aspect angles spanning 200 degrees for the frequencies examined. Also observed are periodic features corresponding to end-reflected helical waves of the a0-. These scattering features are significantly different from those reported for thin-walled finite cylinders at low frequencies. The present results may be useful for target identification and localization and as a comparison tool for high-frequency computational scattering models.

Journal Article↗

Meridional ray backscattering enhancements for empty truncated tilted cylindrical shells: measurements, ray model, and effects of a mode threshold.

Narrow-band backscattering experiments are used to characterize a meridional ray enhancement on a tilted, finite empty cylindrical shell having a blunt truncation. The meridional ray of the lowest order flexural leaky Lamb wave is examined, which has previously been shown to lead to large backscattering enhancements for excitation frequencies near and above the shell's coincidence frequency. The measurements are used to validate a convolution formulation ray theory describing the far-field backscattered amplitudes. Comparisons are also made with an approximate partial wave series solution for the finite cylindrical shell. The amplitude of the meridional ray enhancement is dependent on the nature of the reflection of the leaky wave from the shell truncation. While the peak measured amplitude agrees with predictions at low frequencies, experiments indicate the enhancement is degraded at high frequencies and exhibits an abrupt drop near the frequency of the mode threshold (cutoff) for the next-highest flexural mode. The nature of the leaky wave end reflection is examined using an approximate calculation of the energy reflection coefficient for leaky waves on a semi-infinite free plate. Results suggest the observed degradation is the result of mode conversion effects.

Acoustics↗

Sound propagation in concentrated emulsions: comparison of coupled phase model and core-shell model.

The predictions of two models of sound propagation in concentrated emulsions are compared with experimental measurements of ultrasonic velocity and attenuation in emulsions with volume fractions up to 0.7. The core-shell model includes irreversible heat transfer, viscoinertial forces, and multiple scattering [McClements et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 105, 915-918 (1999)]. This model accounts for the effect of thermal interactions between neighboring particles by introducing an effective medium, and is valid for all volume fractions. The coupled phase model includes irreversible heat transfer and viscoinertial forces, and also is valid for all volume fractions, since it is derived from volume-averaged balance equations [J. M. Evans and K. Attenborough, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 102, 278-282 (1997)]. This model has a significantly simpler formulation than the core-shell model and does not require the assumption of an effective medium. The coupled phase model is shown to be a good approximation to the core-shell model when the acoustic radius is small. Despite the fact that it does not include thermal interactions, the coupled phase model is shown to give at least as good agreement as the core-shell model with the experimental data, for all volume fractions, as long as the acoustic radius is less than 0.01.

Emulsions↗

Circumferential-wave phase velocities for empty, fluid-immersed spherical metal shells.

In earlier studies of acoustic scattering resonances and of the dispersive phase velocities of surface waves that generate them [see, e.g., Talmant et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 86, 278-289 (1989) for spherical aluminum shells] we have demonstrated the effectiveness and accuracy of obtaining phase velocity dispersion curves from the known acoustic resonance frequencies. This possibility is offered through the condition of phase matching after each complete circumnavigation of these waves [Uberall et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 61, 711-715 (1977)], which leads to a very close agreement of resonance results with those calculated from three-dimensional elasticity theory whenever the latter are available. The present investigation is based on the mentioned resonance frequency/elasticity theory connection, and we obtain comparative circumferential-wave dispersion-curve results for water-loaded, evacuated spherical metal shells of aluminum, stainless steel, and tungsten carbide. In particular, the characteristic upturn of the dispersion curves of low-order shell-borne circumferential waves (A or A0 waves) which takes place on spherical shells when the frequency tends towards very low values, is demonstrated here for all cases of the metals under consideration.

Journal Article↗

Vibration of prolate spheroidal shells with shear deformation and rotatory inertia: axisymmetric case.

This paper presents the derivation of the equations for nonaxisymmetric motion of prolate spheroidal shells of constant thickness. The equations include the effect of distributed mechanical surface forces and moments. The shell theory used in this derivation includes three displacements and two thickness shear rotations. Thus, the effects of membrane, bending, shear deformation, and rotatory inertia are included in this theory. The resulting five coupled partial differential equations are self-adjoint and positive definite. The frequency-wave-number spectrum has five branches, two acoustic and three optical branches representing flexural, extensional, torsional, and two thickness shear. For the case of axisymmetric motion, these were computed for various spheroidal shell eccentricities and thickness-to-length ratios for a large number of modes. The axisymmetric dynamic response for damped shells of various eccentricities and thicknesses under point and ring surface forces are presented.

Models, Theoretical↗

Radiation and vibrational properties of submerged stiffened cylindrical shells.

The vibratory response of submerged cylindrical shells is investigated. The shell response is presented in terms of the spatial wave-number spectrum of the normal surface displacement. The power output of the vibrating shell into the fluid and the far-field radiation from the shell are presented as a function of the wave number of the exciting force. The effects of structural damping and stiffeners are also studied.

Acoustics↗

Protein structures forming the shell of primitive bacterial organelles.

Bacterial microcompartments are primitive organelles composed entirely of protein subunits. Genomic sequence databases reveal the widespread occurrence of microcompartments across diverse microbes. The prototypical bacterial microcompartment is the carboxysome, a protein shell for sequestering carbon fixation reactions. We report three-dimensional crystal structures of multiple carboxysome shell proteins, revealing a hexameric unit as the basic microcompartment building block and showing how these hexamers assemble to form flat facets of the polyhedral shell. The structures suggest how molecular transport across the shell may be controlled and how structural variations might govern the assembly and architecture of these subcellular compartments.

Amino Acid Sequence↗