SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “ATMOSPHERE”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,099 records · Page 61Linked to original sources

PubMed2001

Survival of amino acids in micrometeorites during atmospheric entry.

The delivery of amino acids by micrometeorites to the early Earth during the period of heavy bombardment could have been a significant source of the Earth's prebiotic amino acid inventory provided that these organic compounds survived atmospheric entry heating. To investigate the sublimation of amino acids from a micrometeorite analog at elevated temperature, grains from the CM-type carbonaceous chondrite Murchison were heated to 550 degrees C inside a glass sublimation apparatus (SA) under reduced pressure. The sublimed residue that had collected on the cold finger of the SA after heating was analyzed for amino acids by HPLC. We found that when the temperature of the meteorite reached approximately 150 degrees C, a large fraction of the amino acid glycine had vaporized from the meteorite, recondensed onto the end of the SA cold finger, and survived as the rest of the grains heated to 550 degrees C. alpha-Aminoisobutryic acid and isovaline, which are two of the most abundant non-protein amino acids in Murchison, did not sublime from the meteorite and were completely destroyed during the heating experiment. Our experimental results suggest that sublimation of glycine present in micrometeorite grains may provide a way for this amino acid to survive atmospheric entry heating at temperatures > 550 degrees C; all other amino acids apparently are destroyed.

Amino Acids↗

PubMed1996

Eustachian tube function and middle ear barotrauma associated with extremes in atmospheric pressure.

Eustachian tube (ET) function was studied by means of sonotubometry and tubotympano-aerodynamography (TTAG) prior to and following exposure to hypobaric or hyperbaric conditions. Forty normal adults were subjected to hypobaric pressure. Fifty adults who underwent hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy also were studied. Following hypobaric exposure, 14 of 80 ears (17.5%) exhibited middle ear barotrauma. Following hyperbaric exposure, 34 of 100 ears (34%) exhibited middle ear barotrauma. Dysfunction of the ET, characterized by altered active and passive opening capacity, was more prevalent following exposure to extremes in atmospheric pressure compared to baseline. The ET function, which was impaired after the first HBO treatment, improved gradually over the next 2 hours. Overall, however, ET function was worse after the seventh treatment. The patients who developed barotrauma exhibited worse ET function prior to hypobaric or hyperbaric exposure. Thus, abnormal ET function can be used to predict middle ear barotrauma prior to exposure to hypobaric or hyperbaric atmospheric pressure.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Design and application of a new cell for in situ infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy investigations of metal-atmosphere interfaces.

A new experimental setup for studying reactions occurring in the metal-atmosphere interface by applying in situ infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS) is presented. It consists of a gas-mixing unit, where the moist air is generated with or without corrosive gases, the reaction cell for the in situ investigations, and an optical system coupled with a Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer. For testing the unit, a specimen of pure copper was used, where the growth of Cu2O on the polished surface could be observed during time-resolved measurements in synthetic air containing 80% RH (relative humidity). For comparison of the experimental results obtained, a computer simulation program was developed in order to calculate the peak position, the peak height, the peak width, and the thickness of the surface layer formed during the atmospheric corrosion. The simulation software is based on the four-phase model of covered surfaces.

Atmosphere↗

PubMed1994

Effect of atmospheric pressure on hearing in normal subjects.

Hearing is assumed to be altered during or immediately after a change in atmospheric pressure, although this has not been tested experimentally. We used a soundproof pressure chamber to examine the effect of alterations in atmospheric pressure on hearing in 26 normal healthy subjects. The subjects were placed in the soundproof pressure chamber in a supine position and instructed to actively equilibrate middle ear pressure or to abstain from doing so. When the pressure was changed to +/- 500 mmH2O at 33 mmH2O/s the results were as follows: When subjects did not equilibrate middle ear pressure, air conduction at low frequency tones increased more than bone conduction. The degree of deterioration in hearing was greater when the chamber pressure was increased (descent) than where pressure was decreased (ascent). When the subjects equilibrated middle ear pressure, little change in the levels of air or bone conduction was observed. Most of the deterioration in bone conduction was considered to reflect functional loss due to increased stiffness and damping of the sound transmission mechanism.

Adult↗

PubMed1979

Reproductive adaptation in Drosophila exposed to oxygen-enriched atmospheres.

Ten successive generations of a Drosophila melanogaster population were exposed to an atmospheric mix of 50% oxygen/50% nitrogen at standard pressure. This atmospheric mix has been shown to be toxic to this species and causes significantly shortened life span. By the fifth generation, survivorship and life span for the first 25-30 days were identical to control populations and total life span was shorter by only a few days. Egg-laying rates were stable in the experimental populations but below those of the controls. Hatching success was identical between experimental and control populations. Even though the egg-laying rates were lower in 50% oxygen, it was concluded that the population had adapted and could maintain a stable population in these conditions. The near-normal life spans, normal hatching rates, and overall population stability, exhibited following five generations of adaptation, were considered sufficient to allow continued reproduction in spite of a reduced egg-laying rate.

Adaptation, Biological↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[The characteristics of the modulation of afferent reactions by adrenergic and cholinergic preparations and by the electrostimulation of the skin under conditions of changing atmospheric pressure].

The authors studied the organism's afferent reactions in changing conditions of atmospheric pressure in electrostimulation of skin zones during application of adren- and cholinergic agents. All of the studied adren- and cholinolytic agents facilitated the inhibition of afferent reactions, in contrast to mediation intensifying agents. The results of the experiments suggest that the nociceptive thresholds at atmospheric pressure of 550 mm Hg reduce, which may be linked with intensification of the catecholamine reactions of the organism of untrained animals. This is confirmed by the results of experiments with inderal injection, in which the effect of inhibition of the induced afferentation is most marked at pressure of 550 and 360 mm Hg. Besides, the analgesic activity of benactyzine diminished under similar conditions. Inderal and benactyzine potentiate the analgesic effect of percutaneous electroneurostimulation.

Afferent Pathways↗

PubMed1999

Airborne mass spectrometers: four decades of atmospheric and space research at the Air Force research laboratory.

Mass spectrometry is a versatile research tool that has proved to be extremely useful for exploring the fundamental nature of the earth's atmosphere and ionosphere and in helping to solve operational problems facing the Air Force and the Department of Defense. In the past 40 years, our research group at the Air Force Research Laboratory has flown quadrupole mass spectrometers of many designs on nearly 100 sounding rockets, nine satellites, three Space Shuttles and many missions of high-altitude research aircraft and balloons. We have also used our instruments in ground-based investigations of rocket and jet engine exhaust, combustion chemistry and microwave breakdown chemistry. This paper is a review of the instrumentation and techniques needed for space research, a summary of the results from many of the experiments, and an introduction to the broad field of atmospheric and space mass spectrometry in general.

Atmosphere↗

PubMed1999

Assessing the human health risk of atmospheric particles.

The health implications of atmospheric particulate matter have become a topic of much interest on both sides of the Atlantic, but especially in the USA, where they were at the centre of the debate over the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) revision of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard in 1997. Much of this debate revolves around claims that particulate matter (usually represented by PM10) in the atmosphere directly influences mortality, hospital admissions with respiratory diseases, and so on. In this paper, we take a critical look at one of these issues, the influence of PM10 on deaths in the elderly population. Two data sets are considered, one from Birmingham (Alabama) and the other from Chicago. In both cases we find a significant PM10-mortality relationship in some of the models fitted, but not in others. Other issues considered include the existence of a threshold below which PM10 has no discernible influence, the interaction with other pollutants and the mortality displacement or harvesting effect (the theory that the direct effect of PM10 is limited to a very small subset of the population who are already critically ill and whose death is only advanced by a few hours or days as a result of air pollution). Overall, our conclusion is that there are too many uncertain issues to allow us to make definitive statements about a causal relationship between PM10 and mortality.

Air Pollution↗

PubMed1990

Pesticide loss to the atmosphere.

Pesticides may be transformed by chemical and biological processes or transported from the site of application by several processes including runoff, movement through the soil to ground water, volatilization, transport on soil particles, and wind erosion. Contamination of water by pesticide residues is a matter of concern as is contamination of the earth's atmosphere. The form in which a pesticide enters the air and the dimensions of pesticide-containing particulate matter affect movement and deposition. Local transport over distances of several miles may be responsible for adverse effects on nontarget species. Effects of long-range transport are more difficult to assess, but pesticides increase the burden of organic chemicals in the atmosphere. Field measurements of pesticide volatilization and deposition of residues in rainfall, particulate matter, fog, etc., provide information on the relative importance of these processes. Adequate information concerning chemical reactions of pesticides in air is lacking. Because it is desirable to minimize low-level human and environmental exposure resulting from airborne pesticide residues, potential for losses to the air should be taken into account in selecting pesticide formulations and application methods.

Agriculture↗

PubMed2005

Fast prototyping of hydrophobic disposable polymer support arrays for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry of proteins by atmospheric molding.

A fast protocol for prototyping hydrophobic disposable poly(alkyl methacrylate-co-methyl methacrylate) copolymer sample support arrays for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) of proteins by atmospheric molding is introduced. The sample support arrays were replicated by molding prepolymer alkyl methacrylate solutions into sandwich molds containing a micromachined silicon master, an aluminum spacer, and glass cover plates, followed by UV-initiated in situ polymerization under atmospheric pressure. The fabrication procedure enables a simultaneous fabrication/modification of single-use polymer arrays by a targeted selection of functional groups of the copolymerized monomers during molding. The one-step modification during the fabrication is demonstrated for enhanced protein adsorption to the modified materials by introduction of hydrophobic butyl-, dodecyl-, and octadecyl groups to the polymer backbone without a need for additional surface coating or derivatization. The MALDI-MS performance of the new polymer chips was tested for spectral measurements of bovine pancreas insulin, horse heart myoglobin, and bovine serum albumin. The protein adsorption to the new hydrophobic copolymer chips was studied for bovine pancreas trypsinogen; the sample desalting parameters, such as time and volume, were optimized for myoglobin as model proteins. A significant signal increase was achieved after efficient desalting of an insect Delta11-desaturase membrane protein fragment from a complex elution buffer (100 mM phosphate, 10 mM tris(hydroxyethyl)aminomethane, 0.5 M NaCl, and 10 mM ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid) on the poly(butyl methacrylate-co-methyl methacrylate) copolymer chip (monomer ratio 8:2 v/v) by simply washing the target zones. The new chips offer reduced sample manipulation and device fabrication times as well as simple operation.

Atmosphere↗

PubMed2006

Atmospheric molding of ionic copolymer MALDI-TOF/MS arrays: a new tool for protein identification/profiling.

An atmospheric molding protocol has been used to prepare an ionic methacrylate-based copolymer sample support chips for MALDI (pMALDI)-MS by targeting selected groups of various monomers copolymerized during molding, namely, carboxy, sulfo, dimethylalkyamino, and trimethylalkylammonium groups. The new disposable array chips provide analyte-oriented enhancement of protein adsorption to the modified substrates without requiring complicated surface coating or derivatization. The MALDI-MS performance of the new ionic copolymer chips was evaluated for lysozyme, beta-lactoglobulin A, trypsinogen and carbonic anhydrase I using washing with solutions prepared in pH or ionic strength steps. On cationic chips, the proteins are washed out at pH lower than their p/ values, and on anionic chips at pH higher than their p/ values. The ability of the microfabricated pMALDI chip set to selectively adsorb different proteins from real samples and to significantly increase their MS-signal was documented for the transmembrane photosystem I protein complex from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The proteins were almost exclusively adsorbed according to calculated pI values and grand average of hydropathy (GRAVY) indexes. The new disposable chips reduce manipulation times and increase measurement sensitivity for real-world proteomic samples. The simple atmospheric molding procedure enables additional proteomic operations to be incorporated on disposable MALDI-MS integrated platforms.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Improvement of cell adhesion on poly(L-lactide) by atmospheric plasma treatment.

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the interaction between the cell and the surface of poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) samples, which were modified using a low-temperature plasma treatment apparatus at atmospheric pressure. The plasma treatments were carried out in the atmospheres of air, carbon dioxide (CO2), and perfluoro propane (C3F8) gas. The PLLA samples before and after the plasma treatment were analyzed by XPS and their contact angles with water. Furthermore, the cell adhesion capability and cell mass culturing tests on the PLLA samples were carried out using MC3T3-E1 cells. The results showed that the contact angle of the samples, which was plasma treated in air or in CO2 gas, decreased compared with that of the untreated samples. On the other hand, the contact angle of the samples, which was plasma treated in the C3F8 gas, increased compared with the untreated plasma samples. The cell response on the PLLA samples plasma treated in air or in the CO2 gas were significantly superior to that of the PLLA samples, which was plasma treated in the C3F8 gas.

3T3 Cells↗

PubMed2006

Fragmentation induced in atmospheric pressure photoionization of peptides.

In this work, the fragmentation of peptides under atmospheric pressure photoionization conditions is investigated. Intensive fragmentations into b/y- and c-sequence ions are reported. Abundance of these c-ions appeared to be related to the quantity of dopant infused and to the disappearance of the doubly protonated peptide ion. A careful analysis of the role of the dopant indicates that the fragmentations are not dependent on the nature of the dopant but on their ionization efficiencies. This result shows that the fragmentation arises from the reaction of the protonated peptide with photoelectrons released upon ionization of the dopant in an electron capture dissociation/electron transfer dissociation (ECD/ETD) type mechanism. Experiments with peptides bearing a single proton indicate that additional mechanisms are involved. H-atom transfer reactions are suggested to be responsible for the fragmentations as well. Those atoms could arise either from the dopant ions or from negatively charged solvent nanodroplets. This is the first report of an ECD/ETD mechanism in a dense medium and at atmospheric pressure.

Acetylation↗

PubMed2002

Laser desorption-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization: a novel ion source for the direct coupling of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to mass spectrometry.

Laser desorption-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry (LD-APCI-MS) is presented for the atmospheric pressure (AP) sampling of tryptic peptides directly from a polyacrylamide gel. In contrast to other gel sampling mass spectrometric approaches, this technique does not require the addition of any exogenous matrices to the gel to assist with ionization. In this arrangement, a CO(2) laser at 10.6 micro m is used to desorb intact neutral peptide molecules from the gel, followed by ionization in the gas-phase with APCI. The ions are then sampled via a heated capillary inlet and transferred to a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer for mass analysis. Preliminary results suggest the polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis-LD-APCI-MS technique provides several advantages that could translate into a more convenient, robust methodology for the rapid identification and characterization of proteins. Finally, strategies regarding the further development of the method are presented.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2002

Atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry of purine and pyrimidine markers of inherited metabolic disorders.

Purines and pyrimidines are of interest owing to their significance in processes in living organisms. Mass spectrometry is a promising analytical tool utilized in their analysis. Two atmospheric pressure ionization (API) methods (electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI)) in both negative and positive modes applied to selected purine and pyrimidine metabolites (markers of inherited metabolic disorders) were studied. APCI is less sensitive to alkali metal cations present in a sample and offers higher response than ESI for studied compounds. Both of the techniques afford quasi-molecular ions, but fragmentation also occurs to a certain extent. However, the application of collision-induced dissociation of quasi-molecular ions is essential to confirm a certain metabolite in a sample. Fragmentation of both positive and negative ions was evaluated using multi-stage mass spectrometric experiments. Typical neutral losses correspond to molecules NH(3), H(2)O, HCN, CO, H(2)NCN, HNCO and CO(2). The ion [NCO](-) arises in the negative mode. The cleavage of the glycosidic C-N bond is characteristic for relevant metabolites. Other neutral losses (CH(2)O, C(2)H(4)O(2) and C(3)H(6)O(3)) originate from fragmentation of the glycosidic part of the molecules. In addition to fragmentation, the formation of adducts of some ions with applied solvents (H(2)O, CH(3)OH) was observed. The composition of the solution infused into the ion source affects the appearance of the mass spectra. Tandem mass spectra allow one to distinguish compounds with the same molecular mass (uridine-pseudouridine and adenosine-2'-deoxyguanosine). Flow injection analysis APCI-MS/MS was tested on model samples of human urines corresponding to adenosine deaminase deficiency and xanthine oxidase deficiency. In both cases, the results showed potential diagnostic usefulness.

Atmospheric Pressure↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Atmospheric pressure photoionization mass spectrometry.

Atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) is the last arrival in the family of atmospheric pressure ionization (API) methods to couple mass spectrometry (MS) to liquid-phase separation techniques. The basic idea was to further extend the fields of application of liquid chromatography (LC)-MS to those molecules that are not, or are poorly amenable, to electrospray (ESI) or APCI. The present review explores the literature. After a short introduction with an historical background and the premises for its development, we describe the technique, its physical principles, and the factors that affect its efficiency. The review also presents a survey of applications in different fields.

Atmospheric Pressure↗

PubMed2003

Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry using atmospheric pressure photoionization for high-resolution analyses of corticosteroids.

Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICRMS) was coupled with atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) for the first time and used for the analysis of several corticosteroids.1 The analytes showed excellent response using APPI when compared with both electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI). APPI has the advantage of requiring less heat for desolvation, resulting in less thermal degradation of the analytes and higher signal-to-noise than APCI. In terms of ultimate sensitivity, APPI is more efficient than either ESI or APCI for the analysis of corticosteroids. With some compounds, the high-resolution capability of FTICRMS was necessary to obtain an accurate mass due to contributions of the M(+.) (13)C isotope in the [M+H](+) ion peak.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗

PubMed2004

Anisole, a new dopant for atmospheric pressure photoionization mass spectrometry of low proton affinity, low ionization energy compounds.

Atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) is a novel method of ionization in liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). It was originally developed in order to broaden the range of LC/MS ionizable compounds towards less polar compounds that cannot be analyzed by electrospray (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI). Studies done thus far have shown that non-polar compounds that earlier were not ionizable in LC/MS can indeed be ionized by the use of APPI. However, the best ionization efficiency for low polarity samples has been achieved with low proton affinity (PA) solvents that are not suitable in reversed-phase LC (RP-LC). Here it is demonstrated that the signals for analytes with low proton affinities in acetonitrile can be increased 100-fold by using anisole as the dopant for APPI, which takes the sensitivity to the same level achieved in the analysis of high PA analytes.

Acetonitriles↗