Animated Shapes

Newts are lizard-shaped animals with a tail in the amphibian order Caudata (or Urodela), in the superfamily Salamandroidea, which also includes the salamanders. The distinction between newts and salamanders is not always obvious since both have a tail in the larval stage and the adult stage. However, newts do not have costal grooves on the sides of their body, they are less slippery than salamanders, they have a unique dentition on the roof of the mouth, and they tend to be more aquatic than salamanders. 

Gellon, G., Mcginnis, W. 1998. Shaping animal body plans in development and evolution by modulation of hox expression patterns. Bioessays 20, 116-125. 

Globular protein (Section 27 20) An approximately spheri cally shaped protein that forms a colloidal dispersion in water Most enzymes are globular proteins Glycogen (Section 25 15) A polysaccharide present in animals that IS denved from glucose Similar in structure to amy lopectin... 

Microfilaments and Microtubules. There are two important classes of fibers found in the cytoplasm of many plant and animal ceUs that are characterized by nematic-like organization. These are the microfilaments and microtubules which play a central role in the determination of ceU shape, either as the dynamic element in the contractile mechanism or as the basic cytoskeleton. Microfilaments are proteinaceous bundles having diameters of 6—10 nm that are chemically similar to actin and myosin muscle ceUs. Microtubules also are formed from globular elements, but consist of hoUow tubes that are about 30 nm in diameter, uniform, and highly rigid. Both of these assemblages are found beneath the ceU membrane in a linear organization that is similar to the nematic Hquid crystal stmcture. 

Martensite transformations are not limited just to metals. Some ceramics, like zirconia, have them and even the obscure system of (argon + 40 atom% nitrogen) forms martensite when it is cooled below 30 K. Helical protein crystals in some bacteria undergo a martensitic transformation and the shape change helps the bacteria to burrow into the skins of animals and people ... 

Typical units for LDjq values are milligrams or grams of material per kilogram of body weight (mg/kg or g/kg, recall that 1 kg = 2.2 pounds). Never be exposed to an LD50 dose of a hazardous chemical- by definition, there is a 50% chance this will kill you and if you survive you are not going to be in good shape. Pay close attention to the permissible exposure level (PEL) instead. This is a more realistic determination of the maximum safe exposure to a material and is usually based on the known effects of the chemical on humans, rather than laboratory animals. 

Hazard characterization, or dose-response characterization, by using experimental animals to reveal target organs and toxic doses, and the shape of the dose-response curve... 

The secondary structure of a protein is the shape adopted by the polypeptide chain—in particular, how it coils or forms sheets. The order of the amino acids in the chain controls the secondary structure, because their intermolecular forces hold the chains together. The most common secondary structure in animal proteins is the a helix, a helical conformation of a polypeptide chain held in place by hydrogen bonds between residues (Fig. 19.19). One alternative secondary structure is the P sheet, which is characteristic of the protein that we know as silk. In silk, protein... 

Microtubules are universally present in eukaryotes from protozoa to the cells of higher animals and plants (Porter, 1966 Hardham and Gunning, 1978 Lloyd, 1987), but they are absent in mammalian erythrocytes and in prokaryotes. Microtubules participate in a number of cellular functions including the maintenance of cell shape and polarity, mitosis, cytokinesis, the positioning of organelles, intracellular transport to specific domains, axoplasmic transport, and cell locomotion. The diversity of microtubule fimctions suggests that not all microtubules are identical and that different classes of microtubules are present in different cell types or are localized in distinct domains in the same cell type (Ginzburg et al., 1989). 

Another type of linear configuration known as bow-tie is shown in Figure 10.10. The actuator is constmcted using dielectric elastomer film having the shape of a bow-tie with two compliant electrodes configured on its two surfaces. Application of the electric field results in planar actuation which because of the bow-tie shape is translated into linear motion. Typical applications of these types of actuators comprise a hexapod robot, to mimic the motion of insects like walking, to manufacture various animated devices like face, eyes, skin, etc., or the design of micro-air vehicle/omithopter. 

This group of microorganisms shares with chlamydias the property of growing only in living tissue. Rickettsiae occur as small (0.3 x 0.25/mi) rod-shaped or coccoid cells. They can be stained by special procedures. Division is by binary fission. They may be cultivated in the blood of laboratory animals or in the yolk sac of the embryo of the domestic fowl, and it is by this method that the organism is grown to produce vaccines. 

The tests generally involve some form of maze but the simplest is the passive avoidance test. In this the animal learns that in a certain environment it will be punished with an electric shock for some particular action, like stepping onto a special part of the floor of the test chamber. The test of memory is how long the rat avoids (remains passive to) making the movement that will initiate the shock. Of course, drugs that reduce the animal s anxiety also modify the response. Using a maze in its simplest T shape, the animal is placed at the base of the vertical arm and a food reward at the end of one of the horizontal arms. Clearly the animal has to learn which arm contains the reward. Memory is assessed by the time taken for a food-deprived animal to reach the reward and the number of false arm entries. This simple system can be made more complex by introducing many more arms and branches but the principle is the same. 

An inadequate intake in the diet of those food chemicals that are essential nutrients results in health risks. Indeed these risks are by far the most important in terms of the world s population where malnutrition is a major public health problem. But, unlike the toxic chemicals, they would show a very different dose-response if they were subject to similar animal bioassays. At very low doses there would be a high risk of disease that would decrease as the dose was increased, the curve would then plateau until exposure was at such a level that toxicity could occur. Figure 11.2 shows this relationship which is U- or J-shaped rather than the essentially linear dose-response that is assumed for chemicals that are only toxic. The plateau region reflects what is commonly regarded as the homeostatic region where the cell is able to maintain its function and any excess nutrient is excreted, or mechanisms are induced that are completely reversible. 

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