Flattened Spheroid Research Articles

Caki-1 Spheroids as a 3D Model for Studying Free Fatty Acid-Induced Proximal Tubule Lipotoxicity

Three-dimensional (3D) multicellular spheroid shows a biological complexity resembling native tissue in comparison to conventional monolayer cultures, making it a better model system to assess drug effcacy and cytotoxicity. The main aim of this study was to examine the usefulness of Caki-1, a human proximal tubule (PT) representative cell line, as a 3D model system for studying free fatty acid-induced PT lipotoxicity. Caki-1 spheroids were generated and maintained on ultra-low attachment plates and characterized regarding time-dependent changes in morphology and functionality. In optimal 3D culture conditions, Caki-1 cells formed well-defined large compact 3D spheroids with uniform morphology, good circularity, and increased diameter from days 2-10. There was no change when the spheroids were incubated with lipid-free bovine serum albumin (BSA, 0.5%) from day 6 to 10. Chronic exposure to palmitate (300 μM) resulted in dispersed and flattened spheroid morphology, with a larger number of dead cells in the peripheral layers and decreased spheroid core. Moreover, palmitate-treated spheroids showed a significant increase in caspase-3 activity at the external layers of the spheroids, suggesting that the detached cells underwent apoptosis. Simultaneous addition of oleate (200 μM) prevents palmitate-induced spheroid disintegration and cell death in Caki-1 3D culture. Mechanistically, palmitate triggered endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and autophagy dysfunction, as evidenced by significantly increased protein levels of ER stress markers AFT4 and CHOP, and autophagy substrate p62. Oleate upregulated adipose differentiation-related protein (ADRP, a lipid droplet-associated protein), and promoted lipid droplet formation in palmitate-treated Caki-1 cells. These results indicate that Caki-1 3D spheroids are a simple and reproducible in vitro system for lipotoxicity study. It can potentially be used for evaluating human renal proximal tubular toxicity and drug screening. NIH/NIGMS R16GM149499, NIH TL1DK136047. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Термообработка слизистых субпродуктов под воздействием электрофизических факторов: разработка установки

Low efficiency of equipment for heat treatment, disinfection and removal of unpleasant odour of substandard mucous by-products urges the development of an installation that provides for the complex effect of ultra-high frequency electromagnetic field, ozone and bactericidal flow of ultraviolet rays. The paper presents the technology and describes the installation developed by the authors. The installation ensures electromagnetic safety and uniformity of loading according to the penetration depth of the wave. The duration of raw material treatment is matched with the specific power of the microwave generator, the power of the lamps and with the rotation frequency of the compartment disc. The electric field strength has been studied in the CST Microwave Studio program. The developed installation contains a resonator in the form of a flattened spheroid with diameters of the main axes multiple of half the wavelength. Magnetrons are placed on the upper surface of the spheroid along the perimeter. On the inner surface of the spheroid, where there are corona needles, ring electro-gas-discharge lamps powered from pulsed modeled high-frequency generators are uniformly installed along the perimeter through the gap. The source of radiation in the bactericidal lamp is an electric discharge in a mixture of mercury vapour and argon. A fluoroplastic perforated disc is installed at the level of the large diameter of the spheroid, on which mucous by-products are treated. The conducted research shows that the intrinsic factor of quality of the spheroid resonator is 9000. The heat treatment and disinfection of raw materials is most effective at the plant productivity of 50 kg/h, electric field strength of 3 to 4 kV/cm, disc rotation frequency of 0.17 to 0.2 rpm and a specific power of the microwave generator of 1.2 W/g. Power consumption amounted to 6.6 kW, while energy costs were 0.132 kW∙h/kg.

First Report and 3D Reconstruction of a Presumptive Microscopic Liver Lipoma in a Black Barbel (Barbus balcanicus) from the River Bregalnica in the Republic of North Macedonia

A lipoma is a benign tumour of mature adipocytes which may appear in various species, including marine and freshwater fish. It usually occurs in isolated locations, such as a superficial or deep mass, mainly in the skin and seldom in other organs. In non-mammalian vertebrates, there is no agreed minimal size for the mass to be considered a lipoma. This study histologically describes a case proposed to be a microlipoma in the liver of Barbus balcanicus. The structure was an oval-shaped mass of well-differentiated adipocytes, surrounded by hepatic parenchyma. The adipocyte cluster did not contact with major vascular or biliary tracts, the liver capsule, or the hilum. The cell mass reached a maximal linear length and width of ~0.5 mm and ~0.4 mm. A three-dimensional and software-assisted reconstruction of the adipocytic mass showed that it had the shape of a flattened prolate spheroid (~0.01 mm3). Given the histological criteria currently used in the literature, we consider the mass as a lipoma, or, better, a microlipoma because it was tiny. We interpret this structure as an early growing lipoma. This work is the second description of a liver lipoma in a fish to the best of our knowledge.

Research of the effect of droplets deformation on the radar characteristics of rains

The results of calculations of the radar characteristics of rains for the averaged spectra of drops specific to the North Caucasus are presented. The results are obtained under the assumption that the droplets are deformed when falling in clouds and precipitation, taking the form of a flattened spheroid. For comparison, the radar characteristics calculated by the Mi algorithm for spherical droplets are given. For individual large droplets, which under the influence of an electric field can take extreme sizes, the reflectivity are also calculated. The analysis of the obtained results showed that when reconstructing the microstructural characteristics of hail clouds and precipitation at high intensities, it is necessary to take into account the shape of drops.

In Ukrainian

A characteristic feature of metal nanoparticles is the dependence of their absorption of light (laser radiation) on the polarization of the wave and the shape of the particles, especially in the ultraviolet frequency range. Under the same conditions, the power absorbed by nanoparticles, equal in volume but different in shape, can differ by several orders of magnitude. In addition, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) takes place in metal nanoparticles — an increase in the absorption cross section of the energy of the nanoparticle as the frequency of incident laser radiation approaches the SPR frequency of the nanoparticle. The appearance of surface plasmons in the Drude-metal model and the absorption of laser radiation in metal nanoparticles at frequencies close to SPR are analyzed. Nanoparticles whose linear dimensions are much smaller than the wavelength of laser radiation are considered. It is shown that in this case the metal nanoparticle is in spatially homogeneous, but time-oscillating electric and magnetic fields. The geometric factors for elongated and flattened spheroids are calculated. It is shown that the shape of a flattened spheroid changes from a disk (e = 1) to a ball (e = 0), and an elongated spheroid changes from a needle (e = 1) to a ball (e = 0). The relationship between the transverse and longitudinal components of the width of the SPR line on the ratio of the axes of the spheroid is considered. It was found that the widths of the absorption lines of external radiation at the SPR frequencies, in addition to the shape of the particles, are also determined by the diagonal components of the nanoparticle conductivity tensor. The aim of this work is to consider the plasmon vibrations of electrons in metal nanoparticles of various shapes and to determine the frequencies at which resonant absorption of laser radiation energy can occur and to calculate the plasmon resonance line width.

Large Meteoroid Fragmentation: Modeling the Interaction of the Chelyabinsk Meteoroid with the Atmosphere

The interaction between a large meteoroid and the atmosphere is modeled as its destruction into a cloud of fragments and vapors moving with a common shock wave. Under the action of aerodynamic forces the shape of this cloud is deformed—it is expanded in the direction transverse to the motion and compressed in the longitudinal direction. With allowance for the pressure distribution over the surface of a body varying its shape (it is assumed that the sphere is transformed into a flattened spheroid), the relation for the rate of increase in the midsection radius of a fragmented meteoroid has been obtained. This rate significantly depends on the degree of the meteoroid flattening which leads to a significantly smaller increase in the transverse size of the meteoroid along the trajectory as compared to similar models used in the literature where the influence of the body shape was not considered. The proposed model also takes into account the change in the density of the cloud of fragments due to an increase in gaps between them. An approximate analytical solution of equations of the physical theory of meteors with drag and heat transfer coefficients varying along the trajectory has been obtained for a fragmented meteoroid. The interaction of the Chelyabinsk meteoroid with the atmosphere is modeled and the solution obtained for the energy release curve is compared with the observational data.

Developments in the Studies of Pear-Shaped Nuclei and Their Impact on Searches for CP-Violation in Atoms

The atomic nucleus is a many-body quantum system, and hence its shape is determined by the number of nucleons present in the nucleus and the interactions between them. The long-range correlations between valence nucleons distort the shape from spherical symmetry and the nucleus becomes deformed. In most of these cases, it is well established that the shape assumed has quadrupole deformation with axial and reflection symmetry; that is, the nucleus is shaped like a rugby ball (prolate deformation) or as a flattened spheroid discus (oblate deformation). For certain combinations of protons and neutrons, it is expected that the shape of nuclei can assume octupole deformation, corresponding to reflection asymmetry or a “pear-shape” in the intrinsic frame, either dynamically (octupole vibrations) or having a static shape (permanent octupole deformation).

IS THERE AN UNACCOUNTED FOR EXCESS IN THE EXTRAGALACTIC COSMIC RADIO BACKGROUND?

Analyses of measurements of the distribution of absolute brightness temperature over the radio sky have led recently to suggestions that there exists a substantial unexplained extragalactic radio background. Consequently, there have been numerous attempts to place constraints on plausible origins for the `excess'. We suggest here this expectation of a large extragalactic background, over and above that contributed by the sources observed in the surveys, is based on an extremely simple geometry adopted to model the Galactic emission and the procedure adopted in the estimation of the extragalactic contribution. In this paper, we derive the extragalactic radio background from wide-field radio images by using a more realistic modeling of the Galactic emission and decompose the sky maps at 150, 408, and 1420 MHz into anisotropic Galactic and isotropic extragalactic components. The anisotropic Galactic component is assumed to arise from a highly flattened spheroid representing the thick disc, embedded in a spherical halo, both centered at the Galactic center, along with Galactic sources, filamentary structures, Galactic loops and spurs. All components are constrained to be positive and the optimization scheme minimizes the sky area occupied by the complex filaments. We show that in contrast to the simple modeling of the Galactic emission as a plane parallel slab, the more realistic modeling yields estimates for the uniform extragalactic brightness that is consistent with expectations from known extragalactic radio source populations.

Study of Three-Dimensional Separation of Boundary Layer over Blunt Bodies

In the case of three-dimensional flows, the separation can be defined in more than one way. Discussions about three-dimensional boundary layer separation in the literature have found a rational extension of the zero skin friction. Attempts have been made to establish the identity of “separation lines”. Among definitions, these may be found: (1) envelopes of limiting streamlines, (2) lines dividing flow which has come from different regions, (3) lines of singularities (problems of topology), (4) lines on which some component of the skin friction vanishes. Each of these is valid under certain conditions, but none is universally valid. In the present work, we use the definition (4), i.e. at low incidence of a blunt body the separation line is identified as the zero of the meridian skin friction component (Wang 1975). So the separation line on a flattened spheroid (6:3:1) at 6 o of incidence is calculated, as well as experimentally determined by using the electrochemical method, which allows to follow the evolution of the parietal velocity gradient.

CAMPANIAN CRUSTACEAN BURROW SYSTEM FROM ISRAEL WITH BROOD AND NURSERY CHAMBERS REPRESENTING COMMUNAL ORGANIZATION

Abstract: Phosphorite‐filled crustacean burrows associated with a Campanian‐age omission surface in the north‐western Negev are described. The phosphatic burrow casts weather out displaying scratches (bioglyphs) and two types of local swellings (chambers), which are flattened normal to the course of the burrow. The more abundant chamber type is a flattened spheroid (diameter 45–50 mm) or a flattened, highly prolate ellipsoid of larger dimensions, with bioglyphs. The other type is a flattened spheroid (diameter 45 mm), gently rounded on the upper side and flat on the base. Rings of elevations on the cast (representing moats) form interconnected circlets, each capped by about eight rounded hemispherical tubercles (4 × 4 mm) (pits on original), the whole forming a discrete network. The first type of chamber may have hosted the young (nursery chamber) and/or stored food. The second type of cast replicates a chamber with a pitted floor, which may have formed a brood chamber for 60–70 spherical eggs, each about 3 mm in diameter. Brood chambers in crustacean burrow systems were previously suspected, but only at burrow terminations. The interpreted K‐type breeding strategy, brood care and associated functions require a high degree of social organization, none of which has been observed in extant crustaceans, but all occur within social insects.

Drop and Bubble Deformation in an Electric Field

A steady problem of drop (bubble) shape in a uniform electric field is considered when the drop and the surrounding medium are immiscible. The electric-charge transport includes both the ohmic current across the interphase boundary and convective transport over the interface. If there is no convective transport, the drop (bubble) may be transformed into either an elongated or a flattened spheroid. Under these conditions, the sign of the deformation remains unchanged for arbitrary values of the problem parameters. Convective charge transport along the surface initiates additional motion in both the drop and the surrounding medium. However, with increase in the convective-transport intensity the deformed drops display different behavior. The compression of a flattened drop slows and, under certain conditions, compression is replaced by extension. However, an elongated spheroid cannot be transformed into a flattened spheroid. The calculations were performed under the assumption that the drop is convex. It was found that, for both an elongated and a flattened drop, the maximum ratio of the major and minor spheroid axes is 2:1. In experiments with oils, the possibility of both a decrease in the drop compression rate and deformation sign reversal was demonstrated.

Transmittance of dispersed nematic/polymer systems of the NCAP type

A stationary effect of the electric-field-induced variation of the transmittance of thin-film disperse systems was studied theoretically. The systems consisting of a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) and a polymer (NCAP-type systems) represent flattened spheroid droplets with a bipolar NLC structure. These systems are characterized by a nonmonotonic dependence of the optical transmittance on the applied field strength for the normal incidence of light. This dependence is interpreted within the framework of a proposed phenomenological model based on the approximations of single scattering and anomalous diffraction. Experimental verification of the model is performed for dispersed systems with a poly(vinyl alcohol) matrix. A good agreement of the theoretical and experimental results is obtained.

Ferromagnetic resonance in a thin ferrite spheroid surrounded by dielectric

Second-order electromagnetic corrections to FMR resonance field and linewidth have been calculated for a flattened spheroid surrounded by infinite and finite (spheroidal shell) dielectric. This configuration can be considered as a model for the epitaxial thin films with the dielectric substrate.

Kinematics and ionization of extended ionized gas in active galaxies. I - The X-ray luminous galaxies NGC 2110, NGC 5506, and MCG -5-23-16

Direct CCD imaging and long-slit Vidicon spectroscopy have been used to map the emission-line ratios, profiles, and velocity fields over the extended narrow-line regions in three nearby Seyfert galaxies, NGC 2110, NGC 5506, and MCG -5-23-16. The gas in the letter is spatially unresolved. Similarities between the other two nebulae include the excitation mechanism (photoionization by a central nonthermal source) and the overall profiles of the very broad emission lines close to the nucleus. The nebulae are, however, quite different in their global kinematic behavior. In NGC 2110, the gas appears to lie in a disk or flattened spheroid and to be in ordered rotation, with a classical rotation curve, about an axis parallel to the minor axis of the stellar isophotes. The velocity field of NGC 5506 is quite irregular, but a component of rotation in the plane of the galaxy seems to exist.

New light on faint stars – VI. Structure and evolution of the Galactic spheroid

Recent observations of the structure of the Galactic spheroid are analysed and confirm the existence of a very flattened component of the spheroid. This component contains ∼ 2 per cent of the stars in the solar neighbourhood, but is not that identified in previous studies of high-velocity subdwarfs. It is distributed either in a flattened spheroid, axis ratio ∼ 1: 4, or as an exponential perpendicular to the plane, with scale height ∼ 1.5 kpc. It is photometrically distinct from the Galactic old disc (scale height ∼ 300 pc), in that the spatial density distribution changes abruptly near z = 1.5 kpc. This population is therefore a spheroidal population, not a part of the old disc. Its kinematic properties are, however, distinct from those of high-velocity subdwarfs, which show little or no net rotation and large anisotropic velocity dispersions. The inner spheroid in external spiral galaxies, and by implication our Galaxy, shows a smooth transition between disc and spheroid in kinematic properties with increasing distance from the plane. This model is consistent with all well-calibrated published star count data. We interpret these observations in a model in which the stars which dominate the outer spheroid formed before or early in the Galactic collapse. Debris from this period collapsed into a pressure supported disc with temperature ∼ 104 K, corresponding to a z velocity dispersion ∼ 60 km s−1. Those stars which formed in this disc make up the inner, rotating, flattened spheroid, while the remnant of this ‘thick disc’ and metal-rich ejecta from the other spheroidal stars dissipationally cooled into the Galactic thin disc.

The pregeniculate nucleus of the monkey (Macaca mulatta). II. A study at the electron microscopic level

An electron microscope study of the ultrastructure of the pregeniculate nucleus of the monkey (Macaca mulatta) shows it to contain three neuronal types and four varieties of presynaptic terminals. Type I neurons are found only in the inner lamina, have small rounded profiles with few axosomatic synapses; the cytoplasm is poor in organelles and the nucleus is deeplly infolded. Type II neurons were observed infrequently and only in the outer lamina; they have large oblong profiles, exhibiting many axosomatic contacts, and containing abundant cytoplasm rich in organelles, particularly arrays of granular and agranular endoplasmic reticulum. Type III neurons were the most frequently seen and are found in both laminae; their profiles are elliptical and exhibit only a few axosomatic synapses. The cytoplasm surrounding the infolded nucleus is moderately rich in organelles with agranular endoplasmic reticulum predominating. These three neuronal types were found to correlate well with types of neurons found in material stained with cresylecht violet or impregnated by the Golgi method. Four presynaptic terminal types were discerned: a small cup-shaped profile containing spheroid vesicles and found predominantly in the outer lamina, a larger elliptical profile containing flattened spheroid vesicles, a large ramifying profile also containing round vesicles and largely restricted to the inner lamina, and a rounded profile containing larger flattened vesicles. Three days after eye enucleation, darkened degenerating profiles containing vesicles and forming asymmetric synapses were observed in the inner lamina, while the third terminal type described above could no longer be seen. The first three types are usually associated with asymmetric synaptic densities, whereas in the case of the last type, the postsynaptic synapse is symmetrical. The profile of this last terminal type was also sometimes observed to be both postsynaptic as well as presynaptic to other profiles; however, it was never observed to contain ribosomes. Such a pre- and postsynaptic terminal always forms part of the in series or triadic configuration of terminals occasionally observed in the pregeniculate nucleus.U

Models of galactic mass distribution

Three groups of galactic mass models, each consisting of nine inhomogeneous spheroids of two kinds are described, according to three adopted values of the total density near the Sun: 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20 M⊙ pc−3. Approximately 20% of the total mass of each model is in the halo, constructed to adequately fit recent RR Lyrae star observations. It is shown that the maxima found in the RR Lyrae star densities towards the galactic axis (Plaut, 1970) should not be interpreted as being associated with the galactic nucleus, but as the result of the greater decrease in density with increasingz over the increase in density as the galactic axis is approached. Even at the low galactic latitude of 5° (l=0°), this effect causes a 0.5 kpc correction to the distance to the galactic centre. A ‘basic’ model for\(\bar \omega _ \odot = 10.0\) kpc,\(\theta _ \odot = 252.5\) km s−1,\(\varrho _ \odot = 0.15\)M⊙ pc−3 is first constructed, mainly to satisfy structural conditions near the sun and in the halo. An attempt to optimize the basic model is made by scaling it so as to retain constant density and angular velocity near the sun, and to best fit kinematic data, including the recent re-examination of the 21-cm data of Simonson and Mader (1972). No unknown matter is required in the models, in accordance with the results of Weistrop (1972b), and, as pointed out earlier (Innanen, 1966b) the faintM-stars must be in a highly flattened spheroid. The optimizing indicates that an adequate fit to kinematics can be achieved for\(0.15< \varrho _ \odot<< 0.20{\text{ }}M_ \odot {\text{ pc}}^{{\text{ - 3}}} ,{\text{ }}8.5< \bar \omega _ \odot< 9.5{\text{ kpc, and }}215< \theta _ \odot< 250\) km s−1. More detailed results are tabulated for a ‘representative’ model for which\(\bar \omega _ \odot = 9.0{\text{ kpc, }}\theta _ \odot = 229{\text{ km s}}^{{\text{ - 1}}} {\text{ and }}\varrho _ \odot = 0.15{\text{ }}M_ \odot {\text{ pc}}^{ - 3} \). Two new galactic density functions are discussed in the Appendix.