(a.) Having no certain course; roving about without a fixed destination; wandering; moving; -- hence, applied to the planets as distinguished from the fixed stars.
(a.) Deviating from a wise of the common course in opinion or conduct; eccentric; strange; queer; as, erratic conduct.
(a.) Irregular; changeable.
(n.) One who deviates from common and accepted opinions; one who is eccentric or preserve in his intellectual character.
(n.) A rogue.
(n.) Any stone or material that has been borne away from its original site by natural agencies; esp., a large block or fragment of rock; a bowlder.
Example Sentences:
(1) This erratic course renders difficult assessment of the efficacy of methods of treatment.
(2) As trigger sensitivity was decreased within its usual range, a marked and progressive ventilator response delay occurred which was associated with erratic changes in functional residual capacity as well as dyspnea and tachypnea.
(3) Obstacles to successful treatment include an erratic schedule, mistrust of authority, and uncooperative or aggressive behavior.
(4) In the wake of a second fatal police shooting in the St Louis area after the death of Michael Brown , concerned citizens are asking why officers had to kill Kajieme Powell, a 25-year-old man who was holding a knife and “behaving erratically.” They want to know why officers don’t shoot someone like Powell in the leg or the arm, rather than aiming for vital organs, or why they don’t just use a less lethal weapon, like a Taser.
(5) We attribute the persistence of infection in our patient to erratic usage of antituberculous drugs.
(6) Coronary blood flow and coronary perfusion pressure were significantly correlated during the administration of lignocaine; bupivacaine had erratic effects on coronary blood flow and no correlation between coronary blood flow and coronary perfusion pressure was seen.
(7) Flynn’s subsequent penchant for inflammatory, erratic and even bigoted statements left few, particularly in security circles, willing to defend him.
(8) The president of the European parliament, Martin Schulz, reflecting the deep anger felt in Brussels at the erratic negotiating tactics adopted by Tsipras and Varoufakis, said Greek voters should blame Tsipras for bringing the country to its knees.
(9) Cells in optimal (5 x 10(-9) M) but uniform concentrations of N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP) polarized well and showed a 'persistent random walk' type of locomotion, whereas in supraoptimal concentrations (10(-7) M), the cells took erratic paths and polarized poorly, suggesting that monocytes cannot develop an anteroposterior polarity if hit by ligand molecules at many points on the cell surface simultaneously.
(10) It is perhaps not surprising that self-diagnosis and self-medication are common and follow-up attendance is erratic.
(11) As far back as 2008, the Wall Street Journal was running front-page pieces , beginning: "Major banks are contributing to the erratic behaviour of a crucial global lending benchmark".
(12) The fact that it failed is related to the atomised society left behind by 40 years of the most brutal and erratic of dictatorships.
(13) At lower levels the results were somewhat more erratic due to inaccuracies of the various methods at low concentrations.
(14) At any rate, the only sparse range of body expressions, the smallness and preference of night activity of these animals and the erratic occurrence of essential behaviour patterns make the investigations more difficult.
(15) It has been encouraged by Trump’s often erratic, unfocused behaviour , and the resulting opportunities and dangers arising from weakened American global leadership.
(16) Though absorption of ampicillin from capsules was often erratic, its bioavailability was similar in normal and cirrhotic subjects.
(17) Moreover, the emotional climate of adolescence, which requires affiliation with peer groups, and a distancing from authority figures such as doctors and parents, is often associated with a deterioration in drug and dietary compliance and with erratic clinic attendance.
(18) I learned that the hard way: when I was younger, I played the part of the erratic, irascible drunk in order to have something to write about.
(19) Once well-paid, stable work with decent terms and conditions is gradually being replaced by minimum-wage, erratic jobs.
(20) Psychiatric patients may also be at special risk for the development of digitoxicity because of erratic drug taking, electrolyte imbalance or increased autonomic tone.
Mercurial
Definition:
(a.) Having the qualities fabled to belong to the god Mercury; swift; active; sprightly; fickle; volatile; changeable; as, a mercurial youth; a mercurial temperament.
(a.) Having the form or image of Mercury; -- applied to ancient guideposts.
(a.) Of or pertaining to Mercury as the god of trade; hence, money-making; crafty.
(a.) Of or pertaining to, or containing, mercury; as, mercurial preparations, barometer. See Mercury, 2.
(a.) Caused by the use of mercury; as, mercurial sore mouth.
(n.) A person having mercurial qualities.
(n.) A preparation containing mercury.
Example Sentences:
(1) There is a considerably larger variability of the mercury levels in urine than in blood.
(2) Mercury compounds and EDTA were found to be potent inhibitors of proteinase yscJ activity.
(3) The effects of postnatal methyl mercury exposure on the ontogeny of renal and hepatic responsiveness to trophic stimuli were examined.
(4) The fact that it is still used is regrettable yet unavoidable at present, but the average quantity is three times less than the mercury released into the atmosphere by burning the extra coal need to power equivalent incandescent bulbs.
(5) As yet the observations demonstrate that workers exposed in their occupation to heavy metals (cadmium, lead, metalic mercury) and organic solvents should be subjected to special control for detection of renal changes.
(6) Concern about the safety of the patient and dental personnel does exist, however, due to the possibilities of mercury poisoning.
(7) In order to determine the specific action of cadmium on bone metabolism, the effect of cadmium on alkaline phosphatase activity, a marker enzyme of osteoblasts, was compared with that of other divalent heavy metal ions, i.e., zinc, manganese, lead, copper, nickel and mercury (10 microM each), using cloned osteoblast-like cells, MC3T3-E1.
(8) Inorganic mercury as HgSO4 or HgCl2, at dietary levels up to 200 p.p.m.
(9) An analysis of the clinical markers indicated no clear relationship between elevated urinary mercury concentrations and kidney dysfunction.
(10) In vivo the administration of captopril prevented the toxic effects of mercury poisoning on membrane permeability, oxidative phosphorylation and Ca++ homeostasis.
(11) Histological changes were similar in inorganic and methyl mercury treated fish except the higher intensity observed in the latter treatment.
(12) Unlike other eukaryotic enzymes, the plant enzyme showed no activation with organic mercurials and was inhibited by urea and KCl.
(13) Postoperative APR improved to 86.3 millimeters of mercury and ABI to 0.63 (p less than 0.05).
(14) Attempts to induce mercury resistance in the aerobic isolates were successful, but no induction was seen in the anaerobes.
(15) High concentrations of mercury, cadmium, and lead have also been observed in urban soils.
(16) In the presence of peripheral vasodilatation, adequate blood flow can be expected after such bypass grafts at blood pressures as low as 80 millimeters of mercury and hypotension per se does not produce vascular steal.
(17) A transistor radio activated by a mercury switch was used to reinforce head posture in two retarded children with severe cerebral palsy.
(18) This species, therefore, seems to be about twice as sensitive to the neurotoxic properties of methyl mercury salts as the laboratory rat.
(19) Under this condition, MeHg- and Hg(++)-induced increases in fluorescence were associated with depolarization of psi p. A second approach was used to assess changes in psi p. In synaptosomes, the magnitude of the increase in fluorescence resulting from depolarization of psi p with a stimulus of constant intensity is a function of the resting psi p. The fluorescence response to depolarization of synaptosomes previously exposed to either MeHg or Hg++ (1-20 microM each) was reduced in a concentration-dependent manner relative to mercury-free controls.
(20) Of the tubular cell ultrastructures, the lysosome was the most sensitive to mercury, and there was a close relation between the excretion of urinary mercury and the mercury detoxication mechanism of the kidney.