What's the difference between mercurial and vagary?

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.

Vagary


Definition:

  • (n.) A wandering or strolling.
  • (n.) Hence, a wandering of the thoughts; a wild or fanciful freak; a whim; a whimsical purpose.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Dictated by underlying physicochemical constraints, deceived at times by the lulling tones of the siren entropy, and constantly vulnerable to the vagaries of other more pervasive forms of biological networking and information transfer encoded in the genes of virus and invading microorganisms, protein biorecognition in higher life forms, and particularly in mammals, represents the finely tuned molecular avenues for the genome to transfer its information to the next generation.
  • (2) Psychiatry is criticized for imprecise diagnosis, conceptual vagaries, jargon, therapeutic impotence and class bias.
  • (3) The issue of generic equivalence of topical steroids is discussed, with particular emphasis on the vagaries of the vasoconstriction assay.
  • (4) During the past 5-year period from 1986 to 1991, a total of 54 patients received living-related renal allograft and has been managed with vagaries of cyclosporin A (CYA) immunosuppressive regimen.
  • (5) Tsakalotos believes the anti-austerity government speaks for the growing numbers across Europe who, subjected to the brutal vagaries of the market, feel excluded from decision-making.
  • (6) To attempt less would allow this country's health care system to go down any road the vagaries of our political process take it.
  • (7) "You should look at it as a hedge against the vagaries."
  • (8) When employed in the direct imaging of chemiluminescent blots, the charge-coupled device can provide equal or better sensitivity than that obtained by indirect methods using film, with the additional advantages of wide dynamic range and freedom from the vagaries of film processing.
  • (9) It was ever thus for the Kurds, their destiny as a people shaped less by their own struggles than by the vagaries of regional and international politics, particularly the great Middle Eastern upheavals they periodically produce.
  • (10) It must be conceded, however, that with the vagaries of human nature there is always likely to be greater morbidity from patients with hypothyroidism failing to take their medication regularly, than from failure by the medical attendant to make minor adjustments to the dose of thyroxine.
  • (11) When I play Minecraft with Zac he gets to explain to me the vagaries and complexities of his saved kingdoms – the traps he has built, the hidden boltholes beneath looming mountains, the crops he has planted, the eggs he has nurtured, the places he goes, the things he sees.
  • (12) The vagaries of clinical staging associated with stage A disease, as well as the previously documented progression on long-term followup (8 to 10 years) in younger (60 years old or less) patients with stage A1 prostate cancer make radical prostatectomy with its limited morbidity an acceptable treatment choice.
  • (13) The response has been to force the vagaries of clinical judgment into the programmatic algorithm.
  • (14) The major cause of discrepent results with periodic cultures was attributed to vagaries in sampling.
  • (15) Combine that with having to work two jobs, make his own lunch and rely on the vagaries of public transport, and he gets three hours' sleep a night.
  • (16) Future pensioners will also suffer – as millions of employees have shifted into "defined contribution" pension plans – dependent on the vagaries of the stock market.
  • (17) The vagaries of events, people, and places leading to the scientific review are described.
  • (18) This report outlines the experience of one center in establishing a group therapy program, discussing the "readiness" of the center, reservations of the governing board, qualifications and number of group leaders, composition of the group, time-place-duration of meetings, "open" versus "closed" structure, vagaries of obtaining participants, integration with the 24-hour telephone crisis service, problems of confidentiality, and dealing with the suicide of a group member.
  • (19) In this setting the importance of the condition lies in the vagaries of its presentation and the fact that it is eminently treatable, usually by a combination of chemotherapy and surgery.
  • (20) The difficulty in articulating a clear response to Brexit, for example, stems from the absence of common instincts on the best approach to immigration, free trade, markets, and on protecting people from the economic vagaries of globalisation without retreating into bitter rejection of the modern world.