Validity and reliability of palatal rugae morphometric assessment with 3D laser scanned models

Aim: To assess the reliability and validity of morphometric features on 3D digital models produced by scanning maxillary dental casts of Malaysian Malay subjects. Methods: Dental casts of 20 subjects were scanned using a 3D laser scanner (Next Engine Inc., Santa Monica, California, USA). The palatal rugae morphometric features were assessed on the resulting 3D models using 3-Matic Research 9.0 software (Materialise NV, Heverlee, Belgium). The assessments were repeated by the first and second authors to assess the intra- and interexaminer reliability, respectively. Rugae morphometric features were also evaluated on the conventional plaster models to assess the validity of the 3D method. Results: Kappa values of the validity ranged from 0.807 to 0.922 for rugae shape, size category and direction. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for rugae number validity was 0.979. For intra-examiner reliability, kappa values ranged from 0.716-1.000 for rugae shape, size category and direction. The ICC for rugae number intra-examiner reliability was 0.949. Kappa values of interexaminer reliability for rugae shape, size category and direction were 0.723-885, while the ICC of rugae number was 0.896. Conclusion: Palatal rugae analyses on 3D digital models scanned by the 3D Next Engine laser scanner using 3-Matic Research 9.0 software are valid and reliable.

Effect of Some Preservative Solutions on Some Morphometric Features of Planiliza abu (Heckel, 1843)

The present study attempts to find out the effect of some fish preservatives in the laboratory, such as alcohol and dilute formalin, on some biological characteristics related to the body measurements of those fish preserved in these materials. The fish used in this study were the local Planiliza abu. The processes of expansion and contraction of the bodies of fish preserved in diluted formalin solution at a concentration of 10% and diluted ethyl alcohol solution at a concentration of 70%. As that the standard length of the specimens of this study, which are separately preserved in formalin 10% and alcohol 70%, in a completely isolated are fluctuating in change. Constant shrinkage in head length in both diluted formalin and alcohol. Most fish bodies preserved in formalin at a concentration of 10% gain significant weight gain, in contrast to alcohol preservation.

Application of the constitutional-typological approach in the study of the morphometric features of the dentition in people with the brachypalatinal type of the palatine arch

The fundamental problem of precision medicine is the division of the population of sick and healthy people into separate individuals, differing in the likelihood of disease occurrence and the ability to respond to various types of therapy. This is mainly due to the individual, constitutional features of the structure, including the dentoalveolar system. The introduction of a constitutional-typological approach in a comprehensive study of the human dentition is an important task of modern dentistry, since it allows one to determine the characteristic morphological and functional characteristics of each individual individual to improve the methods of diagnosis and treatment of dentoalveolar pathology. The article examines the morphometric features of the dentoalveolar system in people with brachypalatinal («wide» and «low») type of palatine vault, as well as their relationship with the shape of dental arches and the size of the inter-incisal angle at a physiological occlusal norm. As a result of the study, the following regularity was determined: the brachypalatinal type of the palatine vault corresponds to «wide» dental arches of the brachygnathic type with an inter-incisal angle of more than 145 degrees. The value of the brachypalatinal index of the palatine fornix, as the ratio of the height of the palate to its width, exceeds 45 percent, and the gnathic index of the dental arches is 0.59 ± 0.03. The data obtained can be used in the clinic of orthodontics, orthopedic dentistry, maxillofacial surgery to assess the parameters of the hard palate, diagnose pathological forms of the palatine fornix and determine the effectiveness of the treatment.

Study on Morphometric Features of Coronal Suture Along with it Absence and Craniosynostosis

Background: Cranial sutures are syndesmosis between the cranial bones. The coronal suture is oblique in direction and extends between the frontal and the parietal bones. Craniosynostosis is a rare birth defect that occurs when the coronal suture in the skull fuses prematurely, but the brain continues to grow and develop. This leads to a misshapen head. There are a number of forms of this defect, such as coronal, sagittal, lambdoid, and metopic. Materials and Methods: Total 500 skulls were used for study, coronal suture length measured by thread method, distance between Nasion to bregma and midsupraorbital rim to coronal suture were measured. For finding skull with absence of coronal, sagittal, lambdoid, and metopic suture, we examined many skulls during routine osteology classes of Medical, Dental and other medical sciences students. Around 500 skull observed and we find only one skull with absence of left coronal suture completely. Results: The length of coronal suture was 24.8+1.4cm length, the distance between nasion to bregma was 126.7 +10.25 mm and Midsupraorbital rim to cranial suture was 102.76+8.64mm We have found only one skull with absence of coronal suture. Some of the skulls shows partly fusion of sagittal, coronal sutures. The skull with complete absence of coronal suture showing the features of other sutures clearly and right side of coronal suture is showing the complete suture. The skull was not damaged and it is in perfect condition which was using by students for their osteology study. Conclusion: We found the skull with absence of left coronal suture, which may resulted due to craniosynostosis. It may be due to hot climate in India also might be resulted for absence of suture. KEY WORDS: Birth defect, Skull, Coronal suture, Craniosynostosis.

A Cadaveric Study on Morphometric Features of Spleen and Splenomegaly with Accessory Spleen in Hilum

Background: Anatomical knowledge regarding the external morphology of the spleen is essential for surgical intervention and radiological diagnosis. Splenomegaly is defined as pathologic enlargement of the spleen measured by size or weight. A normal spleen has a craniocaudal length of no more than 12 cm and weighs less than 200 g. It is surrounded by a thin capsule. The spleen is usually not palpable unless it is enlarged; therefore, a palpable spleen is almost always abnormal. At times the spleen may be difficult to palpate, but dullness to percussion during inspiration in the area of the lower left intercostal space in the left anterior axillary line suggests splenic enlargement. Massive splenomegaly, weight >1000 g usually occurs in lymphoma, myeloproliferative disorders, visceral leishmaniasis, and malaria. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in different medical institutions, to find morphometric features, spenomegaly in cadaver during routine anatomy dissection as part of curriculum, 100 cadavers were observed to find out splenomegaly. Results: Out of 100 spleens studied, 81 cases wedge shaped spleen was the most common, followed by 12 tetrahedral shaped spleens and 7 oval shaped spleens. Average weight of the spleen was 175g. Average length of the spleen was 11.64cm, Average breadth of the spleen was 7.3cm and average thickness of spleen was 3.6cm. Out of 100 cadavers observed only one cadaver observed with massive splenomegaly with one accessory spleen in hilum. The spleen weight was 875gm, length was 18.15 cm, width was 8.65cm, thickness was 5.75cm and extended upto 7 rib and it is easily palpable below the rib cage from lumbar aspect. The cadaver was male and age around 55 years. Conclusion: The morphometric knowledge of spleen will helpful for surgeons and for understanding deceases related spleen. The knowledge of splenomegaly is important in finding splenic disorders and accessory spleen information helpful in understanding embryonic development of spleen. KEY WORDS: Splenomegaly, Spleen, Hilum of Spleen, Accessory spleen.

Kraniovertebral Bileşke Kemiklerinin Morfometrik Özellikleri

Introduction: The craniovertebral junction comprises the occipital bone, atlas, axis and supporting ligaments. Surgical interventions for treatment of instability, require knowledge of morphometric properties of this area. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate adult dried human skulls to analyze morphometric features of the bones that joined the craniovertebral junction. Materials and Methods: Morphometric analysis was performed on dry bones which found in the excavations. 9 occipital bone, 18 atlas and 16 axis were measured. Differences between measurements were determined using t-tests and were considered significant at p<0.05. Results: The distance between both tips of the transverse processes (p<0.001), the distance between both outermost edges of the transverse foramen (p=0.011), the distance between both innermost edges of the transverse foramen (p=0.013), the maximum transverse diamater of the vertebral canal (p=0.014), the maximum anteroposterior diameter of the vertebral canal (p=0.014) and the width of the inferior articular facet (left p<0.001 and right p=0.005) were found significantly shorter in females atlases. The width of the dens axis (p<0.001), the height of the corpus axis (p=0.034), the distance from lateral most edge of the transvers process to midline (left p=0.049), the length of the inferior articular facet (left p=0.004, right p=0.005), the width of the superior articular facet (right p=0.007) were found significantly shorter in females axises. Conclusion: Morphometric analysis is very important in the development and improvement of surgical techniques. In this context, the results of our study can contribute to developments in this area. Keywords: Atlas, axis, occipital bone, craniovertebral junction

Microglial MorphOMICs unravel region- and sex-dependent morphological phenotypes from postnatal development to degeneration

Microglia contribute to tissue homeostasis in physiological conditions with environmental cues influencing their ever-changing morphology. Strategies to identify these changes usually involve user-selected morphometric features, which, however, have proved ineffective in establishing a spectrum of context-dependent morphological phenotypes. Here, we have developed MorphOMICs, a topological data analysis approach to overcome feature-selection-based biases and biological variability. We extracted a spatially heterogeneous and sexually-dimorphic morphological phenotype for seven adult brain regions, with ovariectomized females forming their own distinct cluster. This sex-specific phenotype declines with maturation but increases over the disease trajectories in two neurodegeneration models, 5xFAD and CK-p25. Females show an earlier morphological shift in the immediately-affected brain regions. Finally, we demonstrate that both the primary- and the short terminal processes provide distinct insights to morphological phenotypes. MorphOMICs maps microglial morphology into a spectrum of cue-dependent phenotypes in a minimally-biased and semi-automatic way.

Differentiation of the indigenous goat populations in Ethiopia based on morphometric features and zoometric indices: The primary step for conservation

This study was conducted to describe the indigenous goat populations of South Gondar, Ethiopia based on morphometric traits and body indices. To this effect, morphometric measurements were taken from 512 goats (153 male and 359 female) of both sexes drawn from three districts (Farta, Fogera and Libokemkem). Twenty structural indices were computed from morphometric measurements. Results indicated that age at first kidding and kidding intervals was 13.6 and 8.39 months, respectively, with an average litter size of 1.54 kids. Sex affected (p<0.001) all quantitative traits except ear length (EL), rump width (RW) and fore canon circumference (FCC) being higher in bucks than in does. The effect of age was significant (p<0.001) for all morphometric traits except for EL resulting in a linear increase with advancing age in both sexes. Except for EL and scrotal circumferences (SC), all quantitative traits were (p<0.01) affected by district of the goats rearing. Accordingly, Fogera goats had higher live weight (LW), heart girth (HG), height at withers (HW), body length (BL), chest width (CW), rump height (RH), rump length (RL) and teat length (TL) than those of Libokemkem. Fogera goats had also the highest LW and HG compared with those of Farta. Conversely, the Farta goats had higher RW, BL, TL, RL, CW, chest depth (CD), and paunch girth (PG) than those of Libokemkem. Libokemkem goats were inferior in most of the studied morphometric traits. Both HG and HW variables were identified as best predictors of LW in both sexes. Structural indices indicated that the goat populations could be characterized as meat phenotype with short legs being well adapted to midland altitudes. In conclusion, goats reared in the region could have a genetic potential for meat production with very good prolificacy. The Fogera goats were particularly better in most morphometric traits indicating their suitability for commercial meat production. However, further on-station research is recommended to verify their potentials as meat animals for enhanced food security in the region.

Classification and Morphometric Features of Pterion in Thai Population with Potential Sex Prediction

Background and Objectives: The landmark for neurosurgical approaches to access brain lesion is the pterion. The aim of the present study is to classify and examine the prevalence of all types of pterion variations and perform morphometric measurements from previously defined anthropological landmarks. Materials and methods: One-hundred and twenty-four Thai dried skulls were investigated. Classification and morphometric measurement of the pterion was performed. Machine learning models were also used to interpret the morphometric findings with respect to sex and age estimation. Results: Spheno-parietal type was the most common type (62.1%), followed by epipteric (11.7%), fronto-temporal (5.2%) and stellate (1.2%). Complete synostosis of the pterion suture was present in 18.5% and was only present in males. While most morphometric measurements were similar between males and females, the distances from the pterion center to the mastoid process and to the external occipital protuberance were longer in males. Random forest algorithm could predict sex with 80.7% accuracy (root mean square error = 0.38) when the pterion morphometric data were provided. Correlational analysis indicated that the distances from the pterion center to the anterior aspect of the frontozygomatic suture and to the zygomatic angle were positively correlated with age, which may serve as basis for age estimation in the future. Conclusions: Further studies are needed to explore the use of machine learning in anatomical studies and morphometry-based sex and age estimation. Thorough understanding of the anatomy of the pterion is clinically useful when planning pterional craniotomy, particularly when the position of the pterion may change with age.