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Brain, Behavior and Evolution 2018Paleoneurology deals with the study of brain anatomy in fossil species, as inferred from the morphology of their endocranial features. When compared with other living... (Review)
Review
Paleoneurology deals with the study of brain anatomy in fossil species, as inferred from the morphology of their endocranial features. When compared with other living and extinct hominids, Homo sapiens is characterized by larger parietal bones and, according to the paleoneurological evidence, also by larger parietal lobes. The dorsal elements of the posterior parietal cortex (superior parietal lobules, precuneus, and intraparietal sulcus) may be involved in these morphological changes. This parietal expansion was also associated with an increase in the corresponding vascular networks, and possibly with increased heat loads. Only H. sapiens has a specific early ontogenetic stage in which brain form achieves such globular appearance. In adult modern humans, the precuneus displays remarkable variation, being largely responsible for the longitudinal parietal size. The precuneus is also much more expanded in modern humans than in chimpanzees. Parietal expansion is not influenced by brain size in fossil hominids or living primates. Therefore, our larger parietal cortex must be interpreted as a derived feature. Spatial models suggest that the dorsal and anterior areas of the precuneus might be involved in these derived morphological variations. These areas are crucial for visuospatial integration, and are sensitive to both genetic and environmental influences. This article reviews almost 20 years of my collaborations on human parietal lobe evolution, integrating functional craniology, paleoneurology, and evolutionary neuroanatomy.
Topics: Biological Evolution; Humans; Neuroanatomy; Paleontology; Parietal Lobe
PubMed: 30099459
DOI: 10.1159/000488889 -
Anatomical Sciences Education May 2020Neuroanatomy education is a challenging field which could benefit from modern innovations, such as augmented reality (AR) applications. This study investigates the... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
Neuroanatomy education is a challenging field which could benefit from modern innovations, such as augmented reality (AR) applications. This study investigates the differences on test scores, cognitive load, and motivation after neuroanatomy learning using AR applications or using cross-sections of the brain. Prior to two practical assignments, a pretest (extended matching questions, double-choice questions and a test on cross-sectional anatomy) and a mental rotation test (MRT) were completed. Sex and MRT scores were used to stratify students over the two groups. The two practical assignments were designed to study (1) general brain anatomy and (2) subcortical structures. Subsequently, participants completed a posttest similar to the pretest and a motivational questionnaire. Finally, a focus group interview was conducted to appraise participants' perceptions. Medical and biomedical students (n = 31); 19 males (61.3%) and 12 females (38.7%), mean age 19.2 ± 1.7 years participated in this experiment. Students who worked with cross-sections (n = 16) showed significantly more improvement on test scores than students who worked with GreyMapp-AR (P = 0.035) (n = 15). Further analysis showed that this difference was primarily caused by significant improvement on the cross-sectional questions. Students in the cross-section group, moreover, experienced a significantly higher germane (P = 0.009) and extraneous cognitive load (P = 0.016) than students in the GreyMapp-AR group. No significant differences were found in motivational scores. To conclude, this study suggests that AR applications can play a role in future anatomy education as an add-on educational tool, especially in learning three-dimensional relations of anatomical structures.
Topics: Adolescent; Anatomy, Cross-Sectional; Augmented Reality; Brain; Cognition; Curriculum; Dissection; Education; Educational Measurement; Female; Humans; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Learning; Magnetic Resonance Angiography; Male; Neuroanatomy; Program Evaluation; Students; Young Adult
PubMed: 31269322
DOI: 10.1002/ase.1912 -
Neuropsychopharmacology : Official... Jan 2010
Topics: Algorithms; Anatomy, Artistic; Animals; Atlases as Topic; Automation; Brain; Humans; Neural Pathways; Neurons; Synapses
PubMed: 20010709
DOI: 10.1038/npp.2009.138 -
Anatomical Record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) Sep 2009This special issue of The Anatomical Record explores the recent advances in the functional morphology and paleobiology of dinosaurs. Although Darwin did not study...
This special issue of The Anatomical Record explores the recent advances in the functional morphology and paleobiology of dinosaurs. Although Darwin did not study dinosaurs because paleontology was in its infancy a century and half ago, he considered both paleontology and anatomy as essential subjects for establishing the validity of evolution. The study of dinosaurs constitutes a vigorous subdiscipline within vertebrate paleontology, and anatomists and evolutionary functional morphologists constitute an especially creative subgroup within dinosaur paleontology. The collection of 17 papers presented in this issue encompass cranial anatomy, postcranial anatomy, and paleobiology of dinosaurs and other archosaurs. Soft tissue subjects include studies of brain structure, jaw adductor muscles, and keratinous appendages of the skull. Taxonomically, it includes four papers with a focus on theropods, including Tyrannosaurus, five papers dealing with ceratopsians, three papers on hadrosaurs, and one on ankylosaurs. Modern anatomical techniques such as CT scanning, finite element analysis, and high resolution histology are emphasized. The visual presentation of results of these studies is spectacular. Results include the first-ever life history table of a plant-eating dinosaur; a determination of the head orientation of Tyrannosaurus and its relatives based on interpretation of the semicircular canals. The claws of Velociraptor appear to best adapted for tree climbing, but not for horrific predatory activities. Pachyrhinosaurus evidently used its massive head for head butting. The tail club of the armored dinosaur Euoplocephalus had the structural integrity to be used as a weapon. The pages abound with insights such as these. Dinosaurs once dead for millions of years live again!
Topics: Anatomy; Animals; Biological Evolution; Dinosaurs; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Interdisciplinary Communication; Paleontology; Universities
PubMed: 19711448
DOI: 10.1002/ar.20981 -
Bosnian Journal of Basic Medical... May 2018Anatomical nomenclature is the main tool of communication in morphology, anatomy and other medical disciplines as well as in medical education, and thus needs to be... (Review)
Review
Anatomical nomenclature is the main tool of communication in morphology, anatomy and other medical disciplines as well as in medical education, and thus needs to be exact, flawless, elaborate and correct. The Terminologia Anatomica (TA) is a thorough and extensive list of anatomical terms and their definitions, and the current standard for human anatomical terminology. Although several revisions to the TA have been made in the last 20 years, some important anatomical structures are still not included. This article is aimed at correcting and extending the anatomical nomenclature described in the TA. We gathered and presented a list of anatomical terms, with their definitions and explanations, to provoke a discussion about correcting and extending the TA. Our list comprises of 96 terms related to the locomotor system of the human body, i.e., the bones, joints, muscles and related structures.
Topics: Anatomy; Bone and Bones; Humans; Joints; Movement; Muscles; Spine; Terminology as Topic
PubMed: 29144891
DOI: 10.17305/bjbms.2017.2276 -
NeuroImage Oct 2007Functional neuroimaging is fundamentally a tool for mapping function to structure, and its success consequently requires neuroanatomical precision and accuracy. Here we... (Review)
Review
Functional neuroimaging is fundamentally a tool for mapping function to structure, and its success consequently requires neuroanatomical precision and accuracy. Here we review the various means by which functional activation can be localised to neuroanatomy and suggest that the gold standard should be localisation to the individual's or group's own anatomy through the use of neuroanatomical knowledge and atlases of neuroanatomy. While automated means of localisation may be useful, they cannot provide the necessary accuracy, given variability between individuals. We also suggest that the field of functional neuroimaging needs to converge on a common set of methods for reporting functional localisation including a common "standard" space and criteria for what constitutes sufficient evidence to report activation in terms of Brodmann's areas.
Topics: Anatomy; Atlases as Topic; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Nervous System; Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; Neural Pathways
PubMed: 17870621
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.09.055 -
Annals of Botany Apr 2022Petioles are important plant organs connecting stems with leaf blades and affecting light-harvesting ability of the leaf as well as transport of water, nutrients and...
BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Petioles are important plant organs connecting stems with leaf blades and affecting light-harvesting ability of the leaf as well as transport of water, nutrients and biochemical signals. Despite the high diversity in petiole size, shape and anatomy, little information is available regarding their structural adaptations across evolutionary lineages and environmental conditions. To fill this knowledge gap, we investigated the variation of petiole morphology and anatomy of mainly European woody species to better understand the drivers of internal and external constraints in an evolutionary context.
METHODS
We studied how petiole anatomical features differed according to whole-plant size, leaf traits, thermal and hydrological conditions, and taxonomic origin in 95 shrubs and trees using phylogenetic distance-based generalized least squares models.
KEY RESULTS
Two major axes of variation were related to leaf area and plant size. Larger and softer leaves are found in taller trees of more productive habitats. Their petioles are longer, with a circular outline and are anatomically characterized by the predominance of sclerenchyma, larger vessels, interfascicular areas with fibres and indistinct phloem rays. In contrast, smaller and tougher leaves are found in shorter trees and shrubs of colder or drier habitats. Their petioles have a terete outline, phloem composed of small cells and radially arranged vessels, fibreless xylem and lamellar collenchyma. Individual anatomical traits were linked to different internal and external drivers. Petiole length and vessel diameter increase with increasing leaf blade area. Collenchyma becomes absent with increasing temperature, and petiole outline becomes polygonal with increasing precipitation.
CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that species' temperature and precipitation optima, plant height, and leaf area and thickness exerted a significant control on petiole anatomical and morphological structures not confounded by phylogenetic inertia. Species with different evolutionary histories but similar thermal and hydrological requirements have converged to similar petiole anatomical structures.
Topics: Anatomy, Comparative; Phloem; Phylogeny; Plant Leaves; Plants; Xylem
PubMed: 35136925
DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcac014 -
Journal of Anatomy Apr 2021The fetal circulatory system bypasses the lungs and liver with three shunts. The foramen ovale allows the transfer of the blood from the right to the left atrium, and... (Review)
Review
The fetal circulatory system bypasses the lungs and liver with three shunts. The foramen ovale allows the transfer of the blood from the right to the left atrium, and the ductus arteriosus permits the transfer of the blood from the pulmonary artery to the aorta. The ductus venosus is the continuation of the umbilical vein, allowing a large part of the oxygenated blood from the placenta to join the supradiaphragmatic inferior vena cava, bypassing the fetal liver and directly connecting the right atrium. These structures are named after the physicians who are thought to have discovered them. The foramen ovale and the ductus arteriosus are called the "foramen Botalli" and the "ductus Botalli," after Leonardo Botallo (1530-c. 1587). The ductus venosus is styled "ductus Arantii" after Giulio Cesare Arantius (1530-1589). However, these eponyms have been incorrectly applied as these structures were, in fact, discovered by others earlier. Indeed, the foramen ovale and the ductus arteriosus were described by Galen of Pergamon centuries earlier (c. 129-210 AD). He understood that these structures were peculiar to the fetal heart and that they undergo closure after birth. The ductus venosus was first described by Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) 3 years before Arantius. Therefore, the current anatomical nomenclature of the fetal cardiac shunts is historically inappropriate.
Topics: Anatomy; Ductus Arteriosus; Fetal Heart; Foramen Ovale; History, 16th Century; History, 17th Century; History, 18th Century; History, Ancient; Humans; Terminology as Topic
PubMed: 33159333
DOI: 10.1111/joa.13357 -
Anatomical Record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) Jan 2017The zygoma, or jugum, is a cranial element that was present in Mesozoic tetrapods, well before the appearance of mammals. Although as an entity the zygoma is a primitive... (Review)
Review
The zygoma, or jugum, is a cranial element that was present in Mesozoic tetrapods, well before the appearance of mammals. Although as an entity the zygoma is a primitive retention among mammals, it has assumed myriad configurations as this group diversified. As the zygoma is located at the intersection of the visual, respiratory, and masticatory apparatuses, it is potentially of great importance in systematic, phylogenetic, and functional studies focused on this region. For example, the facial component of the zygoma and its contribution to a postorbital bar (POB) appear to be relevant to the systematics of a number of mammalian subclades, and the formation of a bony postorbital septum (POS) that separates the orbit from the infratemporal fossa is unique to, and thus potentially phylogenetically significant for uniting anthropoid primates, while the zygoma itself appears to serve to resist tension and bending forces during mastication. In order to better understand the zygoma in the context of its contributions to the circumorbital region, we documented its morphological expression in specimens representing 10 orders of mammals. Since the presence of a POB and of a POS has long been used to justify uniting extant primates and anthropoid primates as respective clades, and because postorbital closure (POC) is morphologically more complex than a POB, we provide detail necessary to address these claims. Our taxically broad overview also allowed us to provide for the first time definitions of configurations that can be applied to future studies. Using a different, but also taxically broad sample of mammals, and of primates in particular, we performed two geometric morphometric analyses that were geared toward testing long-held interpretations of the functional role of the zygoma, especially with regard to mastication and in the context of orbital frontation (to which the zygoma contributes). Further, overall, zygomatic morphology tends not to scale with allometry, sexual dimorphism, or angle of orbital convergence, but it does contribute to unique patterns of intraspecies variation. Anat Rec, 300:76-151, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Topics: Anatomy, Comparative; Animals; Mammals; Orbit; Phylogeny; Skull; Zygoma
PubMed: 28000398
DOI: 10.1002/ar.23485 -
Journal of Neurology Jan 2019
Topics: Europe; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; Humans; Motor Neurons; Neuroanatomy; Psychoanalysis; Sacrum; Spinal Cord; United States
PubMed: 29423612
DOI: 10.1007/s00415-018-8784-0