Inverse remodelling algorithm identifies habitual manual activities of primates based on metacarpal bone architecture

Previously, a micro-finite element (micro-FE)-based inverse remodelling method was presented in the literature that reconstructs the loading history of a bone based on its architecture alone. Despite promising preliminary results, it remains unclear whether this method is sensitive enough to detect differences of bone loading related to pathologies or habitual activities. The goal of this study was to test the sensitivity of the inverse remodelling method by predicting joint loading histories of metacarpal bones of species with similar anatomy but clearly distinct habitual hand use. Three groups of habitual hand use were defined using the most representative primate species: manipulation (human), suspensory locomotion (orangutan), and knuckle-walking locomotion (bonobo, chimpanzee, gorilla). Nine to ten micro-computed tomography scans of each species ($$n=48$$n=48in total) were used to create micro-FE models of the metacarpal head region. The most probable joint loading history was predicted by optimally scaling six load cases representing joint postures ranging from $$-\,75^{\circ }$$-75∘(extension) to $$+\,75^{\circ }$$+75∘(flexion). Predicted mean joint load directions were significantly different between knuckle-walking and non-knuckle-walking groups ($$p<0.05$$p<0.05) and in line with expected primary hand postures. Mean joint load magnitudes tended to be larger in species using their hands for locomotion compared to species using them for manipulation. In conclusion, this study shows that the micro-FE-based inverse remodelling method is sensitive enough to detect differences of joint loading related to habitual manual activities of primates and might, therefore, be useful for palaeoanthropologists to reconstruct the behaviour of extinct species and for biomedical applications such as detecting pathological joint loading

An Analysis of Millennial Attitudes Towards Car Servicing

When our team originally began our project, we initially held the assumption that millennials do not care about car ownership or driving. As our secondary research progressed, we found that millennials do indeed care about automobiles, but limited research existed as to any underlying issues regarding car maintenance and service. We addressed this issue in our primary research and found that millennials experience anxiety as they do not know much about car maintenance. Our recommendations were targeted towards easing both the surface anxiety and addressing the underlying issues as well as helping prepare Goodyear for future trends that may arise

DETERMINATION OF FLUORIDES IN FEEDING PHOSPHATES

Abstract Synek 0., E. Sucman, M. Sucmanova: Determination of Fluorides in Feeding Phosphates. Acta vet. Bmo, 47, 1978: 159-162. A method was elaborated of the determination of fluorides in mineral feeding phosphates using the fluoride ion selective electrode. The following average contents of fluoride were determined using this method: 0.07 -1.80 g kg -1 in dicalciumphosphates, 0.22-2.47 gkg-1 in dinatriumphosphates, 1.97-3.86gkg-1 in pyrophosphates, and 0.21 g kg -1 in ammoniumdihydrogenphosphate. This method of determination is quick, simple and sufficiently accurate. It can be used for controlling the content of fluoride in mineral feeding phosphates. Nutrition of farm animals under conditions of modem agricultural large-scale production has become unthinkable without commercially produced feed mixtures of different kinds. A very important component of these feed mixtures are also mineral feeding phosphates which sometimes represent as much as one tenth of the weight of the mixture. These phosphates are necessary both for supplying the organism of farm animals with a sufficient amount of phosphorus and for the optimization of the phosphorus/calcium ration in the feed ration. Along with the optimum composition of feed mixtures it is important to control the purity of their individual components. In feeding phosphates it is namely the content of fluorides which are a natural component of raw materials used for their production. According to The fluoride ion selective electrode method has much simplified fluoride determination which had always been very time and labour consuming and represents, at the present time, an accessible means for a simple determination of this element. With regard to the fact that mineral feeding phosphates are a permanent component of nutrition of farm animals, they represent a potential source of excessive flow of fluorides into the organism. That is why a method of fluoride determination was elaborated using the ion selective electrode and in. the commonly applied mineral feeding phosphates this method was used for the determination of the fluoride content. Materials and Methods The fluoride content was determined in formulas of dicalciumphosphates imported to Czechoslovakia in the period of 1975-1977 as feeding mineral admixtures. Dinatriumphosphate and pyrophosphate were produced in 1976-1977 in the national enterprise FOSFA in Postoma, ammo

Evidence for habitual climbing in a Pleistocene hominin in South Africa

Bipedalism is a defining trait of the hominin lineage, associated with a transition from a more arboreal to a more terrestrial environment. While there is debate about when modern human-like bipedalism first appeared in hominins, all known South African hominins show morphological adaptations to bipedalism, suggesting that this was their predominant mode of locomotion. Here we present evidence that hominins preserved in the Sterkfontein Caves practiced two different locomotor repertoires. The trabecular structure of a proximal femur (StW 522) attributed to Australopithecus africanus exhibits a modern human-like bipedal locomotor pattern, while that of a geologically younger specimen (StW 311) attributed to either Homo sp. or Paranthropus robustus exhibits a pattern more similar to nonhuman apes, potentially suggesting regular bouts of both climbing and terrestrial bipedalism. Our results demonstrate distinct morphological differences, linked to behavioral differences between Australopithecus and later hominins in South Africa and contribute to the increasing evidence of locomotor diversity within the hominin clade

Case management for people with dementia and its translations: A discussion paper

Case management is generally seen as a way to provide efficient, cost-saving person-centred care for people with dementia by connecting together fragmented services, but the available evidence in favour of its merits is often considered inconclusive, unclear and sketchy. This discussion paper investigates the evidence of the benefit of case management for people with dementia and explores the complexity of the concept and the experiences of its implementation. It offers a comprehensive framework for conceptualising various types of case management and asks the question: who can be a case manager? Building on examples from three European countries it addresses the problem of the expansion and adoption of the case management method. It compares the conventional model of diffusion of innovation with the ideas of interessement and co-constitution and envisions a successful model of case management as a fluid technology that is both friendly and flexible, allowing it to adapt to different settings and systems

Cell loss in the motor and cingulate cortex correlates with symptomatology in Huntington's disease

Huntington's disease is an autosomal dominant inherited neurodegenerative disease with motor symptoms that are variably co-expressed with mood and cognitive symptoms, and in which variable neuronal degeneration is also observed in the basal ganglia and the cerebral cortex. We have recently shown that the variable symptomatology in Huntington's disease correlates with the variable compartmental pattern of GABAA receptor and cell loss in the striatum. To determine whether the phenotypic variability in Huntington's disease is also related to variable neuronal degeneration in the cerebral cortex, we undertook a double-blind study using unbiased stereological cell counting methods to determine the pattern of cell loss in the primary motor and anterior cingulate cortices in the brains of 12 cases of Huntington's disease and 15 controls, and collected detailed data on the clinical symptomatology of the patients with Huntington's disease from family members and clinical records. The results showed a significant association between: (i) pronounced motor dysfunction and cell loss in the primary motor cortex; and (ii) major mood symptomatology and cell loss in the anterior cingulate cortex. This association held for both total neuronal loss (neuronal N staining) and pyramidal cell loss (SMI32 staining), and also correlated with marked dystrophic changes in the remaining cortical neurons. There was also an association between cortical cell loss and striatal neuropathological grade, but no significant association with CAG repeat length in the Huntington's disease gene. These findings suggest that the heterogeneity in clinical symptomatology that characterizes Huntington's disease is associated with variation in the extent of cell loss in the corresponding functional regions of the cerebral cortex whereby motor dysfunction correlates with primary motor cortex cell loss and mood symptomatology is associated with cell loss in the cingulate corte