The gibbon's Achilles tendon revisited: consequences for the evolution of the great apes?

The well-developed Achilles tendon in humans is generally interpreted as an adaptation for mechanical energy storage and reuse during cyclic locomotion. All other extant great apes have a short tendon and long-fibred triceps surae, which is thought to be beneficial for locomotion in a complex arboreal habitat as this morphology enables a large range of motion. Surprisingly, highly arboreal gibbons show a more human-like triceps surae with a long Achilles tendon. Evidence for a spring-like function similar to humans is not conclusive. We revisit and integrate our anatomical and biomechanical data to calculate the energy that can be recovered from the recoiling Achilles tendon during ankle plantar flexion in bipedal gibbons. Only 7.5% of the required external positive work in a stride can come from tendon recoil, yet it is delivered at an instant when the whole-body energy level drops. Consequently, an additional similar amount of mechanical energy must simultaneously dissipate elsewhere in the system. Altogether, this challenges the concept of an energy-saving function in the gibbon's Achilles tendon. Cercopithecids, sister group of the apes, also have a human-like triceps surae. Therefore, a well-developed Achilles tendon, present in the last common 'Cercopithecoidea-Hominoidea' ancestor, seems plausible. If so, the gibbon's anatomy represents an evolutionary relict (no harm-no benefit), and the large Achilles tendon is not the premised key adaptation in humans (although the spring-like function may have further improved during evolution). Moreover, the triceps surae anatomy of extant non-human great apes must be a convergence, related to muscle control and range of motion. This perspective accords with the suggestions put forward in the literature that the last common hominoid ancestor was not necessarily great ape-like, but might have been more similar to the small-bodied catarrhines

Musculoskeletal models of a human and bonobo finger: parameter identification and comparison to in vitro experiments

Introduction: Knowledge of internal finger loading during human and non-human primate activities such as tool use or knuckle-walking has become increasingly important to reconstruct the behaviour of fossil hominins based on bone morphology. Musculoskeletal models have proven useful for predicting these internal loads during human activities, but load predictions for non-human primate activities are missing due to a lack of suitable finger models. The main goal of this study was to implement both a human and a representative non-human primate finger model to facilitate comparative studies on metacarpal bone loading. To ensure that the model predictions are sufficiently accurate, the specific goals were: (1) to identify species-specific model parameters based on in vitro measured fingertip forces resulting from single tendon loading and (2) to evaluate the model accuracy of predicted fingertip forces and net metacarpal bone loading in a different loading scenario. Materials & Methods: Three human and one bonobo (Pan paniscus) fingers were tested in vitro using a previously developed experimental setup. The cadaveric fingers were positioned in four static postures and load was applied by attaching weights to the tendons of the finger muscles. For parameter identification, fingertip forces were measured by loading each tendon individually in each posture. For the evaluation of model accuracy, the extrinsic flexor muscles were loaded simultaneously and both the fingertip force and net metacarpal bone force were measured. The finger models were implemented using custom Python scripts. Initial parameters were taken from literature for the human model and own dissection data for the bonobo model. Optimized model parameters were identified by minimizing the error between predicted and experimentally measured fingertip forces. Fingertip forces and net metacarpal bone loading in the combined loading scenario were predicted using the optimized models and the remaining error with respect to the experimental data was evaluated. Results. The parameter identification procedure led to minor model adjustments but considerably reduced the error in the predicted fingertip forces (root mean square error reduced from 0.53/0.69 N to 0.11/0.20 N for the human/bonobo model). Both models remained physiologically plausible after the parameter identification. In the combined loading scenario, fingertip and net metacarpal forces were predicted with average directional errors below 6◦ and magnitude errors below 12%. Conclusions. This study presents the first attempt to implement both a human and nonhuman primate finger model for comparative palaeoanthropological studies. The good agreement between predicted and experimental forces involving the action of extrinsic flexors—which are most relevant for forceful grasping—shows that the models are likely sufficiently accurate for comparisons of internal loads occurring during human and non-human primate manual activities

MedShapeNet -- A Large-Scale Dataset of 3D Medical Shapes for Computer Vision

Prior to the deep learning era, shape was commonly used to describe the objects. Nowadays, state-of-the-art (SOTA) algorithms in medical imaging are predominantly diverging from computer vision, where voxel grids, meshes, point clouds, and implicit surface models are used. This is seen from numerous shape-related publications in premier vision conferences as well as the growing popularity of ShapeNet (about 51,300 models) and Princeton ModelNet (127,915 models). For the medical domain, we present a large collection of anatomical shapes (e.g., bones, organs, vessels) and 3D models of surgical instrument, called MedShapeNet, created to facilitate the translation of data-driven vision algorithms to medical applications and to adapt SOTA vision algorithms to medical problems. As a unique feature, we directly model the majority of shapes on the imaging data of real patients. As of today, MedShapeNet includes 23 dataset with more than 100,000 shapes that are paired with annotations (ground truth). Our data is freely accessible via a web interface and a Python application programming interface (API) and can be used for discriminative, reconstructive, and variational benchmarks as well as various applications in virtual, augmented, or mixed reality, and 3D printing. Exemplary, we present use cases in the fields of classification of brain tumors, facial and skull reconstructions, multi-class anatomy completion, education, and 3D printing. In future, we will extend the data and improve the interfaces. The project pages are: https://medshapenet.ikim.nrw/ and https://github.com/Jianningli/medshapenet-feedbackComment: 16 page

Evolution of the human hip. Part 1: the osseus framework

Extensive osseous adaptations of the lumbar spine, pelvis, hip and femur characterize the emergence of the human bipedal gait with its 'double extension' of the lumbar spine and hip. To accommodate lumbar lordosis, the pelvis was 'compacted', becoming wider and shorter, as compared with the non-human apes. The hip joint acquired a much more extended position, which can be seen in a broader evolutionary context of verticalization of limbs. When loaded in a predominantly vertical position, the femur can be built lighter and longer than when it is loaded more horizontally because bending moments are smaller. Extension of the hip joint together with elongation of the femur increases effective leg length, and hence stride length, which improves energy efficiency. At the hip joint itself, the shift of the hip's default working range to a more extended position influences concavity at the head-neck junction and femoral neck anteversion.status: publishe

The mechanics of the gibbon foot and its potential for elastic energy storage during bipedalism

The mechanics of the modern human foot and its specialization for habitual bipedalism are well understood. The windlass mechanism gives it the required stability for propulsion generation, and flattening of the arch and stretching of the plantar aponeurosis leads to energy saving. What is less well understood is how an essentially flat and mobile foot, as found in protohominins and extant apes, functions during bipedalism. This study evaluates the hypothesis that an energy-saving mechanism, by stretch and recoil of plantar connective tissues, is present in the mobile gibbon foot and provides a two-dimensional analysis of the internal joint mechanics of the foot during spontaneous bipedalism of gibbons using a four-link segment foot model. Available force and pressure data are combined with detailed foot kinematics, recorded with a high-speed camera at 250 Hz, to calculate the external joint moments at the metatarsophalangeal (MP), tarsometatarsal (TM) and talocrural (TC) joints. In addition, instantaneous joint powers are estimated to obtain insight into the propulsion-generating capacities of the internal foot joints. It is found that, next to a wide range of motion at the TC joint, substantial motion is observed at the TM and MP joint, underlining the importance of using a multi-segment foot model in primate gait analyses. More importantly, however, this study shows that although a compliant foot is less mechanically effective for push-off than a 'rigid' arched foot, it can contribute to the generation of propulsion in bipedal locomotion via stretch and recoil of the plantarflexor tendons and plantar ligaments

The mechanics of the gibbon foot and its potential for elastic energy storage during bipedalism

The mechanics of the modern human foot and its specialization for habitual bipedalism are well understood. The windlass mechanism gives it the required stability for propulsion generation, and flattening of the arch and stretching of the plantar aponeurosis leads to energy saving. What is less well understood is how an essentially flat and mobile foot, as found in protohominins and extant apes, functions during bipedalism. This study evaluates the hypothesis that an energy-saving mechanism, by stretch and recoil of plantar connective tissues, is present in the mobile gibbon foot and provides a two-dimensional analysis of the internal joint mechanics of the foot during spontaneous bipedalism of gibbons using a four-link segment foot model. Available force and pressure data are combined with detailed foot kinematics, recorded with a high-speed camera at 250 Hz, to calculate the external joint moments at the metatarsophalangeal (MP), tarsometatarsal (TM) and talocrural (TC) joints. In addition, instantaneous joint powers are estimated to obtain insight into the propulsion-generating capacities of the internal foot joints. It is found that, next to a wide range of motion at the TC joint, substantial motion is observed at the TM and MP joint, underlining the importance of using a multi-segment foot model in primate gait analyses. More importantly, however, this study shows that although a compliant foot is less mechanically effective for push-off than a 'rigid' arched foot, it can contribute to the generation of propulsion in bipedal locomotion via stretch and recoil of the plantarflexor tendons and plantar ligaments.status: publishe

Evolution of the human hip. Part 2: muscling the double extension

Part 1 of this article outlined the extensive osseous adaptations around the hip that occurred in the development of a habitual bipedal gait in modern humans. The shortest summary of these osseous changes is 'double extension', i.e. extension of both the hip joint and the lumbar spine. Not surprisingly, these osseous changes went hand in hand with major muscular changes. The primary changes that accompanied the double extension were changes in relative muscle volume for the quadriceps, gluteus maximus and hamstrings, changes in moment arms for the iliopsoas, gluteus maximus and hamstrings, a change in function for the gluteus medius and minimus, while the functional anatomy of the adductors and hip rotators changed only slightly. The effect of these osseous and muscular changes was improved energy efficiency of human bipedal walking and (long distance) running. However, this occurred at the expense of maximum power, characteristic for activities such as tree climbing (in the apes), but equally so for sprinting. Recognizing these changes and their consequences may help us better understand and treat soft-tissue disorders around the hip.status: publishe