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Hippoboscid flies (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) are obligate bloodsucking ectoparasites of animals. In Europe, limited research has been conducted on this family until the recent introduction of the deer ked Lipoptena fortisetosa Maa, 1965. A new species of the genus Lipoptena, Lipoptena andaluciensis sp. nov., was found in southern Spain after extensive sampling with carbon-dioxide baited suction traps. A total of 52 females and 32 males were collected at 29 out of 476 sites examined over eight months in 2023. Lipoptena andaluciensis sp. nov. was characterized morphologically and molecularly. The new Lipoptena species can be differentiated from the closely related L. fortisetosa by size, chaetotaxy of the dorsal and ventral thorax, abdominal plates, and genitalia. Based on DNA-barcoding, our specimens showed the highest similarity with Melophagus ovinus (Linnaeus, 1758) (88.4 %) and with L. fortisetosa (86-88 %). Individual screening of Lipoptena specimens (n = 76) for seven important zoonotic pathogens such as bacteria (Anaplasmataceae family: Bartonella spp., Borrelia spp., Coxiella burnetii and Rickettsia spp.) and protozoans (Babesia spp. and Theileria spp.) by conventional PCR and RT-PCR was performed. DNA of C. burnetii was detected in one specimen, while two other specimens harboured Anaplasmataceae (Wolbachia spp., 100 % homology and another endosymbiont probably related to Arsenophonus sp., 95.3 % homology, respectively), all representing the first records of these bacteria in the Lipoptena spp. from Europe. Carbon dioxide traps probed its effectiveness as a reliable passive method for keds surveillance. Our study highlights the existence of a new Lipoptena species, presumably widely distributed in southern Spain. The role of this species in the transmission cycle of pathogens of medical-veterinary relevance needs to be considered in the area., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:Jordi Figuerola reports financial support was provided by LaCaixa Foundation. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper, (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Dwarf bamboo (Indocalamus decorus) is an O 3 -tolerant plant species. To identify the possible mechanism and response of leaf morphological, antioxidant, and anatomical characteristics to elevated atmospheric O 3 (EO 3 ) concentrations, we exposed three-year-old I. decorus seedlings to three O 3 levels (low O 3 -LO: ambient air; medium O 3 -MO: Ambient air+70 ppb high O 3 -HO: Ambient air+140 ppb O 3 ) over a growing season using open-top chambers. Leaf shape and stomatal characteristics, and leaf microscopic structure of I. decorus were examined. The results indicated that 1) the stomata O 3 flux (F st ) of HO decreased more rapidly under EO 3 as the exposure time increased. The foliar O 3 injury of HO and MO occurred when AOT40 was 26.62 ppm h and 33.20 ppm h, respectively, 2) under EO 3 , leaf number, leaf mass per area, leaf area, and stomata length/width all decreased, while leaf thickness, stomatal density, width, and area increased compared to the control, 3) MDA and total soluble protein contents all showed significantly increase under HO (36.57% and 32.77%) and MO(31.91% and 19.52%) while proline contents only increased under HO(33.27%). 4) MO and HO increased bulliform cells numbers in the leaves by 6.28% and 23.01%, respectively. HO reduced the transverse area of bulliform cells by 13.73%, while MO treatments had no effect, and 5) the number of fusoid cells interspace, the transverse area of fusoid cells interspace, and mesophyll thickness of HO significantly increased by 11.16%, 28.58%, and 13.42%, respectively. In conclusion, I. decorus exhibits strong O 3 tolerance characteristics, which stem from adaptions in the leaf's morphological, structural, antioxidant, and anatomical features. One critical attribute was the enlargement of the bulliform cell transverse area and the transverse area of fusoid cells interspace that drove this resistance to O 3 . Local bamboo species with high resistance to O 3 pollution thus need to be promoted for sustained productivity and ecosystem services in areas with high O 3 pollution., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: 2D/3D medical image registration is one of the key technologies for surgical navigation systems to perform pose estimation and achieve accurate positioning, which still remains challenging. The purpose of this study is to introduce a new method for X-ray to CT 2D/3D registration and conduct a feasibility study., Methods: In this study, a 2D/3D affine registration method based on feature point detection is investigated. It combines the morphological and edge features of spinal images to accurately extract feature points from the images, and uses graph neural networks to aggregate anatomical features of different points to increase the local detail information. Meanwhile, global and positional information are extracted by the Swin Transformer., Results: The results indicate that the proposed method has shown improvements in both accuracy and success ratio compared with other methods. The mean target registration error value reached up to 0.31 mm; meanwhile, the runtime overhead was much lower, achieving an average runtime of about 0.6 s. This ultimately improves the registration accuracy and efficiency, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method., Conclusions: The proposed method can provide more comprehensive image information and shows good prospects for pose estimation and achieving accurate positioning in surgical navigation systems., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Currently, significant progress has been made in predicting brain age from structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (sMRI) data using deep learning techniques. However, despite the valuable structural information they contain, the traditional engineering features known as anatomical features have been largely overlooked in this context. To address this issue, we propose an attention-based network design that integrates anatomical and deep convolutional features, leveraging an anatomical feature attention (AFA) module to effectively capture salient anatomical features. In addition, we introduce a fully convolutional network, which simplifies the extraction of deep convolutional features and overcomes the high computational memory requirements associated with deep learning. Our approach outperforms several widely-used models on eight publicly available datasets (n = 2501), with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 2.20 years in predicting brain age. Comparisons with deep learning models lacking the AFA module demonstrate that our fusion model effectively improves overall performance. These findings provide a promising approach for combining anatomical and deep convolutional features from sMRI data to predict brain age, with potential applications in clinical diagnosis and treatment, particularly for populations with age-related cognitive decline or neurological disorders., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper, and the manuscript is approved by all authors for publication., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Objective: Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a difficult disease to deal with because there are neither reliable clinical signs, laboratory biomarkers, nor a single noninvasive imaging technique that can be used for early diagnosis and disease activity monitoring. Knowledge of aortic hemodynamics in TA is lacking. This study aimed to fill this gap by assessing hemodynamics in patients with TA using image-based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations., Methods: Eleven patients with TA were included in the present study. Patient-specific geometries were reconstructed from either clinical aortic computed tomography angiography or magnetic resonance angiography studies and coupled with physiological boundary conditions for CFD simulations. Key anatomical and hemodynamic parameters were compared with a control group consisting of 18 age- and sex-matched adults without TA who had healthy aortas., Results: Compared with controls, patients with TA had significantly higher aortic velocities (0.9 m/s [0.7, 1.1 m/s] vs 0.6 m/s [0.5, 0.7 m/s]; P  = .002), maximum time-averaged wall shear stress (14.2 Pa [9.8, 20.9 Pa] vs 8.0 Pa [6.2, 10.3 Pa]; P  = .004), and maximum pressure drops between the ascending and descending aorta (36.9 mm Hg [29.0, 49.3 mm Hg] vs 28.5 mm Hg [25.8, 31.5 mm Hg]; P  = .004). These significant hemodynamic alterations in patients with TA might result from abnormal anatomical features including smaller arch diameter (20.0 mm [13.8, 23.3 mm] vs 25.2 mm [23.3, 26.8 mm]; P  = .003), supra-aortic branch diameters (21.9 mm [18.5, 24.6 mm] vs 25.7 mm [24.3, 28.3 mm]; P  = .003) and descending aorta diameter (14.7 mm [12.2, 16.8 mm] vs 22.5 mm [19.8, 24.0 mm]; P  < .001)., Conclusions: CFD analysis reveals hemodynamic changes in the aorta of patients with TA. The applicability of CFD technique coupled with standard imaging assessments in predicting disease progression of such patients will be explored in future studies. Future large cohort study with outcome correlation is also warranted., Clinical Relevance: Based on patient-specific computational fluid dynamics simulations, the present retrospective study revealed significant difference in aortic hemodynamics between the patients with and without Takayasu arteritis (TA). To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to evaluate hemodynamic conditions within TA, demonstrating the potential of computational flow modeling in capturing abnormal hemodynamic forces, such as high wall shear stress, resulted from irregular morphological changes. In the future, assessing the hemodynamic parameters within patients with TA during the prestenotic period, together with longitudinal computational fluid dynamics studies may allow better monitoring and management of TA., Competing Interests: None., (Crown Copyright © 2023 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the Society for Vascular Surgery.)

Background: Cervical cancer (CC) is the second most common cancer in women worldwide. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) plays an important role in the diagnosis of CC, but the conventional techniques are affected by many factors., Purpose: To compare reduced-field-of-view (r-FOV) and full-field-of-view (f-FOV) DWI in the diagnosis of CC., Material and Methods: Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with r-FOV and f-FOV DWI images were collected. Two radiologists reviewed the images using a subjective 4-point scale for anatomical features, magnetic susceptibility artifacts, visual distortion, and overall diagnostic confidence for r-FOV and f-FOV DWI. The objective features included the region of interest (ROI) signal intensity of the cervical lesion (SI lesion ) and gluteus maximus muscle (SI gluteus ), standard deviation of the background noise (SD background ), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). The differences of measured apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values between the two examinations in pathological grades and FIGO tumor stages were compared., Results: A total of 200 patients were included (170 with squamous cell carcinoma and 30 with adenocarcinoma). The scores of anatomical features, magnetic susceptibility artifacts, visual distortion, and overall diagnostic confidence for r-FOV DWI were significantly higher than those for f-FOV DWI. There was no difference in SNR and CNR between r-FOV DWI and f-FOV DWI. There were significant differences in ADC values between the two groups in all comparisons ( P  < 0.05)., Conclusion: Compared with f-FOV DWI, r-FOV DWI might provide clearer imaging, fewer artifacts, less distortion, and higher image quality for the diagnosis of CC and might assist in the detection of CC.

Saponaria sicula Raf. grows in Sicily, Sardinia, and Algeria on limestone cliffs and volcanic sands 1300-2500 m above sea level. The aim of the present study was to investigate how the pedo-climatic conditions influence the micromorphological, phytochemical, and biological properties of Sicilian S. sicula leaves collected in the Madonie Mountains (SsM) and on Etna Mt (SsE). Micromorphological investigations revealed that leaves from SsM had a higher amount of calcium oxalate druses in the mesophyll and a more intense blue-green staining with Toluidine blue O, indicating a higher content of polyphenols. These data were confirmed by phytochemical analyses carried out on hydroalcoholic extracts, which showed a higher content of total phenols (8.56 ± 0.57 g GAE/100 g DE) and flavonoids (6.09 ± 0.17 g RE/100 g DE) in SsM. Sixty-four compounds were identified by LC-DAD-ESI-MS analysis with propelargonidin dimer as the most abundant compound (10.49% and 10.19% in SsM and SsE, respectively). The higher polyphenol content of SsM leaves matches also with their biological activity, identifying SsM extract as the strongest plant complex (IC 50 2.75-477.30 µg/mL). In conclusion, the present study experimentally demonstrates that not only climatic differences but also soil characteristics affect the micromorphological, phytochemical, and biological features of this plant species.

Background: Migraine is more common in Meniere's disease patients, who have some certain anatomical variations. But there are limited studies focusing on the anatomical variations in patients with Meniere's disease and migraine., Objective: To explore the clinical and anatomical features in Meniere's disease patients with and without migraine, determining whether the coexistence of migraine can be used as a basis for clinical subtyping of Meniere's disease., Methods: Ninety-five Meniere's disease patients and ninety-five healthy subjects matched with age, sex were selected. A detailed questionnaire based on the diagnosis criteria of Meniere's disease and migraine was designed. According to the CT scan, we divided the mastoid cell system of all the subjects into two types: well-pneumatization type and poor-pneumatization type. Meanwhile, the shortest distance between the sigmoid sinus and the posterior wall of the external acoustic canal was measured., Results: Compared with those without migraine, Meniere's disease patients with migraine had a higher female comorbidity, poorer mastoid pneumatization, shorter distance between the sigmoid sinus and posterior wall of the external acoustic canal, longer history, higher frequency of vertigo attacks and better average hearing threshold., Conclusions: In our study, anatomical features as well as several clinical manifestations were proved to differ significantly between Meniere's disease patients with and without migraine, indicating the coexistence of migraine may be one standard for the clinical subtyping of Meniere's disease.

Background: Thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs) are one of the most complex aortic aneurysms to treat. Traditional open surgery for TAAAs is highly invasive and total endovascular treatment still has many limitations. Hybrid surgery offers a viable option for TAAA patients, but currently it often alters the original hemodynamics. Therefore, we have developed and applied a hybrid surgery protocol for anatomically suitable TAAA patients. Here we analyzed the short-term outcomes of these patients and evaluated the effectiveness and safety of this procedure., Methods: A new method was used to perform the required artificial revascularization of the abdominal aorta and its branches. A new visceral debranching and reconstruction approach was used to complete an anatomy-conforming open surgery. Finally, a new vascular access was used for the endovascular operation to complete the implantation of stent-grafts. The clinical data of 10 patients with TAAAs treated at our center with the anatomy-conforming hybrid technique during the period from May 2018 to June 2020 was retrospectively analyzed. The intraoperative and 30-day postoperative key indicators, including survival rates and complications, were analyzed., Results: The hybrid surgery was smoothly performed in all 10 patients. One patient died from non-aortic causes (sepsis/infectious toxic shock) 30 days after surgery, yielding a case-fatality rate of 10.0% (1/10). Two patients (2/10) experienced serious complications within 30 days postoperatively, including multi-organ failure due to infection in one patient and lower limb ischemia in another patient who went on to develop permanent paraplegia. No endoleak after stent implantation was noted and the blood supply of each reconstructed visceral artery was good., Conclusions: Based on the short-term outcomes, the anatomy-conforming hybrid surgical protocol is safe and effective in treating TAAA patients.

Background and Aims: Root sprouting (RS), i.e. the ability to form adventitious buds on roots, is an important form of clonal growth in a number of species, and serves as both a survival strategy and a means of spatial expansion, particularly in plants growing in severely and recurrently disturbed habitats. Occurrence and/or success of plants in severely and recurrently disturbed habitats are determined by two components, namely the ability to produce adventitious buds on roots and the vigour of their production. As mechanisms behind different magnitudes of RS remain unclear, our study investigates: (1) whether the presence or absence of specific tissues in roots can promote or limit RS; and (2) whether there is some relationship between RS ability, RS vigour and species niche., Methods: We studied RS ability together with RS vigour in 182 Central European herbaceous species under controlled experimental conditions. We used phylogenetic logistic regressions to model the presence of RS, RS vigour, the relationship between RS and anatomical traits and the relationship between RS and parameters of species niches., Key Results: A quarter of herbs examined were able to produce adventitious buds on roots. They were characterized by their preference for open dry habitats, the presence of secondary root thickening and the occurrence of sclerified cortical cells in roots. Root sprouting vigour was not associated with any specific anatomical pattern, but was correlated with the environmental niches of different species, indicating that preferred disturbed and dry habitats might represent a selection pressure for more vigorous root sprouters than undisturbed and wet habitats., Conclusions: Our study shows that sprouting from roots is quite common in temperate dicotyledonous herbs. Two components of RS - ability and vigour - should be considered separately in future studies. We would also like to focus more attention on RS in herbs from other regions as well as on external forces and internal mechanisms regulating evolution and the functions of RS in both disturbed and undisturbed habitats., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: Since its inception, the erector spinae plane block has been used for a variety of truncal surgeries with success in both adults and children. However, the anatomical features, route of spread, and dermatomal coverage are still not fully understood in a pediatric population., Objectives: To identify the anatomical features of the erector spinae fascial plane space by replicating an erector spinae plane block in a fresh neonatal cadaveric sample. The primary aim was to determine the spread of the dye within the fascial plane, while the secondary aims were to determine whether the needle direction or entry site affected the spread., Methods: The block was replicated bilaterally using 0.1 mL/kg of iodinated contrast dye in nine fresh unembalmed preterm neonatal cadavers. The dye was introduced under ultrasound guidance at vertebral level T5 and T8. Additionally, the needle was oriented cranial-caudal vs caudal-cranial to determine if the needle orientation influenced the spread of dye. The block was also replicated midway between the adjacent transverse processes as opposed to the lateral tip of the transverse process to determine the spread., Results: From the total sample size, 14 "blocks" were successfully replicated, while 4 "blocks" were either incomplete or failed blocks. Contrast dye was found in the paravertebral, intercostal, and epidural spaces, including posteriorly over the neural foramina. Results revealed that the needle direction or entry site did not influence the spread within the fascial plane., Conclusion: Contrast material was found in the paravertebral, epidural, and intercostal spaces over an average of 5 vertebral levels when using 0.1 mL/kg., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The goal of this study was to develop a semi-automated prediction approach of target shifts using machine learning architecture (MLA) with anatomical features for prostate radiotherapy. Our hypothesis was that anatomical features between planning computed tomography (pCT) and pretreatment cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images could be used to predict the target, i.e. clinical target volume (CTV) shifts, with small errors. The pCT and daily CBCT images of 20 patients with prostate cancer were selected. The first 10 patients were employed for the development, and the second 10 patients for a validation test. The CTV position errors between the pCT and CBCT images were determined as reference CTV shifts (teacher data) after an automated bone-based registration. The anatomical features associated with rectum, bladder and prostate were calculated from the pCT and CBCT images. The features were fed as the input with the teacher data into five MLAs, i.e. three types of artificial neural networks, support vector regression (SVR) and random forests. Since the CTV shifts along the left-right direction were negligible, the MLAs were developed along the superior-inferior and anterior-posterior directions. The proposed framework was evaluated from the residual errors between the reference and predicted CTV shifts. In the validation test, the mean residual error with its standard deviation was 1.01 ± 1.09 mm in SVR using only one feature (one click), which was associated with positional difference of the upper rectal wall. The results suggested that MLAs with anatomical features could be useful in prediction of CTV shifts for prostate radiotherapy., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Japanese Radiation Research Society and Japanese Society for Radiation Oncology.)

Background: Despite increasing clinical data suggest that internal mammary node (IMN) irradiation would improve local-regional control and overall survival in breast cancer, its role remains controversial due to increased risk of cardiac and pulmonary toxicity. The current study aims to determine the high risk areas of IMN metastases by collecting and analyzing the axial imaging of IMN involvement, in order to optimize IMN delineation for breast cancer., Methods: Breast cancer patients with IMN involvement were retrospectively identified from single-center database. All available imaging modalities including thoracic CT, breast MRI, ultrasound and PET/CT were used to diagnose IMN metastases. Anatomical characteristics from axial imaging, including distribution of involved ribs and distance from the internal mammary vessels (IMV), were collected for each metastatic IMN. What's more,the natural infiltration tendency of IMNs from IMV was calculated in this study., Results: In total, 83 metastatic IMNs from 70 breast cancer patients (initial diagnosed:34 and recurrence: 36) were located from axial CT image in this study. The second intercostal space was the most likely involved in patients with single(n = 35, 53.0%) and multiple intercostal space (n = 31, 47.0%) involvement. The percentage of including IMN with a 5 mm, 6 mm and 7 mm medial/lateral distance to the IMV were 75.9% (63/83), 89.2.6% (74/83) and 92.3% (77/83) respectively. While in maximal dorsal/ventral distance, nearly 95% of the nodes were encompassed into 6 mm depth to the IMV. Over 65% of IMN adenopathy (32/49,65.3%) were found to have a growth direction close to the sternum. By retrospective reviewing diagnostic reports, MRI demonstrated a high diagnostic performance in diagnosis of IMN disease (90.3%, 28/31), while CT had a higher misdiagnosis rate (22/63, 34.9%). The diagnostic efficiency of IMN could be improved if different methods were combined., Conclusions: For patients with indications of prophylactic IMN irradiation, a 7 mm medial and 6 mm dorsal distance to the IMV on axial CT would be optimal to cover the clinical volume of IMN; and it would be reasonable to extend clinical tumor volume (CTV) coverage towards sternum for patients with evident IMN disease. Multi-imaging modalities are recommended to improve the diagnostic specificity and sensitivity of IMN metastases.

Introduction: The medial tibial stress syndrome is one of the most common causes of running-related injuries. The primary study objective was to observe the attachment proportion of flexor digitorum longus and soleus, at the most common location of medial tibial stress syndrome, using ultrasonography, on a large cohort of young males and females to evaluate for gender-based anatomical differences. The secondary objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the anatomical features and medial tibial stress syndrome., Methods: In this study, we observed whether or not flexor digitorum longus and/or soleus attached at the middle and distal thirds of the medial margin of the tibia (most common location of medial tibial stress syndrome) using ultrasonography. History of medial tibial stress syndrome was defined by inquiries., Results: The Chi 2 tests showed that the attachment proportion of the soleus in female participants was significantly higher than that observed in male participants. In addition, Chi 2 testing showed that there were no significant differences between attachment proportion of soleus of legs with history of medial tibial stress syndrome and legs without history of medial tibial stress syndrome, in both male and female participants., Conclusions: These results suggested that the anatomical features of flexor digitorum longus might be involved in medial tibial stress syndrome development, whereas the anatomical features of the soleus might not be involved in medial tibial stress syndrome development., Level of Evidence: III, cross-sectional study., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Background: To investigate the anatomical features related to the failure of cryoballoon (CB) ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) on pre-procedural CT images., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed CT images of 100 patients with AF who had undergone a first CB ablation at our institution between June 2016 and April 2017. We measured the angle, short- and long axis length, and the area and ovality of 4 major pulmonary vein (PV) ostium on CT images. We performed logistic regression analysis to analyze the anatomical features related to the failure (incomplete CB ablation) of PV isolation. We also performed a receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis to identify an appropriate cut-off value for anatomical features significantly associated with incomplete CB ablation., Results: We analyzed 400 PVs in 100 patients [aged 64 (range, 27-82) years, 59% male]. The rate of incomplete CB ablation was significantly higher for right-than left-sided PVs (p < 0.001). The anatomical feature significantly associated with incomplete CB ablation was the angle at the right inferior PV (RIPV) (AOR: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.09-1.27, p < 0.001) and the right superior PV (RSPV) (AOR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.01-1.23; p = 0.014). In the ROC analysis, the optimal cut-off value for RIPV and RSPV angle to discriminate an incomplete CB ablation were 40.1° and 79.7°, respectively., Conclusion: Our findings may help to select the appropriate ablation strategy to treat patients with AF. We show that the angle is an anatomical feature significantly related to failed CB ablation., (Copyright © 2019 Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The clinical presentation and diagnostic workup in pediatric cervical spine injuries (CSI) are different from adults owing to the unique anatomy and relative immaturity. The current article reviews the existing literature regarding the uniqueness of these injuries and discusses the current guidelines of radiological evaluation. A PubMed search was conducted using keywords "paediatric cervical spine injuries" or "paediatric cervical spine trauma." Six hundred and ninety two articles were available in total. Three hundred and forty three articles were considered for the review after eliminating unrelated and duplicate articles. Further screening was performed and 67 articles (original articles and review articles only) related to pediatric CSI were finally included. All articles were reviewed for details regarding epidemiology, injury patterns, anatomic considerations, clinical, and radiological evaluation protocols. CSIs are the most common level (60%-80%) for pediatric Spinal Injuries (SI). Children suffer from atlantoaxial injuries 2.5 times more often than adults. Children's unique anatomical features (large head size and highly flexible spine) predispose them to such a peculiar presentation. The role of National Emergency X-Ray Utilization Study, United State (NEXUS) and Canadian Cervical Spine Rule criteria in excluding pediatric cervical injury is questionable but cannot be ruled out completely. The minimum radiological examination includes 2- or 3-view cervical X-rays (anteroposterior, lateral ± open-mouth odontoid views). Additional radiological evaluations, including computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are obtained in situations of abnormal physical examination, abnormal X-rays, inability to obtain adequate X-rays, or to assess cord/soft-tissue status. The clinical criteria for cervical spine injury clearance can generally be applied to children older than 2 years of age. Nevertheless, adequate caution should be exercised before applying these rules in younger children. Initial radiographic investigation should be always adequate plain radiographs of cervical spine. CT and MRI scans should only be performed in an appropriate group of pediatric patients., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest.

To estimate the lung tumor position from multiple anatomical features on four-dimensional computed tomography (4D-CT) data sets using single regression analysis (SRA) and multiple regression analysis (MRA) approach and evaluate an impact of the approach on internal target volume (ITV) for stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) of the lung. Eleven consecutive lung cancer patients (12 cases) underwent 4D-CT scanning. The three-dimensional (3D) lung tumor motion exceeded 5 mm. The 3D tumor position and anatomical features, including lung volume, diaphragm, abdominal wall, and chest wall positions, were measured on 4D-CT images. The tumor position was estimated by SRA using each anatomical feature and MRA using all anatomical features. The difference between the actual and estimated tumor positions was defined as the root-mean-square error (RMSE). A standard partial regression coefficient for the MRA was evaluated. The 3D lung tumor position showed a high correlation with the lung volume (R = 0.92 ± 0.10). Additionally, ITVs derived from SRA and MRA approaches were compared with ITV derived from contouring gross tumor volumes on all 10 phases of the 4D-CT (conventional ITV). The RMSE of the SRA was within 3.7 mm in all directions. Also, the RMSE of the MRA was within 1.6 mm in all directions. The standard partial regression coefficient for the lung volume was the largest and had the most influence on the estimated tumor position. Compared with conventional ITV, average percentage decrease of ITV were 31.9% and 38.3% using SRA and MRA approaches, respectively. The estimation accuracy of lung tumor position was improved by the MRA approach, which provided smaller ITV than conventional ITV., (© 2017 The Authors. Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Association of Physicists in Medicine.)

Salinity, one of the major environmental constraints, threatens soil health and consequently agricultural productivity worldwide. Acacia auriculiformis , being a halophyte, offers diverse benefits against soil salinity; however, the defense mechanisms underlying salt-tolerant capacity in A. auriculiformis are still elusive. In this study, we aimed to elucidate mechanisms regulating the adaptability of the multi-purpose perennial species A. auriculiformis to salt stress. The growth, ion homeostasis, osmoprotection, tissue tolerance and Na + exclusion, and anatomical adjustments of A. auriculiformis grown in varied doses of seawater for 90 and 150 days were assessed. Results showed that diluted seawater caused notable reductions in the level of growth-related parameters, relative water content, stomatal conductance, photosynthetic pigments, proteins, and carbohydrates in dose- and time-dependent manners. However, the percent reduction of these parameters did not exceed 50% of those of control plants. Na + contents in phyllodes and roots increased with increasing levels of salinity, whereas K + contents and K + /Na + ratio decreased significantly in comparison with control plants. A. auriculiformis retained more Na + in the roots and maintained higher levels of K + , Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ , and K + /Na + ratio in phyllodes than roots through ion selective capacity. The contents of proline, total free amino acids, total sugars and reducing sugars significantly accumulated together with the levels of malondialdehyde and electrolyte leakage in the phyllodes, particularly at day 150 th of salt treatment. Anatomical investigations revealed various anatomical changes in the tissues of phyllodes, stems and roots by salt stress, such as increase in the size of spongy parenchyma of phyllodes, endodermal thickness of stems and roots, and the diameter of root vascular bundle, relative to control counterparts. Furthermore, the estimated values for Na + exclusion and tissue tolerance index suggested that A. auriculiformis efficiently adopted these two mechanisms to address higher salinity levels. Our results conclude that the adaptability of A. auriculiformis to salinity is closely associated with ion selectivity, increased accumulation of osmoprotectants, efficient Na + retention in roots, anatomical adjustments, Na + exclusion and tissue tolerance mechanisms.

Purpose: Anatomical landmarks and bony features are frequently used in biomechanical and surgical applications. The purpose of this study was to develop a local region matching-based anatomical landmark prediction method., Methods: A reference femur model with anatomical landmarks and a surface division map was prepared. Initial registration between the reference femur model and a target femur model was performed in three-dimensional Cartesian space, and closest point pairs were determined by the initial surface correspondence. The models were mapped to unit spheres through spherical parameterization. Spherical registration using the closest point pairs in the spherical parametric space enabled the application of a division map from the reference model to the target model. The reference and target models were divided into local regions defined in the division map, and the corresponding regions were again registered in Cartesian space. Anatomical landmarks in the local regions were identified in the target model., Results: The accuracy of the proposed method was tested for anatomical landmarks marked by a clinician on 35 femoral models. The effectiveness of local region matching was demonstrated by automatic measurements of the femoral neck-shaft angle. The average prediction error for all eight anatomical landmarks of the femur was 2.74 (±1.78) mm. The average of the predicted neck-shaft angle for our Korean subjects was 126.41° (±4.92°), which was comparable to previous studies in Japanese and Chinese populations., Conclusion: Anatomical landmarks and features could be accurately predicted using the proposed local region matching method. This method offers robustness and accuracy in determining anatomical bony landmarks and bone morphology for clinical and biomechanical applications.

Respiratory motion models have been proposed for the estimation and compensation of respiratory motion during image acquisition and image-guided interventions on organs in the chest and abdomen. However, such techniques are not commonly used in the clinic. Subject-specific motion models require a dynamic calibration scan that interrupts the clinical workflow and is often impractical to acquire, while population-based motion models are not as accurate as subject-specific motion models. To address this lack of accuracy, we propose a novel personalisation framework for population-based respiratory motion models and demonstrate its application to respiratory motion of the heart. The proposed method selects a subset of the population sample which is more likely to represent the cardiac respiratory motion of an unseen subject, thus providing a more accurate motion model. The selection is based only on anatomical features of the heart extracted from a static image. The features used are learnt using a neighbourhood approximation technique from a set of training datasets for which respiratory motion estimates are available. Results on a population sample of 28 adult healthy volunteers show average improvements in estimation accuracy of 20% compared to a standard population-based motion model, with an average value for the 50th and 95th quantiles of the estimation error of 1.6mm and 4.7 mm respectively. Furthermore, the anatomical features of the heart most strongly correlated to respiratory motion are investigated for the first time, showing the features on the apex in proximity to the diaphragm and the rib cage, on the left ventricle and interventricular septum to be good predictors of the similarity in cardiac respiratory motion., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The effect of different concentrations of NaCl, 0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 mM, on the anatomical features and physiology of Myoporum bontioides was investigated. The photosynthetic rates (Pn) were significantly reduced by salt stress, with the lowest values at 400 mM NaCl. The content of malondialdehyde (MDA), proline and soluble sugar, as well as the activities of peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) increased at the beginning, but became similar to the control as the experiment proceeded. The NaCl effect on superoxide dismutase (SOD) was different from the other parameters, with a significant reduction at 400 mM NaCl at Day 7. Salt glands were found in both upper and lower epidermis, and the ratios of the thickness of palisade to spongy mesophyll tissues increased with NaCl concentrations. The medullary ray was clearly damaged by NaCl at levels of 200 and 300 mM. These results demonstrated that M. bontioides could adapt to a relatively low salinity, and was not a halophilous species., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Decline and disappearance of a natural population of the grasshopper Hesperotettix viridis pratensis was related to severe infection by Mermis nigrescens. In contrast the numbers of slightly infected Melanoplus bivittatus did not decrease. Uninfected M. sanguinipes, M. differentialis and M. fernur-rubrum also did not decrease. The high percentage of infection in H. viridis pratensis was related to low, wet habitat, where the grasshopper fed primarily on Solidago missouriensis; infected individuals failed to develop ovaries or mature testes. This is believed to be the first reported occurrence of a nematode parasitizing H. viridis pratensis. In juvenile M. nigrescens the unreported shape of the stoma, the stylet shape and paired oval structures in the cerebral region were photographed. Factors affecting biological control of grasshoppers by using M. nigrescens were discussed.