Differences in Angular Photogrammetric Soft-Tissue Facial Characteristics among Parents and Their Offspring.

Background and objectives: The objective of this study was to determine if the angular photogrammetric analysis of soft-tissue characteristics can determine similarities between parents and their offspring in the Serbian population. Materials and Methods: A total of 15 families (52 participants) met the participation criteria of this study and their facial profile images were analyzed using the ImageJ software. Subjects were divided into groups of mothers and fathers and four groups of children (divided according to their age and gender). In total, twelve angular measurements were made on the standardized digital images of the profiles of the participants and the obtained data were compared using one-way ANOVA. Results: The obtained results showed that there were statistically significant differences in the values of the nasal and cervicomental angles, as well as the angle of the total facial convexity, between the group of fathers, on one side, and groups of male/female children, on the other. Conclusions: This work represents the first photogrammetric analysis of facial soft-tissue characteristics of children and adults in the Serbian population. The data suggest that there are much more similarities between the facial soft-tissue angles of fathers and their male offspring. Furthermore, mothers tend to have statistically insignificant differences in angle sizes, compared to both male and female offspring.

Similarities and dissimilarities of the blood supplies of the human sciatic, tibial, and common peroneal nerves.

The aim was to investigate the arterial supply of the sciatic, tibial, and common peroneal nerves. Thirty-six lower limbs of 18 human fetuses were studied. The fetuses had been fixed in buffered formalin and the blood vessels injected with barium sulfate. Fetal age ranged from 12 to 28 weeks of gestation. Microdissection of the fetal lower extremities was done under ×5 magnifying lenses. The sciatic nerves of 10 lower extremities were dissected and excised and radiographs taken. The extraneural arterial chain of the sciatic nerve was composed of 2-6 arterial branches of the inferior gluteal artery, the medial circumflex femoral artery, the perforating arteries, and the popliteal artery. The extraneural arterial chain of tibial nerve was composed of 2-5 arteries, which were branches of the popliteal, the peroneal, and the posterior tibial arteries. Radiographs showed the presence of complete intraneural arterial chains in the sciatic and tibial nerves, formed from anastomosing vessels. Dissection showed that, in 97.2% of the specimens, the common peroneal nerve was supplied only by one popliteal artery branch, the presence of which was confirmed radiologically. The sciatic and tibial nerves are supplied by numerous arterial branches of different origins, which provide for collateral circulation. In contrast, the common peroneal nerve is most frequently supplied only by one elongated longitudinal blood vessel, a branch of the popliteal artery. Such a vascular arrangement may make the common peroneal nerve less resistant to stretching and compression.

Morphometric analysis of nonsclerosed Glomeruli size and connective tissue content during the aging process.

Number of sclerotic glomeruli increases during the aging process. Consequently, majority of remained nonsclerosed glomeruli become hypertrophic and some of them sclerotic, too. The aim of this study was to quantify the size and connective tissue content of nonsclerosed glomeruli and to evaluate the percentage of hypertrophic ones in examined human cases during the aging. Material was right kidney's tissue of 30 cadavers obtained during routine autopsies. Cadavers were without previously diagnosed kidney disease, diabetes, hypertension, or any other systemic disease. Tissue specimens were routinely prepared for histological and morphometric analysis. Images of the histological slices were analyzed and captured under 400x magnification with digital camera. Further they were morphometrically and statistically analyzed with ImageJ and NCSS-PASS software. Multiple and linear regression of obtained morphometric parameters showed significant increase of glomerular connective tissue area and percentage. Cluster analysis showed the presence of two types of glomeruli. Second type was characterized with significantly larger size, connective tissue content, and significantly lower cellularity, in relation to the first type. Such glomeruli might be considered as hypertrophic. First type of glomeruli was predominant in younger cases, while second type of glomeruli was predominant in cases older than 55 years.

Normal subtypes of the posterior part of the cerebral arterial circle in human fetuses.

BACKGROUND: Although centuries of the human CAC research are behind us, still there is a stimulus for the authors to describe something new or to add to the "archive" of already known facts about its angioarchitecture. METHODS: With normal configurations of the posterior part of the CAC in early prenatal status, 172 brains of human fetuses from the 13th to the 24th week were used in the purpose of investigation. Brain arteries were injected and microdissected using a surgical microscope. RESULTS: According to diameter values of vascular components in the posterior part of the CAC, 6 basic types and the corresponding number of their subtypes are formed. Incidences of bilateral transitory (18.6%), fetal (9.3%), and adult (33.1%) types, as well bilateral asymmetric types (fetal-transitory in 5.8%, adult-transitory in 14.5%, and adult-fetal in 18.6% of cases), proved that dominant configuration of posterior part had not been present in the period from the fourth to the sixth gestational month. CONCLUSION: The finding of normal subtypes of the posterior part of the CAC, as well as the absence of some subtypes, is a challenge for future studies of the posterior arterial pattern within vascular abnormalities or diseases.

Extraneural arterial blood vessels of human fetal sciatic nerve.

Nerves get segmental blood supply either from the neighboring muscular and cutaneous branches or from the regional main arterial trunks. The aim of our research was to detect, in the gluteal and posterior femoral region, the blood vessels which are involved in the blood supply of the human fetal sciatic nerve, as well as to establish their origin. Micro-dissection was performed on 48 fetal lower extremities which were previously fixed in 10% formalin. Micropaque solution (barium sulfate) was injected into their blood vessels. The fetal gestational age was established by measuring the crump-crown length and it ranged from the third to the ninth lunar month. The observed nutritional arteries of the human sciatic nerve originated from the inferior gluteal artery, medial circumflex femoral artery, perforating branches, and popliteal artery. The anastomotic arterial chain of the human sciatic nerve was observed in all cases. In 75% of the cases it was composed of the branches of the inferior gluteal artery, the medial circumflex femoral artery and the first two perforating arteries. The nutrient branch of the third perforating branch was less frequently (in 14.5% of the cases) part of this anastomotic arterial chain.

The posterior part of the human cerebral arterial circle (CAC): arterial caliber from gestational weeks 13 to 24.

Numerous studies have reported that all components of the cerebral arterial circle in the 4-month-old human fetus are more slender than adult vessels, and of equal caliber. After that period, a degree of caliber differentiation is present, especially at the level of the posterior communicating arteries. The aim of this study was to determine arterial diameters in the posterior part of the fetal cerebral arterial circle from the 4th month (IV) to the 6th (VI). One hundred and seventy-two fetal cerebral arterial circles were examined by means of a surgical microscope. It was determined that average diameters of the left (right) pre-communicating parts of the posterior cerebral artery ranged from 0.30 +/- 0.03 (0.29 +/- 0.02) mm in month IV, to 0.36 +/- 0.04 (0.36 +/- 0.03) mm during month V and up to 0.55 +/- 0.22 (0.50 +/- 0.18) mm in month VI. The average diameters of the left (right) posterior communicating artery ranged from 0.24 +/- 0.02 mm (0.25 +/- 0.02) in month IV, to 0.30 +/- 0.03 mm (0.29 +/- 0.05) during month V and up to 0.38 +/- 0.08 (0.44 +/- 0.10) in month VI. Gender differences between posterior cerebral artery and posterior communicating artery diameters were not significant. Average posterior cerebral artery diameters were significantly larger than posterior communicating artery diameters in months IV and V, but not in month VI. It was established that caliber differentiation in the posterior part of the cerebral arterial circle began from gestational month IV, and that gender differences in arterial diameters were not significant until month VI of gestation.