Universal and cultural factors shape body part vocabularies.

Every human has a body. Yet, languages differ in how they divide the body into parts to name them. While universal naming strategies exist, there is also variation in the vocabularies of body parts across languages. In this study, we investigate the similarities and differences in naming two separate body parts with one word, i.e., colexifications. We use a computational approach to create networks of body part vocabularies across languages. The analyses focus on body part networks in large language families, on perceptual features that lead to colexifications of body parts, and on a comparison of network structures in different semantic domains. Our results show that adjacent body parts are colexified frequently. However, preferences for perceptual features such as shape and function lead to variations in body part vocabularies. In addition, body part colexification networks are less varied across language families than networks in the semantic domains of emotion and colour. The study presents the first large-scale comparison of body part vocabularies in 1,028 language varieties and provides important insights into the variability of a universal human domain.

Robustly and Intrinsically Stretchable Ionic Gel-Based Moisture-Enabled Power Generator with High Human Body Conformality.

Direct harvesting of energy from moist air will be a promising route to supply electricity for booming wearable and distributed electronics, with the recent rapid development of the moisture-enabled electricity generator (MEG). However, the easy spatial distortion of rigid MEG materials under severe deformation extremely inconveniences the human body with intense physical activity, seriously hindering the desirable applications. Here, an intrinsically stretchable moisture-enabled electricity generator (s-MEG) is developed based on a well-fabricated stretchable functional ionic gel (SIG) with a flexible double-network structure and reversible cross-linking interactions, demonstrating stable electricity output performance even when stretched up to 150% strain and high human body conformality. This SIG exhibits ultrahigh tensile strain (∼600%), and a 1 cm × 1 cm SIG film-based s-MEG can generate a voltage of ∼0.4 V and a current of ∼5.7 µA when absorbing water from humidity air. Based on the strong adhesion and the excellent interface combination of SIG and rough fabric electrodes induced by the fabrication process, s-MEG is able to realize bending or twisting deformation and shows outstanding electricity output stability with ∼90% performance retention after 5000 cycles of bending tests. By connecting s-MEG units in series or parallel, an integrated device of "moisture-powered wristband" is developed to wear on the wrist of humans and drive a flexible sensor for tracking finger motions. Additionally, a comfortable "moisture-powered sheath" based on s-MEGs is created, which can be worn like clothing on human arms to generate energy while walking and flexing the elbow, which is promising in the field of wearable electronics.

Cross-Modal Supervised Human Body Pose Recognition Techniques for Through-Wall Radar.

Through-wall radar human body pose recognition technology has broad applications in both military and civilian sectors. Identifying the current pose of targets behind walls and predicting subsequent pose changes are significant challenges. Conventional methods typically utilize radar information along with machine learning algorithms such as SVM and random forests to aid in recognition. However, these approaches have limitations, particularly in complex scenarios. In response to this challenge, this paper proposes a cross-modal supervised through-wall radar human body pose recognition method. By integrating information from both cameras and radar, a cross-modal dataset was constructed, and a corresponding deep learning network architecture was designed. During training, the network effectively learned the pose features of targets obscured by walls, enabling accurate pose recognition (e.g., standing, crouching) in scenarios with unknown wall obstructions. The experimental results demonstrated the superiority of the proposed method over traditional approaches, offering an effective and innovative solution for practical through-wall radar applications. The contribution of this study lies in the integration of deep learning with cross-modal supervision, providing new perspectives for enhancing the robustness and accuracy of target pose recognition.

Health Effects of Ionizing Radiation on the Human Body.

Radioactivity is a process in which the nuclei of unstable atoms spontaneously decay, producing other nuclei and releasing energy in the form of ionizing radiation in the form of alpha (α) and beta (ß) particles as well as the emission of gamma (γ) electromagnetic waves. People may be exposed to radiation in various forms, as casualties of nuclear accidents, workers in power plants, or while working and using different radiation sources in medicine and health care. Acute radiation syndrome (ARS) occurs in subjects exposed to a very high dose of radiation in a very short period of time. Each form of radiation has a unique pathophysiological effect. Unfortunately, higher organisms-human beings-in the course of evolution have not acquired receptors for the direct "capture" of radiation energy, which is transferred at the level of DNA, cells, tissues, and organs. Radiation in biological systems depends on the amount of absorbed energy and its spatial distribution, particularly depending on the linear energy transfer (LET). Photon radiation with low LET leads to homogeneous energy deposition in the entire tissue volume. On the other hand, radiation with a high LET produces a fast Bragg peak, which generates a low input dose, whereby the penetration depth into the tissue increases with the radiation energy. The consequences are mutations, apoptosis, the development of cancer, and cell death. The most sensitive cells are those that divide intensively-bone marrow cells, digestive tract cells, reproductive cells, and skin cells. The health care system and the public should raise awareness of the consequences of ionizing radiation. Therefore, our aim is to identify the consequences of ARS taking into account radiation damage to the respiratory system, nervous system, hematopoietic system, gastrointestinal tract, and skin.

Vibration reduction of human body biodynamic response in sitting posture under vibration environment by seat backrest support.

Four-degree-of-freedom (4-DOF) human-chair coupling models are constructed to characterize the different contact modes between the head, chest back, waist back and backrest. The seat-to-head transfer ratio (STHT) is used as an evaluation metric for vibration reduction effectiveness. The simulated vibration reduction ratio of the model is close to the experimental results, which proves the validity of the model. The peak STHT is obviously reduced (P < 0.05, T-test) with seat-backrest support. The experiments show that supporting the head ( a 1 , P < 0.05, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed ranks) has the best vibration reduction effect (21%), supporting the chest back ( a 2 , P < 0.05) has a reduced effect (11%), and supporting the waist back ( a 3 , P < 0.05) has the weakest effect (4%). When the upper torso is in full contact with the backrest, the peak STHT curve and resonance frequency are positively correlated with the contact stiffness of the seat surface and negatively correlated with the contact damping. In order to reduce the seat-to-head transfer ratio, the lowest STHT peak and lowest total energy judgments were proposed as the selection methods for the selection of the contact stiffness and damping of the backrest in two environments (periodic and non-periodic excitation), respectively.

Assessing injury risks of reclined occupants in a frontal crash preceded by braking with varied seatbelt designs using the SAFER Human Body Model.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effects of different seatbelt geometries and load-limiting levels on the kinematics and injury risks of a reclined occupant during a whole-sequence frontal crash scenario, using simulations with the Active SAFER Human Body Model (Active SHBM). METHODS: The Active SHBM was positioned in a reclined position (50°) on a semi-rigid seat model. A whole-sequence frontal crash scenario, an 11 m/s2 Automated Emergency Braking (AEB) phase followed by a frontal crash at 50 km/h, was simulated. The seatbelt geometry was varied using either a B-pillar-integrated (BPI) or Belt-in-seat (BIS) design. The shoulder belt load-limiting level of the BPI seatbelt was also varied to achieve either similar shoulder belt forces (BPI_Lower_LL) or comparable upper body displacements (BPI_Higher_LL) to the BIS seatbelt. Kinematics of different body regions and seatbelt forces were compared. The risks of sustaining a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), two or more fractured ribs (NFR2+), and lumbar spine vertebral fractures were also compared. RESULTS: During the pre-crash phase, head, first thoracic vertebra, and first lumbar vertebra displacements were greater with the BPI seatbelt than with the BIS, mainly due to the lack of initial contact between the torso and the seatbelt. Pelvis pre-crash displacements, however, remained consistent across seatbelt types. In the in-crash phase, variations in shoulder belt forces were directly influenced by the different load-limiting levels of the shoulder belt. The mTBI (around 20%) and NFR2+ (around 70-100%) risks were amplified with BPI seatbelts, especially at higher load-limiting force. However, the BPI design demonstrated reduced lumbar spine fracture risks (from 30% to 1%). CONCLUSIONS: The BIS seatbelt appears promising, as seen with the reduced mTBI and NFR2+ risks, for ensuring the protection of reclined occupants in frontal crashes. However, additional solutions, such as lap belt load limiting, should be considered to reduce lumbar spine loading.

Fast Human Motion reconstruction from sparse inertial measurement units considering the human shape.

Inertial Measurement Unit-based methods have great potential in capturing motion in large-scale and complex environments with many people. Sparse Inertial Measurement Unit-based methods have more research value due to their simplicity and flexibility. However, improving the computational efficiency and reducing latency in such methods are challenging. In this paper, we propose Fast Inertial Poser, which is a full body motion estimation deep neural network based on 6 inertial measurement units considering body parameters. We design a network architecture based on recurrent neural networks according to the kinematics tree. This method introduces human body shape information by the causality of observations and eliminates the dependence on future frames. During the estimation of joint positions, the upper body and lower body are estimated using separate network modules independently. Then the joint rotation is obtained through a well-designed single-frame kinematics inverse solver. Experiments show that the method can greatly improve the inference speed and reduce the latency while ensuring the reconstruction accuracy compared with previous methods. Fast Inertial Poser runs at 65 fps with 15 ms latency on an embedded computer, demonstrating the efficiency of the model.

Skeleton-derived extracellular vesicles in bone and whole-body aging: From mechanisms to potential applications.

The skeleton serves as a supportive and protective organ for the body. As individuals age, their bone tissue undergoes structural, cellular, and molecular changes, including the accumulation of senescent cells. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a crucial role in aging through the cellular secretome and have been found to induce or accelerate age-related dysfunction in bones and to contribute further via the circulatory system to the aging of phenotypes of other bodily systems. However, the extent of these effects and their underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Therefore, this paper attempts to give an overview of the current understanding of age-related alteration in EVs derived from bones. The role of EVs in mediating communications among bone-related cells and other body parts is discussed, and the significance of bones in the whole-body aging process is highlighted. Ultimately, it is hoped that gaining a clearer understanding of the relationship between EVs and aging mechanisms may serve as a basis for new treatment strategies for age-related degenerative diseases in the skeleton and other systems.

Are there any completely sterile organs or tissues in the human body? Is there any sacred place?

The human microbiome comprises an ample set of organisms that inhabit and interact within the human body, contributing both positively and negatively to our health. In recent years, several research groups have described the presence of microorganisms in organs or tissues traditionally considered as 'sterile' under healthy and pathological conditions. In this sense, microorganisms have been detected in several types of cancer, including those in 'sterile' organs. But how can the presence of microorganisms be detected? In most studies, 16S and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequencing has led to the identification of prokaryotes and fungi. However, a major limitation of this technique is that it cannot distinguish between living and dead organisms. RNA-based methods have been proposed to overcome this limitation, as the shorter half-life of the RNA would identify only the transcriptionally active microorganisms, although perhaps not all the viable ones. In this sense, metaproteomic techniques or the search for molecular metabolic signatures could be interesting alternatives for the identification of living microorganisms. In summary, new technological advances are challenging the notion of 'sterile' organs in our body. However, to date, evidence for a structured living microbiome in most of these organs is scarce or non-existent. The implementation of new technological approaches will be necessary to fully understand the importance of the microbiome in these organs, which could pave the way for the development of a wide range of new therapeutic strategies.

Efficient Model-Based Anthropometry under Clothing Using Low-Cost Depth Sensors.

Measuring human body dimensions is critical for many engineering and product design domains. Nonetheless, acquiring body dimension data for populations using typical anthropometric methods poses challenges due to the time-consuming nature of manual methods. The measurement process for three-dimensional (3D) whole-body scanning can be much faster, but 3D scanning typically requires subjects to change into tight-fitting clothing, which increases time and cost and introduces privacy concerns. To address these and other issues in current anthropometry techniques, a measurement system was developed based on portable, low-cost depth cameras. Point-cloud data from the sensors are fit using a model-based method, Inscribed Fitting, which finds the most likely body shape in the statistical body shape space and providing accurate estimates of body characteristics. To evaluate the system, 144 young adults were measured manually and with two levels of military ensembles using the system. The results showed that the prediction accuracy for the clothed scans remained at a similar level to the accuracy for the minimally clad scans. This approach will enable rapid measurement of clothed populations with reduced time compared to manual and typical scan-based methods.

Changes in the excitability of anterior horn cells in a mental rotation task of body parts.

INTRODUCTION/AIMS: Mental rotation (MR), a tool of implicit motor imagery, is the ability to rotate mental representations of two- or three-dimensional objects. Although many reports have described changes in brain activity during MR tasks, it is not clear whether the excitability of anterior horn cells in the spinal cord can be changed. In this study, we examined whether MR tasks of hand images affect the excitability of anterior horn cells using F-wave analysis. METHODS: Right-handed, healthy participants were recruited for this study. F-waves of the right abductor pollicis brevis were recorded after stimulation of the right median nerve at rest, during a non-MR task, and during an MR task. The F-wave persistence and the F/M amplitude ratio were calculated and analyzed. RESULTS: Twenty participants (11 men and 9 women; mean age, 29.2 ± 4.4 years) were initially recruited, and data from the 18 that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed. The F-wave persistence was significantly higher in the MR task than in the resting condition (p = .001) or the non-MR task (p = .012). The F/M amplitude ratio was significantly higher in the MR task than in the resting condition (p = .019). DISCUSSION: The MR task increases the excitability of anterior horn cells corresponding to the same body part. MR tasks may have the potential for improving motor function in patients with reduced excitability of the anterior horn cells, although this methodology must be further verified in a clinical setting.

El cadáver en los sistemas jurídicos colombiano y español: una discusión jurídica, ética y bioética / El cadàver en els sistemes jurídics colombià i espanyol: una discussió jurídica, ètica i bioètica / The corpse in the Colombian and Spanish legal systems: Alegal, ethical and bioethical discussion

El objeto de este trabajo es contribuir al desarrollo conceptual de la categoría jurídica del cadáver en razón a la dificultad que representa la dualidad de sujeto–objeto y que eventualmente puede generar una desprotección al mismo. El estudio se limita a las legislaciones de España y Colombia, cuya regulación, además de estar estrechamente relacionada en sus orígenes, es similar en muchos aspectos. La hipótesis sostenida es que el cadáver es una sustancia corpórea que contiene información personal y en virtud de ello, la bioética se convierte en una fuente útil para su tratamiento y regulación.(AU)

L'objecte d'aquest treball és contribuir al desenvolupament conceptual de la categoria jurídica del cadàver en raó a la dificultat que representa la dualitat de subjecte–objectei que, eventualment, pot generar una des protecció a aquest. L'estudi es limita a les legislacions d'Espanya i Colòmbia, que a més d'estar estretament relacionada en els seus orígens, és similar en molts aspectes. La hipòtesi sostinguda és que el cadàver és una substància corpòria que conté informació personal i en virtut d'això, la bioètica es converteix en una font útil per al seu tractament i regulació.(AU)

The purpose of this work is to contribute to the conceptual development of the legal category of the corpse because of the difficulty represented by the duality of subject–object, which can eventually generate a lack of protection for the corpse. The study is limited to the legislation of Spain and Colombia, whose regulations, in addition to being closely related in their origins, are similar in many aspects. The hypothesis sustained is that the corpse is a corporeal substance that contains personal informationand by this, bioethics becomes a useful source of bioethical principles for its treatment and regulation.(AU)

Hierarchical and dynamic relationships between body part ownership and full-body ownership.

What is the relationship between experiencing individual body parts and the whole body as one's own? We theorised that body part ownership is driven primarily by the perceptual binding of visual and somatosensory signals from specific body parts, whereas full-body ownership depends on a more global binding process based on multisensory information from several body segments. To examine this hypothesis, we used a bodily illusion and asked participants to rate illusory changes in ownership over five different parts of a mannequin's body and the mannequin as a whole, while we manipulated the synchrony or asynchrony of visual and tactile stimuli delivered to three different body parts. We found that body part ownership was driven primarily by local visuotactile synchrony and could be experienced relatively independently of full-body ownership. Full-body ownership depended on the number of synchronously stimulated parts in a nonlinear manner, with the strongest full-body ownership illusion occurring when all parts received synchronous stimulation. Additionally, full-body ownership influenced body part ownership for nonstimulated body parts, and skin conductance responses provided physiological evidence supporting an interaction between body part and full-body ownership. We conclude that body part and full-body ownership correspond to different processes and propose a hierarchical probabilistic model to explain the relationship between part and whole in the context of multisensory awareness of one's own body.

There and Back Again: Building Systems That Integrate, Interface, and Interact with the Human Body.

Since Dr. Theodor Schwann posed the extension of Cell Theory to mammals in 1839, scientists have dreamt up ways to interface with and influence the cells. Recently, considerable ground in this area is gained, particularly in the scope of bioelectronics. New advances in this area have provided with a means to record electrical activity from cells, examining neural firing or epithelial barrier integrity, and stimulate cells through applied electrical fields. Many of these applications utilize invasive implantation systems to perform this interaction in close proximity to the cells in question. Traditionally, the body's immune system fights back against these systems through the foreign body response, limiting the efficacy of long-term interactions. New technologies in tissue engineering, biomaterials science, and bioelectronics offer the potential to circumvent the foreign body response and create stable long-term biological interfaces. Looking ahead, the next advancements in the biomedical sciences can truly integrate, interface, and interact with the human body.

Investigating the status of whole-body donation across the United States of America.

Dissection of human body donors is a valuable part of anatomical education, research, and clinical training. In the United States, deceased human bodies are predominantly sourced through whole-body donation programs (BDPs) housed by academic institutions. Due to the lack of information regarding BDPs, the aim of this study was to gather information from US BDPs through a survey to better understand the donation process and standard operating procedures of these programs. In 2021, a Qualtrics survey was distributed to 125 BDPs and yielded responses from 72 program leaders. Collectively, these programs received more than 26,000 whole-body donations annually. Findings show that 70% typically receive enough donations to fit the needs of their institutions, 17% receive a surplus of donations, and 13% receive too few donations. Sixty-eight percent of programs permit next of kin body donation regularly or in times of need, and 44% allow next of kin to make changes to a donor's donation form after death. On average, over 85% of the registered donor population is composed of white individuals, and only 6 institutions have methods in place to promote diversity among their donor population. Overall, there is considerable variability in the operation of BDPs across the United States. These findings can be used to make recommendations about donor enrollment and program operations to ultimately improve the donation process. Future research needs to investigate the opinions and preferences of body donors along with their next of kin on the body donation process and associated policies.

Effects of Contact Force on Vibrotactile Perceived Intensity Across the Upper Body.

Full-body haptic suits, which can provide tactile sensations across the entire body, have been gaining popularity recently. The tightness of a suit to the user's body determines the contact force between the tactile actuators and the body. The contact force is likely to alter the intended perceptual effects, but relatively little is known about the extent of the alteration. Under this context, we present the effects of contact force on vibrotactile perceived intensity on three body parts: dorsal hand, upper arm, and lower back. To this end, we conducted three perceptual magnitude estimation experiments while controlling vibration amplitude, frequency, and contact force. The results show that increasing the contact force generally made the vibration stimuli feel stronger, while the specific behaviors were dependent on the body part and the experimental variables. Finally, we summarize the major findings and provide guidelines regarding contact force adjustment for effective full-body haptic rendering.

Honoring human body donors: Five core themes to consider regarding ethical treatment and memorialization.

Dissection of human body donors is a common component of anatomy curricula, as it provides opportunities for tactile and intellectual engagement unmatched otherwise. Additionally, interaction with human body donors contributes to the "hidden curriculum" of allowing students to begin to ethically practice patient care with empathy, respect, and compassion. With this, there have been various proposed guidelines for the ethical treatment of human body donors, with most focusing on student reflections and a final ceremony for honoring the donors, but there are numerous other ways throughout the course to incorporate ethical values and to guide students to consider the humanity of the donor. This article proposes that institutions consider the incorporation of five easily implemented formalized ethical themes for working with human body donations into daily practices: (1) reflect the donor as possessing human dignity, (2) recognize the donor's role of the "First Patient" or "Silent Teacher," (3) honor the gift of human body donation, (4) recognize the decedent's family, and (5) consider inclusivity in memorialization practices. Multiple recommendations for integrating these five themes throughout the course are provided. The incorporation of these five core themes can assist in alleviating the psychological stress that some students struggle with in dissection courses, foster the feelings and attributes that comprise the hidden curriculum and are the desired characteristics of a caring medical provider, and discourage misuse and mistreatment of donors.

Whole body donation for teaching in Ghana: The perspectives of medical doctors.

Historically, both donated bodies and unclaimed bodies have been the sources of human bodies for anatomy dissection globally with the latter discouraged for ethical reasons. Ghana lacks well-established body-donation programs, thus relying heavily on unclaimed bodies. Medical doctors benefit foremost from human bodies in their training and therefore should have a better disposition toward body bequeathal. This study assessed the perception, knowledge, and attitude of medical doctors in a Ghanaian institution toward body donation. As the first Ghanaian study on the subject, it provides the foundation for systematic study of the subject in Ghana. An internet-based questionnaire was administered to volunteering medical doctors requesting information on their perception of, knowledge of, and attitude toward whole-body donation. Data were summarized as frequencies. The 200 respondents comprised 1 consultant, 4 specialists, 14 residents, 63 medical officers, and 118 house officers. About 194 (97.0%) were familiar with body donation while 6 (3.0%) were not. Also, 39 (19.5%) were willing to donate their bodies, 98 (49.0%) were unwilling, and 63 (31.5%) undecided. Religion, culture, mishandling of bodies, and lack of awareness were barriers to body donation. Finally, 178 (89.0%) viewed human body dissection as relevant and should remain as part of medical curriculum. Doctors were aware of body donation though only few were willing to donate. Cultural and religious factors were major hindrances to body donation for anatomy education and research, though they were willing to persuade others to participate. Deliberate public education on the subject is required to grow body donation in Ghana.

Opposite size illusions for inverted faces and letters.

Words are the primary means by which we communicate meaning and ideas, while faces provide important social cues. Studying visual illusions involving faces and words can elucidate the hierarchical processing of information as different regions of the brain are specialised for face recognition and word processing. A size illusion has previously been demonstrated for faces, whereby an inverted face is perceived as larger than the same stimulus upright. Here, two experiments replicate the face size illusion, and investigate whether the illusion is also present for individual letters (Experiment 1), and visual words and pseudowords (Experiment 2). Results confirm a robust size Illusion for faces. Letters, words and pseudowords and unfamiliar letters all show a reverse size illusion, as we previously demonstrated for human bodies. Overall, results indicate the illusion occurs in early perceptual stages upstream of semantic processing. Results are consistent with the idea of a general-purpose mechanism that encodes curvilinear shapes found in both scripts and our environment. Word and face perception rely on specialised, independent cognitive processes. The underestimation of the size of upright stimuli is specific to faces. Opposite size illusions may reflect differences in how size information is encoded and represented in stimulus-specialised neural networks, resulting in contrasting perceptual effects. Though words and faces differ visually, there is both symmetry and asymmetry in how the brain 'reads' them.

Young Chinese female body skin pigmentation map: A pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Most studies have discussed variations in facial skin colour based on age, gender, and anatomical site within a specific ethnic group. However, skin pigmentation on the body is also a concern for many people. AIM: The aim of this study is to gather baseline data for Chinese young females, conduct a comprehensive assessment of body skin pigmentation, and create a body skin pigmentation map. METHOD: Individual type angle (ITA°) was registered by CL 400 and melanin index (MI) was registered by MX 18 in 100 body points of 20 Chinese females. A total of 12,000 measurements were recorded. RESULT: Our results showed significant differences among the symmetrical points on both sides of the body, including the clavicle, inner wrists, groin, inner ankle, elbow, armpit, waist side, the space between the thumb and index finger, instep, back shoulder, and popliteal space. Of all the points tested on the body, the points with the most severe skin pigmentation were the back of the neck, the heel, the elbow, and the popliteal space. CONCLUSION: This is the first comprehensive study of skin pigmentation conducted on the human body. In young Chinese women, the points with the most severe skin pigmentation were the back of the neck, heels, elbows, and the popliteal space.