Abdominal Size Research Articles

Genetic analysis of digital image derived morphometric traits of black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) by incorporating G × E investigations.

The black tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon, is the second most economically important aquaculture shrimp species in the world, and in Australia it is one of the most commonly farmed shrimp species. Despite its economic significance, very few studies have reported the genetic evaluation of economically important morphological size and shape traits of shrimp grown in commercial grow-out environments. In this study we obtained genetic parameter estimates and evaluated genotype-by-environment interaction (GxE) for nine body morphological traits of shrimp derived from images. The data set contained image and body weight (BW) records of 5,308 shrimp, from 64 sires and 54dams, reared in eight grow-out ponds for an average of 133days. From the images, landmark based morphological distances were computed from which novel morphological traits associated with size and shape were derived for genetic evaluation. These traits included body weight (BW), body length (BL), body size (BS), head size (HS), Abdominal size (AS), abdominal percentage (AP), tail tip (TT), front by back ratio (FBR), condition factor (CF) and condition factor length (CFL). We also evaluated G×E interaction effects of these traits for shrimp reared in different ponds. The heritability estimates for growth related morphological and body weight traits were moderately high (BW: h 2 = 0.32 ± 0.05; BL: h 2 = 0.36 ± 0.06; BS: h 2 = 0.32 ± 0.05; HS: h 2 = 0.31 ± 0.05; AS: h 2 = 0.32 ± 0.05; and TT: h 2 = 0.28 ± 0.05) and low for abdominal percentage and body shape traits (AP: h 2 = 0.09 ± 0.02; FBR: h 2 = 0.08 ± 0.02; CF: h 2 = 0.06 ± 0.02; and CFL: h 2 = 0.003 ± 0.004). G × E interaction were negligible for all traits for shrimp reared in different ponds, suggesting re-ranking is not prevalent for this population. Genetic correlations among growth related morphological traits were high ranging from 0.36 to 0.99, suggesting these traits can be simultaneously improved through indirect genetic selection. However, negative genetic correlations were observed for FBR & CF shape traits with major growth traits (ranged -0.08 to -0.95), suggesting genetic selection for rapid growth will likely result in thick/fatty shrimp over generations. Our study showed image-based landmark data can be successfully employed for genetic evaluation of complex morphological traits of shrimp and is potentially amenable to machine-learning derived parameters in semi-automated high volume phenotyping systems needed under commercial conditions.

Multiple association analysis of loci and candidate genes that regulate body size at three growth stages in Simmental beef cattle

BackgroundBody size traits as one of the main breeding selection criteria was widely used to monitor cattle growth and to evaluate the selection response. In this study, body size was defined as body height (BH), body length (BL), hip height (HH), heart size (HS), abdominal size (AS), and cannon bone size (CS). We performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of these traits over the course of three growth stages (6, 12 and 18 months after birth) using three statistical models, single-trait GWAS, multi-trait GWAS and LONG-GWAS. The Illumina Bovine HD 770 K BeadChip was used to identify genomic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 1217 individuals.ResultsIn total, 19, 29, and 10 significant SNPs were identified by the three models, respectively. Among these, 21 genes were promising candidate genes, including SOX2, SNRPD1, RASGEF1B, EFNA5, PTBP1, SNX9, SV2C, PKDCC, SYNDIG1, AKR1E2, and PRIM2 identified by single-trait analysis; SLC37A1, LAP3, PCDH7, MANEA, and LHCGR identified by multi-trait analysis; and P2RY1, MPZL1, LINGO2, CMIP, and WSCD1 identified by LONG-GWAS.ConclusionsMultiple association analysis was performed for six growth traits at each growth stage. These findings offer valuable insights for the further investigation of potential genetic mechanism of growth traits in Simmental beef cattle.

Effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation training on muscle size in collegiate track and field athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation training for 12 weeks on the abdominal muscle size in trained athletes. Male collegiate track and field athletes participated in the present study and were randomly allocated to either training or control groups. Eleven participants of the training group completed a 60-session training program over a 12-week period (23 min/session, 5 days/week) involving neuromuscular electrical stimulation (mostly 20 Hz) for the abdominal muscles in addition to their usual training for the own events. The participants of the control group (n = 13) continued their usual training. Before and after the intervention period, cross-sectional areas of the rectus abdominis and abdominal oblique muscles (the internal and external obliques and transversus abdominis) and subcutaneous fat thickness were measured with magnetic resonance and ultrasound imaging. There were no significant changes in cross-sectional area of the rectus abdominis or abdominal oblique muscles or in subcutaneous fat thickness in the training or control groups after the intervention period. The change in cross-sectional area of the rectus abdominis in each participant was not significantly correlated with pre-training cross-sectional area and neither was the mean value of fat thickness at pre- and post-training. These results suggest that low-frequency (20 Hz) neuromuscular electrical stimulation training for 12 weeks is ineffective in inducing hypertrophy of the abdominal muscles in trained athletes, even when they have a thin layer of subcutaneous fat.

Preoperative Computed Tomographic Angiogram Measurement of Abdominal Muscles Is a Valuable Risk Assessment for Bulge Formation after Microsurgical Abdominal Free Flap Breast Reconstruction.

A major shortcoming associated with abdominal tissue breast reconstruction is long-term abdominal wall morbidity. Although abdominal muscle size on computed tomographic angiography has been correlated with morbidity following many abdominal operations, it has not been studied for breast reconstruction. Therefore, the authors evaluated the association between preoperative computed tomography angiography-derived measurements of abdominal core muscles and postoperative abdominal wall morbidity after abdominal tissue breast reconstruction. In this retrospective matched case-control study of women who underwent microsurgical abdominal flap breast reconstruction at one institution between January 2011 and June 2015, the authors evaluated all cases of postoperative bulge/hernia, matched by type of abdominal flap and body mass index in a ratio of 1:2 to controls without bulge/hernia. The authors obtained morphometric measurements of abdominal core muscles on preoperative computed tomographic angiographs. Using univariable and multivariable logistic regressions, the authors examined the effects of clinical risk factors and computed tomographic angiography morphometric measurements on postoperative bulge/hernia formation. Of the 589 patients who underwent abdominal free flap breast reconstruction, symptomatic bulges/hernias were identified in 35 patients (5.9 percent). When compared to the 70 matched controls, multivariable analysis showed that decreased area of rectus abdominis muscle (OR, 0.18; p < 0.01) and increased inter-rectus abdominis distance (OR, 1.14; p < 0.01) on computed tomographic angiography were significant risk factors associated with postoperative bulge/hernia. Preoperative computed tomographic angiography allows objective measurements of the patient's abdominal muscle anatomy that provide valuable prognostic information on the risk of bulge/hernia formation following abdominally based microsurgical breast reconstruction. Risk, III.

A Comparison between Symmetry of Abdominal Muscle Size in Healthy Adolescents and Adolescents with Low Back Pain

A Comparison between Symmetry of Abdominal Muscle Size in Healthy Adolescents and Adolescents with Low Back Pain

Measurement of superficial and deep abdominal muscle thickness: an ultrasonography study

BackgroundReal-time ultrasound imaging is a valid method in the field of rehabilitation. The ultrasound imaging allows direct visualization for real-time study of the muscles as they contract over the time. Measuring of the size of each abdominal muscle in relation to the others provides useful information about the differences in structure, as well as data on trunk muscle activation patterns. The purpose of this study was to assess the size and symmetry of the abdominal muscles at rest in healthy adults and to provide a reference range of absolute abdominal muscle size in a relatively large population.MethodA total 156 healthy subjects with the age range of 18–44 years were randomly recruited. The thickness of internal oblique, external oblique, transverse abdominis, and rectus abdominis muscles was measured at rest on both right and left sides using ultrasound. Independent t test was used to compare the mean thickness of each abdominal muscle between males and females. Differences on side-to-side thicknesses were assessed using paired t test. The association between abdominal muscle thicknesses with gender and anthropometric variables was examined using the Pearson correlation coefficient.ResultsA normal pattern of increasing order of mean abdominal muscle thickness was found in both genders at both right and left sides: transverse abdominis < external oblique < internal oblique < rectus abdominis. There was a significant difference on the size of transverse abdominis, internal oblique, and external oblique muscles between right and left sides in both genders. Males had significantly thicker abdominal muscles than females. Age was significantly correlated with the thickness of internal oblique, external oblique, and rectus abdominis muscles. Body mass index was also positively correlated with muscle thickness of rectus abdominis and external oblique.ConclusionsThe results provide a normal reference range for the abdominal muscles in healthy subjects and may be used as an index to find out abnormalities and also to evaluate the effectiveness of different interventions.

Ultrasound measurements of lumbar multifidus and abdominal muscle size in firefighters

Firefighters have a high incidence of low back pain and injury. To describe lumbar multifidus and abdominal muscle size characteristics in firefighters and to compare these characteristics to normative reference ranges. In career firefighters without current low back pain (62 males, 7 females), ultrasonography was used to assess: L4 and L5 lumbar multifidus cross-sectional area (CSA), asymmetry, and thicknesses; and external oblique, internal oblique, and transverse abdominal thicknesses. Comparisons of mean values in firefighters were made to the normative 95% reference ranges for the general population and soldiers. Mean values for lumbar multifidus and abdominal muscle size in firefighters fell within the 95% reference ranges for the general population and soldiers for all measurements, except L4 multifidus CSA in males and L5 multifidus CSA in females, which were larger in firefighters than the general population. The majority of lumbar multifidus and abdominal muscle size measurements in firefighters are similar to the general population and soldiers. The larger lumbar multifidus CSA in firefighters compared with the general population warrants further study. These data provide a basis for future research using ultrasonography to assess muscle size in firefighters and other workers in physically-demanding occupations.

Lateral abdominal muscle size at rest and during abdominal drawing-in manoeuvre in healthy adolescents

Lateral abdominal wall muscles in children and adolescents have not been characterised to date. In the present report, we examined the reliability of the ultrasound measurement and thickness of the oblique external muscle (OE), oblique internal muscle (OI) and transverse abdominal muscle (TrA) at rest and during abdominal drawing-in manoeuvre (ADIM) on both sides of the body in healthy adolescents. We also determined possible differences between boys and girls and defined any factors—such as body mass, height and BMI—that may affect the thickness of the abdominal muscles. B-mode ultrasound was used to assess OE, OI and TrA on both sides of the body in the supine position. Ultrasound measurements at rest and during ADIM were reliable in this age group (ICC3,3 > 0.92). OI was always the thickest and TrA the thinnest muscle on both sides of the body. In this group, an identical pattern of the contribution of the individual muscles to the structure of the lateral abdominal wall (OI > OE > TrA) was observed. At rest and during ADIM, no statistically significant side-to-side differences were demonstrated in either gender. The body mass constitutes between 30% and <50% of the thickness differences in all muscles under examination at rest and during ADIM. The structure of lateral abdominal wall in adolescents is similar to that of adults. During ADIM, the abdominal muscles in adolescents react similarly to those in adults. This study provided extensive information regarding the structure of the lateral abdominal wall in healthy adolescents.

Genes Belonging to the Insulin and Ecdysone Signaling Pathways Can Contribute to Developmental Time, Lifespan and Abdominal Size Variation in Drosophila americana

Even within a single genus, such as Drosophila, cases of lineage-specific adaptive evolution have been found. Therefore, the molecular basis of phenotypic variation must be addressed in more than one species group, in order to infer general patterns. In this work, we used D. americana, a species distantly-related to D. melanogaster, to perform an F2 association study for developmental time (DT), chill-coma recovery time (CRT), abdominal size (AS) and lifespan (LS) involving the two strains (H5 and W11) whose genomes have been previously sequenced. Significant associations were found between the 43 large indel markers developed here and DT, AS and LS but not with CRT. Significant correlations are also found between DT and LS, and between AS and LS, that might be explained by variation at genes belonging to the insulin and ecdysone signaling pathways. Since, in this F2 association study a single marker, located close to the Ecdysone receptor (EcR) gene, explained as much as 32.6% of the total variation in DT, we performed a second F2 association study, to determine whether large differences in DT are always due to variation in this genome region. No overlapping signal was observed between the two F2 association studies. Overall, these results illustrate that, in D. americana, pleiotropic genes involved in the highly-conserved insulin and ecdysone signaling pathways are likely responsible for variation observed in ecologically relevant phenotypic traits, although other genes are also involved.

Body mass normalisation for ultrasound measurements of lumbar multifidus and abdominal muscle size

The purpose of this study was to determine if ratio scaling or allometric scaling is the more appropriate method for normalising ultrasound measurements of lumbar multifidus and abdominal muscle size to body mass. In a convenience sample of 62 male career firefighters, cross-sectional area and thickness of the lumbar multifidus, as well as, thicknesses of the external oblique, internal oblique, and transverse abdominal muscles were assessed with ultrasonography. Ratio scaling entailed dividing muscle size by body mass, while allometric scaling entailed dividing muscle size by body mass raised to a power. Significant positive correlations (r = 0.25 to 0.49, p < 0.05) existed between body mass and all muscle size measurements, except for transverse abdominal thickness (r = 0.21, p = 0.100). Ratio scaling was deemed inappropriate for normalising the muscle size measurements, because it merely reversed the direction of the correlations between body mass and the muscle size measurements (r = −0.31 to −0.50, p < 0.05), with external oblique abdominal thickness representing the only exception (r = −0.17, p = 0.192). Allometric scaling with derived allometric parameters was deemed appropriate for normalising muscle size measurements, because it caused the correlations between body mass and muscle size to become insignificant and near to zero (r = −0.06 to 0.00, p > 0.05). The current study provides allometric parameters that can be used to normalise muscle size measurements to body mass in male firefighters. Future research is needed to establish reference databases of population-specific allometric parameters in other groups.

Effects of Hatha Yoga and BCAA Intake on the Size of Abdominal Muscles in Middle-aged Women

Effects of Hatha Yoga and BCAA Intake on the Size of Abdominal Muscles in Middle-aged Women

A Rehabilitative Ultrasound Imaging Investigation of Lateral Abdominal Muscle Thickness in Healthy Aging Adults

Rehabilitative ultrasound imaging (RUSI) is used to evaluate lateral abdominal muscle size and function during the abdominal drawing-in maneuver (ADIM), an exercise used to improve lumbar spine stability. Little is known about the size and performance of these muscles in healthy aging adults. The purpose of this study was to investigate, using RUSI, the size and symmetry of the lateral abdominal muscles bilaterally at rest and during the ADIM in healthy older adults and the reliability of these measurements. Three ultrasound images of the right and left lateral abdominal muscles were taken at rest and during the ADIM in 12 healthy older adults. Thickness of the transversus abdominis muscles (TrA), internal oblique (IO), and external oblique (EO) were measured for all images. Intraclass correlation coefficients were computed using model 3, form 1 (ICC3,1). Two ratios of the abdominal muscles were calculated in the relaxed and contracted states. Paired t-tests were used to compare relaxed muscle thickness to contracted muscle thickness for all 3 muscles for each side. To test further for interactions of side and contractile state, 2 x 2 repeated measures ANOVAs were performed. Side-to-side differences in absolute and relative thickness were assessed with paired t-tests for the TrA and IO muscles. Absolute and relative side-to-side muscle symmetry indices were computed for each muscle at rest. There was a significant difference in muscle thickness between the contracted and relaxed states for both the TrA and IO. There was no significant difference between left/right muscle thickness for the TrA or IO at rest or during the ADIM. The TrA nearly doubled in size while thickness of the IO + EO stayed relatively constant during the ADIM. Reliability for absolute muscle thickness was generally excellent: ICCs3,1 ranged from 0.95 to 1.00 for intra-image reliability; 0.77 to 0.97 for inter-image reliability. These findings support symmetrical and preferential activation of the TrA during the ADIM in healthy older adults. Continued research on the use of RUSI as a tool for both assessment and intervention in older adults is needed.

Abdominal muscle size and symmetry at rest and during abdominal hollowing exercises in healthy control subjects

The symmetry of, and physical characteristics influencing, the thickness of the lateral abdominal muscles at rest and during abdominal exercises were examined in 57 healthy subjects (20 men, 37 women; aged 22-62 years). M-mode ultrasound images were recorded from the abdominal muscles at rest and during abdominal hollowing exercises in hook-lying. The fascial lines bordering the transvs. abdominis, obliquus internus and obliquus externus were digitized and the absolute thickness, relative thickness (% of total lateral thickness) and contraction ratio (thickness during hollowing/thickness at rest), as well as the asymmetry (difference between sides expressed as a percent of the smallest value for the two sides) for each of these parameters were determined for each muscle. Both at rest and during hollowing, obliquus internus was the thickest and transvs. abdominis the thinnest muscle. There were no significant differences between left and right sides for group mean thicknesses of any muscle; however, individual asymmetries were evident, with mean values for the different muscles ranging from 11% to 26%; asymmetry was much less for the contraction ratios (mean % side differences, 5-14% depending on muscle). Body mass was the most significant positive predictor of absolute muscle thickness, for all muscles at rest and during hollowing, accounting for 30-44% variance. Body mass index explained 20-30% variance in transvs. abdominis contraction ratio (negative relationship). The influence of these confounders must be considered in comparative studies of healthy controls and back pain patients, unless groups are very carefully matched. Asymmetries observed in patients should be interpreted with caution, as they are also common in healthy subjects.

Abdominal muscle size and symmetry in normal subjects

This study was undertaken to establish normal reference ranges for abdominal muscle size and symmetry and to examine the effects on these of gender and age. We studied 123 subjects, consisting of 55 men (aged 21-72 years) and 68 women (aged 20-64 years). Real-time ultrasound imaging of the abdominal muscles was performed. Thickness of internal and external oblique (IO, EO), transversus abdominis (TA), and rectus abdominis (RA), and cross-sectional area (CSA) of RA were measured, and absolute and relative muscle thickness (percent total muscle thickness), order of thickness, and symmetry (percent difference between sides) were determined. Males had significantly larger muscles than females and size was poorly correlated with age. The pattern of relative muscle thickness was RA > IO > EO > TA. Symmetry for total absolute thickness of all three lateral muscles was 8%-9% (mean) but for individual muscles there was asymmetry of absolute size (13%-24%), whereas relative thickness was symmetrical for all muscles. These findings provide robust reference data for the abdominal muscles in normal males and females in order to enable comparison with clinical groups to assess abnormalities and establish sensitivity for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions.