Bilateral Axis Research Articles

The Classification of Axial Deformity in Patients with Basilar Invagination.

To summarize the variation types of the axis in patients with basilar invagination (BI), then propose a classification scheme of the axis deformity. From December 2013 to September 2020, 92 patients (male 42, female 50) who were diagnosed with BI were studied retrospectively. Based on the imaging data of CT, the width and height of the axis pedicle and the sagittal diameter of the lateral mass were measured in each patient. According to the development of axis pedicle and lateral mass, the types of axis variation were summarized, and then the classification scheme of axis deformity was put forward. All cases were analyzed and axis deformities were divided into four types. Type I: the axis is basically normal (53 cases, 57.6%). Type II: axis lateral mass is dysplasia (eight cases, 8.7%), which includes two subtypes: type IIA, the axis unilateral lateral mass is dysplasia (three cases); type IIB, the axis bilateral lateral masses are all dysplasia (five cases). Type III: axis pedicle is dysplasia (11 cases, 12%), which is subdivided into two subtypes: type IIIA, the axis unilateral pedicle is dysplasia (six cases); type IIIB, the axis bilateral pedicles are all dysplasia (five cases). Type IV: axis pedicle and lateral mass are all dysplasia (20 cases, 21.7%), this type contains the following four subtypes: type IVA, the unilateral axis pedicle and unilateral lateral mass (contralateral or ipsilateral) are all hypoplasia (four cases); type IVB, the unilateral axis pedicle and bilateral lateral masses are all hypoplasia (five cases); type IVC, the bilateral axis pedicles and unilateral lateral mass are all dysplasia (seven cases); type IVD, the bilateral axis pedicles and bilateral lateral masses are all dysplasia (four cases). The left and right abnormal lateral mass sagittal diameter (Type II) was (7.23 ± 1.39) mm and (5.96 ± 1.37) mm, respectively, the left and right abnormal pedicle width (Type III) was (2.61 ± 1.01) mm and (3.23 ± 0.66) mm, respectively, left and right abnormal pedicle height (Type III) was (5.43 ± 2.19) mm and (4.92 ± 1.76) mm, respectively. Moreover, the classification scheme has good repeatability and credibility. The classification about axis deformity could provide personalized guidance for axis screw placement in the BI and other upper cervical surgery, and axis screw placement errors would be effectively avoided.

Robust discriminative feature subspace analysis for kinship verification

Kinship verification using single image of a person is a challenging task for real-world applications. In this paper, we propose a novel robust discriminative feature subspace analysis (RDFSA) method to address single sample per person (SSPP) problem in kinship verification. The proposed RDFSA method takes advantages of facial symmetry and patch-based analysis to extract discriminative features for kinship verification. Each face image is firstly divided into two halves about bilateral symmetry axis, and each halved face is then partitioned into equal sized non-overlapping patches. Multiple image-sets are formed by grouping these patches according to their positions at each halved face. Then, an SSPP is formulated as an RDFSA problem and a feature subspace is learned by maximizing inter-class separation and minimizing intra-class variance for different patches in each image-set. For a given test image pair, similarity is computed for each feature subspace and majority voting strategy is employed to determine if a given image pair is kin related or not. Proposed RDFSA method is extensively evaluated on different publicly available kinship datasets to validate kinship accuracy. Experimental results show that RDFSA achieves competitive accuracy on all kinship datasets while performing kinship verification under unconstrained environment.

Axis screws: results and complications of a large case series.

To present the surgical results of patients who underwent axis screw instrumentation, discussing surgical nuances and complications of the techniques used. Retrospective case-series evaluation of patients who underwent spinal surgery with axis instrumentation using screws. Sixty-five patients were included in this study. The most common cause of mechanical instability was spinal cord trauma involving the axis (36 patients - 55.4%), followed by congenital craniocervical malformation (12 patients - 18.5%). Thirty-seven (57%) patients required concomitant C1 fusion. Bilateral axis fixation was performed in almost all cases. Twenty-three patients (35.4%) underwent bilateral laminar screws fixation; pars screws were used in twenty-two patients (33.8%), and pedicular screws were used isolated in only three patients (4.6%). In fourteen patients (21.5%), we performed a hybrid construction. There was no neurological worsening nor vertebral artery injury in this series. Axis screw instrumentation proved to be a safe and efficient method for cervical stabilization. Laminar and pars screws were the most commonly used.

Multiple feature subspaces analysis for single sample per person face recognition

Collecting samples is one of the main difficulties for face recognition, for example, in most of the real-world applications such as law enhancement, e-passport, and ID card identification, it is customary to collect a single sample per person (SSPP). Unfortunately, in such SSPP scenario, many presented face recognition methods suffer serious performance drop or fail due to their inability to learn the discriminative information of a person from a single sample. To address the SSPP problem, in this paper, we propose a multiple feature subspaces analysis (MFSA) approach, which takes advantage of facial symmetry. First, we divide each enrolled face into two halves about the bilateral symmetry axis and further partition every half into several local face patches. Second, we cluster all the patches into multiple groups according to their locations at the half face and formulate SSPP as a MFSA problem by learning a feature subspace for each group, so that the confusion between inter-class and intra-class variations of face patches is removed and more discriminative features can be extracted from each subspace. To recognize a target person, a k-NN classifier is employed in each subspace to predict the label of a face patch and majority voting strategy is used to identify the unlabeled subject. Compared with the state-of-the-art methods, MFSA is effortless and efficient in implementing, but achieves either better or competitive performance when recognizing face images taken in both constrained and unconstrained environment.

SU-E-I-04: Improving CT Quality for Radiation Therapy of Patients with High Body Mass Index Using Iterative Reconstruction Algorithms

Purpose: Iterative reconstruction (IR) algorithms are developed to improve CT image quality (IQ) by reducing noise without diminishing spatial resolution or contrast. The CT IQ for patients with a high Body Mass Index (BMI) can suffer from increased noise due to photon starvation. The purpose of this study is to investigate and to quantify the IQ enhancement for high BMI patients through the application of IR algorithms. Methods: CT raw data collected for 6 radiotherapy (RT) patients with BMI, greater than or equal to 30 were retrospectively analyzed. All CT data were acquired using a CT scanner (Somaton Definition AS Open, Siemens) installed in a linac room (CT-on-rails) using standard imaging protocols. The CT data were reconstructed using the Sinogram Affirmed Iterative Reconstruction (SAFIRE) and Filtered Back Projection (FBP) methods. IQ metrics of the obtained CTs were compared and correlated with patient depth and BMI. The patient depth was defined as the largest distance from anterior to posterior along the bilateral symmetry axis. Results: IR techniques are demonstrated to preserve contrast and reduce noise in comparison to traditional FBP. Driven by the reduction in noise, the contrast to noise ratio is roughly doubled by adopting the highest SAFIRE strength. A significant correlation was observed between patient depth and IR noise reduction through Pearson's correlation test (R = 0.9429/P = 0.0167). The mean patient depth was 30.4 cm and the average relative noise reduction for the strongest iterative reconstruction was 55%. Conclusion: The IR techniques produce a measureable enhancement to CT IQ by reducing the noise. Dramatic noise reduction is evident for the high BMI patients. The improved CT IQ enables more accurate delineation of tumors and organs at risk and more accuarte dose calculations for RT planning and delivery guidance. Supported by Siemens

Axis instrumentation: surgical results

Evaluate the surgical results of axis screw instrumentation. Retrospective evaluation of the clinical and radiological data of patients submitted to axis fixation using screws. Seventeen patients were surgically treated. The mean age was 41.8 years (range: 12-73). Spinal cord trauma was the most common cause of instability (8 patients - 47%). Bilateral axis fixation was performed in all cases, except one, with laminar screw (total of 33 axis screws). Seven patients (41.1%) underwent bilateral pars screws; laminar screws were used in six cases and pedicular screws were used in two. In two cases, we performed a hybrid construction (laminar + pars and pedicle + pars). There was no neurological worsening or death, nor complications directly related to use axis screws. Axis instrumentation was effective and safe, regardless of the technique used for stabilization. Based on our learnt experience, we proposed an algorithm to choose the best technique for axis screw fixation.

Early development of coelomic structures in an echinoderm larva and a similarity with coelomic structures in a chordate embryo

Early coelomic development in the abbreviated development of the sea urchin Holopneustes purpurescens is described and then used in a comparison with coelomic development in chordate embryos to support homology between a single arm of the five-armed radial body plan of an echinoderm and the single bilateral axis of a chordate. The homology depends on a positional similarity between the origin of the hydrocoele in echinoderm development and the origin of the notochord in chordate development, and a positional similarity between the respective origins of the coelomic mesoderm and chordate mesoderm in echinoderm and chordate development. The hydrocoele is homologous with the notochord and the secondary podia are homologous with the somites. The homology between a single echinoderm arm and the chordate axis becomes clear when the aboral to oral growth from the archenteron in the echinoderm larva is turned anteriorly, more in line with the anterior-posterior axis of the early zygote. A dorsoventral axis inversion in chordates is not required in the proposed homology.

Bilaterality in the regular sea urchin Anthocidaris crassispina is related to efficient defense not to efficient locomotion

Regular sea urchins show pentaradial symmetry: they have round bodies made of five almost identical sectors. There is no preference in which sector should be anterior in their locomotion. Anthocidaris crassispina is exceptional among regular sea urchins. Morphometry showed that their tests had radial symmetry but the overall body shape showed bilateral symmetry because of the uneven distribution of spine length. This bilateral axis did not correspond to the ambulacrum III—interambulacrum 5 axis, which is the bilateral axis of irregular sea urchins. Their behavior in relation to this bilaterality was observed in the aquarium. At rest, most of them stayed in the upper corner of the aquarium keeping the sector with the shortest spine length (the shortest sector) toward the water surface. At walking, most of them moved on the vertical wall just under the water surface keeping the shortest sector directing to the water surface. When they walked in the open space, they moved in a random direction with respect to the bilaterality of the spines. The bilaterality and the behavior of this sea urchin were interpreted as the adaptation to defense not to efficient locomotion.

Empire, Architecture, and the City: French-Ottoman Encounters, 1830-1914 * By ZEYNEP CELIK

Zeynep Çelik’s Empire, Architecture, and the City is both a study of modern imperial building projects and a call to re-think many of the assumptions that underlie current scholarship on nineteenth-century empire. By comparing Ottoman and French policy, Çelik demonstrates that older, territorial empires rested as much on the political mobilization of architectural forms as newer, colonial empires did. Her focus on provinces rather than on imperial centres suggests that studies of peripheries remain key to understanding empire, and that ‘urban’ need not be synonymous with ‘central’. Finally, her investigation into local as well as international ‘circulation[s] of influences’ (p. 5) questions the linear models of cause and effect on which many discussions of global city planning continue to be based. Although the book is therefore a useful addition to the growing literature challenging ‘conventional bilateral axes of east-west and north-south’ (p. 5), it is also more than that. Çelik is engaged in a subtle reconfiguration of some of the more complicated questions that dominate studies of urban architecture and imperial power.

The anatomic study on replacement of artificial atlanto-odontoid joint through transoral approach

In order to provide anatomical basis for transoral approach (TOA) in dealing with the ventro lesions of craniocervical junction, and the design and application of artificial atlanto-odontoid joint, microsurgical dissecting was performed on 8 fresh craniocervical specimens layer by layer through transoropharyngeal approach. The stratification of posterior pharyngeal wall, course of vertebral artery, adjacent relationship of atlas and axis and correlative anatomical parameters of replacement of artificial atlanto-odontoid joint were observed. Besides, 32 sets of atlanto-axial joint in adults' fresh bony specimens were measured with a digital caliper and a goniometer, including the width of bony window of anterior arch of atlas, the width of bony window of axis vertebra, the distance between superior and inferior two atlas screw inserting points, the distance between two axis screw inserting points etc. It was found that the width of atlas and axis which could be exposed were 40.2+/-3.5 mm and 39.3+/-3.7 mm respectively. The width and height of posterior pharyngeal wall which could be exposed were 40.1+/-5.2 mm and 50.2+/-4.6 mm respectively. The distance between superior and inferior two atlas screw inserting points was 28.0+/-2.9 mm and 24.0+/-3.5 mm respectively, and the distance of bilateral axis screw inserting points was 18.0+/-1.2 mm. The operative exposure position through TOA ranged from inferior part of the clivus to the superior part of the C3 vertebral body. Posterior pharyngeal wall consisted of 5 layers and two interspaces: mucosa, submucosa, superficial muscular layer, anterior fascia of vertebrae, anterior muscular layer of vertebrae and posterior interspace of pharynx, anterior interspace of vertebrae. This study revealed that it had the advantages of short operative distance, good exposure and sufficient decompression in dealing with the ventro lesions from the upper cervical to the lower clivus through the TOA. The replacement of artificial atlanto-odontoid joint is suitable and feasible. The design of artificial atlanto-odontoid joint should be based on the above data.

Phenotypic Analysis of Arabidopsis Mutants: Auxin Hormone Response

INTRODUCTIONThe hormone auxin is transported directionally through the plant body to effect a variety of morphological processes. In the embryo, auxin is required in the early stages of development to establish the bilateral axis of the developing embryo. Later, it participates in vascular element patterning and differentiation, lateral organ outgrowth in the root and shoot, and local growth responses to external stimuli such as light and gravity. A convenient way to measure auxin response, described in this protocol, is to monitor the effects of auxins or of auxin transport inhibitors on root growth.

Embryology of a planktonic tunicate reveals traces of sessility.

A key problem in understanding deuterostome evolution has been the origin of the chordate body plan. A biphasic life cycle with a sessile adult and a free-swimming larva is traditionally considered ancestral in chordates with subsequent neotenic loss of the sessile adult stage. Molecular phylogenies challenged this view, suggesting that the primitive life cycle in chordates was entirely free-living as in modern day larvaceans. Here, we report the precise cell lineage and fate map in the normal embryo of the larvacean Oikopleura dioica, using 4D microscopy technique and transmission electron microscopy. We document the extraordinary rapidity of cleavage and morphogenetic events until hatching and demonstrate that--compared with ascidians--fate restriction occurs considerably earlier in O. dioica and that clonal organization of the cell lineage is more tightly coupled to tissue fate. We show that epidermal cells in the trunk migrate through 90 degrees, reminiscent of events in ascidian metamorphosis and that the axis of bilateral symmetry in the tail rotates in relation to the trunk. We argue that part of the tail muscle cells are ectomesodermal, because they are more closely associated with prospective epidermis than with other tissues in the cell lineage. Cladistic comparison with other deuterostomes suggests that these traits are derived within tunicates strengthening the hypothesis that the last common ancestor of tunicates had a sessile adult and thus support traditional morphology-derived scenarios. Our results allow hypothesizing that molecular developmental mechanisms known from ascidian models are restricted to fewer, yet identifiable, cells in O. dioica.

Quantitative analysis of stereociliary arrays on vestibular hair cells

We have developed a method for quantifying the number, spacing, and distribution of stereocilia on the apical surface of hair cells using spatial autocorrelation analysis and statistics for directional data. Here, we illustrate the method using idealized hair bundles, and we apply it to scanning micrographs of turtle hair cells from the utricle and posterior canal, and to freeze-fracture preparations of bullfrog saccule. The analysis suggests three common features of stereociliary bundles. First, bundle geometries form a continuum from ‘loose’ to ‘tight’ (Acta Otolaryngol. 106 (1988) 393) rather than two distinct groups. Second, interciliary spacing along the three hexagon axes is not equal; spacing is usually widest along the hexagon axis closest to the bundle’s axis of bilateral symmetry (the presumptive excitatory axis). Third, spacing between stereocilia changes with distance from the kinocilium. All three features will influence predictions of the tip link tensions that accompany bundle deflection.

Trophectoderm growth and bilateral symmetry of the blastocyst in the mouse.

The present study was undertaken to ascertain whether the polarized flow of cells from polar to mural trophectoderm is related to the axis of bilateral symmetry of the blastocyst in the mouse, and whether trophectoderm cells can initiate new cycles once they have left the polar region. Two different approaches were used to investigate the relationship of polar to mural flow of trophectoderm cells to the bilateral axis. One was to mark peripheral polar trophectoderm cells at one or both ends of the bilateral axis in early blastocysts and examine the distribution of their clonal descendants after further growth in culture. The other was to mark the two ends of the bilateral axis with small oil drops in the zona pellucida in blastocysts whose polar trophectoderm was then labelled globally with fluorescent latex microspheres before culture. In both cases, marking of additional blastocysts orthogonal to the bilateral axis was also done. The results show that the direction of polar to mural flow of cells is not random, and that the most distal mural trophectoderm cell could yield up to eight descendants during 45 h of culture. The findings are consistent with the polar to mural flow of trophectoderm cells being aligned with the bilateral axis. Moreover, trophectoderm cells can embark on new cycles even when remote from the inner cell mass.

Deuterostome evolution: early development in the enteropneust hemichordate, Ptychodera flava.

Molecular and morphological comparisons indicate that the Echinodermata and Hemichordata represent closely related sister-phyla within the Deuterostomia. Much less is known about the development of the hemichordates compared to other deuterostomes. For the first time, cell lineage analyses have been carried out for an indirect-developing representative of the enteropneust hemichordates, Ptychodera flava. Single blastomeres were iontophoretically labeled with Dil at the 2- through 16-cell stages, and their fates followed through development to the tornaria larval stage. The early cleavage pattern of P. flava is similar to that of the direct-developing hemichordate, Saccoglossus kowalevskii, as well as that displayed by indirect-developing echinoids. The 16-celled embryo contains eight animal "mesomeres," four slightly larger "macromeres," and four somewhat smaller vegetal "micromeres." The first cleavage plane was not found to bear one specific relationship relative to the larval dorsoventral axis. Although individual blastomeres generate discrete clones of cells, the appearance and exact locations of these clones are variable with respect to the embryonic dorsoventral and bilateral axes. The eight animal mesomeres generate anterior (animal) ectoderm of the larva, which includes the apical organ; however, contributions to the apical organ were found to be variable as only a subset of the animal blastomeres end up contributing to its formation and this varies from embryo to embryo. The macromeres generate posterior larval ectoderm, and the vegetal micromeres form all the internal, endomesodermal tissues. These blastomere contributions are similar to those found during development of the only other hemichordate studied, the direct-developing enteropneust, S. kowalevskii. Finally, isolated blastomeres prepared at either the two- or the four-cell stage are capable of forming normal-appearing, miniature tornaria larvae. These findings indicate that the fates of these cells and embryonic dorsoventral axial properties are not committed at these early stages of development. Comparisons with the developmental programs of other deuterostome phyla allow one to speculate on the conservation of some key developmental events/mechanisms and propose basal character states shared by the ancestor of echinoderms and hemichordates.

The avian organizer.

The development of avian embryos is characterized by the large amount of yolk present from the one-cell stage until late phases of organogenesis. In the chick, an axis of bilateral symmetry is established already before egg laying, when the egg rotates in the uterus. There is evidence for an active Wnt-catenin pathway in the vegetal cells in the periphery of the multi-cellular embryo. It overlaps with the posteriorly restricted expression of genes characterizing the vegetal hemisphere in amphibia. The zone of overlap bears several functional characteristics of a Nieuwkoop center, which is first apparent in the posterior marginal zone, but continues into the early primitive streak. Only the anterior part of the late streak is capable of direct neural induction, and only its tip, Hensen's node, can induce an anterior neural identity. This latter activity leaves the node together with the cells representing the anterior mesendoderm. Thus, although the constraints and dynamics of avian development make comparisons with the amphibian situation a complex undertaking, Hensen's node comes as close as possible to an organizer in Spemann and H. Mangold's definition.

Two‐dimensional pattern discrimination by the honeybee

SummaryFor a reward of sugar, bees will learn to prefer a pattern rather than an alternative similar one. This visual discrimination allows us to measure resolution, and to search for the cues that the bees remember and later use to recognize the rewarded pattern. Two systems in parallel, analogous to low pass and high pass filters, are distinguished. The first system discriminates the location and size of at least one area of contrast on each side of the target, with inputs from blue and green receptors, but the ability to discriminate the location of colour depends upon fixation. The bees remember less than a low resolution copy of the image, even when they fixate on a vertical pattern.The second system amplifies the contrast at edges in the pattern, ignoring the direction of contrast, and controls fixation upon the target. Edges are discriminated according to their orientation and radial or tangential arrangement. An axis of bilateral symmetry is detected. However, the relative locations of cues within the image are lost, apparently because the relevant neurones have very large fields. Only the cues, not the whole patterns, are preserved in memory. This system is colour blind because its input is restricted to the receptors with peak sensitivity in the green. The two systems together discriminate many simple patterns, but not all, because the filters are limited in variety.

The role of implicit axes of bilateral symmetry in orientation processing

An important role for the near-effortless perception of bilateral symmetry in human (and other) observers may well be to process the orientation of symmetrical or near-symmetrical objects which do not have explicitly delineated up-down axes. From psychophysical investigations of one- and two-dimensional tilt illusions and after-effects, as well as from orientation discrimination studies, evidence is presented here which points to the existence of neural substrates which are sensitive to real (or explicit) as well as virtual (or implicit) contours.

Regulation and the modification of axial properties in partial embryos of the nemertean, Cerebratulus lacteus

Embryos acquire axial properties (e.g., the animal-vegetal, dorsoventral and bilateral axes) at various times over the course of their normal developmental programs. In the spiral-cleaving nemertean, Cerebratulus lacteus, lineage tracing studies have shown that the dorsoventral axis is set up prior to the first cleavage division; however, blastomeres isolated at the two-cell stage will regulate to form apparently perfect, miniature pilidium larvae. We have examined the nature of axial specification in this organism by determining whether partial embryos retain the original embryonic/larval axial properties of the intact embryo, or whether new axial relationships are generated as a consequence of the regulatory process. Single blastomeres in two-cell stage embryos were injected with lineage tracer, and were then bisected along the second cleavage plane at the four-cell stage. Thus, the relationship between the plane of the first cleavage division and various developmental axes could be followed throughout development in the "half-embryos". While some embryo fragments appear to retain their original animal-vegetal and dorsoventral axes, many fragments generate novel axial properties. These results indicate that axial properties set up and used during normal development in C. lacteus can be completely reorganized during the course of regulation. While certain embryonic axes, such as the animal-vegetal and dorsoventral axes, appear to be set up prior to first cleavage, these axes and associated cell fates are not irreversibly fixed until later stages of development in normal intact embryos. In C. lacteus, the process whereby these properties are ultimately determined is apparently controlled by complex sets of cell-cell interactions.

The early blastocyst is bilaterally symmetrical and its axis of symmetry is aligned with the animal-vegetal axis of the zygote in the mouse.

At least one polar body, almost invariably the second, persists intact to the early blastocyst stage in nearly two-thirds of mouse conceptuses of the PO strain. The distribution in early blastocysts of these surviving polar bodies was highly non-random. Most not only lay in the mid-region of the embryonic-abembryonic axis but, on discovering that early blastocysts are bilaterally rather than radially symmetrical about this axis, were found to align with the bilateral axis. Cell marking experiments failed to detect movement of polar bodies relative to the surface of the conceptus during either cleavage or blastulation. That the distribution of degenerating polar bodies and their presumed debris was similar to intact ones also argued against their motility, as did the finding that at all stages second polar bodies were attached to conceptuses by a thin, extensible, weakly elastic 'tether'. Although the transfer of small fluorochromes between them was rarely observed beyond second cleavage, the second polar body and conceptus could remain coupled ionically up to the blastocyst stage. It is concluded that the second polar body normally remains attached to the conceptus through persistence of the intercellular bridge formed during its abstriction, and therefore provides an enduring marker of the animal pole of the zygote. Hence, according to the distribution of polar bodies, the axis of bilateral symmetry of the early blastocysts is normally aligned with the animal-vegetal axis of the zygote and its embryonic-abembryonic axis is orthogonal to it. Such relationships suggest that, at least in undisturbed development, specification of the axes of the blastocyst depends on spatial patterning of the zygote.