Size Of Body Parts Research Articles

A century of cerebellar somatotopy: a debated representation.

The existence of functional localization within the cerebellum was advanced exactly one century ago by both comparative anatomical and physiological studies. Here, we will discuss how models of cerebellar localization have evolved over the last 100 years. Like the somatotopic representation in neocortical sensorimotor areas, the representation size of different body parts in the cerebellum does not reflect their peripheral extent, but rather the different demands on the sensory inputs for different movements.

Genotype to Phenotype: Physiological Control of Trait Size and Scaling in Insects

For almost a century, biologists have used trait scaling relationships (bi-variate scatter-plots of trait size versus body size) to characterize phenotypic variation within populations, and to compare animal shape across populations or species. Scaling relationships are a popular metric because they have long been thought to reflect underlying patterns of trait growth and development. However, the physiological mechanisms generating animal scaling are not well understood, and it is not yet clear how scaling relationships evolve. Here we review recent advances in developmental biology, genetics, and physiology as they pertain to the control of growth of adult body parts in insects. We summarize four mechanisms known to influence either the rate or the duration of cell proliferation within developing structures, and suggest how mutations in these mechanisms could affect the relative sizes of adult body parts. By reviewing what is known about these four processes, and illustrating how they may contribute to patterns of trait scaling, we reveal genetic mechanisms likely to be involved in the evolution of insect form.

Genetic Evaluation in the Newborn

After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. List important factors in the maternal or family history that may suggest the possibility of a genetic disorder in the newborn. 2. List the prenatal factors that may suggest a genetic disorder in the newborn. 3. Describe the most important steps in the initial evaluation of a baby born with dysmorphic features, anomalies, and birth defects of internal organs. 4. Characterize an appropriate genetic evaluation for the newborn who has hypotonia and poor feeding. 5. Delineate the additional tests to be considered in an infant born with congenital heart disease. Approximately 3% of newborns are born with genetic problems such as birth defects. Some anomalies, such as cleft lip, are isolated defects in an otherwise normal, healthy infant and are associated with an excellent prognosis following surgical repair. Other anomalies, when occurring as part of a constellation of dysmorphic features, and other birth defects, may represent a more serious underlying genetic disorder. This article discusses common findings in the newborn that should prompt more in-depth testing and suggests an initial approach to the genetic evaluation of the newborn. A detailed, comprehensive family history is essential. Important clues to possible genetic factors that can be ascertained include: Detailed …

The phenomenology of body image distortions induced by regional anaesthesia.

Patients with peripheral nerve or spinal cord lesions frequently report perceptual distortions related to position, shape, texture or temperature of the affected areas. This study aimed to describe the phenomenology of such body image alterations during the course of upper limb, lower limb or spinal anaesthetic blocks in patients (n = 36) undergoing orthopaedic surgery. Multimodal sensory testing and assessment of motor function were performed at regular intervals, and the relationship between the reported body image distortions and the progression of sensory and motor impairment was analysed. We found that perceptual changes concerning the shape and size of the deafferented limb occurred in the great majority of patients. In all of them, illusions of swelling, elongation or shortening of the limb coincided with the impairment of warm, cold and/or pinprick sensations, suggesting that thin myelinated Adelta- and/or unmyelinated C-fibres may provide a source of tonic modulation to the limb's cortical representation. Such perceptual alterations of shape and size of body parts differed clearly from postural illusions in terms of frequency, time course and influence of vision. In addition to perceptual changes in the deafferented area, almost half of the patients felt their unanaesthetized lips and/or mouth swelling during the course of upper limb block, suggesting the unmasking of dynamic interactions between somatotopically adjacent cortical representations. Conflicting sensations could co-exist in the patient's body image, such as the illusion of swelling of a limb, which, at the same time, was felt to be missing. The sense of ownership of the deafferented limb was impaired in some cases. These observations show that the perception of body shape and the awareness of its postural variations are built from different plastic models. They also underline the contribution of peripheral afferent activity to the maintenance of a unified body image.

DEVELOPMENTAL RATES AND MORPHOMETRICS OF THE SYMPATRIC PYGMY CORMORANT (PHALACROCORAX PYGMEUS) AND GREAT CORMORANT (P. CARBO SINENSIS)

We compared growth rates and adult morphological traits in two sympatric cormorant species, the pygmy cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmeus) and the great cormorant (P. carbo sinensis), in Israel. The smaller P. pygmeus exhibited higher developmental rates than P. carbo sinensis, as expressed in the growth rate constant (K) of body mass and of various body parts (bill, wing, tarsus, primaries, and tibia lengths). The consequences of the higher developmental rate of P. pygmeus are early fledging and a relatively low body mass of fledglings. We suggest that several proximate ecological and developmental factors such as risk of nest predation, body temperature regulation, and hydrodynamics act in concert to promote rapid development in chicks of P. pygmeus. However, the four-fold lower body mass of the adult P. pygmeus is probably the most important physiological constraint that might explain its rapid growth rate in comparison with P. carbo sinensis. The body mass and the size of various body parts of adult P. c...

Human Body Model Acquisition and Tracking Using Voxel Data

We present an integrated system for automatic acquisition of the human body model and motion tracking using input from multiple synchronized video streams. The video frames are segmented and the 3D voxel reconstructions of the human body shape in each frame are computed from the foreground silhouettes. These reconstructions are then used as input to the model acquisition and tracking algorithms. The human body model consists of ellipsoids and cylinders and is described using the twists framework resulting in a non-redundant set of model parameters. Model acquisition starts with a simple body part localization procedure based on template fitting and growing, which uses prior knowledge of average body part shapes and dimensions. The initial model is then refined using a Bayesian network that imposes human body proportions onto the body part size estimates. The tracker is an extended Kalman filter that estimates model parameters based on the measurements made on the labeled voxel data. A voxel labeling procedure that handles large frame-to-frame displacements was designed resulting in very robust tracking performance. Extensive evaluation shows that the system performs very reliably on sequences that include different types of motion such as walking, sitting, dancing, running and jumping and people of very different body sizes, from a nine year old girl to a tall adult male.

Cost of Flight Apparatus and Optimum Body Size of Aphid Migrants

The incorporation of aerodynamic considerations into an optimal energy partitioning model developed for aphids results in the prediction that migrants should be smaller and take longer to develop than nonmigrants. If individuals are structurally similar (i.e., the relative sizes of body parts and flight apparatus are similar), then both within and between species, aerodynamic considerations predict that biomass of wing muscles should scale relative to body mass with an exponent between 1 and 7/6, and wing beat frequency directly proportional to wing length for maximum power output to 1/2 power of wing length, when cruising. The empirical results for aphids indicate that within species, individuals of different sizes may not be structurally identical; large individuals appear to have proportionally smaller wings, and as theory predicts, appear to compensate for this by having proportionally larger wing muscles than small individuals. Interspecifically, aphids appear to be structurally identical both in terms of wing area, wing beat frequency, and in the relative size of the thorax. As predicted both intra- and interspecifically, large migrants, although having larger gonads, nevertheless have proportionally smaller gonads than small migrants. Empirical results also conform to the prediction that migrants should be smaller than nonmigrants, particularly so in large species. The prediction that the developmental time for migrants should be longer than for nonmigrants is supported by published data for aphids. The significance of these findings is discussed in the context of Roff’s hypothesis that insect migrants should be larger and develop faster than nonmigrants.

COST OF FLIGHT APPARATUS AND OPTIMUM BODY SIZE OF APHID MIGRANTS

The incorporation of aerodynamic considerations into an optimal energy partitioning model developed for aphids results in the prediction that migrants should be smaller and take longer to develop than nonmigrants. If individuals are structurally similar (i.e., the relative sizes of body parts and flight apparatus are similar), then both within and between species, aerodynamic considerations predict that biomass of wing muscles should scale relative to body mass with an exponent between 1 and 7/6, and wing beat frequency directly proportional to wing length for maximum power output to 1/2 power of wing length, when cruising. The empirical results for aphids indicate that within species, individuals of different sizes may not be structurally identical; large individuals appear to have proportionally smaller wings, and as theory predicts, appear to compensate for this by having proportionally larger wing muscles than small individuals. Interspecifically, aphids appear to be structurally identical both in terms of wing area, wing beat frequency, and in the relative size of the thorax. As predicted both intra- and interspecifically, large migrants, although having larger gonads, nevertheless have proportionally smaller gonads than small migrants. Empirical results also conform to the prediction that migrants should be smaller than nonmigrants, particularly so in large species. The prediction that the developmental time for migrants should be longer than for nonmigrants is supported by published data for aphids. The significance of these findings is discussed in the context of Roff’s hypothesis that insect migrants should be larger and develop faster than nonmigrants.

Relationship of the Lung Volume to Height, Arm Span, Upper Arm Length and the Second Digital Proximal Phalangeal Length.

The purpose of this study was to clarify whether the estimation formula for height (Ht) is suitable for correcting data from lung function tests. We collected fundamental data in healthy young adults to investigate whether the data was correlated to the actual pulmonary functions or not. The subjects were 157 healthy young persons (59 males and 98 females). We measured arm span (AS), length of upper arm (UA), and the right second digit proximal phalangeal length (RII). The values of AS, UA, RII for males and females correlated positively and significantly with each other. Next, the vital capacity (VC) and forced expiratory volume per second (FEV1.0) were determined in 70 females and 35 males in all subjects, by the electrospirometer. In both sexes, correlation coefficients between VC, FEV1.0 and Ht was more than 0.6, but correlation coefficients between VC and the sizes of body parts was 0.6 or less. These results suggest that height estimation derived from RII, obtained from the upper extremities, was useful. However, the accuracy of estimation for VC and FEV1.0 based on the lengths of body parts was low because their correlation coefficients were as low as 0.6 or less.

Internal fight settles size of body parts

Science NewsVolume 153, Issue 15 p. 231-231 This Week Internal fight settles size of body parts John Travis, John TravisSearch for more papers by this author John Travis, John TravisSearch for more papers by this author First published: 30 June 2009 https://doi.org/10.2307/4010494AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume153, Issue1511 April 1998Pages 231-231 RelatedInformation

ONE SIZE FITS ALL? RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE SIZE AND DEGREE OF VARIATION IN GENITALIA AND OTHER BODY PARTS IN TWENTY SPECIES OF INSECTS AND SPIDERS.

Hypotheses regarding the function of elaborate male genitalia were tested in a sample of insects and spiders by comparing their allometric values (slopes in log-log regressions on indicators of body size) with those of other body parts. Male genitalia consistently had lower slopes than other body parts. Perhaps as a consequence of this pattern, genitalic size also tended, though less consistently, to have lower coefficients of variation than did the size of other body parts. The morphological details of coupling between males and females in several species clearly indicated that selection favoring mechanical fit is not responsible for these trends. Sexual selection on male courtship structures that are brought into contact with females in precise ways may favor relatively low allometric values, in contrast to the high values seen in the other sexually selected characters (usually visual display devices) that have been studied previously, because a female's own size will influence her perception of the contact courtship devices of a male.

How Male Animals Gain an Edge in the Mating Game

COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND-- At the annual meeting of the Animal Behavior Society here last month, scientists described how male Indian meal moths try to give their sperm an edge in the competition to fertilize the female9s eggs. The male moths can size up females and beef up their sperm counts accordingly. They can also change the size of adult body parts to optimize their sperm9s chances of success. Other presentations at the meeting suggested that male frogs9 ears serve as loudspeakers, amplifying their mating calls, and that the elaborate structures built by male bowerbirds for their mating dances provide a kind of screen, allowing the display to be more vigorous without frightening off the female.

Anthropometric Shape Analysis Strategy for Design of Personalwear

The diversity of morphologies may be a source of annoyance to the designer of personal equipment. For those involved in design problems, the user population seems to have considerable variability in the size and shape of body parts. However, traditionally available anthropometric data provides only the independent value for each measurement with no information on the shapes of the contours and curvatures. This type of data appears to be insufficient for the design of personal equipment such as shoes, helmets, or a guard for a specific body part. Therefore, interfacing any human body part and equipment should begin with the objective knowledge of the full range of body sizes and shapes. The size variability can be tackled by developing fitting schemes by covering segments of a multivariate normal population. The main difficulty is apprehending the anatomical shapes and their variation relative to three dimensional space. Further, for offering the proper fit, it becomes imperative that variability in such anatomical shapes be incorporated in the design. This paper describes the shape analysis strategy which should be useful in approximating non-linear dimensions of human body part for design. The method is illustrated by selecting the curvatures along a foot outline. The curvatures are defined as a set of discrete points and then analyzed by statistical and numerical methods for arriving at an optimized shape. The shape differences and similarities within and between the two methods are examined graphically and discussed. Results show that the technique of integrating the fitting scheme and anatomical shape approximation describes the human body shapes in geometric terms with moderate accuracy.

Correlation between Size of Body Parts (Particularly Mandibles) and Wet Body Weight in Aquatic Insects.

We studied the mandible shapes of aquatic insects, and analyzed correlations between the wet body weight and the size of mandibles and other parts of six orders, 15 families commonly found in the Takami and Shigou Rivers in Higashiyoshino, Nara Prefecture. Highly significant correlations between the size of mandible and wet body weight of insects were obtained in all families studied. Since the mandibles of aquatic insects usually remain in the feces of the birds and the stomachs of fishes, and are easily identified by family name, the regression lines obtained in this study would be useful in estimating the amount of prey taken by animals.

Estimation of heritabilities for growth, body size, and processing traits in red swamp crawfish, Procambarus clarkii (Girard)

Third-instar red swamp crawfish, Procambarus clarkii, from full-sib families and half-sib families were stocked into separate 2.4-m-diameter fiberglass pools planted with rice ( Oryza sativa). Crawfish were harvested after 150 days and measured for total length, total weight, carapace width, carapace length, abdomen width, abdomen depth, chela width, chela lenghth, abdomen meat weight and dressout percentage. Body size traits were adjusted for total length to provide heritability estimates of relative size of various body parts. Heritabilities were estimated for all animals combined and for reproductively mature (Form I) males, immature (Form II and juvenile) males, and females separately. Sire estimates of heritability ranged from 0 to 0.38. All traits show potential for at least moderate improvement through selection, although non-additive sources of variation were found to influence all traits measured.

Quantitative Genetics of Drosophila Melanogaster. II. Heritabilities and Genetic Correlations between Sexes for Head and Thorax Traits.

A quantitative genetic analysis is reported for traits on the head and thorax of adult fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster. Females are larger than males, and the magnitude of sexual dimorphism is similar for traits derived from the same imaginal disc, but the level of sexual dimorphism varies widely across discs. The greatest difference between males and females occurs for the dimensions of the sclerotized mouthparts of the proboscis. Most of the traits studied are highly heritable with heritabilities ranging from 0.26 to 0.84 for males and 0.27 to 0.81 for females. In general, heritabilities are slightly higher for males, possibly reflecting the effect of dosage compensation on X-linked variance. The X chromosome contributes substantially to variance for many of these traits, and including results reported elsewhere, the variance for over two-thirds of the traits studied includes X-linked variance. The genetic correlations between sexes for the same trait are generally high and close to unity. Coupled with the small differences in the traits between sexes for heritabilities and phenotypic variances, these results suggest that selection would be very slow to change the level of sexual dimorphism in size of various body parts.

Body image in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. A review of the literature.

Disturbances in body image are often regarded as a cardinal feature of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The various approaches to assessing body-image disturbances in anorexics and bulimics are detailed, including body-part size estimation techniques, distorting image methods, silhouettes, and attitudinal measures. The marked inconsistency of findings across studies comparing anorexics or bulimics with some "control" group on body-image variables is discussed in terms of variations in measurement techniques, subject characteristics, and experimental setting. The reliability and validity of existing measures are discussed. Finally, conclusions and recommendations for future research are provided, in addition to a brief presentation of therapeutic approaches to treating body-image disturbances.

Self-grooming by mares and foals of the Welsh pony ( Equus caballus)

Self-grooming behaviour of 15 mare-foal pairs was studied weekly for the first 24 weeks of the foal's life. Mares self-groomed at mean rates of 1.2–2.2 times h −1 depending on the 4-week period. Foals self-groomed more often, with a peak rate of 12.3 times h −1 occurring during Week 5–8 and a subsequent decline to 6.0 times h −1 by Weeks 21–24. Self-grooming bouts of mares and foals also differed in the proportion devoted to each type of self-grooming. During a greater proportion of their total self-grooming bouts, foals scratched their head and neck with a hind limb or bit and scratched the trunk or hind limbs with the teeth. The mares spent a greater proportion of their self-grooming bouts rubbing their head or neck on an inanimate object, another pony, or their fore limb, or rolling on the ground. Particular types of individual self-grooming bouts were engaged in for different lengths of time. Foals had longer bouts of scratching the head and neck with a hind limb, scratching or biting the fore limb or hind limb with the teeth, and rubbing the head and neck on an inanimate object, while mares had longer bouts of rolling. Some of the differences in preference for particular types of self-grooming may be the result of differences in relative size of various body parts and, consequently, relative ease of a given type of self-grooming.

Bioaccumulation of heavy metals by bivalves from Limski Kanal (North Adriatic Sea). II. Copper distribution between oysters, Ostrea edulis, and ambient water

Accumulation of copper was studied between June 1979 and June 1980 in the oyster Ostrea edulis Linnaeus, cultivated in the Limski Kanal, on the Istria Peninsula (Yugoslavia). The copper distribution in different organs of oysters of the same age was compared with concentrations of copper existing in different physicochemical forms in ambient sea water, i.e., dissolved Cu in labile complexes determined at the natural pH of 8; ‘total’ dissolved Cu determined after acidification to pH 2; and Cu bound to suspended particles with a diameter above 0.45 μm. Copper concentrations in the water were determined by differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV) and in analyses of biotic material, graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) was applied. Significant correlations have been found between copper complexed with dissolved organic ligands and its concentration in the soft part of the oyster. Copper contents increase gradually with the weight of the organs until enhanced gametogenetic activity of the oysters occurs. Thereafter the correlation factor between copper contents and the size of body parts varied significantly with the season.

Asymmetries in body part size, mobility, and usage. Relationship between structure and function.

Asymmetries in structure (size) and function (usage or mobility) for the upper and lower face, hands, and feet were investigated in 42 left- and right-handed male and female college students. Size measurements were taken from photographs, mobility was rated from videotapes, and usage was assessed by questionnaire. Size asymmetries were typical, and independent of handedness, but were not consistent across body parts; usage asymmetries varied as a function of handedness. No systematic relationships were found between structure and function.