Form Of Skeleton Research Articles

Remote Control Of A Serial Manipulator Using Depth Camera

In this study, a serial robot arm was manipulated in real time using a depth sensor. Xbox-Kinect sensor is used as depth sensor. Kinect data was transferred to an industrial computer and processed. A three-axis serial robot arm was developed, and experiments were carried out on this developed prototype in real time. The drive of the three-axis robot is provided with RC servo motors and these motors are controlled by Arduino Uno R3 board. To find the joint angles, the image obtained from the Kinect camera has evolved into a skeleton form through the image processing program developed in the ARDUINO-Processing environment. Vector elements are defined on the human limbs of which posture is to be calculated. The angles between the limbs were obtained by applying trigonometric operations to these vectors. The reference angles were sent to the Arduino Uno R3 board, and the servo motors that provide the movement of the robot were controlled according to these angle values and the movement of the system was ensured. As a result of the experiments, it has been observed that the robot arm can imitate the movements made instantly.

Research on the Shear Performance of Cold-Formed Thin-Walled Steel-Glued Laminated Wood Composite Beams

This paper proposes a new type of composite box beam combined with cold-formed thin-walled steel and glued laminated timber to develop green building structures while improving the load-carrying capacity of a single steel girder and glued timber girder. Two composite beams composed of laminated timber and Q235 cold-formed thin-walled steel were designed and fabricated. Then, the shear performance test with quadratic loading was carried out to analyze the load carrying capacity, damage modes, and deformation characteristics of the test beams, as well as their influencing factors. Subsequently, a finite element model of the composite beam was established, and the loading mode was the same as that of the test to further study the parameters affecting the shear performance of the composite beam. The results of the study indicate that steel and glued timber in composite beams connected by adhesive bonding can work and deform together under load and each give full play to its material properties, especially the composite beams, which exhibit higher shear strength than a steel or timber beam. The effects of parameters such as steel cross-sectional area, shear span ratio, steel skeleton form, and steel cross-sectional strength on the shear capacity of the composite beams were observed, among which the shear span ratio had the greatest effect on the shear capacity of the composite beams. The shear capacity decreased by 14.3% and 19.5% when the shear span ratio was increased from 1.5 to 2.0 and 2.5, respectively. The shear capacity of the combined composite beams increased by 10.6%, 6.3%, and 5.8% when the thickness was increased from 1.5 mm to 2.0 mm, 2.5 mm, and 3.0 mm, respectively. When the combination of the steel cross-section was a box beam, the overall shear-bearing capacity could be increased by 12% compared with the “I” type composite beam, although its shear stiffness was close to that of the “I” section composite beam.

Effect of Cu addition on the microstructure, thermal physical properties and cyclic ablation of C/C-AlSi composite

Al alloy modified C/C composites are one of the most promising light-weight materials. To understand the influence of alloying, AlSi and AlSiCu melts were pressure infiltrated into porous C/C skeletons respectively and the ablation properties were mainly studied. Results showed that Cu and Al generated Al2Cu in AlSi matrix, and the compression strength of the composite was enhanced while the thermal conductivity and the phase transition temperature decreased. The matrix alloy with Cu softened and melted faster and more during cyclic ablation, which protected the C/C skeleton form thermal stress damage. Thus, the addition of Cu led to a decrease in linear ablation rate.

Structural Characterization and Molecular Model Construction of High-Ash Coal from Northern China.

High-ash coal, also known as low-grade coal, has becomes a viable alternative in recent years to high-quality coal because available resources have become increasingly scarce due to extensive mining activity. This work aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the structural characteristics of high-ash coal and construct a plausible molecular structure to elucidate its chemical reactivity in future applications. Its properties were investigated using Solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (13C NMR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The molecular structure was constructed and validated using Material Studio, LAMMPS Software Package, and MATLAB program. The characterization results revealed that high-ash coal contains 72.15% aromatic carbon, significantly surpassing the percentage of aliphatic carbon (27.85%). The ratio of bridgehead carbon to peripheral aromatic carbon was calculated as 0.67, indicating that the pentacene is the main carbon skeleton form in the high-ash coal structure. Furthermore, oxygen-containing functional groups presented as C=O/O-C-O, C-O, and COO- within the structure along with pyridine and pyrrolic structures. Consequently, the molecular structure comprises pentacene with aliphatic carbon chains, such as methylene, that connect the benzene rings and form a three-dimensional network. The results of a simulated IR spectrum and contact angle simulation aligned with the experimental results, validating the molecular structure of high-ash coal. The chemical formula for the high-ash coal model was determined as C203H189N7O61S with a molecular weight of 3734.79.

Enhancement on the selective flotation separation of carbon coated LiFePO4 and graphite electrode materials

With the rapid development of lithium-ion batteries, the recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries will be a big challenge in the future, among which the recycling of spent positive and negative electrode materials powder is a difficult point. Flotation has been able to separate triplet materials from graphite to some extent, but there are still many problems to be solved in the separation of LiFePO4 from graphite. In this study, a novel flotation reagent regime was proposed to enhance the flotation separation performance of LiFePO4 and graphite electrode materials by carbonaceous surface selective inhibition, which were achieved by H acid as a depressor. The flotation results showed that under the flotation conditions of pH value 9.3 ± 0.1, 10.0 mg/L n-dodecane, 7.5 mg/L MIBC, and 250 mg/L H acid, the recovery of LiFePO4 and graphite were 11.95 % and 94.28 %, respectively. The adsorption kinetic model showed that the adsorption speed of LiFePO4 electrode material is higher than graphite, the adsorption isothermal model showed that the adsorption capacity of LiFePO4 electrode material is significantly higher than graphite. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the interaction between H acid and LiFePO4 or graphite electrode material is mainly π-π interaction. Raman spectroscopy analysis showed that the carbon disorder degree and skeleton form of the graphite and LiFePO4 are significantly different, which makes H acid more easily adsorbed on the surface of LiFePO4. This study provided a new method for the efficient separation and recovery of LiFePO4 and graphite electrode materials from spent lithium iron phosphate batteries.

TOPOGRAPHY-ANATOMICAL VARIABILITY OF THE MYLO-HYOID NERVE IN THE SIDE OF THE LOWER JAW

The article is devoted to the study of individual- anatomical features of the location of the mylohyoid groove, where the mylohyoid nerve lies, in the lateral part of the lower jaws of people with diff erent face shapes. For this purpose, craniometric studies were performed on 32 natural human skulls from the anatomical museum fund and on 60 CT images of patients’ skulls in 3-D reconstruction. The types of structure of the facial department of the skull were determined. The location features of the mylohyoid groove were determined in them on the lateral parts of the lower jaws, and bone holes were searched on their lingual side. Craniometric studies have shown that at the level of the dental alveoli of the second and third molars of the mylohyoid groove is located 20.7±0.4 mm below the upper edge of the lower jaw on mesoprosopic skulls. In leptoprosopic skulls this distance was greater – 23.6±0.8 mm, and in hameprozops, respectively, less – 18.3±0.6 mm. Bone holes on the inner (lingual) surface of the lateral parts of the lower jaws were found in 20 skulls (21.7%). Their number varied from one to three. They were most often found on skulls with a leptoprosopic form of the facial skeleton – in 11 cases. Samples of the lower jaws predominated (13 cases) in which one hole was observed at the level of the top of the roots of the fi rst lower molars.

KOMPOSISI TIPE NEMATOSIT KARANG SCLERACTINIA, Pocillopora sp. DARI TERUMBU KARANG PANTAI TONTAYUO, BATUDAA PANTAI, GORONTALO

The objective of this present study is to know the composition of nematocyst types from the coral Scleractinia, Pocillopora sp. The coral colonies of Pocillopora sp. were collected at Tontayuo coastal coral reefs, Batudaa Pantai, Gorontalo. This research was conducted for 3 months, from September-December 2020. The method of testing the type and composition of nematocysts was carried out using an Olympus CX41 type microscope with x100 objective lens magnification connected to a computer ST24 monitor equipped with optical view 7 application (software). Photos of Pocillopora sp. both alive and skeleton form are documented in this journal. The results of the current study showed that Pocillopora sp. has the types and composition of MpM of 91.49%, while HI is 8.51%. MpM is the dominant nematocyst in Pocillopora sp. Future research is recommended to identify this coral at the species level and to study more deeply the various coral species in the genus Pocillopora based on the types and morphology of nematocysts that are useful in the taxonomy of Scleractinia corals.Keywords: Gorontalo, HI, MpM, nematocyst, Pocillopora sp., Scleractinian coral

Finite element analysis of typical structure of side stringer skeleton under ice load

Objectives The force on the typical side skeleton nodes of a cross-skeleton icebreaker under ice load action is explored through the numerical analysis of such nodes. Methods First, based on a PC2 heavy icebreaker, according to china classification society (CCS) specifications, the ice load is calculated according to the relevant ice load specifications; next, MSC/PATRAN software is used to create a finite element model of the typical side skeleton nodes, and a representative ice load is applied to the outer plates of the icebreaker so as to obtain the stress state of the typical nodes; finally, by constantly changing the forms of the typical nodes, the stress distribution difference in the area of interest is obtained. Results The stress levels of different typical node forms are compared and analyzed, and it is concluded that the superior choices are ribs that cross through the side stringer area, and a structural form of rib disconnection in the deck area. Conclusions This paper summarizes and puts forward the design points of the typical structure form of an icebreaker's side skeleton, providing useful references for rib-crossing structural design.

Novel AI driven approach to classify infant motor functions

The past decade has evinced a boom of computer-based approaches to aid movement assessment in early infancy. Increasing interests have been dedicated to develop AI driven approaches to complement the classic Prechtl general movements assessment (GMA). This study proposes a novel machine learning algorithm to detect an age-specific movement pattern, the fidgety movements (FMs), in a prospectively collected sample of typically developing infants. Participants were recorded using a passive, single camera RGB video stream. The dataset of 2800 five-second snippets was annotated by two well-trained and experienced GMA assessors, with excellent inter- and intra-rater reliabilities. Using OpenPose, the infant full pose was recovered from the video stream in the form of a 25-points skeleton. This skeleton was used as input vector for a shallow multilayer neural network (SMNN). An ablation study was performed to justify the network’s architecture and hyperparameters. We show for the first time that the SMNN is sufficient to discriminate fidgety from non-fidgety movements in a sample of age-specific typical movements with a classification accuracy of 88%. The computer-based solutions will complement original GMA to consistently perform accurate and efficient screening and diagnosis that may become universally accessible in daily clinical practice in the future.

Comparison between Recurrent Networks and Temporal Convolutional Networks Approaches for Skeleton-Based Action Recognition.

Action recognition plays an important role in various applications such as video monitoring, automatic video indexing, crowd analysis, human-machine interaction, smart homes and personal assistive robotics. In this paper, we propose improvements to some methods for human action recognition from videos that work with data represented in the form of skeleton poses. These methods are based on the most widely used techniques for this problem—Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs), Temporal Convolutional Networks (TCNs) and Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs). Initially, the paper explores and compares different ways to extract the most relevant spatial and temporal characteristics for a sequence of frames describing an action. Based on this comparative analysis, we show how a TCN type unit can be extended to work even on the characteristics extracted from the spatial domain. To validate our approach, we test it against a benchmark often used for human action recognition problems and we show that our solution obtains comparable results to the state-of-the-art, but with a significant increase in the inference speed.

Low-velocity impact response of novel prepacked expanded clay aggregate fibrous concrete produced with carbon nano tube, glass fiber mesh and steel fiber

Recent researches reported that expanded clay aggregate in concrete leads to a notable reduction in strength properties. Nevertheless, the impact response of PEAFC comprising expanded clay aggregate (ECA), multi-walled nano-carbon tubes (MWCNT), steel fiber (SF) and glass fiber mesh (GFM) is still unexamined. It is interesting to draw a sound conclusion regarding the impact response of concretes comprising these four materials. Prepacked expanded clay aggregate fibrous concrete (PEAFC) is a novel type of environmentally sustainable concrete. The development process of PEAFC comprises the following two crucial stages. Firstly, the expanded clay aggregate and fiber are prepacked into the framework in the form of a natural skeleton, followed by grout injection. The skeleton is filled with cement grout comprising multi-walled nano-carbon tubes (MWCNT) obtaining a novel PEAFC. This research investigates the impact response of PEAFC through the drop weight impact test. For this study, forty-one PEAFC mixtures were prepared and divided into five groups. The effect of GFM with different layers and diameters inserted between the two concrete layers was accompanied by incorporating 0.2% of MWCNT and 2.5% dosage of SF. All specimens were tested against drop weight impact according to the guidelines of ACI Committee 544. The studied parameters were the compressive strength, number of the impact causing first crack and failure, impact energy at first crack and failure in addition to impact ductility. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy was utilized to assess the cement grout's microstructural features. The results showed that increasing the diameter of the GFM in between the concrete layers covers a larger crack projection area, which better enhances the crack arresting potential and results in higher impact energy. The GFM diameter increase from 50 mm to 150 mm increased the cracking and failure impact numbers by 49 to 60% and 117 to 152%, respectively. The average percentage improvements in cracking and failure impact numbers due to SF were estimated to be 162 and 670%, respectively. Thus, the SF shared 71 to 96% of the total developments in impact resistance of all mixtures compared to the reference mixture. The addition of 0.2% of MWCNT could adequately fill the nano-pores and nano-cracks resulted in a denser cement grout matrix. The steel fiber was found to be the reinforcement type that leads to the highest improvement contribution in the impact resistance of the tested PEAFC. Despite the use of light weight aggregate, the combined action of GFM, MWCNT and SF could enhance the impact strength of PEAFC. The outcome of this research is to deliver benchmark information for further research work on PEAFC under impact loading.

Optical Coherent Tomography-Angiography in the Research of Myopia Complicated by Choroidal Neovascularization

Purpose: to determine the features of myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV) using optical coherent tomography-angiography (OCTA) in patients with complicated myopia during anti-VEGF therapy.Patients and methods. A prospective study of 25 people (40 eyes) with complicated myopia was carried out, which consisted in a comparative analysis of the qualitative and quantitative OCTA characteristics of 29 eyes with myopic CNV and 11 paired intact eyes. OCTA was used in the Angio Retina and Angio Analytics modes based on automatic software. The phenotypic features of CNV before treatment, during anti-VEGF therapy (Ranibizumab) and at the end of the observation period were taken into account.Results. The average follow-up period is 26.12 (12.36; 35.02) months. Two mCNV phenotypes were established: glomerular (44.83 %) and flat (55.17 %) as regularized (18.75 %) and tangled (81.25 %) vascular network patterns. Hypointensive peripheral halo during the entire period of the neovascular complex activity was visualized regardless of the phenotype. Significant differences in the flat phenotype were revealed: neuroepithelial detachment (87.50 %) was more common, the Select Area and Flow Area of the neovascular complex was significantly greater both before treatment and at the end of the observation period, the mCNV course of continued growth after injection of anti-VEGF did not occur, recurrence rate is much higher. The area and perimeter of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) in the eyes with mCNV increased significantly by the end of the observation. The acirculatory index (AI) was determined to be significantly higher, and the Retinal capillary flow density in the fovea region 300 μm wide around the FAZ (FD) was lower in the eyes with mCNV compared to the control group. The nonactive neovascular complex were characterized by depletion of the vascular network with a predominance of intervascular space, vessels in the form of a residual skeleton, blindly end, dim, small capillaries and end loops are missing. Halo with nonactive CNV is not found.Conclusion. OCTA identifies the features of the course of myopic CNV depending on the phenotype, allows to evaluate the effectiveness of anti-VEGF therapy and the degree of progression of degenerative changes in the macular region.

Developmental Biology I: Bone Development, Repair, and Regeneration

Defects of the skeletal system are extremely common and amount to a significant biomedical burden. Bone is a unique tissue that retains its regenerative potential into adulthood. The biology behind bone development, repair, and regeneration is thus of considerable interest, and may lead to advances in patient care. There are two distinct forms of osteogenesis; bones of the craniofacial skeleton develop via intramembranous ossification, whilst bones of the appendicular skeleton form by endochondral ossification. In this review, bone regenerative mechanisms based on skeletal stem cell function during fracture repair and during distraction osteogenesis are reviewed. Skeletal stem cell function more closely follows developmental mechanisms during distraction osteogenesis compared to fracture osteogenesis. This review contains 5 figures and 50 references. Keywords: skeletal stem cell, osteogenesis, skeletogenesis, mechanotransduction, regeneration, remodeling, focal adhesion kinase, ossification

Design of an Aircraft Wing Structure for Static& Fatigue Life Prediction

A wing is a type of blade with a ground that produces streamlined power for flight or strain via the surroundings, (o r) through every other vaporous or fluid liquid. In that potential, wings have an airfoil form, a streamlined pass-sectional form handing over carry. A wing's streamlined e satisfactory is communicated as its increase-to-drag percentage. The increase a wing creates at a given velocity and approach may be one to 2 units of quantity extra fantastic than the absolute delay the wing. A excessive convey-to-drag percentage calls for an altogether littler push to pressure the wings through the air at true sufficient raise. The conditions for the air deliver wing are excessive firmness, high extremely good, high durability and occasional weight. In shape and constrained issue research of flying system wing is planned and confirmed in three-d displaying programming CATIA. The wing is altered with the aid of manner of 3 noteworthy arrangement structure geometries figuring out with decrease share are rectangular, trapezoidal and delta shape. to be able to assemble the great of the wing Trapezoidal maximum ideal for out of 3 shapes. So Trapezoidal form air uniqueness wing is applied in those art work. in this the NACA-4 digit affiliation is carried out for making wing skeleton form and later we made showing, Fatigue and auxiliary research on wing Skelton structure by way of using ANSYS paintings BENCH. The substances applied for air deliver wings are for the maximum factor steel mixtures. on this postulation, the substances are supplanted via composite materials S2 Glass and Kevlar 40 nine. Static examination is completed to determine the distortion ,stresses and lines added by means of making use of loads. weak spot exam to appraise the existence ,harm and well being component of the wing. Modular examination is completed on the air deliver wing to decide the misshapenings and frequencies, worry because of frequencies. investigation is completed in ANSYS.

Vision-Based Human Activity Recognition System Using Depth Silhouettes: A Smart Home System for Monitoring the Residents

The increasing number of elderly people living independently needs especial care in the form of smart home monitoring system that provides monitoring, recording and recognition of daily human activities through video cameras, which offer smart lifecare services at homes. Recent advancements in depth video technologies have made human activity recognition (HAR) realizable for elderly healthcare applications. This study proposes a depth video-based HAR system to utilize skeleton joints features which recognize daily activities of elderly people in indoor environments. Initially, depth maps are processed to track human silhouettes and produce body joints information in the form of skeleton, resulting in a set of 23 joints per each silhouette. Then, from the joints information, skeleton joints features are computed as a centroid point with magnitude and joints distance features. Finally, using these features, hidden Markov model is trained to recognize various human activities. Experimental results show superior recognition rate, resulting up to the mean recognition rate of 84.33% for nine daily routine activities of the elderly.

Microstructure and Wear Performance of Cobalt-Containing Iron-Based Slag-Free Self-shielded Flux-Cored Wire

A new type of cobalt-containing iron-based slag-free self-shielded flux-cored wire was developed for hardfacing. The influence of cobalt additions on the microstructure and wear performance of the hardfacing was investigated. The cobalt-containing iron-based hardfacing alloy has a typical hypereutectic microstructure consisting of primary M7(C, B)3 carbide, and a eutectic of M3(C, B) carbide and austenite (part of which subsequently transformed into martensite). Cobalt promoted the formation of austenite and changed the morphology of the primary carbide and eutectic colonies. The morphology of primary carbide became fragmented with increasing cobalt due to the possible impeding effect of cobalt to the movement of the M7(C, B)3/liquid interface. Different structures of the eutectic carbides were observed—the chrysanthemum structure for 1.42 wt.% cobalt, the skeleton form for 2.88 wt.% cobalt, the radial stripe 4.37 wt.% cobalt and the discrete stripe for 5.75 wt.% cobalt. Wear loss of the hardfacing alloy containing 2.88 wt.% cobalt was the smallest among all the alloys, owing to the large primary large carbide and skeleton-shaped eutectic carbides, the proper amount of austenite phase separating the M7(C, B)3 and M3(C, B) carbides, the solid solution strengthening by cobalt in the matrix, and the high hardness of the alloy. Moreover, the wear resistance has a tendency to decrease with the increase in velocity as well as load.

Genetic Mechanism of the Dolomite in Dolomitic Glutenite of the Shahejie Formation—A Case Study of QHD 29-2 Oilfield in Bohai Bay Basin, China

The dolomite in dolomitic glutenite of the shahejie formation in the eastern steep slope of the Shijiutuo bulge in Bohai is a high-quality reservoir, and the content of dolomite is positively correlated with reservoir physical properties. In this paper, by using thin section, core, wall core, geochemical data and analyzing petrology and mineralogy characteristic, we systematically analyzed the paleogeographic environment and genetic mechanism of this kind of dolomite and established the genetic models. The dolomite in the glutenite body has many characteristics of development, which is formed by three kinds of genesis: quasi-synergy dolomitization, buried dolomitization and hydrothermal dolomitization. The dolomite in glutenite is produced in the form of matrix, grain (sandstone, oolith), biological skeleton (conch, ostracod), clastic shell and dolomite cement. The minor elements, carbon and oxygen isotopes, trace minerals and paleontological combinations reveal that the paleogeographic environment was closed continental salt-brackish water bay, the climate was arid and hot, and the evaporation was strong. It provides favorable conditions for the production of the dolomite in dolomitic glutenite. There are three genetic models of dolomite. The first model is penecontemporaneous dolomitization. The climate was arid and hot, the aragonite and high-magnesium calcite deposited with sand and gravel. Due to the effect of evaporation, dolomitization occurred. The second model is buried dolomitization. The water from dehydration of clay minerals causes the Mg2+ in the high-magnesium formation migrating into the rock, leading to the occurrence of dolomitization. The third model is hydrothermal dolomitization. Deep faults can bring geothermal fluids into the overlying reservoir and form the hydrothermal dolomite.

What is bred in the bone: Ecomorphological associations of pelvic girdle form in greater Antillean Anolis lizards.

Ecological niche partitioning of Anolis lizards of the Greater Antillean islands has been the focus of many comparative studies, and much is known about external morphological convergence that characterizes anole ecomorphs. Their internal anatomy, however, has rarely been explored in an ecomorphological context, and it remains unknown to what degree skeletal morphology tracks the diversity and ecological adaptation of these lizards. Herein, we employ CT scanning techniques to visualise the skeleton of the pelvic girdle in situ, and 3D geometric morphometrics to compare the form of the ilium, ischium, and pubis within and between ecomorphs. We examine 26 species of anoles representing four ecomorphs (trunk-ground, trunk-crown, crown-giant, twig) from three islands (Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico). The subtle variations in pelvic girdle morphology discovered are directly associable with all three parameters that we set out to focus on: phylogenetic relationship, specimen size, and assigned ecomorph category. Morphometric variation that correlates with size and/or phylogenetic signal varies between species and cannot be eliminated from the data set without markedly reducing its overall variability. The discovered patterns of skeletal variation are consistent with the demands of locomotor mechanics pertinent to the structural configuration of the microhabitat of three of the four ecomorphs, with the fourth having no discernible distinctive features. This manifests itself chiefly in the relative anteroposterior extent and anteroventral inclination of the ilium and pubis, which differ between ecomorphs and are postulated to reflect optimization of the direction of muscle vectors of the femoral protractors and retractors. Our investigation of the form of the pelvic girdle of anoles allows us to generalize our findings to entire ecomorph categories within a broad phylogenetic and biogeographic context. Differences in the form and configuration of the postcranial skeleton are directly related to ecological patterns.

The Chondro-Osseous Continuum: Is It Possible to Unlock the Potential Assigned Within?

Endochondral ossification (EO), by which long bones of the axial skeleton form, is a tightly regulated process involving chondrocyte maturation with successive stages of proliferation, maturation, and hypertrophy, accompanied by cartilage matrix synthesis, calcification, and angiogenesis, followed by osteoblast-mediated ossification. This developmental sequence reappears during fracture repair and in osteoarthritic etiopathology. These similarities suggest that EO, and the cells involved, are of great clinical importance for bone regeneration as it could provide novel targeted approaches to increase specific signaling to promote fracture healing, and if regulated appropriately in the treatment of osteoarthritis. The long-held accepted dogma states that hypertrophic chondrocytes are terminally differentiated and will eventually undergo apoptosis. In this mini review, we will explore recent evidence from experiments that revisit the idea that hypertrophic chondrocytes have pluripotent capacity and may instead transdifferentiate into a specific sub-population of osteoblast cells. There are multiple lines of evidence, including our own, showing that local, selective alterations in cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling also indelibly alter bone quality. This would be consistent with the hypothesis that osteoblast behavior in long bones is regulated by a combination of their lineage origins and the epigenetic effects of chondrocyte-derived ECM which they encounter during their recruitment. Further exploration of these processes could help to unlock potential novel targets for bone repair and regeneration and in the treatment of osteoarthritis.

Arte y peste: Desde el medievo al ochocientos, de la mitología a la realidad local

El impacto de las epidemias en la historia es constatable desde todos los ámbitos de producción intelectual y artística del hombre. La pintura, además de hacerse eco de estos desastres, constituye una de las fuentes más interesantes para aproximarse a la interpretación dada a los mismos por las distintas sociedades, dejando entrever datos de rigor histórico, así como elementos englobados dentro del complejo mundo de las mentalidades. La peste negra sufrida por Europa, en la segunda mitad del siglo XIV, supone un punto de inflexión en la representación de la muerte, quien en forma de esqueleto o ser fantasmagórico triunfa sobre la vida, perpetuándose esta visión hasta la centuria del Ochocientos.