In the cranial vault, suture morphogenesis occurs when the growing cranial bones approximate and overlap or abut one another. Patency of developing sutures is regulated by the underlying dura mater. Once cranial sutures form, bone growth proceeds from the sutures in response to growth signals from the rapidly expanding neurocranium. Facial sutures do not develop in contact with the dura mater. ...

to investigate the origins and domestication of guinea pigs, or cuyes (Cavia porcellus), we re-analyzed 12S rrNa (759 bp) and cytochrome b gene (1140 bp) sequence data from relevant species and breeds. Seventeen pre-Columbian mummified cuyes from southern Peru and northern Chile sites are described and compared with both domesticated (living andean creole and European breeds) and wild species. ...

Muscle power output is thought to limit suction feeding performance, yet muscle power output during suction feeding has never been directly measured. In this study, epaxial activation and strain, hyoid depression, and intra-oral pressure were simultaneously measured during suction feeding in the largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). A mechanical model of muscle force transmission between the...

OBJECTIVE To determine the relationship between trisomies 13, 18, and 21 and craniofacial malformations detected by prenatal sonography. DESIGN During a 29-year period (1976 through 2004), prenatal sonographic findings of 69 fetuses with trisomy 13; 171 fetuses with trisomy 18; 302 fetuses with trisomy 21; and 17 fetuses with other trisomies were evaluated retrospectively, after fetal karyoty...

Ontogeny of the skull is primarily determined by genetic factors and is modified during development by environmental factors. The shape of the skull and the direction of its development during intrauterine life are determined by the requirements of the growing brain. After birth, the most important role in modifying the shape of the skull is played by large forces from the stomatognathic system...

Three fundamental types of cephalic axial skeletal-neural dysrapic disorders are analyzed, including: cranioschisis aperta with encephaloschisis (anencephaly and/or exencephaly), cranioschisis occulta with occipital encephalocele, and the Chiari malformation (occipital bone hypoplasia) with compression, deformation and displacement of hindbrain, cerebellum, and medulla. Both clinical and experi...

Introduction: Diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) has demonstrated great value for the diagnostic workup of acute ischemic stroke and other abnormalities of the neurocranium, such as abscesses, CJD, etc. Similar diagnostic benefits could be anticipated from using DWI on orbital pathologies. High on the list of interesting pathologies are certainly periorbital dermoids/epidermois, fungal and pyogenic i...

We describe the first application of high-resolution 3D micro-computed tomography, together with 3D landmarks and geometric morphometrics, to map QTL responsible for variation in skull shape and size using a backcross between C57BL/6J and A/J inbred strains. Using 433 animals, 53 3D landmarks, and 882 SNPs from autosomes, we identified seven QTL responsible for the skull size (SCS.qtl) and 30 Q...

To what extent is cranial vault thickness (CVT) a character that is strongly linked to the genome, or to what extent does it reflect the activity of an individual prior to skeletal maturity? Experimental data from pigs and armadillos indicate that CVT increases more rapidly in exercised juveniles than in genetically similar controls, despite the low levels of strain generated by chewing or loco...

The tongue-bite apparatus and its associated musculoskeletal elements of the pectoral girdle and neurocranium form the structural basis of raking, a unique prey-processing behaviour in salmonid and osteoglossomorph fishes. Using a quantitative approach, the functional osteology and myology of this system were compared between representatives of each lineage, i.e. the salmonid Salvelinus fontina...