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Rib internal anatomy and its cross-sectional morphology inform about important biomechanical or even evolutionary aspects. Classic histological studies require destructive techniques that are reprehensible depending on the case (e.g., fossils). In the last years, non-destructive CT-based methods are contributing to complementing previous knowledge without damaging the bone. Even though these methods have been proved to be useful to understand adult variation, we do not know whether these methods are useful to cover ontogenetic variation. This work compares classical histological methods with medical- and micro-CT to quantify the amount of mineral area at the rib midshaft (% Min. Ar.), a proxy for bone density. We compared cross-sections from an ontogenetic sample of 14 human first ribs ranging from perinates to adults using a) classical histology, b) HD (9-17 microns) and SD micro-CT (90 microns), and c) standard medical-CT (0.66 mm). We found that all the CT-based methods provide a larger % Min. Ar. compared to the histological techniques, but the HD micro-CT resolution is the only capable of producing results comparable to classical histology (p > 0.01), with the SD micro-CT and the medical-CT producing statistically larger results compared to classical histology (p < 0.01). In addition, it is important to state that the resolution of a standard medical-CT is not high enough to differentiate between mineral and non-mineral areas of the cross-sections for perinates and infants. These results could have important implications to avoid (when necessary) destructive techniques that are not appropriate in the case of highly valuable specimens such as fossils.

Puberty is a critical period in the development of children and adolescents. The muscular dystonia observed during this period and the environmental factors present at home and school promote the adoption of abnormal posture and impaired physical performance. Early detection of postural changes provides opportunities for prevention and treatment. The aim of this study was to compare the body posture and the size of the rotational deformation of the trunk in children aged 10-15 years, before and after pubertal growth spurt. The study included 40 subjects, 19 boys and 21 girls from Wroclaw, Poland, aged 10.3-15.6 years, who reported for the first time to the Postural Defects Outpatient Clinic with suspected rotational deformity of the trunk. Based on the equations, maturity offset (MO) was determined and the age of peak height velocity (APHV) was assessed. The posture was evaluated using a deflection of the plumb line, scapular asymmetry, finger-to-floor test, angle of trunk rotation ATR at 3 spinal levels: proximal thoracic, main thoracic, and lumbar and the Three Rotation Sum (TRS) parameter. These parameters are the earliest clinical signs of scoliosis. In the examined children and adolescents from Wrocław, irrespective of their calendar age, after the APHV, the characteristics describing lateral curvatures of the spine showed higher values, reaching especially for maximal ATR and for the TRS a highly statistically significant level. Post-pubertal children were also more often characterized by the so-called scoliotic posture - they had a significantly greater trunk deviation measured with the plumb line lowered from C7 (0.3 cm versus 0.9 cm; p = 0.01), a greater difference in the height of lower scapular anles, and a worse score on the finger-to-floor test. In conclusion, scoliometer testing should be permanently incorporated into periodic body measurements at school, especially among 10- to 12-year-old children who are at higher risk for scoliosis progression. Equations for assessing biological age, although associated with an error, appear to be easy to use and useful in screening for risk of developing scoliosis at peri-pubertal age.

Background: Inappropriate exposure or activity of sex hormones in-utero has been postulated as a leading cause for the development of hypospadias and cryptorchidism. Anthropometric sexually dimorphic traits such as the 2^nd to 4^th digit ratio (2D:4D), anogenital distance (AGD) and the stretched penile length (SPL), have been associated with androgen and estrogen activity in-utero. Purpose: Evaluate anthropometric parameters in patients with hypospadias or cryptorchidism compared with healthy controls. Materials and methods: This is a case control study of male patients operated on between 2019 and 2020. Three groups were included: Hypospadias, cryptorchidism and a demographically similar control group. Anthropometric parameters 2D:4D, AGD and SPL were measured intra-operatively and compared between the groups. Results: Included in the study were 179 pediatric patients between the ages of 9-15 months (58 patients with hypospadias, 69 with cryptorchidism and 47 controls). There was no difference in AGD, 2D:4D and SPL between patients with cryptorchidism, hypospadias and controls. Conclusions: Anthropometric characteristics associated with androgen activity in utero were not different in patients with hypospadias and cryptorchidism compared with controls.

Objectives: Topic modeling is a machine learning method that has been used in disciplines like social sciences or the industrial production sector. With topic modeling, a scientist can reduce many articles to a few topics to get an overview of a specific field (e.g., for a scoping review). The objectives of this paper were (1) to demonstrate the applicability of topic modeling to the field of anthropology by a new framework and (2) to present a new method for determining the optimal number of topics used. Subjects and methods: The documents used in this paper were collected from the database IEEE, using the search term "anthropology" to obtain a broad range of topics. Topic modeling was performed by Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) method, using R. To determine the optimal candidate of topics (k), a mathematical formula based on the slope of the perplexity curve was established. Results: The application of the framework to the corpus of 518 documents was able to sort all documents into 15 research areas with little time investment by the researcher while using a standard laptop computer. The process of semantic validation was successfully done for all 15 topics. Conclusions: The presented framework with the optimal number of topics k enables scientists in the field of anthropology to perform a scoping review and thus spend less time to manually categorize documents. Topic modeling can be used by researchers in multidisciplinary projects to improve understanding content in a faster way.

This work presents the neoplastic bone changes found in the lower limb of a medieval skeleton from the church of Sant' Agostino in Caravate (Northern Italy). After briefly assessing the individual's overall pathological picture, a differential diagnosis for the neoplastic changes is now proposed. These changes were analysed macroscopically and radiographically and subsequently evaluated considering the paleopathological and clinical literature available. The differential diagnosis allowed us to recognize a tibiofibular osteochondroma and some enchondromas in the medullary cavity of the tibia. The results presented here highlight the importance of radiological analyses in the recognition and study of bone neoplasms in the paleopathological field, further contributing to our knowledge of the presence of neoplasms in Medieval Northern Italy.

Background: Factors affecting the appearance of the nose and the size of the nasal angles are different. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of the vertical developmental pattern on the nose appearance. Material and methods: Lateral cephalogram from 144 adult Caucasian subjects from the central Balkan were analyzed (72 male and 72 female), with orthognathic jaw relationship - class I and different types of divergence pattern. The profile type of nose, the shape of the nasal dorsum and the value of the nasal angles (nasofrontal, nasofacial, nasolabial and nasal tip angle) were determined for each person. Subjects were divided into three groups based on the values of ANB angle (sagital relation between the maxilla and mandible), Wit's appraisal, SN/GoGn (the angle of mandibular divergence pattern). These groups are subjects with hypodivergent, normaldivergent and hyperdivergent growth pattern. Statistical analysis included differences separately for each gender between different types of divergence. Results: The results indicated that some nasal forms are more common in certain types of divergence, but that these differences did not show statistical significance, in contrast to the results of authors from other areas. Conclusions: The clinical implication of current study relates to the fact that nasal reconstruction should not be based on the type of divergence, but on other factors.

We describe diffuse microporotic lesions observed in most of the scattered skeletal remains belonging to a ≈ 6 months-old female (genetic sexing) prehispanic (antiquity ≈ 600 years BP) individual recovered from a small recess of a basaltic burial cave in the highlands (2300 m above sea level) of Tenerife. Although sphenoid wings were lacking, microporotic lesions were present in several bones, especially in the hard palate, basilar part of the occipital bone, outer aspect of the maxilla, and proximal half of the right humerus, accompanied by a subtle periosteal reaction. Although non-specific, bone lesions may be compatible with scurvy, possibly in the context of malnutrition, that probably also affected the mother, given the young age of the infant and her dependence on maternal feeding. Pathophysiological connections among iron deficiency, vitamin C deficiency and vitamin D deficiency are discussed. Both observational reports on paleopathological cases of diffuse microporotic lesions as well as experimental studies devoted to discern the relative and combined effects of hypoxia-mediated bone marrow expansion, protein-calorie malnutrition, ascorbate, vitamin D or iron deficiency on such lesions are needed.

The permanent exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum, Semmelweis Museum of Medical History of Budapest, Hungary, displays some human remains believed to originate from ancient Egypt. Within the framework of the Nephthys Project, three objects consisting of two heads and one foot were studied via paleoimaging and archaeometric techniques in order to provide new anthropological and paleopathological data. It is argued here that even partial or fragmentary items are worthy of investigation as they can reveal new information about their owners, as well as their supposed authenticity.

Using discriminant functions obtained from canine dimensions for sex estimation in human skeletons has frequently been proposed as a promising approach within assemblages, even when used in non-adult individuals. However, applicability of this method to adult and non-adult individuals from other assemblages was rarely investigated, probably due to frequently observed inter-population differences in tooth dimensions. In the present study, discriminant functions obtained for permanent canine dimensions at the cemento-enamel junction in a previous study of the early medieval assemblage from Greding, were applied to individuals from a late medieval Jewish cemetery at Erfurt, Germany. The results were validated by aDNA analyses. Prior to the application of the functions, canine dimensions of the assemblages were compared. The comparison showed largely corresponding canine dimensions between the two assemblages. The application of the formulae obtained on the early medieval assemblage to the late medieval assemblage at Erfurt revealed a 100 % correct classification rate in the adult individuals. In non-adults, the correct classification rate was poorer, with 7 of 9 (77.8 %) individuals correctly classified. The study showed that the application of discriminant functions for sex estimation from canine measurements to assemblages other than those for which the functions were developed can lead to high correct classification rates in adults if the average canine dimensions are similar in the respective assemblages. An application to non-adult individuals should only be made with caution as canine dimensions in the "non-survivors" can lead to an over-estimation of the proportion of female non-adults.

Objectives: To analyse secular changes (2010-2020) in skinfold thickness in children and adolescents in different BMI categories. Methods: The study group consisted of 3-16-year olds included in two cross-sectional studies. Measurements included height, weight and 5 skinfolds. The Body Mass Index was used to categorize participants into low (underweight), normal or excess (overweight and obesity) weight groups based on IOTF cut-off points. Differences of skinfold thicknesses between both cohorts, within each of the weight status categories, were assessed using two-way ANOVA and Tukey's tests. Results: In both sexes, there was a negative secular trend in limb adiposity among the normal weight and underweight cohorts. However, in both of those subpopulations individuals examined in 2020 had greater trunk adiposity, in comparison to their counterparts examined in 2010. Declining limb adiposity was also present in the overweight category. Although, trunk adiposity among individuals with overweight was generally comparable in both cohorts. Conclusions: There was a tendency towards normal weight obesity, particularly excess abdominal adiposity, among the 2020 cohort. These findings further suggest that using only the BMI, without taking into consideration tissue composition of the body, may result in misclassification of children and adolescents with high adiposity as normal-weight.