Femur

Two of the most distinct features that separate humans from the other great apes are bipedalism and large brain to body size. But how did these features become so prominent? Approximately 6-7million years ago, the hominid lineage began to separate from the other ape species. Tracing the evolutionary history through fossil evidence explains how early hominids evolved to become today’s most prolific primate species. The goal of this paper is to discuss the physical characteristics that indicate…

children and adolescent under the age of 20 years (Meyers and Gorlick, 1997). Its incidence peaks during the second decade of life, coinciding with the adolescent growth spurt. It is more commonly seen in the metaphyseal region of long bones; the distal femur, proximal tibia and proximal humerus being the most common sites and they correspond to areas of active growth in the body (Link and Eilber, 1989) Overall survival (OS) rates in nonmetastatic osteosarcoma were a dismal 10% prior to the…

Objectives Determining the age at death of a skeleton can be complicated and possibly difficult dependant on state of preservation, bones present, or archaeological context. By using measurements of the present long bones and the data that correlates the fusion times of the distal and proximal epiphyseal unions, an age at time of death can be narrowed down to a less broad range. While this measurement method is not completely accurate, dentition ageing techniques and cross referencing of the…

most important manifestation of the effects of thalidomide are the incomplete lower and upper extremities and in one case, the complete lack of these. “…upper limbs: there were no ossification centers of any of the upper limbs… lower limbs: neither femur was present…”…

The Ancient Inhabitants of Flores Island The recently discovered Homo floresiensis have been a puzzle for scientists. The skeletons are an odd mix of archaic and more modern traits. The problem of how these diminutive hominins arrived on the island of Flores is still a mystery. The dating shows H. floresiensis arrived over a million years ago by the tools they left behind. The hominins had a minimal cranial capacity, yet they were able to live and prosper until recent times. The Indonesian…

injuries compared to males (Ireland). The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in the knee is likely to tear if a person lands wrong on it, which can be heard or felt by a pop or snap. The Anterior Cruciate Ligament is one of four ligaments that attach the femur, tibia and fibula. There are many sports that an ACL tear is more likely to occur in, such as, basketball, soccer and skiing. People need to become more aware of the prevention needed so that multiple females are not injured every year.…

2.) In consideration of the relationship between the Intermembral index and the habitual mode of locomotion for the six different primates, the collected data suggests that the lower the index is, the greater the chance for bipedalism as the “default,” or main movement. Versus a higher index which instead suggests the preferred ability of moving with the arms (e.g. swinging). Moreover, primates with an index closer to a total of 100 appear to assume quadrupedalism. This query can be seen when…

growth factor receptor 3 mutation” (Vajo, Francomano, Wilkin, 2000). Some of these dyplasias can potentially be detected on an ultrasound as early as 20 weeks. The measurements the doctors look for on the ultrasound is the length of the humerus or femur. If the length of either of these limbs is less than the fifth percentile it is highly recommended to seek out a specialist. The main concern for fetuses diagnosed with skeletal dysplsia is a small chest circumference which can cause death due to…

operation room. They gave me some medicine and then I started to just talk to the doctor. The next thing I knew I had 4 metal rods sticking out of my femur. It felt so weird, especially that I couldn’t walk or bend my left leg. “The Surgery went great!” The doctor was telling my parents. “She broke the hardest bone to break in her body, the Femur. She is very lucky she didn’t hurt her head and she was wearing a helmet, this could have turned out a lot worst!” My mom just prayed right then and…

Compartment syndrome occurs when pressure builds up within an enclosed muscular compartment due to swelling or internal bleeding. It is most likely to occur in the leg following fractures of either the tibia or fibula, but rarely occurs in the thigh. A 27 y.o. male presented to the Emergency Department complaining of severe pain in his left thigh. He works at a fast food retail shop, runs marathons regularly (but hasn’t in the past 4 months) and he recalls no trauma to the leg over the weeks…