Skull

Coelacanths can grow up to 2 m in length. Their bodies are covered in blue scales, which turn brown after death, with a white speckling that is unique to each individual. Their seven fins have fleshy lobes and they move their two paired sets of fins (pectoral and pelvic) in a diagonally synchronous manner like a four-limbed terrestrial animal. Unlike all other vertebrates, coelacanths possess an intracranial joint and an associated basicranial muscle. The purpose of this structure is disputed,…

as a disproportionately large head with a prominent forehead. Hands of people with ACH are often proportionally small with short fingers that can diverge into the shape of a trident. Internally, those with ACH can show shortness of the base of the skull with a small foreman magnum and a narrowing spinal canal throughout its length as well as a lower fifth lumbar vertebra which appears between the ilia. These features can often delay motor development milestones like walking as well as lead to…

is a narrow channel that folds and closes during the third and fourth weeks of pregnancy to form the brain and spinal cord. Encephalocele is a sac-like protrusion or projection of the brain and the membranes that cover it through an opening in the skull. Encephalocele happens when the neural tube does not close completely during pregnancy. The neural tube is a hollow, embryonic structure that gradually develops into the central nervous system, comprising of the brain and spinal cord. This in the…

Over evolutionary time organisms have diversified beyond imaginable. The earth is full of life from the simplest, single celled organisms, to whales the size of school buses. Even though there is a sundry of species alive on the planet today, even more species have lived in the past. In comparing the flying fish and the jerboa, one can see the changes that organisms have made overtime to better their chance of survival in their environment. By studying comparative anatomy, one can see the way…

An Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) can be described simply as a tight rubber band ball of abnormal blood vessels with weak walls. These can be located anywhere in the body. Arteries carry blood containing oxygen from the heart to the brain. An AVM bypasses normal brain tissue and directs blood from the arteries to the veins without a capillary bed in between. Brain AVM’s occur in less than one percent of the population (per 100,000 people) and are more common in males than females. Being…

• Describe ossification in fetal development. During development, the fetal bones are made up of cartilaginous tissue, which is like osseous tissue, except it is more flexible. The absence of calcium salts in its intercellular spaces makes it less dense. As development continues, the process of the depositing of calcium salts into the cartilaginous tissue occurs, and continues throughout their life. Ossification is the gradual replacement of cartilage and its intercellular substance by bone…

The figures 11-15 represent the different aspects of the left Permanent Mandibular Second Molar. Mandibular molars are the largest teeth on the mandibular arch. There is a number of three on each side of the mandible; first, second and third mandibular molars. They resemble each other in functional form, although when in comparison with each one, it’s clear the variations in the number of cusps, size, the occlusal design and the lengths and position of the roots. All mandibular molars have…

Concussion is an injury associated with sports and is most often identified with football, ice hockey, boxing and martial arts. There is different levels of concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI), including mild, moderate, and severe. Large numbers of athletes participate in these sports; youth, high school, collegiate, professional. Concussion is an injury that results from a wide variety of mechanisms and ages, levels ranging from a simple daze to the inability of doing daily activities.…

Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill was created by Pieter Claesz in 1628. It is representative of the Baroque era of art. The medium on which it is created is wood and oil paints are used, it is 9 1/2 in X 14 1/8 in. The subject of the piece is the fleeting moments in life symbolized by various naturalistic objects. Currently this piece is being displayed at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 635. In the Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill, you see a skull sitting atop a ragged…

In Neil Shubins’ “Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body”, he takes the audience on the journey of the discovery and history of how different organisms and adaptations have converged to form a relationship between fish and tetrapods. Shubins first relates the evolutionary fact that humans and other forms of “tetrapods’ major body systems have developed from fish and sharks” (20), through his time on the field as a paleontologist. He describes his multiple…