Automated anthropometric phenotyping with novel Kinect-based three-dimensional imaging method: comparison with a reference laser imaging system.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Anthropometry for measuring body composition, shape, surface area and volume is important for human clinical research and practice. Although training and technical skills are required for traditional tape and caliper anthropometry, a new opportunity exists for automated measurement using newly developed relatively low-cost three-dimensional (3D) imaging devices. The aim of this study was to compare results provided by a Kinect-based device to a traditional laser 3D reference system. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Measurements made by the evaluated device, a hybrid of commercially purchased hardware (KX-16; TC(2), Cary, NC, USA) with our additional added software, were compared with those derived by a high-resolution laser scanner (Vitus Smart XXL; Human Solutions North America, Cary, NC, USA). Both imaging systems were compared with additional linear (stadiometer-derived height) and volumetric (total volume, air-displacement plethysmography) measurements. Subjects (n=101) were healthy children (age ≥5 years) and adults varying in body mass index. RESULTS: Representative linear (4), circumferential (6), volumetric (3) and surface area (1) measurements made by the Kinect-based device showed a consistent pattern relative to the laser system: high correlations (R(2)s= 0.70-0.99, all P<0.001); 1-3% differences for large linear (for example, height, X±s.d., -1.4±0.5%), circumferential (for example, waist circumference, -2.1±1.8%), volume (for example, total body, -0.8±2.2%) and surface area (whole-body, -1.7±2.0%) estimates. By contrast, mean measurement differences were substantially larger for small structures (for example, forearm volume, 31.3±31.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Low-cost 3D Kinect-based imaging systems have the potential for providing automated accurate anthropometric and related body measurements for relatively large components; further hardware and software developments may be able to improve system small-component resolution.

Cloning and sequence analysis of a cDNA encoding Pso o II, a mite group II allergen of the sheep scab mite (Acari: Psoroptidae).

Psoroptes ovis (Hering), the sheep scab mite, is responsible for psoroptic scabies of cattle and sheep. Reverse translation of 30 N-terminal amino acids of the major P. ovis allergen, previously chosen as a candidate immunogen and identified as a 16 kDa protein yielded a degenerate sequence used to design oligodeoxynucleotide polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers. Use of the PCR primers with a P. ovis cDNA library succeeded in amplification of a 90 bp cDNA gene fragment that was cloned, sequenced, and used to select unique sequencing/PCR primers. Primer walking generated overlapping subclones which yielded the 588 nucleotide consensus sequence of the cDNA encoding the 143 amino acid P. ovis allergen precursor. Nucleotide and translated sequences of the cDNA were compared with sequences in GenBank and found to be homologous to mite group II allergens Lep d II (formerly Lep d I) of Lepidoglyphus destructor Schrank, DerfII of Dermatophagoides farinae Hughes, Der p II of Derrmatophagoides pteronyssinus (Trouessart), Tyr p II of Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank), Eur m II of Euroglyphus maynei (Cooreman) and Gly d II of Glycophagus domesticus (De Geer). The mature P. ovis allergen is composed of 126 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 13,468 Da, three disulfide bonds, and pI of 6.06 with one potential o-glycosylation site at Thr116. We designate the P. ovis 16 kDa protein as Pso o II in conformity with nomenclature for mite group II allergens.

Reinnervation of muscle fiber types in the newborn rat soleus.

We have examined the selectivity of reinnervation of fiber types in rat soleus muscle denervated by crush of the soleus nerve 2 d after birth. The fibers innervated by single, regenerated motor axons were identified by use of glycogen depletion approximately 2 weeks following denervation. The types of fibers were determined by immunohistochemistry employing anti-myosin antibodies and, in some cases, by myofibrillar ATPase staining. Two distinct types of fibers are present in soleus at 2 d and through the next 16 d of normal postnatal development. These fiber types are retained in a denervated muscle for the period of time required for reinnervation. Although 40% of the fibers are lost from the muscle during reinnervation, we find no evidence for interconversion of muscle fiber types. Nonetheless, 10 of the 12 single motor units examined had fiber type compositions that were markedly biased toward one or the other of these 2 types; the bias in these units could not be explained by chance reinnervation. On the basis of the topographical distribution of the muscle fibers in each of these units, the motor axons reinnervated a novel set of fibers. We interpret these findings to mean that neonatal soleus motor neurons reinnervate fiber types in a selective manner. This selective innervation may explain the bias in the fiber type composition of normal motor units during early postnatal development.

Selective innervation of types of fibres in developing rat muscle.

The technique of glycogen depletion has been used to identify the types of muscle fibres innervated by individual motor neurones in the neonatal rat. This analysis shows that neonatal motor units are highly biased in their fibre type composition, even at times when the fibres receive extensive polyneuronal innervation. This finding suggests that the innervation of muscle fibres is somehow sorted according to type during early development. This sorting does not appear to occur during the removal of the polyneuronal innervation because little, if any, increase in the bias of unit compositions occurs as the number of synapses present in the muscle is reduced 2- to 3-fold. To determine whether the sorted innervation might be explained by a selective synaptogenesis, a study was made of the type compositions of units formed by reinnervation of neonatal soleus muscle. Glycogen depletion of single units 2 weeks following crush of the soleus nerve at postnatal day 2 showed that most of them (10/12) had biased type compositions which could not be explained by a random reinnervation. The location of fibres in the reinnervated motor units suggests that the regenerating axons innervated a novel set of fibres. The differentiation of fibres into types was apparently not changed during their reinnervation. These results imply that regenerating motor neurones in the neonatal rat selectively reinnervate muscle fibre types. These and other studies further imply that the organization of fibres into motor units during normal development does not occur, as is widely believed, by a random innervation of naive fibres and their subsequent differentiation under the influence of innervation.