Sexual dimorphism using the interstyloid distances and clinical implication for elongated styloid process in Northeastern Thailand / Dimorfismo sexual usando la distancia inter-estiloide y la implicación clínica del proceso estiloides elongado en el Noreste de Tailandia

Skeletal remains are crucial in forensic identification of the sex, especially human skulls including the styloid process, a bony projection from the skull. Hence, the objectives of the present study were undertaken to assess the value of the styloid process for the sex identification of unknown skulls and also to investigate the prevalence of elongated styloid process in 102 human dry skulls from the northeast Thai population. As a result, the interstyloid distances at both base and tip of the styloid processes were found to be significantly different between male and female specimens, although no significant difference was found in the length of the styloid process between males and females. In addition, the occurrence of the elongated styloid process was not associated with the gender, although its prevalent laterality on the left was recognized. It is suggested that the styloid process can be applied to the sex identification by measuring the interstyloid distance at the base or the tip of these processes.

Los restos óseos son cruciales para la identificación forense del sexo, especialmente en los cráneos humanos, incluyendo el proceso estiloides, una proyección ósea del cráneo. Por lo tanto, los objetivos del presente estudio consistieron en evaluar el valor del proceso estiloides en la identificación del sexo de cráneos desconocidos y también para investigar la prevalencia del proceso estiloides elongado en 102 cráneos secos humanos de la población del Noreste de Tailandia. Como resultado, se encontró que las distancias inter-estiloides tanto en la base y la punta de los procesos estiloides eran significativamente diferentes entre las muestras de hombres y mujeres, aunque no se encontró diferencia significativa en la presencia del proceso estiloides entre ambos. Además, la aparición del proceso estiloides elongado no se asoció con el sexo, aún cuando se observó su prevalencia en el lado izquierdo. Sugerimos que el proceso estiloides se puede utilizar en la identificación del sexo mediante la medición de la distancia inter-estiloide en la base o en la punta de estos procesos.

Occurrence of fenestral diaphragms and knots in renal glomerular endothelia of diabetic mutant MafA-/-MafK+ mice as revealed in embedment-free transmission electron microscopy.

Using the advantages (high contrast and transparency and efficient 3D viewing) of embedment-free section transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the occurrence of numerous fenestral diaphragms was clearly shown in 3D en-face viewing of the renal glomerular capillary endothelium of severe overt diabetes mellitus mice, which were generally MafA-deficient and simultaneously MafK-overexpressed specifically in pancreatic ß-cells. This presents another example of nephritis-induced diaphragmed fenestrae in the renal glomerular endothelium. In addition, knot-/umbilicus-like structures discrete from and larger than the central knots of regular diaphragms of fenestrated endothelium were clearly demonstrated to occur randomly in the renal glomerular endothelial fenestrae of mutant mice and wild ones. The knot-structures were revealed to be protrusions of underlining basement lamina in conventional TEM by section-tilting observation.