Goran Štrkalj

The History and Composition of the Raymond A. Dart Collection of Human Skeletons at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

The Raymond A. Dart Collection of Human Skeletons (Dart Collection) is housed in the School of Anatomical Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and comprises one of the largest documented cadaver-derived human skeletal assemblages in the world. This collection originated in the early 1920s as a result of the efforts of Raymond Dart and continues to grow. The skeletons included represent varied indigenous and immigrant populations from southern Africa, Europe and Asia. This contribution documents the history of the collection and provides an updated inventory and demographic assessment of this valuable research collection. According to a recent inventory the Dart Collection currently comprises 2,605 skeletons representing individuals from regional SA African (76%), White (15%), Coloured (4%) and Indian (0.3%) populations. A large proportion of the skeletons (71%) represent males. The recorded ages at death range from the first year to over 100 years of age, but the majority of individuals died between the ages of 20 and 70. The Dart Collection has been affected by collection procedures based on availability. All of the cadavers collected before 1958, and large proportions subsequently, were derived from unclaimed bodies in regional South African hospitals. Some details of documentation (age at death, population group) are estimates and some aspects of the collection demographics (sex ratios) do not closely reflect any living South African population. Our inventory and analysis of the Dart Collection is aimed to assist researchers planning research on the materials from this collection.

Is 21st century neuroscience too focussed on the rat/mouse model of brain function and dysfunction?

Studies in the basic neurosciences are heavily reliant upon rat and mouse models. The brain is one of the most distinguishing features of the human species, but is enough being done to fully understand the evolution of the human brain and brain diversity in general? Without a clear understanding of the evolution of the nervous system we may be investing a great deal of effort into some limited specific animal models that may prove to be erroneous in terms of the overall usefulness in clinically applied research. Here we present an analysis that demonstrates that 75% of our research efforts are directed to the rat, mouse and human brain, or 0.0001% of the nervous systems on the planet. This extreme bias in research trends may provide a limited scope in the discovery of novel aspects of brain structure and function that would be of importance in understanding both the evolution of the human brain and in selecting appropriate animal models for use in clinically related research. We offer examples both from the historical and recent literature indicating the usefulness of comparative neurobiological investigation in elucidating both normal and abnormal structure and function of the brain.

The application of 3D printing in anatomy education

No abstract available. (Published: 16 October 2015) Citation: Med Educ Online 2015, 20: 29847 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/meo.v20.29847

Novel methods of molecular sex identification from skeletal tissue using the amelogenin gene

Sex identification from skeletal material is of vital importance in order to reconstruct the demographic variables of an individual in forensic genetics and ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis. When the use of conventional methods of sex identification are impossible, molecular analysis of the X and Y chromosomes provides an expedient solution. Two novel systems of molecular sex identification suitable for skeletal material using the amelogenin gene are described, beginning in intron 2-3, spanning exon 3 and ending in intron 3-4. This area was optimal for sexing, as it includes 14 sex-specific polymorphic regions in addition to an indel (insertion or deletion of nucleotides). Once optimised and working with 100% efficiency on the controls, these procedures were applied to a collection of miscellaneous archaeological skeletons (ex situ) sourced from the Raymond Dart Collection of Human Skeletons (Dart Collection). This collection was used to optimise these techniques for skeletal remains derived from an archaeological context. These methods produced 46.66% sex results for the ex situ sample, which is within the normal range for aDNA studies. These new techniques are optimal for sex identification, with both the inherent control of isolating many sex-specific features and combined with the use of sensitive micro-fluidic electrophoresis.

Current Applications and Future Perspectives of the Use of 3D Printing in Anatomical Training and Neurosurgery.

3D printing is a form of rapid prototyping technology, which has led to innovative new applications in biomedicine. It facilitates the production of highly accurate three dimensional objects from substrate materials. The inherent accuracy and other properties of 3D printing have allowed it to have exciting applications in anatomy education and surgery, with the specialty of neurosurgery having benefited particularly well. This article presents the findings of a literature review of the Pubmed and Web of Science databases investigating the applications of 3D printing in anatomy and surgical education, and neurosurgery. A number of applications within these fields were found, with many significantly improving the quality of anatomy and surgical education, and the practice of neurosurgery. They also offered advantages over existing approaches and practices. It is envisaged that the number of useful applications will rise in the coming years, particularly as the costs of this technology decrease and its uptake rises.

Anatomy, medical education, and human ancestral variation

It is argued in this article that the human body both in health and disease cannot be fully understood without adequately accounting for the different levels of human variation. The article focuses on variation due to ancestry, arguing that the inclusion of information pertaining to ancestry in human anatomy teaching materials and courses should be carried out and implemented with care and in line with latest developments in biological anthropology and related sciences. This seems to be of particular importance in the education of health professionals, as recent research suggests that better knowledge of human variation can improve clinical skills. It is also argued that relatively small curricular changes relating to the teaching of human variation can produce significant educational gains. Anat Sci Educ.

Body mass index in Serbian Roma

Stature and body mass were measured in 346 individuals belonging to three Roma groups from metropolitan Belgrade western Serbia. As with the majority of Serbian Roma, the participants in this study have been historically disadvantaged and their situation was further aggravated during the recent political crises. Surprisingly, the body mass index (BMI) of Serbian Roma is relatively high compared with western Europeans and is inconsistent with the view that Serbian Roma are predisposed to high rates of chronic energy deficiency ( approximately 4%). While the majority of individual Roma display BMI values within the normal range (WHO, 1995), certain groups have a moderate to high proportion of individuals ( approximately 35%) who could be classified as overweight and some who approach at-risk levels for clinical obesity.

The Status of the Race Concept in Contemporary Biological Anthropology: A Review

Abstract The race concept dominated the study of human biological variation for centuries. Prior to, and especially after, the Second World War, a number of anthropologists questioned the scientific value of the concept, initiating a debate over ‘the existence of human races’. Research suggests that the debate has still not been resolved, as significant differences exist among anthropologists from different countries and regions of the world. In some places the concept of race seems to be falling out of favour (e.g., the USA and Western Europe), while in others it is generally accepted (e.g., China and Eastern Europe). The reasons for these differences are many and complex. They are of a scientific, ideological and professional nature. Furthermore, it would appear that chance, especially in smaller countries, plays a significant role in the attitudes of biological anthropologists towards the race concept.

Working Together, Sharing Resources: An Interuniversity Collaboration to Advance Anatomy Education

To the Editor, Anatomical Sciences Education:The unprecedented advancements in medical and scientificresearch as well as considerable, globally felt demographicchanges, induced significant shifts within the health services land-scape. Part of this shift is marked by an increased demand forhealth care professionals, coming from both medicine and allieddisciplines, and, consequently, an increase in the number of Medi-cal Schools. For example, in Australia, a country from which thisreport stems, there are 19 Medical Schools. Nine of these wereestablished in the last 14 years, with a 10th school being signifi-cantly expanded in the same period of time (AMC, 2014).All this, in turn, has necessitated an increase in capacitiesto teach anatomy, one of the key preclinical subjects across allmedical disciplines. Anatomy somewhat differs from other pre-clinical subjects as it requires extensive teaching resources.Building up of capacities for anatomy teaching represents aconsiderable financial strain and even if schools have sufficientbudgets at their disposal it takes a long time and supportivecultural/communal milieu to build up appropriate collections,particularly those containing human tissue. Here, we proposethat some of the problems and constrains related to developingand maintaining anatomy programs could be overcomethrough a community of practice (Wenger, 1998), and illus-trate this by a collaboration of two Australian universities.Macquarie University and the University of Western Syd-ney are among Australia’s youngest tertiary institutions, theformer being 50 and the latter 25 years old. Both universitiesare in the academic ascendency and in their strategic planssee biomedical sciences as an area for further expansion.Both universities have anatomy programs. In recent years,some academics from these universities engaged in commu-nity of practice in anatomy. At first, these were informalexchanges on various aspects of anatomy education includingoptimal utilization of existing resources, modes of teaching,assessments, ways in which humanistic values could be incor-porated in teaching, and strategies of coping with relativelyhigh failure rates in some of the units (modules). This interin-stitutional collaboration seemed of particular importance inAustralia bearing in mind relative lack of clearly definednational standards and high level of diversity in the waysanatomy is taught. A survey of Australian and New ZealandMedical School programs, for example, showed that the totalnumber of hours devoted to anatomy teaching ranges from56 to 560 (Craig et al., 2010). This diversity, to an extent,precludes co-operation between institutions in the field ofeducation and several experts have called for the establish-ment of national anatomy curriculum in Australia (Chapuiset al., 2010; Ramsey-Stewart et al., 2010).The early exchanges between staff in our two institutionsproved to be beneficial and our community of practice evolvedand ramified. Collaborating academics now also act as guestlecturers, they are involved in moderation of assessments andadvising on curricular changes. Departments are also gettingengaged in the exchange and sharing of some of their resour-ces. For example, one of the departments has created a collec-tion of digitalized histology slides, produced in their biologylaboratory. These are now shared with the collaborating insti-tution. These slides can be utilized in teaching, laboratorypractical sessions, assessments, and can be easily incorporatedin on-line resources (both departments are strongly relying onblended mode of learning and teaching). Thus, one collaborat-ing institution was saved expenses and, more importantly,time-intensive preparations and engagement of technicalexpertize, in creating these resources, capitalizing on the exist-ing strengths of the other. Similarly, both universities have rela-tively small teaching skeletal collections. Joined together,however, these two represent a significant collection and a con-siderably improved teaching tool when compared to one alone.This combined collection contains substantial heterogeneity interms of age, ancestry, sex, and pathology and can play animportant role in developing students’ understanding of bio-logical variation. It is, therefore, planned that these twodepartments will use each other’s collection in teaching, a strat-egy easily implemented due to a relative geographic proximityof the two institutions and the fact that both collections arewell catalogued using the OsteoWare software (SmithsonianInstitution, Washington, DC).Finally, the most ambitious collaborative project, followingthe work of McMenamin and colleagues, relates to an initia-tive to build up a collection of models created by three-dimensional (3D) printers (McMenamin et al., 2014). The firststeps have already been made at one of the institutions wherecadavers or sections from cadavers in anatomy laboratorieswere scanned and on these blueprints a 3D reproductions werecreated. These models are currently used in anatomy teaching.It is planned that the specimens will be scanned in the laborato-ries at both Macquarie University and the University of West-ern Sydney, exchanged and, again, printed in both places.Similarly to the skeletal collection, this approach will enablesignificant enlargement of the collection of created models and

Herophilus of Chalcedon and the practice of dissection in Hellenistic Alexandria.

The dissection of human cadavers is a complex topic that can be comprehended only if a number of factors are taken into account, as illustrated by the example of Herophilus of Chalcedon, who was the first dissector in the Western medical tradition.