Miguel Cecilio Botella López

Image analysis of pubic bone for age estimation in a computed tomography sample

Radiology has demonstrated great utility for age estimation, but most of the studies are based on metrical and morphological methods in order to perform an identification profile. A simple image analysis-based method is presented, aimed to correlate the bony tissue ultrastructure with several variables obtained from the grey-level histogram (GLH) of computed tomography (CT) sagittal sections of the pubic symphysis surface and the pubic body, and relating them with age. The CT sample consisted of 169 hospital Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) archives of known sex and age. The calculated multiple regression models showed a maximum R2 of 0.533 for females and 0.726 for males, with a high intra- and inter-observer agreement. The method suggested is considered not only useful for performing an identification profile during virtopsy, but also for application in further studies in order to attach a quantitative correlation for tissue ultrastructure characteristics, without complex and expensive methods beyond image analysis.

INFLUÊNCIA DO ESTILO DE VIDA NA QUALIDADE DE VIDA DE MULHERES COM CÂNCER DE MAMA

Objective: This research aims at assessing the life style influence on the quality of life of women with breast cancer. Material and methods: It was a descriptive, analytical and of quantitative approach research. The population was constituted by women with diagnosed breast cancer, and the sample included 60 patients. The instruments used were a questionnaire related to life style and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire “Core” 30 Items to evaluate the quality of life. Data were analyzed by the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) program and the statistical analysis was made by the Student-t test, with significance level of 0.05. Results: When some life style dimensions were compared, such as diet and physical activity compared to physical performance; leisure, home and religious activities to social and functional performance, it was noticed that there was significant statistical relation, with p-value=0.000 and t-values between -17,153 and -60,131. Conclusion: Those women’s life styles can influence the quality of life during oncological treatments. DESCRIPTORS Life Style. Breast Neoplasms. Medical Oncology. Quality of Life.

Sex determination in a Spanish population based on sacrum

Sex determination is one of the essential steps when it comes to establishing an individuals biological profile. It is important in both archaeology and forensic studies. The sacrum is not generally conserved, but in cases where it is, it can be used for determination of the sex of skeletal remains. Furthermore, the sacrum is not a commonly studied bone and has not been studied in a Spanish population. For this study, measurements of 170 sacra of individuals from the contemporary osteological collection of San José from Granada including only the adults were taken. Measurements based on the anatomical regions of the sacra were established in order to obtain some regression formulas to determine sex. Our results show that the Superior Transverse Line and Right Lateral Sacral Crest are the most dimorphic structures, achieving a 74% rate of correct classification of sex in a univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, when the mentioned variables were combined, an 81.41% rate of correct classification was achieved. Our results show that our method can be applied with other methods at the same time to determine the sex of individuals in forensic and archaeological contexts.

Specific-age group sex estimation of infants through geometric morphometrics analysis of pubis and ischium

Sex determination of unknown individuals is one of the primary goals of Physical and Forensic Anthropology. The adult skeleton can be sexed using both morphological and metric traits on a large number of bones. The human pelvis is often used as an important element of adult sex determination. However, studies carried out about the pelvic bone in subadult individuals present several limitations due the absence of sexually dimorphic characteristics. In this study, we analyse the sexual dimorphism of the immature pubis and ischium bones, attending to their shape (Procrustes residuals) and size (centroid size), using an identified sample of subadult individuals composed of 58 individuals for the pubis and 83 for the ischium, aged between birth and 1year of life, from the Granada osteological collection of identified infants (Granada, Spain). Geometric morphometric methods and discriminant analysis were applied to this study. The results of intra- and inter-observer error showed good and excellent agreement in the location of coordinates of landmarks and semilandmarks, respectively. Principal component analysis performed on shape and size variables showed superposition of the two sexes, suggesting a low degree of sexual dimorphism. Canonical variable analysis did not show significant changes between the male and female shapes. As a consequence, discriminant analysis with leave-one-out cross validation provided low classification accuracy. The results suggested a low degree of sexual dimorphism supported by significant sexual dimorphism in the subadult sample and poor cross-validated classification accuracy. The inclusion of centroid size as a discriminant variable does not imply a significant improvement in the results of the analysis. The similarities found between the sexes prevent consideration of pubic and ischial morphology as a sex estimator in early stages of development. The authors suggest extending this study by analysing the different trajectories of shape and size in later ontogeny between males and females.

PERFIL SOCIODEMOGRÁFICO E PERCEPÇÃO DO TRABALHO DE TRABALHADORES COM DEFICIÊNCIA FÍSICA DE UMA INSTITUIÇAO DE ENSINO SUPERIOR

Objective: This study examined the sociodemographic profile and work perception according to workers with and without physical disabilities in the Federal University of Paraiba (Campus I), Joao Pessoa, Paraiba, Brazil. Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with 26 employees categorized into two groups, 50% of Workers with Disabilities (WD) and 50% of Workers without Disabilities (WWD). We used the Sociodemographic and work perception questionnaire (compiled by and adapted through the ANACT method). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics on SPSS version 19.0. Results: Both groups were comprised mostly of women: 53.8% (WD) and 69.2% (WWD). The WD predominated in the age group 50-59 years (38.5%), unlike the WWD that were found predominantly in the group 20-29 years (53.8%). The majority was married: 46.2% (WD) and 53.8% (WWD); the education level as a specialist was 38.5% and 30.8% for the WD and WWD groups, respectively. As to the work perception, most WD (69.2%) and WWD (53.8%) referred to work as being important; with regard to the end of the workday, WD reported tiredness (46,2%), while WWD had no complaints (69.2%). Conclusion: The results suggest that WD give more value to their work, although they refer to an uncomfortable feeling (tiredness), suggesting the conduction of further studies in order to provide these workers with preventive and health promotion measures. DESCRIPTORS: Physical disability. Occupational Health. Work Capacity Evaluation.