Publications by authors named "A Levillain"
Article Synopsis
- - The study addresses the need for reliable methods to predict the risk of fractures in patients with femoral metastases, highlighting the limitations of current clinical tools and the potential of CT-scan-based finite element analysis for better predictions.
- - Researchers assessed the reproducibility of a promising model developed in Belgium by comparing it to an independently reproduced model in France, confirming a strong correlation but noting the reproduced model consistently predicts higher failure loads.
- - The evaluation of the model's application on different datasets showed decreased accuracy in predictions, while the global sensitivity analysis revealed significant factors affecting results, especially the influence of the density calibration coefficient.
Article Synopsis
- * Manual segmentation is often tedious and can vary between experts, prompting the use of deep learning techniques to automate the process even when data is limited.
- * The study develops a specialized pipeline using U-Net architectures for segmenting human femurs and vertebrae, showing that automated segmentation yields results comparable to manual methods in failure load simulations, highlighting its potential effectiveness.
Externally applied forces, such as those generated through skeletal muscle contraction, are important to embryonic joint formation, and their loss can result in gross morphologic defects including joint fusion. While the absence of muscle contraction in the developing chick embryo leads to dissociation of dense connective tissue structures of the knee and ultimately joint fusion, the central knee joint cavitates whereas the patellofemoral joint does not in murine models lacking skeletal muscle contraction, suggesting a milder phenotype. These differential results suggest that muscle contraction may not have as prominent of a role in the growth and development of dense connective tissues of the knee.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEmbryonic muscle forces are necessary for normal vertebral development and spinal curvature, but their involvement in intervertebral disc (IVD) development remains unclear. The aim of the current study was to determine how muscle contractions affect (1) notochord involution and vertebral segmentation, and (2) IVD development including the mechanical properties and morphology, as well as collagen fibre alignment in the annulus fibrosus. Muscular dysgenesis (mdg) mice were harvested at three prenatal stages: at Theiler Stage (TS)22 when notochord involution starts, at TS24 when involution is complete, and at TS27 when the IVD is formed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCongenital spine deformities may be influenced by movements in utero, but the effects of foetal immobility on spine and rib development remain unclear. The purpose of the present study was to determine (1) critical time-periods when rigid paralysis caused the most severe disruption in spine and rib development and (2) how the effects of an early, short-term immobilisation were propagated to the different features of spine and rib development. Chick embryos were immobilised once per single embryonic day (E) between E3 and E6 and harvested at E9.
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