A reinterpretation of human breast anatomy includes all the layers of the anterior body wall.

Mammary glands define mammals as a group, yet a comprehensive anatomical description of the mammary gland does not exist for almost any mammalian species. In humans, the anatomical and surgical literature provide conflicting and incomplete descriptions of the gross anatomy of the breast. We dissected 9 male and 15 female human body donors to clarify this gross anatomy.

Comparative anatomy of the felid brachial plexus reflects differing hunting strategies between Pantherinae (snow leopard, Panthera uncia) and Felinae (domestic cat, Felis catus).

The brachial plexus, a network of ventral rami providing somatic sensory and motor innervation to the forelimb, is of particular importance in felids. Large-bodied pantherines require powerful rotatory and joint stabilizing forelimb muscles to maintain secure holds on large prey, while smaller-bodied felines are small prey specialists reliant on manual dexterity. Brachial plexus dissections of two snow leopards (Panthera uncia) and two domestic cats (Felis catus) revealed that generally the morphology of the brachial plexus is quite conserved.

What's suffering got to do with it? A qualitative study of suffering in the context of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID).

Background: Intolerable suffering is a common eligibility requirement for persons requesting assisted death, and although suffering has received philosophic attention for millennia, only recently has it been the focus of empirical inquiry. Robust theoretical knowledge about suffering is critically important as modern healthcare provides persons with different options at end-of-life to relieve suffering. The purpose of this paper is to present findings specific to the understanding and application of suffering in the context of MAID from nurses' perspectives.

Midline and Mediolateral Episiotomy: Risk Assessment Based on Clinical Anatomy.

Episiotomy is the surgical incision of the vaginal orifice and perineum to ease the passage of an infant's head while crowning during vaginal delivery. Although episiotomy remains one of the most frequently performed surgeries around the world, short- and long-term complications from the procedure are not uncommon. We performed midline and mediolateral episiotomies with the aim of correlating commonly diagnosed postepisiotomy complications with risk of injury to perineal neuromuscular and erectile structures.

Situating dementia in the experience of old age: Reconstructing legal response.

This paper examines the intersection of dementia with the physiological processes and social contexts of old age; assesses the current legal response to problems arising through that intersection; and considers the potentially transformative effect of re-thinking legal response with those contextualised problems in mind. Two distinctive problems are identified: a heightened risk of exploitation, and an increasingly intense need for care coinciding with a decreasing ability to recognise and respond to that need. These problems require a social (rather than medical) response, of which law is an integral part.

Male and female anatomical homologies in the perineum of the dog (Canis familiaris).

Understanding the homologies between male and female perineal structure helps both evolutionary biologists and clinicians better understand the evolution and anatomy of canines. Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) play an important role in human society, and canine perineal anatomy is important for maintaining dogs' reproductive health for successful breeding and a wide variety of pathologies. Here, we investigate homologies between male and female perineal structure, identifying structures based on common function, anatomical relationships and attachments.

Extraocular muscle architecture in hawks and owls.

Objective: A complete and accurate understanding of extraocular muscle function is important to the veterinary care of the avian eye. This is especially true for birds of prey, which rely heavily on vision for survival and yet are prone to ocular injury and disease. To better understand the function of extraocular muscles in birds of prey, we studied extraocular muscle architecture grossly and histologically.

Reorganization of mammalian body wall patterning with cloacal septation.

Septation of the cloaca is a unique mammalian adaptation that required a novel reorganization of the perineum-the caudal portion of the trunk body wall not associated with the hindlimb. Fish, the basal vertebrates, separate ventrolateral body wall musculature of the trunk into two discrete layers, while most tetrapods expand this pattern in the thorax and abdomen into four. Mammals, the only vertebrate group to divide the cloaca into urogenital and anorectal portions, exhibit complex muscle morphology in the perineum.

Histological study of white rhinoceros integument.

In this study, we report findings from a microscopic analysis of the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) integumentary ultrastructure. Skin samples from the cheek, shoulder, flank and rump were taken from a 46-year-old female southern white rhinoceros and examined using H&E and elastic histological stains. The epidermis was thickest in the flank (1.

A functional and clinical reinterpretation of human perineal neuromuscular anatomy: Application to sexual function and continence.

Modern anatomical and surgical references illustrate perineal muscles all innervated by branches of the pudendal nerve but still organized into anatomically distinct urogenital and anal triangles with muscles inserting onto a central perineal body. However, these conflict with the anatomy commonly encountered during dissection. We used dissections of 43 human cadavers to characterize the anatomical organization of the human perineum and compare our findings to standard references.

An alternate dissection approach to the female urogenital triangle.

Traditional dissections of the female urogenital (UG) triangle can lead to early destruction of the erectile tissues, associated musculature, and neurovascular structures. Here, we present an alternate dissection of the female UG triangle. Rather than begin the female UG triangle dissection with the fatty tissue of the labia majora, we utilize an early identification of the suspensory ligament of the clitoris to organize the dissection.

A novel method for comparative analysis of retinal specialization traits from topographic maps.

Vertebrates possess different types of retinal specializations that vary in number, size, shape, and position in the retina. This diversity in retinal configuration has been revealed through topographic maps, which show variations in neuron density across the retina. Although topographic maps of about 300 vertebrates are available, there is no method for characterizing retinal traits quantitatively.

Eye shape and the nocturnal bottleneck of mammals.

Most vertebrate groups exhibit eye shapes that vary predictably with activity pattern. Nocturnal vertebrates typically have large corneas relative to eye size as an adaptation for increased visual sensitivity. Conversely, diurnal vertebrates generally demonstrate smaller corneas relative to eye size as an adaptation for increased visual acuity.

Comment on "Nocturnality in dinosaurs inferred from scleral ring and orbit morphology".

Schmitz and Motani (Reports, 6 May 2011, p. 705) claimed to definitively reconstruct activity patterns of Mesozoic archosaurs using the anatomy of the orbit and scleral ring. However, we find serious flaws in the data, methods, and interpretations of this study.

Anatomical specializations for nocturnality in a critically endangered parrot, the Kakapo (Strigops habroptilus).

The shift from a diurnal to nocturnal lifestyle in vertebrates is generally associated with either enhanced visual sensitivity or a decreased reliance on vision. Within birds, most studies have focused on differences in the visual system across all birds with respect to nocturnality-diurnality. The critically endangered Kakapo (Strigops habroptilus), a parrot endemic to New Zealand, is an example of a species that has evolved a nocturnal lifestyle in an otherwise diurnal lineage, but nothing is known about its' visual system.

Hawk eyes I: diurnal raptors differ in visual fields and degree of eye movement.

Background: Different strategies to search and detect prey may place specific demands on sensory modalities. We studied visual field configuration, degree of eye movement, and orbit orientation in three diurnal raptors belonging to the Accipitridae and Falconidae families.

Methodology/principal Findings: We used an ophthalmoscopic reflex technique and an integrated 3D digitizer system.

The nocturnal bottleneck and the evolution of mammalian vision.

Evidence from the early paleontological record of mammalian evolution has often been interpreted as supporting the idea that mammals were nocturnal for most of their early history. Multiple features of extant mammal sensory systems, such as evolutionary modifications to the light-regulated circadian system, photoreceptor complement, and retinal morphology, support this nocturnal hypothesis for mammalian evolution. Here, we synthesize data on eye shape and orbit orientation in mammals as these data compare to other amniotes.

Optic foramen morphology and activity pattern in birds.

The optic nerve is the sole output of visual information from the ganglion cell layer of the retina to the brain in vertebrates. The size of the optic nerve is predicted to be closely associated with activity pattern, and, in many birds, the size of the optic foramen approximates the size of the optic nerve. Specifically, nocturnal species should have relatively smaller optic foramina than diurnal species because of differences in retinal pooling between activity patterns.

The relationship between the lizard eye and associated bony features: a cautionary note for interpreting fossil activity patterns.

Activity pattern, the time of day when an animal is active, is associated with ecology. There are two major activity patterns: diurnal (awake during the day in a photopic environment) and nocturnal (awake at night in a scotopic environment). Lizards exhibit characteristic eye shapes associated with activity pattern, with scotopic-adapted lizard eyes optimized for visual sensitivity with large corneal diameters relative to their eye axial lengths, and photopic-adapted lizards optimized for visual acuity, with larger axial lengths of the eye relative to their corneal diameters.

Assessing capacity within a context of abuse or neglect.

In 2000, with the implementation of Part III of the Adult Guardianship Act: Support and Assistance for Abused and Neglected Adults, British Columbia formally recognized the need to examine issues of decisional capacity of older adults within a context of abuse or neglect. Interestingly, however, although the test of capacity was clearly laid out under this piece of legislation, the potential influence that living in a situation of abuse or neglect may have on how the person makes decisions is not explicitly addressed. Similarly, this is a missing link throughout the literature discussing decisional capacity in older adults.

The anatomical relationships between the avian eye, orbit and sclerotic ring: implications for inferring activity patterns in extinct birds.

Activity pattern, or the time of day when an animal is awake and active, is highly associated with that animal's ecology. There are two principal activity patterns: diurnal, or awake during the day in a photopic, or high light level, environment; and nocturnal, awake at night in scotopic, or low light level, conditions. Nocturnal and diurnal birds exhibit characteristic eye shapes associated with their activity pattern, with nocturnal bird eyes optimized for visual sensitivity with large corneal diameters relative to their eye axial lengths, and diurnal birds optimized for visual acuity, with larger axial lengths of the eye relative to their corneal diameters.

Relative Wulst volume is correlated with orbit orientation and binocular visual field in birds.

In mammals, species with more frontally oriented orbits have broader binocular visual fields and relatively larger visual regions in the brain. Here, we test whether a similar pattern of correlated evolution is present in birds. Using both conventional statistics and modern comparative methods, we tested whether the relative size of the Wulst and optic tectum (TeO) were significantly correlated with orbit orientation, binocular visual field width and eye size in birds using a large, multi-species data set.

Comparative analysis of the size and shape of the lizard eye.

Lizards occupy both scotopic (light-limited) and photopic (light-rich) environments, thereby making this clade ideal for analyses of eye morphology adaptations. This study examines how in lizards the morphology of the eye varies according to activity in these different light environments. Measurements were collected on corneal diameters and axial lengths of the eye for 239 specimens of 116 lizard species (including Sphenodon) that include both species with scotopic and photopic visual adaptations.