The histology of cervical ribs of Sauropoda reveals a primary bone tissue, which largely consists of longitudinally oriented mineralized collagen fibres, essentially the same tissue as found in ossified tendons. The absence of regular periosteal bone and the dominance of longitudinal fibres contradict the ventral bracing hypothesis (VBH) postulated for sauropod necks. The VBH predicts histologi...

The histology of cervical ribs of Sauropoda reveals a primary bone tissue, which largely consists of longitudinally oriented mineralized collagen fibres, essentially the same tissue as found in ossified tendons. The absence of regular periosteal bone and the dominance of longitudinal fibres contradict the ventral bracing hypothesis (VBH) postulated for sauropod necks. The VBH predicts histologi...

Mammals as a rule have seven cervical vertebrae, a number that remains remarkably constant. Changes of this number are associated with major congenital abnormalities (pleiotropic effects) that are, at least in humans, strongly selected against. Recently, it was found that Late Pleistocene mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) from the North Sea have an unusually high incidence of abnormal cervical v...

The somites are metameric structures. Although these structures appear uniform, other types of muscles differentiate from them along the rostro-caudal body axis. This study investigated whether the somites are committed to producing level specific muscles by heterotopic transplantations between quail and chick embryos. Our results were as follows: 1) Cervical somites, when transplanted into the...

OBJECTIVE To describe the prevalence of the full spectrum of transverse process elongation and cervical ribs for the first time in over a decade in a Saudi population, trying to assess any changes in the interim. METHODS A cross-sectional hospital based study was conducted at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the 3-month period between October and December 2010. The ...

A cervical rib is a supernumerary rib that occasionally projects from the lateral mass of the 7th cervical vertebra. Clinically, it can cause obscure nervous or vascular symptoms, and it is difficult to diagnose. Studies have shown the prevalence of cervical ribs to lie between 0.03% on radiographs and 3% in postmortem investigations, depending on the sex and race of the population studied. The...

OBJECTIVES This article reviews the prevalence of lumbarisation, sacralisation and lumbar ribs, and their morphological relevance by evaluating multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) images. These segment variations can cause miscounting of vertebrae at the lumbar spinal level. METHODS A retrospective radiographic analysis of 226 cases scanned by MSCT prior to forensic autopsy was undertaken....

BACKGROUND Cervical rib is an important cause of nontraumatic thoracic outlet neurovascular compression. This study was undertaken as there is no known documented report on its prevalence in the study environment. AIMS To evaluate the prevalence of cervical ribs and its variation with sex and age among patients presenting at radiological facilities for a chest radiograph. SETTINGS AND DESIG...