The shape of the distal femur: a palaeopathological comparison of eburnated and non-eburnated femora

Abstract

Objectives-To determine the diVerence in shape of the distal femur, viewed axially in two dimensions, between eburnated and non-eburnated femora. Methods-A comparison of 52 noneburnated and 16 eburnated femora drawn from a large archeological skeletal population. Eburnation was taken to indicate late stage osteoarthritis. Shape variability, based on landmarks, was quantified using a principal components analysis after a Procrustes alignment. Results-A statistically significant diVerence was found between the two groups. This was with respect to the patellar groove and the shape of the medial condyle. The latter diVerence is consistent with bone remodelling as a knee stabilising mechanism. Conclusions-Anatomical shape can be quantified using an uncomplicated statistical technique. It was used to quantify the shape of the distal femur and demonstrate shape diVerences associated with osteoarthritis of the knee.

Comparison of the radius of curvature of the ulnar trochlear notch of Rottweilers and Greyhounds

“…These authors found that there was a difference in the shape of femora with and without eburnation, but they could not conclude that any of the observed differences in shape are risk factors for the development of osteoarthritis in human knee joints. 21 The cause of fragmented coronoid process in Rottweilers cannot be explained by data of the study reported here. Our study examined only a single component of the elbow joint, the articular plane defined by the ulnar trochlear notch.…”

“…[19][20][21] Bullough et al 20 stated that there is a necessary physiologic incongruity in diarthrodial joints that facilitates the even distribution of load across the joint surfaces, maximizes joint stability, and maintains the nutrition of articular cartilage by facilitating the movement of synovial fluid into the articular cartilage. Age-related remodeling of joints results in altered load distribution with subsequent articular cartilage degeneration and development of osteoarthritis.…”

Normalizing temporal patterns to analyze sit-to-stand movements by using registration of functional data

“…The field of FDA is quite new and there is still a lot of work to be done, but several applications in different fields have been developed in recent years. Examples include such applications as the bone shape analysis (Shepstone et al, 1999), the study of human growth , the motor control of speech (Lucero and Koening, 2000), handwriting movements (Ramsay, 2000) or the analysis of the fingers' pinch force . Registration is a very interesting tool for functional data analysis and it provides a local nonlinear normalization of time functions.…”

Functional data analysis in shape analysis

“…A total of 68 outlines were studied, which correspond to 52 non-eburnated and 16 eburnated femora. They considered 12 landmarks (see Shepstone et al (1999) for details about data and identification and construction of these landmarks) 1 .…”