May 2014: This Month in JoVE - Bioengineering Limb Prostheses, Protecting Trees from Fungal Pathogens, and Investigating the Kinematics of Swallowing

Summary

Here's a look at what's coming up in the May 2014 issue of JoVE.

Protocol

A Technique to Screen American Beech for Resistance to the Beech Scale Insect (Cryptococcus fagisuga Lind.)

Jennifer L. Koch, David W. Carey

Northern Research Station, US Forest Service

Beech bark disease is initiated by feeding activities of the beech scale insect that create fungal entry points in the bark. Trees that are resistant to the scale insect are also disease resistant. Here we present the protocol we have developed to screen individual beech trees for beech scale resistance.

Coordinate Mapping of Hyolaryngeal Mechanics in Swallowing

Thomas Z. Thompson¹, Farres Obeidin¹, Alisa A. Davidoff², Cody L. Hightower¹, Christohper Z. Johnson¹, Sonya L. Rice¹, Rebecca-Lyn Sokolove¹, Brandon K. Taylor¹, John M. Tuck¹, William G. Pearson, Jr.^3,4

¹Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, ²Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, ³Department of Cellular Biology & Anatomy, Georgia Regents University, ⁴Department of Otolaryngology, Georgia Regents University

Coordinate mapping is a method of documenting salient features of hyolaryngeal biomechanics in the pharyngeal phase of swallowing. This methodology uses image analysis software to record coordinates of anatomical landmarks. These coordinates are imported into an excel macro and translated into kinematic variables of interest useful in dysphagia research.

Oscillation and Reaction Board Techniques for Estimating Inertial Properties of a Below-knee Prosthesis

Jeremy D. Smith¹, Abbie E. Ferris¹, Gary D. Heise¹, Richard N. Hinrichs², Philip E. Martin³

¹School of Sport & Exercise Science, University of Northern Colorado, ²Kinesiology Program, Arizona State University, ³Department of Kinesiology, Iowa State University

Body segmental inertial properties are required for inverse dynamics modeling. Using an oscillation and reaction board technique, inertial properties of below-knee prostheses were measured. Using direct measures of prosthesis inertia in the inverse dynamics model of the prosthetic leg resulted in lower magnitudes of resultant joint forces and moments.

Assessing Species-specific Contributions To Craniofacial Development Using Quail-duck Chimeras

Jennifer L Fish, Richard A Schneider

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California at San Francisco

This article describes a method to generate chimeric embryos that is designed to test the species-specific contributions of neural crest and/or other tissues to craniofacial development.