Folia Morphologica 2013, tom 72, nr 2

The autophagic process was first described by Clark in 1957 using electron microscopy, but the term “autophagy” was introduced for the first time in 1963 by Christian de Duve, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on lysosomes. Autophagy (auto — self, phagy — eating) is defined as an evolutionarily conserved and strictly regulated lysosomal pathway that degrades cytoplasmic material and organelles and even microbial invaders [22, 36, 37, 39]. The other major degrading system, which is present only in mammals, is the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) [44]. The UPS degrades soluble short-lived proteins, which must be tagged by ubiquitin to be recognised by the proteasome...

The celiac trunk usually arises from the ventral part of the aorta at the level of the 12th thoracic vertebra and it branches off the left gastric, common hepatic and splenic arteries [10]. The superior mesenteric artery arises 1 cm below, at the level of the first lumbar vertebrae [1]. The celiomesenteric trunk (CMT) is a rare congenital vascular variation in which the celiac trunk and the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) arise off a common vessel from the ventral part of the aorta [2, 10, 16]. Its incidence is less than 1% of all celiomesenteric anomalies [4] and less than 2% of all individuals [16]...

In 1988, a Roman necropolis dated the 3rd century A.C. was discovered in the city of Zaragoza (Spain) [5]. A non-human dental piece was found in one of the tombs (Fig. 1). As described below, it presented only minimal deteriorations. The specimen showed mixed brachyodont (short crown, long roots and closed apexes), and hypsodont (no cuspids and smalt crests in the occlusal surface) characteristics. As a consequence, the assignment of the piece to a particular species was unclear, even for the experts in animal anatomy...

The comprehensive understanding of variations in tendons of the hand and the fingers is necessary for the proper diagnosis of certain neurological disorders [7]. Among all, the abductor pollicis longus (APL) muscle is one of the most known to present numerous variations. Since there are few reports on such abnormalities in standard anatomy and surgery textbooks, the study of alterations of the APL is of much importance for any academic, surgical and clinical purpose. Variants in the number of tendons of the APL muscle may be asymptomatic and often incidental finding [7, 10, 19, 23]...

The study of the upper airway diameter has become a topic of interest for researchers ever since its connection with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) was discovered [9]. Breathing disorders during sleep have been connected with the narrowing of nasopharyngeal airways among patients with craniofacial structure disorders [14]. The measurements were based on lateral cephalograms...

According to a famous textbook by Hollinshead [9], ligamentum inguinale internum mediale [8] or the ligament of Henle is a thickening in the lowermost part of the lateral border of the rectus sheath. The textbook also states about a confusion in Nomina Anatomica between the ligament of Henle and the conjoint tendon (conjoined tendon; Tendo conjunctivus; a common aponeurosis for insertion of the inferomedial end of the obliquus internus and transversus abdominis muscles): actually, there is no description on the ligament in Gray’s anatomy and, instead, the conjoint tendon is considered to join the rectus sheath [17, 19]...

Subarachnoid space (SAS) can be assessed by various imaging modalities, including computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonography (US) [5, 6, 8, 9, 11–13]. US is the method of choice and most commonly used modality [9]. It is also non-ionising, inexpensive and reproducible. SAS and VW have variations in healthy children, resulting in difficulty in the assessment [9]...

Major organ systems of vertebrates are structurally and functionally distinct on the left and right sides despite orderly symmetries of the exterior [14]. Interestingly, asymmetry in lacrimal flow is known to occur in females more than males [5]. Consequently, as a result of this disparity in function we tested the hypothesis that the normal lacrimal drainage system (LDS) might show subtle left-right asymmetry in its anatomy and morphometry when imaged on digital subtracted dacryocystography (DS-DCG)...

Although the ideal temperature for sperm growth varies between mammalian groups, it usually appears in warm-blooded species to be somewhat cooler than internal body temperature, leaving the testicles vulnerable. Thus, many findings emphasize the importance of thermoregulation to sperm production and seminal quality [3, 4, 10–13, 22, 23]. The evolutionary advantage of such a system must be connected with the scrotum to keep the testes at a temperature slightly lower than that of the rest of the body because higher temperatures may be damaging to sperm count...

The arterial supply of most of the heart is dependent on the patency of the left coronary artery (LCA) [19]. On reaching the atrioventricular groove, the LCA usually divides into 2 (anterior interventricular artery [AIA] and left circumflex [LCx] artery) or less frequently into the AIA, LCx, and one or more “additional” terminal branch/es (ATBs). It is these ATBs (1 or more) that are the topic of investigation and discussion in this paper. There is great variability in the morphometric and morphologic parameters of the LCA with regard to its length, calibre, angle of division, and branching pattern [7]...