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Biomedical subjects

Stuart W McDonald

Publications and source records attributed to Stuart W McDonald.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

What did William Hunter know about bone?

This article examines William Hunter's specimens on bone in the Anatomy Museum at the University of Glasgow. By referring to students' notes taken at Hunter's lectures and to the Manuscript Catalogue of his anatomical specimens, we attempt to answer the question, "What did William Hunter know about bone?" Hunter seems to have been particularly interested in the relationship between vascularisation and ossification and many of the specimens illustrate this. He provided his students with reasoned arguments on a number of issues: that the marrow serves as a fat store and not to produce synovial fluid or to keep bones supple; the periosteum serves as an attachment for tendons and ligaments; the rationale for the presence of epiphyses is not readily defined; that bones form by intramembranous and endochondral ossification and that, in the latter, cartilage is replaced by bone. William Hunter narrowly failed to realise that in long bones new bone is laid down by the periosteum and at the epiphysial plates, and is remodeled. These discoveries were to be made by his brother, John.

Anatomy↗
PubMed2004

Changes in bone architecture in the femoral head and neck in osteoarthritis.

This study analyses changes in the bony architecture of the femoral head and neck in osteoarthritis. Five osteoarthritic hips were obtained from female patients undergoing total hip replacement and were compared to non-arthritic control specimens from the dissecting room. Analysis was carried out on a coronal bony slice of the femoral head and on a transverse section of the upper femoral neck. The results indicated that in the region of the compressive trabeculae the intertrabecular areas were generally smaller in the osteoarthritic specimens and that the inferior part of the cortex of the femoral neck had thickened. Our data thus quantified changes consistent with the thickening of compressive trabeculae reported by others and with thickening of the region of the femoral neck on which they converge. We found less trabecular bone in non-weight-bearing regions of the lower femoral head and in the medulla of the upper neck in the osteoarthritic specimens consistent with loss of tensile trabeculae. Scanning electron microscopy suggested that bone resorption activity was higher in the subchondral and non-weight-bearing regions of the osteoarthritic femoral heads than in the controls.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

The anatomy of buccinator--insights from functional casts of the oral vestibule.

OBJECTIVE: When a dental elastomer is placed in the oral vestibule and the facial muscles contracted while it sets, the functional cast produced frequently shows a deep anteroposterior groove, and marked posterosuperior and smaller anteroinferior bulges. This study investigates whether these features have a structural or a physiological basis. DESIGN: Casts of the right side of the oral vestibule of dissecting room cadavers and living volunteers were made using a polyvinylsiloxane dental elastomer. The volunteers each produced two functional casts in each of the following situations: while the teeth were clenched but the facial muscles inactive, while grimacing, and while swallowing. RESULTS: Grooves and bulges were largely absent in casts from the dissecting room cadavers and of living volunteers with the teeth clenched but the facial muscles inactive. They were present when the elastomer set while the subjects grimaced but most marked when they had been swallowing their saliva. The depth of the grooves varied between individuals and generally was greatest alongside the second molar teeth. We found that the posterosuperior bulge did not coincide with the position of the parotid duct. CONCLUSIONS: The anteroposterior groove represents a well developed horizontal part of buccinator. The regions of the casts bulging superior and inferior to the groove probably represent weaker regions of buccinator towards its maxillary and mandibular attachments. The bulge superior to the groove was not explained by a weakness in buccinator where it is pierced by the parotid duct.

Adult↗