Scarlet Imaging, LLC

Big congrats to my colleagues Adam Lawson, Aracely Martinez, Brandon P. Hedrick and Emma R. Schachner on our paper 'Variation in air sac morphology and postcranial skeletal
pneumatization patterns in the African grey parrot' published online today! The data mostly came from the Grey Parrot Anatomy Project. Thank you!!! fil:///C:/D/AAV%20papers/J%20Anatomy/Adam%20Lawson%20paper%202024/Journal%20of%20Anatomy%20-%202024%20-%20Lawson%20-%20Variation%20in%20air%20sac%20morphology%20and%20postcranial%20skeletal%20pneumatization%20patterns%20in.pdf

With special thanks from my team led by Dr Emma Schachner, we just got an incredible publication in Nature. The following is summarized by Dr Schachner.

Extremely pleased to share our team’s latest work in Nature - hawks and other soaring birds use their respiratory system to enhance their flight muscles. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07485-y
Here is a temporary link to download the PDF if you do not have access: https://we.tl/t-UDsipZ1CHG
It has long been known that breathing is functionally linked to locomotion, and it has been demonstrated that flapping enhances ventilation. This project shows the opposite is also true in some species: a component of the respiratory system is influencing and modifying the performance of the flight apparatus. Here are the highlights:
1. The SPD: Branching off the lung is a large air-filled sac, the subpectoral diverticulum (SPD), that dives between the flight muscles in various birds, including Red-tailed hawks. Specifically, the SPD lies between the pectoralis (the downstroke muscle) and the supracoracoideus (the upstroke muscle).
2. What is it not for: We found that the SPD does not play a critical role in ventilation in the Red-tailed hawk or Swainson's hawk by looking at CT scans of live sedated birds while they breathed. They can voluntarily collapse the SPD and still breathe, and independently open and close it on one side only. These birds were imaged for clinical purposes prior to this project (for unrelated reasons).
3. Who has it: We then looked at 68 species of birds (57 via CT or microCT - including a previously collected clinical dataset) and found that the SPD independently evolved at least 7 times in different clades of soaring birds, but does not appear in non-soaring species. This strongly suggests a functional and adaptive link between having an SPD and using soaring flight.
4. What is it for: To assess its functional significance, we evaluated the impact of an inflated SPD on the pectoralis muscle using a method called MDA modeling (with a computational open-source gait modeling program: Gaitsym) and analyzed muscle fascicle length in soarers and non-soarers. We found that the SPD and muscle architecture together improve the torque generating capacity of the wing when held in the extended "soaring" position.
5. Takeaway: The respiratory system is modified in specific groups of birds to mechanically enhance the flight muscles for soaring
6. Another takeaway: This work demonstrates a previously unknown role for avian air sacs and diverticula. The respiratory system in birds is probably doing a lot more interesting non-ventilatory activities that we have not yet discovered. 🥳

SPD paper 1 file sent via WeTransfer, the simplest way to send your files around the world

Conor Davenport, Christ Cariello, David Beckett, Adam Garman, Alex Olden and Brion Benninger from Western University of Health Sciences presented this poster at the American Society of Anesthesiologists 2023 meeting. The authors describe how point of care ultrasound (POCUS) of the anteriolateral neck (ALN) can be taught to medical students using a combination of lecture and lab. GAX Specimens with BriteVu were used in the labs. This combined learning approach (lecture and lab) ‘works well with novice learners’.

The Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery just published a review of Avian Surgical Anatomy and Orthopedic Management. 2nd ed. SE Orosz, MS Echols, and PT Redig. Dr Mark Mitchell at LSU provided a thorough review of the book. Please go to the following website to see the review:

Avian Surgical Anatomy and Orthopedic Management, Second Edition Avian Surgical Anatomy and Orthopedic Management, Second Edition by BirdDoctor - December 30, 2023 Avian Surgical Anatomy and Orthopedic Management, Second Edition Susan E Orosz, PhD, DVM, DABVP (Av), DECZM (Av) Scott Echols, DVM, DABVP (Av) Patrick T Redig, DVM, PhD Published 2023 The long awaited....