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Technical Note
Technical note: An R program for automating bone cross section reconstruction
Article first published online: 14 APR 2010
DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21299
Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
1096-8644/asset/cover.gif?v=1&s=c25957633aab6b6ac1922fea9d9a5103f0357fec "American Journal of Physical Anthropology")
Additional Information
How to Cite
Sylvester, A. D., Garofalo, E. and Ruff, C. (2010), Technical note: An R program for automating bone cross section reconstruction. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 142: 665–669. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.21299
Publication History
- Issue published online: 6 JUL 2010
- Article first published online: 14 APR 2010
- Manuscript Accepted: 4 FEB 2010
- Manuscript Received: 30 NOV 2009
Keywords:
- section properties;
- long bones;
- R statistical freeware
Abstract
Many recent studies have used long bone cross-sectional geometric properties in various comparative analyses. Methods have been described for reconstructing diaphyseal cross sections from external molds and biplanar radiographs that produce accurate results (within 5% of true values on average). The manual image processing required, however, is both time and labor intensive. A new freely available program developed here for the computational freeware, R, automates much of the process. This study compares cross-sectional properties calculated using the new R program to those from peripheral quantitative CT (pQCT) and the original manual method. We find that the R program works aswell as the original manual image processing for most cross sections eliminates the chance for entry errors at several steps and greatly speeds up data collection. Am J Phys Anthropol 142:665–669, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.