Source: The American Association of Clinical Anatomists, May 12, 2003

This year’s predoctoral award competition in Graz had only poster presentations involved. As a result the Association ended up giving two awards to the top two outstanding poster presentations. Each winner received a check for $600 to offset travel costs to the meeting.

Ashley Jones is a medical student at the American University of the Caribbean (St. Maarten). Her mentor is Dr. Marlos Loukas. Ashley’s poster was entitled “They examined 80 buccal fat pads from fixed cadavers and determined the mean volumetric distribution using digital image analysis and three dimensional software. The results were also assessed in both sexes with those in men having a slightly larger volume. The clinical relevance of the study is related to the fact that the buccal fat pad is often used in facial reconstruction and their study will help with assessing whether the correct volume has been removed from each side during the aesthetic procedure.

Maggie Bowers is also a medical student at the American University of the Caribbean (St. Maarten). Her mentor is Dr. Marlos Loukas. Maggi’s poster was entitled “The Anatomy and Clinical Implications of the Myocardial Bridges in the Adult Human Heart”. Myocardial bridges are epicardial arteries that become surrounded by muscle fibers for different distances and depths but they return to the surfaces at some point distally. While they are considered important in clinical cardiology, their relative location(s) is/are in debate and their involvement in atherosclerosis is unknown. The bridges were most commonly found in the proximal regions of the left coronary artery. Atherosclerotic thickening of myocardial bridges was much less than that seen the coronary arteries of the same heart.