U.S. flag
      An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.
        Here's how you know
      Here's how you know**Official websites use .gov**
            
            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
      **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
            
            A **lock** (
            A locked padlock
            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Menu

      
        close

            
            
                                              About NIJ
        
                    
  
          About NIJ
      
    
          The NIJ Director
          How NIJ Is Organized
          Mission and Guiding Principles
          Research and Development Process
          Strategic Framework
          Assessments of NIJ
          Annual Reports & Reports to Congress
          Staff Directory
          Funding & Awards
        
                    
  
          Funding & Awards
      
    
          Current Funding
          Forthcoming Funding
          Expired Funding
          Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
          Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
          Fellowship & Student Programs
          Travel Scholarships
          NIJ Challenge Program
          Library & Multimedia
        
                    
  
          Library & Multimedia
      
    
          NIJ Journal
          Podcasts
          Publications Listing
          Multimedia Listing
          Rated Practices on CrimeSolutions
          Rated Programs on CrimeSolutions
          Software & Databases
          Datasets
          Patents
          Topics
        
                    
  
          Topics
      
    
          Article Listing
          Corrections
          Courts
          Crime Prevention
          Crimes
          Drugs and Crime
          Equipment and Technology
          Forensic Sciences
          Youth Justice
          Justice System Reform
          Law Enforcement
          Tribal Crime and Justice
          Victims of Crime
          Events
        
                    
  
          Events
      
    
          NIJ 2024 Research Conference
          Scheduled Events
          On-Demand Events
          Research Meetings & Workshops
          NIJ-Hosted Online Training

                            
                                About
          Contact Us
          Subscribe
          Topics A-Z
                  Share
FacebookXLinkedInRedditPinterestEmail Home
                            Funding & Awards
 Optimizing Bone Loss Across the Lifespan: The Three-Dimensional Structure of Porosity in the Human Femoral Neck and Rib As a Metric of Bone Fragility
Note:
              This awardee has received supplemental funding. This award detail page includes information about both the original award and supplemental awards.
Award Information
Awardee
              The Ohio State University
Award #
              2017-MU-CX-0009
Funding Category
              Competitive
Location
                    Columbus, OH
Awardee County
              Franklin
Congressional District
              3
Status
              Closed
Funding First Awarded
              2017
Total funding (to date)
              $65,000
Original Solicitation
              NIJ FY17 Graduate Research Fellowship Program in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2017, $50,000)
Both accidental and non-accidental circumstances can produce bone fractures leading to decline and death. This differentiation in manner of death becomes increasingly difficult with age, as fragile bones easily fracture during accidental falls or spontaneously break in osteoporotic individuals. Bone mineral density  (BMD) is commonly used to clinically diagnose osteoporosis, but it under-predicts fracture risk about 11-fold because it does not consider changes in tissue structure. Most long bone strength is derived from the cortical ""wall"" of the bone. Porous voids accumulate in the cortex with age as artifacts of the remodeling processes that renew and repair bone. Pores concentrate stress, initiating and propagating microscopic damage into fracture. The complex three-dimensional structure of pore networks has confounded inferences from traditional two-dimensional methods.
Researchers have a poor understanding of how aging changes the relationship between the mechanical strains that initiate remodeling and pore structures that result from remodeling. Defining this relationship has direct forensic application in using porosity to 1) assess accidental vs. non-accidental fracture based on bone fragility, 2) indicate general age range and pathology (e.g. osteoporosis), and 3) infer mechanical strain patterns to identify unknown bone fragments.
The sample used for this study is an adult age series of the human femoral neck and human fourth rib from sixteen cadaveric individuals, both male and female (Division of Anatomy, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University).
Research Design and Methods: The SkyScan 1172-D high-resolution micro computed tomography (micro-CT) (Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University) will quantify the three-dimensional structure of pore systems over the lifespan. Pore systems will be given strain ""scores"" based on circularly polarized light microscopy of collagen fiber orientation in histological sections. Bone is hypothesized to direct pore expansion and coalescence towards regions that are under lower mechanical strain and incur less fracture-initiating microdamage. This distinction is hypothesized to break down with age, compromising biomechanical Integrity. Femoral neck scanning and analysis is projected for 2017 -2018, with a prospective renewal in 2018 -2019 for the rib.
MANCOVAs for repeated measures will test the effect of anatomical region and strain score on pore volume, connectivity, and orientation. Covariates will include age, sex, height, weight, femoral neck length/angle, and BMD.
In addition to publication and presentation, raw data on pore measurements, three-dimensional scans, and any predictive equations for strain score or anatomical region based on pore variables will be made available through a website.
ca/ncf
Supplemental Award 1 (Fiscal Year 2018, $15,000)
Current understanding of how aging changes the structure of human bones is less than perfect.  This has import for forensic determination regarding whether a broken bone was accidental or non-accidental as well as the determination when that break occurred. To address this gap in knowledge, the applicant proposes to study an adult age series of human femoral neck and fourth ribs from a sample of sixteen male and female cadavers using high-resolution micro computed tomographic imaging.
"Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law," and complies with Part 200 Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR  200.210(a)(14).
nca/ncf


  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      Current and emerging histomorphometric and imaging techniques for assessing age-at-death and cortical bone quality
                  Image Processing Techniques for Extracting Complex Three-Dimensional Cortical Pore Networks From High-Resolution Micro-Computed Tomography (Micro-CT) Images of the Human Femoral Neck and Rib
                  Optimizing Bone Loss Across the Lifespan: The Three-Dimensional Structure of Porosity in the Human Femoral Neck and Rib As a Metric of Bone Fragility

  
Date Created: September 19, 2017
    
          Side navigation
  

        

  
  
              Current Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Forthcoming Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Expired Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
    
      
            
            
            
      Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
    
      
            
            
            
      Fellowship & Student Programs
    
      
            
            
            
      Travel Scholarships
    
      
            
            
            
      NIJ Challenge ProgramSimilar Awards
        
                      Building Equity in Objective Prison Classification: A Model for Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities
                  Study of Factors Influencing Mass Spectral Data Comparison
                  Understanding the Implementation and Impact of Credible Messenger Mentoring on Youth Across Settings
 Top

      National Institute of Justice

        
        
                        About NIJ
                    About NIJ
      
    
                  How NIJ Is Organized
      
    
                  NIJ Director
      
    
                  Research Disclaimer
      
    
                  Funding & Awards
                    Funding & Awards Home
      
    
                  Awards Listing
      
    
                  Current Funding
      
    
                  Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
      
    
                  Resources
                    Events
      
    
                  Podcasts
      
    
                  Publications
      
    
                  Topics
      
    
                  Multimedia
      
    
                  Reuse Policy
      
    
                  Contacts
                    Contact NIJ
      
    
                  Staff Directory
      
    
                  Submit a FOIA Request
      
    
                  File a Civil Rights ComplaintFacebook
          
                      X
          
                      YouTube
  

      810 7th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20531
      
              Secondary Footer link menu
            Accessibility
              Plain Language
              Privacy Policy
              Legal Policies and Disclaimer
              No FEAR Act
              Freedom of Information Act
              USA.gov
              Justice.gov