About the Authors

Nan Zheng

Affiliation Department of Anatomy, College of Basic Medicine, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, P. R. China

Xiao-Ying Yuan

Affiliation Department of Anatomy, College of Basic Medicine, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, P. R. China

Yun-Fei Li

Affiliation Department of Anatomy, Zhongshan College of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, P. R. China

Yan-Yan Chi

Affiliation Department of Anatomy, College of Basic Medicine, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, P. R. China

Hai-Bin Gao

Affiliation Dalian Hoffen Bio-Technique Co. Ltd., Dalian, P. R. China

Xin Zhao

Affiliation School of Art, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, P. R. China

Sheng-Bo Yu

Contributed equally to this work with: Sheng-Bo Yu, Hong-Jin Sui

suihj@hotmail.com (H-JS); ysbdmu@126.com (S-BY)

Affiliation Department of Anatomy, College of Basic Medicine, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, P. R. China

Hong-Jin Sui

Contributed equally to this work with: Sheng-Bo Yu, Hong-Jin Sui

suihj@hotmail.com (H-JS); ysbdmu@126.com (S-BY)

Affiliations Department of Anatomy, College of Basic Medicine, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, P. R. China, Dalian Hoffen Bio-Technique Co. Ltd., Dalian, P. R. China

John Sharkey

Affiliation National Training Centre, University of Chester, Dublin, Ireland

Competing Interests

Dalian Hoffen Bio-Technique Co. Ltd freely provided support in making P45 plastination sections (it is a patented technology belonging to this company) and dissecting nuchal specimens. It is confirmed that one or more of the authors employed by this commercial company does not alter the authors’ adherence to all PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: HJS SBY. Performed the experiments: NZ XYY YFL YYC. Analyzed the data: SBY HJS. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HBG XZ. Wrote the paper: NZ SBY HJS JS.