Comment to “A Guideline for the Validation of Likelihood Ratio Methods used for Forensic Evidence Evaluation”
Following the ISO 17025 norm, the authors propose a general format of how to proceed when validating likelihood ratio methods in forensic science. The metrics basically depend on the behavior of Tippett and ECE plots. (Source: Forensic Science International)
Source: Forensic Science International - March 27, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Ivo Alberink, Annabel Bolck, Marjan Sjerps, Peter Vergeer Source Type: research
Contribution by CGGA to discussion of Meuwly et al (2016)
The authors are to be congratulated for their clear exposition of the problems concerning the validation of likelihood ratio (LR) methods used for forensic evidence evaluation and their discussion of possible approaches to the solutions. (Source: Forensic Science International)
Source: Forensic Science International - March 27, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Colin Aitken Source Type: research
Age estimation in adults by dental imaging assessment systematic review
Age estimation is one of the most important characteristics used to establish the identity of any individual in different legal, forensic, or anthropological research context [1]. To this end, forensic teams depend on osseous analysis based methods, which have acceptable results for young individuals or in their early adulthood [2], and dental development based methods, which are highly reliable in individuals under 21 years of age [3]. However, these methods have some disadvantages: the poor resistance of bones to the taphonomic process [4], and once the individual reaches the threshold of 21 years of age, and the third m...
Source: Forensic Science International - March 25, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: T.Y. Marroquin, S. Karkhanis, S.I. Kvaal, S. Vasudavan, E. Kruger, M. Tennant Source Type: research
Estimation of date of death through wound healing of an extraction socket: a case report
According to Dalitz [1], surgical tooth extraction as a consequence of dental disease is a relatively common procedure in modern man. Healing of the resulting extraction socket appears to progress in an ordered and sequential manner. This can be of great value in forensic investigations of unidentified human remains, as it can provide some degree of accuracy for the estimation of the period of time that has elapsed between the antemortem extraction of a particular tooth and the time of death of that person. (Source: Forensic Science International)
Source: Forensic Science International - March 25, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Joan Viciano, Ruggero D ’Anastasio, Cristian D’Ovidio, Sara Costantini, Aldo Carnevale, Luigi Capasso Tags: Case Report Source Type: research
Tracers as invisible evidence — The transfer and persistence of flock fibres during a car exchange
Prosecution of a perpetrator caught in the act does not always require the involvement of forensic scientists. In this case there is a clear relation between crime scene and suspect. However, if ‘blind spots’ exist between a crime and the apprehension of a suspect, additional forensic evidence may be necessary to reconstruct the series of events the crime consists of and to link the perpetrator to the crime scene. This link may be based on materials accidentally left or picked up by the perpetrator. (Source: Forensic Science International)
Source: Forensic Science International - March 23, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Ana Slot, Jaap van der Weerd, Martin Roos, Martin Baiker, Reinoud D. Stoel, Matthijs C. Zuidberg Source Type: research
Tracers as invisible evidence − the transfer and persistence of flock fibres during a car exchange
Prosecution of a perpetrator caught in the act does not always require the involvement of forensic scientists. In this case there is a clear relation between crime scene and suspect. However, if ‘blind spots' exist between a crime and the apprehension of a suspect, additional forensic evidence may be necessary to reconstruct the series of events the crime consists of and to link the perpetrator to the crime scene. This link may be based on materials accidentally left or picked up by the p erpetrator. (Source: Forensic Science International)
Source: Forensic Science International - March 23, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Ana Slot, Jaap van der Weerd, Martin Roos, Martin Baiker, Reinoud D. Stoel, Matthijs C. Zuidberg Source Type: research
A literature review of blood concentrations of new psychoactive substances classified as phenethylamines, aminoindanes, arylalkylamines, arylcyclohexylamines, and indolalkylamines
New psychoactive substances (NPS) are a challenge to forensic toxicologists as a large number of drugs are emerging each year. Efforts are made to keep analytical methods updated, and to make detections of these substances possible. If a NPS is detected, there is still uncertainty around interpretation of the actual concentrations that are found. In forensic cases representing traffic offenders, violence or rape cases, it is important to know the actual effects of the given drug. Since only a few experimental studies on the effects of the NPS on humans exist, concentrations measured in real life blood samples are valuable....
Source: Forensic Science International - March 21, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Ritva Karinen, Gudrun H øiseth Tags: Review Article Source Type: research
Validating sonication as a DNA extraction method for use with carrion flies
Carrion-feeding Diptera, mainly from the families Calliphoridae (blow flies) and Sarcophagidae (flesh flies), are increasingly important in medico-legal death investigations as a means to determine the postmortem interval estimation (PMI; [1]). Investigations of carrion-feeding Diptera are not only relevant for human decedents [2], but also for the illegal use of natural resources [3], and cases of animal or human neglect [4,5]. With the increased focus on these flies, there is an increased need to identify the (mainly) immature larval specimens that are recovered from bodies. (Source: Forensic Science International)
Source: Forensic Science International - March 21, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Trevor Stamper, E. Scott Wong, Alicia Timm, Ronald W. DeBry Tags: Technical Note Source Type: research
Species identification of white false hellebore (Veratrum album subsp. oxysepalum) using real-time PCR
Some toxic plants show strong morphological similarities to edible plants or herbs, and poisoning is frequently caused by accidental ingestion [1 –11]. Collecting and eating edible wild plants, both raw and cooked, is common in some countries, and all parts of the plant body, such as the leaf, sprout, stem, and root, are eaten. However, every year, poisoning is caused by misunderstandings regarding wild edible plants [12]. In the case of po isoning by toxic plants, rapid and accurate identification is required for appropriate medical treatment or forensic investigation. (Source: Forensic Science International)
Source: Forensic Science International - March 20, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Hitomi S. Kikkawa, Kouichiro Tsuge, Satoshi Kubota, Masako Aragane, Hikoto Ohta, Ritsuko Sugita Source Type: research
Technical Note: Validating sonication as a DNA extraction method for use with carrion flies
Carrion-feeding Diptera, mainly from the families Calliphoridae (blow flies) and Sarcophagidae (flesh flies), are increasingly important in medico-legal death investigations as a means to determine the postmortem interval estimation (PMI; [1]). Investigations of carrion-feeding Diptera are not only relevant for human decedents [2], but also for the illegal use of natural resources [3], and cases of animal or human neglect [4,5]. With the increased focus on these flies, there is an increased need to identify the (mainly) immature larval specimens that are recovered from bodies. (Source: Forensic Science International)
Source: Forensic Science International - March 20, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Trevor Stamper, E. Scott Wong, Alicia Timm, Ronald W. DeBry Tags: Technical Note Source Type: research
A literature review of blood concentrations of of new psychoactive substances classified as phenethylamines, aminoindanes, arylalkylamines, arylcyclohexylamines, and indolalkylamines
New psychoactive substances (NPS) are a challenge to forensic toxicologists as a large number of drugs are emerging each year. Efforts are made to keep analytical methods updated, and to make detections of these substances possible. If a NPS is detected, there is still uncertainty around interpretation of the actual concentrations that are found. In forensic cases representing traffic offenders, violence or rape cases, it is important to know the actual effects of the given drug. Since only a few experimental studies on the effects of the NPS on humans exist, concentrations measured in real life blood samples are valuable....
Source: Forensic Science International - March 20, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Ritva Karinen, Gudrun H øiseth Tags: Review Article Source Type: research
Genotype-phenotype dilemma in a case of sudden cardiac death with the E1053K mutation and a deletion in the SCN5A gene
Mutations in the SCN5A gene, which encodes the α-subunit of the cardiac sodium channel Nav1.5, may cause either a gain or a loss of channel function. Gain-of-function mutations may lead to the long QT syndrome type 3 (LQTS) [1] whereas loss-of-function mutations are associated with a spectrum of arrhythmia phenotypes including Brugada syndrome (BrS) [2], sick sinus syndrome (SSS) [3], cardiac conduction diseases (CCD) [4] and possibly dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) [5]. Most of the inherited cardiac arrhythmia syndromes show variable phenotypic severity ranging from absence of any symptoms to sudden cardiac death (SCD). (So...
Source: Forensic Science International - March 20, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: T. Jenewein, B.M. Beckmann, S. Rose, H.H. Osterhues, U. Schmidt, C. Wolpert, P. Miny, C. Marschall, M. Alders, C.R. Bezzina, A.A.M. Wilde, S. K ääb, S. Kauferstein Source Type: research
Ion channelopathies associated genetic variants as the culprit for sudden unexplained death
Sudden unexplained death (SUD) constitutes a part of the general sudden death that should not be ignored. Many like to classify SUD as a subtype of sudden cardiac death (SCD) that attributes to abnormal cardiac electrophysiology. Indistinguishable from the majority of SCD, most SUD victims suffered a witnessed death occurred within 1hour of an acute clinical change, or an unwitnessed death occurred within the previous 24hours unexpectedly [1]. Therefore, the electrocardiogram (ECG) or electroencephalogram (EEG) data was often unavailable in these cases. (Source: Forensic Science International)
Source: Forensic Science International - March 20, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Shouyu Wang, Lijuan Li, Ruiyang Tao, Yuzhen Gao Tags: Review Article Source Type: research
Chronobiological studies on body search, oviposition and emergence of Megaselia scalaris (Diptera, Phoridae) in controlled conditions
Circadian clocks have evolved to synchronize physiology, metabolism and behaviour to the 24-h geophysical cycles of the Earth [1]. Though the chronobiology of diverse organisms from bacteria to humans has been studied, the preeminent circadian model both in the laboratory and under natural and semi-natural conditions is the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster (e.g. [1 –3]). Understanding the circadian clock mechanism could play an important role in forensic entomology (where insects are used to obtain useful information for crime reconstruction) because it temporally gates behaviour such as locomotor activities, feeding, m...
Source: Forensic Science International - March 17, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: E. Bostock, E.W. Green, C.P. Kyriacou, S. Vanin Source Type: research
Inaccuracy and bias in adult skeletal age estimation: Assessing the reliability of eight methods on individuals of varying body sizes
Accurate age estimations are essential for identifying human skeletal remains and narrowing missing persons searches in forensic contexts. Reliability in adult skeletal age estimations is generally lower than ideal, especially for individuals over the age of 40 years. Validation studies have shown that there are population differences [1 –9], sex differences [10,11], socio-economic differences [12–14], and individual variation differences [15–18] that affect the age changes observed on bones. (Source: Forensic Science International)
Source: Forensic Science International - March 17, 2017 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Catherine E. Merritt Tags: Forensic Anthropology Population Data Source Type: research
