Individual identification by measuring the human skeleton is an important research in the field of forensic anthropology. Computed tomography （CT） technology can provide high-resolution image of skeleton. Skeleton image can be reformed by software in the post-processing workstation. Different skeleton measurement indexes of anthropology, such as diameter, angle, area and volume, can be measured on section and reformative images. Measurement process is barely affected by human factors. This paper reviews the literatures at home and abroad about the application of measuring skeleton by CT in forensic anthropology research for individual identification in four aspects, including sex determination, height infer, facial soft tissue thickness measurement and age estimation. The major technology and the application of CT in forensic anthropology research are compared and discussed, respectively.
Age Determination by Skeleton ; Bone and Bones/diagnostic imaging* ; Forensic Anthropology/trends* ; Humans ; Sex Determination Analysis ; Software ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed/methods*

Burned bones have their unique characteristics in investigation of fire disaster/crimes, airplane disaster, explosion and other accidents. To study the morphological changes of skeletal tissue and DNA changes at different incinerating temperature might provide precise standard means to determine genera, sex, and age. Genetic locus was also applied in the above fields. The techniques to extract and detect of DNA in burning bones have been improved in recent years. In this article investigation advancement of analysis of burned bones with the morphology, histology, and molecular biology as well as the latest methods and techniques were reviewed. These results provide a new approach for further research and practice in forensic medicine.
Age Determination by Skeleton/methods* ; Animals ; Bone and Bones/pathology* ; Burns/pathology* ; DNA/analysis* ; Forensic Anthropology/methods* ; Hot Temperature ; Humans ; Sex Determination by Skeleton/methods* ; Tandem Repeat Sequences ; Time Factors

Sex estimation is one of the crucial procedures in the biological profile identification of human skeletal remains. Knowing sex of unknown case can lead to accurate and appropriate methods for predicting age, stature, ancestry, or even personal identification. Skull is one of the most reliable one among other skeletons and it is usually retained for both archaeological and forensic contexts. Although many morphological features and metric measurements of skull have been studied for sexing, but to the best of our knowledge is no study on maxillary suture length for sex estimation. Therefore, this study aims to develop a new sex estimation method for a Thai population by determining three maxillary suture lengths: anterior, transverse, and posterior maxillary suture, by computerizing amount of pixel obtained from photographs of these sutures. The present study was conducted on 190 Thai bone samples of which 96 were males and 94 were females. Independent t test revealed statistically significant difference (P < 0.01) between males and females in all maxillary suture measurements. Equations derived from prediction model, which required three maxillary suture lengths gave 76.8421% accuracy from the leave-one-out cross validation in estimating sex percentage accuracies in predicting sex from these equations, which were relatively moderate. This study provides a novel and objective sex estimation method for Thais. It suggests that maxillary suture length can be applied for sex estimation. The new computerized technique will contribute basis knowledge and method for sex estimation, especially when only base of skull is available in forensic circumstance.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Cranial Sutures ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Methods* ; Sex Determination Analysis ; Skeleton ; Skull ; Skull Base ; Sutures* ; Thailand

OBJECTIVE: Five measurements of the calcaneus taken on digital radiography (DR) of adults of Han Population of Sichuan Province were selected to determine sex by multivariate discriminant analysis. METHODS: Lateral radiographs of calcaneus taken from 393 subjects were collected. The samples were randomly divided into the experimental group (148 males and 186 females) and the examined group (26 males and 33 females). Five measurements were taken from the radiography. The analysis of variance (AVON) was carried out to determine if there was significant difference between the male and female. The discriminant functions were drawn by Fisher discriminant analysis. The effects of all obtained functions were evaluated with the examined samples. RESULTS: There was statistically significant difference in the five measurements between the males and the females (P<0.05). Six groups of discriminant functions were obtained with an accuracy ranged from 78.4% to 88.9%. When applied on the examined samples, the sex discriminant accuracy varied from 79.7% to 86.4%. CONCLUSION These five measurements acquired from the lateral radiographs of calcaneus could be used for sex assessment during forensic identification of individuals.
Calcaneus/diagnostic imaging* ; Discriminant Analysis ; Female ; Forensic Anthropology/methods* ; Humans ; Male ; Radiographic Image Enhancement ; Sex Determination by Skeleton ; Young Adult

Objective To estimate sex based on patella measurements of Sichuan Han population by computed tomography three-dimensional volume reconstruction technique, and to explore the application value of patella in sex estimation. Methods CT three-dimensional volume reconstruction images of patella of 250 individuals were collected, the four measurement indicators including patellar length, patellar width, patellar thickness, and patellar volume were measured. The t-test was used to determine measurement indicators with sex differences. Fisher discriminant analysis was used to establish the sex discriminant function and the prediction accuracy was calculated by leave-one-out cross validation. Results The sex differences of the four measurement indicators had a statistical significance （P<0.05）. The accuracy rate of the univariate discriminant function established by the patellar length was the highest （82.0%）. The accuracy rates of the all indicators discriminant function and the stepwise discriminant function were 80.4% and 81.6%, respectively. Conclusion It is feasible and accurate to estimate sex of Sichuan Han population by patella measurements with CT three-dimensional volume reconstruction technique. The method may be used as an alternative for sex estimation of Sichuan Han population when other bones with higher accuracy are not available.
Discriminant Analysis ; Female ; Forensic Anthropology ; Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Male ; Patella/diagnostic imaging* ; Sex Determination by Skeleton ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

The traditional costicartilage analysis inspection is limited to morphological inspection. In recent years, with the development of forensic radiology and molecular genetics, the costicartilage analysis inspection technology has been further enriched and developed. At present, the costicartilage analysis inspection technology have been able to be used in the practice of forensic medicine. This paper reviews the research advances about the costicartilage analysis inspection technology in the identification of human gender, age and so on in order to provide the references for forensic appraisers.
Age Determination by Skeleton/methods* ; Age Factors ; Calcification, Physiologic ; Cartilage/physiology* ; DNA/isolation & purification* ; DNA Fingerprinting/methods* ; Female ; Forensic Anthropology ; Forensic Medicine/methods* ; Humans ; Male ; Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods* ; Ribs/physiology* ; Sex Characteristics ; Sex Determination Analysis/methods*

Objective Logistic regression method was used to establish a multiple regression sex discriminant function to discriminate the complete skull model and the incomplete skull model without frontal bone, occipital bone and mandible of Uygur adults in Turpan, Xinjiang. Methods A total of 117 （60 male and 57 female） three-dimensional skull models were collected by CT. Sixteen cranial measurement indexes were measured and calculated by computer software. The multivariate regression sex discriminant function was established with Logistic regression method and retrospectively tested. Results Among the 16 measurement indexes, except for nose width （x₇） and maximum frontal breadth （x₁₃）, the remaining 14 indexes had statistical significance of differences between male and female （P<0.05）. For the discriminant function of complete skull established by eyebrow arch convexity （x₄）, mastoid width （x₆）, maximum cranial length （x₁₂）, cranial base length （x₁₅）, cranial circumference （x₁₆）, the male and female discrimination accuracy was 90.0% and 94.7%, respectively. For the sex discriminant function of incomplete skull without frontal bone established by mandibular angle width （x₁₀）, mandibular height （x₁₁） and cranial circumference （x₁₆）, the discrimination accuracy of male and female was 85.0% and 84.2%, respectively. For the sex discriminant function of incomplete skull without occipital bone established by the index of eyebrow arch convexity （x₄）, the discrimination accuracy of male and female was 80.0% and 73.7%, respectively. For the sex discriminant function of incomplete skull without mandible established by frontal chord （x₅） and occipital protrusion angle （x₉）, the discrimination accuracy of male and female was 85.0% and 78.9%, respectively. Conclusion The computer software and system developed in our study can achieve sex discrimination of complete skulls and incomplete skulls without frontal bone, occipital bone or mandible.
Adult ; China ; Discriminant Analysis ; Ethnicity ; Female ; Forensic Anthropology ; Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Jaw/diagnostic imaging* ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Characteristics ; Sex Determination by Skeleton/methods* ; Skull/diagnostic imaging* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed/methods*

OBJECTIVETo describe the clinical application of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH ) in preimplantation gender diagnosis.

METHODSPreimplantation gender diagnosis was performed in 2 female hemophilia A carriers, 1 male patient with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) deficiency and 2 male patients with Y chromosome abnormality. Embryo sex was identified by FISH in total of 6 treatment cycles.

RESULTSA total of 123 cumulus-oocytes were retrieved in 6 treatment cycles. Sixty-one embryos were available for embryo biopsy. The success rate of biopsy was 86.9% (53/61), with a further cleavage rate of 62.3% (33/53). In the FISH procedure, one cell was lost during fixation, leading to a 98.1% (52/53) fixation rate. Totally, 16 female embryos and 3 male embryos were transferred to 5 patients in 6 cycles. Three healthy babies were born. The diagnosis was confirmed by subsequent analysis of amniocytes and embryonic buds after embryo reduction.

CONCLUSIONSFISH is an efficient and reliable technique for determining the sex of human preimplantation embryos. Selective abortion and births of affected children can be avoided by preimplantation gender diagnosis.

Adult ; Amniocentesis ; Biopsy ; Blastocyst ; Female ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; Male ; Pregnancy ; Sex Determination Analysis

OBJECTIVES: To observe and analyse the Amelogenin allelic loss in parent-child identification cases, and to explore the type and mechanism of Amelogenin allelic loss as well as its influence on gender identification and solutions. METHODS: After the detection by SiFaSTR™ 23plex DNA identification system, samples had the characteristics of the peak area of Amelogenin X was the same as the one of adjacent heterozygote or lower than one half of adjacent homozygote in females while Amelogenin X loss was observed in males were selected. X chromosome STR （X-STR） typing and Amelogenin X sequencing were performed. The samples with Amelogenin Y loss in males were confirmed by the detection of Y chromosome STR typing and sex-determining region of Y （SRY）. The type and rate of Amelogenin allelic loss were confirmed and calculated, and the mechanism and influence of this variation were also analysed. RESULTS: Amelogenin X allelic loss was observed in one male sample, the mutation in primer-binding region was confirmed by sequencing. The suspected Amelogenin X allelic loss was observed in four female samples, but the mutation in primer-binding region was confirmed by sequencing in only one sample. Amelogenin Y allelic loss was observed in seven male samples, SRY positive cases was detected in five of them, and two were SRY negative. Y-STR type was detected in four cases of the five SRY positive cases, which was not detected in the two SRY negative cases. The rate of Amelogenin allelic loss was about 0.029%. CONCLUSIONS Amelogenin X allelic loss does not affect the gender identification, but Amelogenin Y allelic loss may cause wrong gender identification. Thus, Y-STR or SRY should be detected for gender confirmation. When Y-STR genotypes are not detected in a "male" whose SRY detection is also negative, then the chromosome karyotype analysis and sex differentiation related genes test should be taken to further confirm the gender.
Amelogenin/genetics* ; DNA/genetics* ; Female ; Humans ; Loss of Heterozygosity/genetics* ; Male ; Sex Determination Analysis

Alleles ; Amelogenin/genetics* ; Chromosomes, Human, Y ; Humans ; Male ; Sex Determination Analysis