The occurrence of Japanese trophy skulls in the United States

The skulls of two Japanese soldiers brought back to the United States following World War II suggest that more may be appearing in forensic science cases. Both cases are cranial vaults without faces or lower jaws. One was a fighter pilot. Both skulls have secondary characteristics of "dry house dust" adhering to the bone and have, to some degree, been painted.     

Decomposition of buried bodies and methods that may aid in their location

This is the second report on an ongoing study conducted to collect data on the decompositional rates of human cadavers and the first on buried cadavers. Six unembalmed human cadavers were buried separately in unlined trenches of various depths and allowed to naturally decompose for a time period ranging from a month to a year. During the period of burial, data were collected daily on the air, soil, and cadaver temperature at each burial site. At the end of each specified burial period the cadavers were exhumed and examined for the degree of decomposition which had taken place as well as changes in the soil pH, surface vegetation, and carrion insect activity. Analysis of the data shows that the decomposition rate of buried cadavers is highly dependent on the depth of burial and environmental temperatures. The depth at which the cadaver was buried also directly affected the degree of soil and vegetational changes as well as access by carrion insects. Application of this information can contribute to a more accurate estimation of time since death of a buried corpse and may aid in the location of such corpses.     

The autodegradation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in human rib bone and its relationship to the time interval since death

This research explored the feasibility of using the degradation rate of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in human rib bone to determine the time interval since death. Postmortem human rib samples were surface sterilized and incubated under sterile conditions in either high or low humidity conditions at room temperature for a period of weeks. At selected times, portions of the bone were cut away, and the DNA from these samples was extracted and subjected to strand separating gel electrophoresis. The DNAs in the gels were transferred to a nylon membrane, preserving their relative positions as in the gel, and probed with radioactive total genomic human DNA. Autoradiograms produced were scanned and digitized. When the samples were incubated under identical conditions, the degradation rate of DNA in samples from different individuals appeared very similar. The DNA degradation rate may vary with temperature and humidity more than it varies between individuals.     

Evaluation of pediatric skull fracture imaging techniques

Radiologic imaging is crucial in the diagnosis of skull fracture, but there is some doubt as to whether different imaging modalities can accurately identify fractures present on a human skull. While studies have been performed to evaluate the efficacy of radiologic imaging at other anatomical locations, there have been no systematic studies comparing various CT techniques, including high resolution imaging with and without 3D reconstructions to conventional radiologic imaging in children, we investigated which imaging modalities: high-resolution CT scan with 3D projections, clinical-resolution CT scans or X-rays, best showed fracture occurrence in a pediatric human cadaver skull by having an expert pediatric radiologist examine radiologic images from fractured skulls. The skulls used were taken from pediatric cadavers ranging in age from 5 months to 16 years. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity for the imaging modalities using dissection findings as the gold standard. We found that high-resolution CT scans with 3D projections and conventional CT provided the most accurate fracture diagnosis (single-fracture sensitivity of 71%) followed by X-rays (single-fracture sensitivity of 63%). Linear fractures outsider the region of the sutures were more identifiable than diastatic fractures, though the incidence of false positives was greater for linear fractures. In the two cases where multiple fractures were present on the same anatomical skull location, the radiologist was less likely to identify the presence of additional fractures than a single fracture. Overall, the high-resolution and clinical-resolution CT scans had the similar accuracy for detecting skull fractures while the use of the X-ray was both less accurate and had a lower specificity.     

The Importance of Establishing Reliability and Validity of Assessment Instruments for Mental Health Problems: an Example from Somali Children and Adolescents Living in Three Refugee Camps in Ethiopia

Assessing mental health problems cross-culturally for children exposed to war and violence presents a number of unique challenges. One of the most important issues is the lack of validated symptom measures to assess these problems. The present study sought to evaluate the psychometric properties of two measures to assess mental health problems: the Achenbach Youth Self-Report and the Child Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Scale. We conducted a validity study in three refugee camps in Eastern Ethiopia in the outskirts of Jijiga, the capital of the Somali region. A total of 147 child and caregiver pairs were assessed, and scores obtained were submitted to rigorous psychometric evaluation. Excellent internal consistency reliability was obtained for symptom measures for children and their caregivers. Validation of study instruments based on local case definitions was obtained for the caregivers but not consistently for the children. Sensitivity and specificity of study measures were generally low, indicating that these scales would not perform adequately as screening instruments. Combined test–retest and inter-rater reliability was low for all scales. This study illustrates the need for validation and testing of existing measures cross-culturally. Methodological implications for future cross-cultural research studies in low- and middle-income countries are discussed.