胸骨形态变化与年龄关系的研究进展

胸骨在发育和退化的过程中,随年龄增长发生着规律性形态改变.国内外学者对胸骨形态变化与年龄的关系做了大量研究,积累了一些宝贵资料,这些成果为研究胸骨三维重建影像的形态变化奠定了基础.三维重组技术的引入,有望引起利用胸骨推断活体年龄方法的突破性发展.本文对相关研究进展进行综述.     

根据骨骺愈合程度推断青少年年龄

骨骺愈合程度作为推断青少年活体年龄的重要手段之一,在相关鉴定中得到了广泛的应用.随着技术发展,国内外众多学者利用骨骺愈合程度推断年龄的研究取得了很多成果,本文针对根据骨骺愈合程度推断年龄的方法的产生、发展、研究成果以及有待解决的问题等进行综述,以期为相关研究和实践提供参考.     

Sexual Dimorphism in Finger Ridge Breadth Measurements: A Tool for Sex Estimation from Fingerprints

Previous research has demonstrated significant sexual dimorphism in friction ridge skin characteristics. This study uses a novel method for measuring sexual dimorphism in finger ridge breadths to evaluate its utility as a sex estimation method from an unknown fingerprint. Beginning and ending in a valley, the width of ten parallel ridges with no obstructions or minutia was measured in a sample of 250 males and females (N = 500). The results demonstrate statistically significant differences in ridge breadth between males and females (p < 0.001), with classification accuracy for each digit varying from 83.2% to 89.3%. Classification accuracy for the pooled finger samples was 83.9% for the right hand and 86.2% for the left hand, which is applicable for cases where the digit number cannot be determined. Weight, stature, and to a lesser degree body mass index also significantly correlate with ridge breadth and account for the degree of overlap between males and females.     

利用中国汉族成人股骨上端CR片特征判定年龄

目的探讨中国汉族成人股骨上端CR片的特征随年龄变化的规律,以推断年龄。方法 277例中国汉族成人骨盆正位CR片,其中男性139例,年龄范围18-83岁,女性138例,年龄范围18-85岁,选取股骨上端的股骨头、股骨颈、大转子内的骨小梁及股骨上端髓腔高度四项指标,观察不同年龄各指标的变化进行统计分析。结果成人股骨头、股骨颈骨小梁变化和股骨上端髓腔高度是影响45岁以下年龄变化的重要因素,股骨大转子影响较小。四项指标对45岁以上年龄组均是影响年龄变化的重要因素。利用以上指标建立的回归方程能很好的反映成人股骨上端的增龄性变化,预测骨龄较为准确。结论利用成人股骨头、股骨颈、股骨大转子内骨小梁的改变及股骨上端髓腔高度变化可推断年龄。     

Pubic Symphyseal Age Estimation from Three‐Dimensional Reconstructions of Pelvic CT Scans of Live Individuals

Skeletal age estimation using the pubic symphysis is a reliable and popular practice among forensic anthropologists. In instances in which accessing the skeleton is impossible, such as in the case of living individuals, three‐dimensional (3D) reconstructions of computed tomography (CT) scans can be created and analyzed for aspects of the biological profile. This study examined 3D reconstructions of pelvic CT scans of a sample of 44 live adults to estimate age using the Suchey–Brooks J Hum Evol 1990;5(3):227‐38 method. Images were created using OsiriX software (Pixmeo, Geneva, Switzerland). Estimated age ranges based on the 3D‐CT images captured the true age of the individual at the time of the CT scan 79.5% of the time with good intra‐observer reliability. The features best visualized on the 3D images included the ossific nodule and the pubic symphyseal rim. This study shows that clinical CT scanning parameters are adequate for creating 3D images to be analyzed for age using the pubic symphysis.     

Using PMCT of Individuals of Known Age to Test the Suchey–Brooks Method of Aging in Victoria,Australia

The estimation of an individual's age at death plays a critical role in the investigation of unidentified human remains. The Suchey–Brooks method, which involves the analysis of degenerative morphological changes in the pubic symphysis, is currently widely used to estimate age in adults. This study tested the applicability of the Suchey–Brooks method on a contemporary adult Australian (Victorian) subpopulation by observing three‐dimensional volume‐rendered postmortem computed tomographic (PMCT) reconstructions of the pubic symphysis of 204 individuals aged 15–100 years. Results showed the method was reliable for females (85% correct allocations) but not for males (67% correct allocations). It is therefore recommended that extreme caution be used when applying the Suchey–Brooks method for estimating age at death of an individual in this subpopulation from PMCT images. The results suggest further investigation into alternate age estimation methods is required.     

Pulp volume quantification methods in cone-beam computed tomography for age estimation: A critical review and meta-analysis

The secondary dentin deposition that occurs after the tooth formation process results in a decrease in pulp cavity volume in adolescents and adults. The purpose of this critical review was to correlate pulpal and/or dental volume on cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) with chronological age approximation. A subobjective was to investigate which methodology and CBCT technical parameters would be most appropriate to evaluate this correlation. This critical review followed the PRISMA guidelines, and it was conducted by a search through PubMed, Embase, SciELO, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library databases, as well as gray literature. Primary studies that used pulp volume, or pulp chamber to tooth volume ratio measured using CBCT were included. Seven hundred and eight indexed and 31 non-indexed records were identified. A qualitative analysis was performed including 25 selected studies with a total of 5100 individuals, age ranging from 8 to 87 years without sex predilection. The most used method was pulp volume/tooth volume. CBCT voxel size ranged between 0.09 and 0.5. Manual segmentation associated with threshold algorithms was used in most of the studies. Correlation between the pulp volume/tooth volume ratio was moderate: −0.66 for the upper central incisors, −0.59 for upper canines and −0.56 for lower canines. High heterogeneity was observed among the studies. It is concluded that pulp volume should be used with caution in age estimation. Evidence supports the preferable use of upper incisors with pulp volume/tooth volume ratio for age estimation. There is not enough evidence that voxel size interferes in age estimation by pulp volume.     

Evaluation of Mastoid Process as Sex Indicator in Modern White Americans using Geometric Morphometrics

Conventional methods for evaluating the mastoid as a sex indicator cannot determine whether mastoid shape is an independent and reliable sex indicator. Here, shape differences between the mastoids of 100 male and 100 female modern white Americans were statistically analyzed and visualized using the geometric morphometric method. Discriminant analysis was performed on mastoid size and shape. The relation between size and shape was analyzed to examine the effect of size on shape. In the results, mastoid size and shape were statistically significant sex indicators, while size factor explained 87.3% of the total variance of the shape variables. Nevertheless, females had relatively broader and shorter mastoid shape than males regardless of size, reflecting 12.7% of the total variance of the shape variables. In conclusion, mastoid size and shape were statistically significant sex indicators, while size may matter more in the mastoid than in other cranial parts in terms of sexual dimorphism.     

Secular Change in Morphological Pelvic Traits used for Sex Estimation

This research evaluates secular change in Phenice's (Am J Phys Anthropol, 30, 1969 and 297) three morphological traits of the pubis, as described by Klales et al. (Am J Phys Anthropol, 149, 2012 and 104): medial aspect of the ischio‐pubic ramus, subpubic contour, and ventral arc. Ordinal scores were collected for these traits and compared between a sample of innominates from the historical Hamann–Todd Collection (n = 170) and modern Bass Donated Collection (n = 129). Using the Freeman–Halton test, significant differences between temporal sample score frequencies were found for all traits in females and for the subpubic contour and ventral arc in males. Despite these findings, classification accuracy using logistic regression between the temporal periods remained low (68.7%). These results suggest that secular changes in trait expression are occurring; however, sex estimation methods using these traits and created with historical samples are still applicable to modern forensic cases. In fact, the secular changes occurring in these traits contribute to better classification accuracy between sexes in modern populations.