Cribra orbitalia as a potential indicator of childhood stress: Evidence from paleopathology,stable C,N, and O isotopes,and trace element concentrations in children from a 17th⿿18th century cemetery in JĿkabpils,Latvia

Cribra orbitalia (CO), or porotic hyperostosis (PH) of the orbital roof, is one of the most common pathological conditions found in archaeological subadult skeletal remains. Reaching frequencies higher than 50% in many prehistoric samples, CO has been generally attributed to a variety of factors including malnutrition (e.g., megaloblastic anemia) and parasitism. In this study, we tested the relationship between CO, trace element concentrations, and stable isotope values (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O) in subadult skeletons from a 17^th to 18^th century cemetery in the historic town of JĿkabpils, Latvia. A total of 28 subadults were examined, seven of which (25%) showed evidence of CO. Bioarchaeological evidence indicated high mortality for children in this cemetery: half of the burials were subadults under the age of 14, while a third were under the age of four. Life expectancy at birth was estimated to have been only 21.6 years. Trace element concentrations measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma ⿿ Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) showed no relationship between presence or absence of CO and levels of manganese, zinc, strontium, barium, copper, cadmium, or lead in the bones (p > 0.05). However, a significant correlation (p < 0.05) was found between the presence of CO and decreased levels of iron. The correlations between CO and decreased levels of copper and lead approached significance (p = 0.056 for both elements). Individuals with CO furthermore displayed significantly lower δ¹⁵N isotope values, suggesting greater consumption of lower trophic level food resources than those unaffected by CO; δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values, in contrast, showed no significant differences. These results suggest that the prevalence of CO may be related to dietary deficiencies. In this case, low iron levels may also signify a diet low in other key vitamins (e.g., B₉ and B₁₂), which are known to cause megaloblastic anemia.     

人类骨组织特征研究

为解决杀人毁尸案中骨骼残片的法医鉴定问题,对人类不同部位的骨骼进行组织学研究,为比较骨骼残片是否为人类骨骼提供科学基础。本研究提取的人类骨骼有颅骨、四肢长骨。将提取的骨片制成骨组织片,在显微镜下观察,并将观察结果输入计算机进行分析。通过对人类不同部位骨骼的组织学特征研究,描述了人类骨组织的板层结构、骨单位及骨小管的形态。本研究结果在法医学、人类学及考古学等领域有一定的应用价值。     

Determination of sex from arm bone measurements

Discriminant function analysis has been applied to numerous dimensions of the cranial and postcranial skeleton for sex determination of U.S. blacks and whites and is extended here to five measurements of the arm and wrist. These include maximum lengths of the long arm bones in addition to two measurements that reflect wrist breadth. Our results indicate that whites are more accurately classified than blacks, but seven of the 31 possible measurement combinations common to both groups yield functions with sex prediction accuracies comparable to most, but not all, functions based on other parts of the skeleton.     

对肋骨进行组织形态测量推断年龄

本文的目的在于研究人类密质骨的年龄变化规律 ,为法医学、人类学利用骨骼推断年龄提供新方法。本研究收集了 86例中国北方汉族男性右侧第六肋骨的中 1 3段 ,制作脱钙骨切片 ,在计算机图像分析仪上测量 9项组织形态学参数 ,并进行多元逐步回归分析 ,结果得到一个推断年龄的多元回归方程 :^Y =33 545 +0 938X2 +2 4 9 1 4 4X4+0 676X7- 769 784X8- 0 0 0 4X9,复相关系数和标准误分别是 0 954和 4 1 4。经 30例已知年龄的标本检验 ,预测年龄的误差在± 5岁以内的可达 77% ,误差在±8岁以内的可达 1 0 0 %。     

Twins and the paradox of dental-age estimations: A caution for researchers and clinicians

The biological age difference among twins is frequently an issue in studies of genetic influence on various dental features, particularly dental development. The timing of dental development is a crucial issue also for many clinicians and researchers. The aim of this study was therefore to verify within groups of twins how dental development differs, by applying Demirjian's method, Mincer's charts of development of third molars and two of Cameriere's methods for dental age estimation, which are among the most popular methods both in the clinical and the forensic scenario. The sample consisted of 64 twin pairs: 21 monozygotic, 30 dizygotic same-sex and 13 dizygotic opposite-sex with an age range between 5.8 and 22.6 years. Dental age was determined from radiographs using the mentioned methods. Results showed that dental age of monozygotic twins is not identical even if they share all their genes. The mean intra-pair difference of monozygotic pairs was low and similar to the difference in dizygotic same-sex twins; the maximum difference between monozygotic twins, however, was surprisingly large (nearly two years). This should lead to some circumspection in the interpretation of systematic estimations of dental age both in the clinical and forensic scenario.     

中国法医人类学三十年

法医人类学在上世纪80年代开始引起中国法医学界的重视。改革开放后, 经济发展人口流动增加, 全国范围内无名尸体案件增加, 对骨骼个体识别的需求日益迫切。为了满足案件侦察的需要, 国内学者开始引进国外的有关研究结果, 并开始使用国人的材料对中国人骨骼个体识别的方法进行了广泛深入的研究。本文对中国学者近30年来在中国人骨骼年龄、性别及身高等方面的研究进行了回顾, 对相关研究与国外情况进行了比较,对有关问题的未来研究方向进行了讨论。     

中国汉族男性腰椎的身高推断

本文研究了中国汉族男性腰椎的测量及腰椎推断身高的方法。测量指标有 :椎体前高、椎体后高、椎体上矢径、椎体下矢径、椎体上横径、椎体下横径、椎体中部横径、椎孔矢状径、椎孔横径、左侧椎弓根厚度。将各腰椎的测量数据与身高进行了相关分析并建立了中国汉族男性腰椎推断身高的回归方程。本研究所建立的方程 ,可以用于中国汉族男性腰椎的身高推断。     

中国汉族锁骨的性别判定

本文通过对279副中国汉族成人锁骨的测量,其中男性241副,女性38副。使用性别判别分析的方法,建立了锁骨性别判别的分析式,使中国汉族锁骨性别判别的准确率达到了90－94．7％,该文提出的性别判别方法,是锁骨性别判别的准确可靠的方法。     

中国汉族锁骨性别差异的初步研究

本文通过对中国汉族２７９副成人干燥锁骨的测量（其中男性：２４１副,女性：３８副）,研究了中国汉族锁骨性别判定的方法,研究结果表明,用单一指标进行锁骨的性别,准确率很低,本文作者提出了锁骨表面积指数,锁骨截面积指数,并以此作为锁骨性别判定的依据,性别判别率最高可分别为９０．６８％和８４．２３％。本文提出的方法是骨骼性别判定中一种新的简单而准确的方法。     

用中国汉族男性髓骨推断身高的研究

本文研究了以中国汉族男性航骨推断身高的方法．研究样本来自公安部第二研究所法医室近年收集的２４８对已知确切身高的汉族成年男性完整干燥防骨．依据人体测量学方法,共测量了１２项指标．相关分析表明,所测指标与身高的相关系数的统计学检验均有非常显著的意义．进而建立了航骨推断身高的直线回归方程及多元回归方程．并用３０对国人脱骨对各方程进行了盲测．结果表明,助骨推算身高的直线回归方程与多元日归方程所得结果与实际身高相近．效果较好．并且田骨推算身高的一元回归方程与多元回归方程的实用价值基本相同．