Dental pattern diversity in a military population and its usefulness for assessing the degree of certainty in dental identification.

In forensic dentistry, the analysis of dental diversity forms the basis of probability calculations in dental identification. The present study aimed to contribute to the knowledge of dental diversity in a Spanish military population (considering isolated teeth, sets of different numbers of teeth, and combinations of teeth of forensic interest) and its implications for dental identification. A further aim was to compare the performance of three coding systems (detailed, generic, and binary) to assess dental pattern diversity.

Technical note: A mobile collaborative workspace to assist forensic experts in disaster victim identification scenarios.

Integrated approaches to disaster victim identification (DVI) management have led to a need for technologies to improve interaction among parties involved in post-mortem (PM) and ante-mortem (AM) data collection through better communication and coordination. Mobile Forensic Workspace© (MFW) is a collaborative mobile system that not only facilitates the systematic collection of high-quality data, but also allows DVI professionals to coordinate activities and exchange data through secure real-time communication at major disaster scenarios in accordance with security, privacy and legal protocols. MFW is adaptable to any communication format (text, voice calls, photographs, etc.

DNA methylation levels and telomere length in human teeth: usefulness for age estimation.

In the last decade, increasing knowledge of epigenetics has led to the development of DNA methylation-based models to predict age, which have shown high predictive accuracy. However, despite the value of teeth as forensic samples, few studies have focused on this source of DNA. This study used bisulfite pyrosequencing to measure the methylation levels of specific CpG sites located in the ELOVL2, ASPA, and PDE4C genes, with the aim of selecting the most age-informative genes and determining their associations with age, in 65 tooth samples from individuals 15 to 85 years old.

mRNA expression patterns in human myocardial tissue, pericardial fluid and blood, and its contribution to the diagnosis of cause of death.

Gene expression has become an interesting research area in forensic pathology to investigate the process of death at the molecular level. The aims of this study were to analyze changes in gene expression patterns in relation to the cause of death, and to propose new molecular markers of myocardial ischemia of potential use for the postmortem diagnosis of early ischemic heart damage in cases of sudden cardiac death (SCD). We determined mRNA levels of five proteins related with ischemic myocardial damage and repair - TNNI3, MYL3, TGFB1, MMP9 and VEGFA - in specific sites of the myocardium, blood and pericardial fluid in samples from 30 cadavers with different causes of death (SCD, multiple trauma, mechanical asphyxia, and other natural deaths).

Differences in non-enzymatic glycation products in human dentine and clavicle: changes with aging.

In recent decades, several methods based on biochemical and molecular changes caused by aging have been proposed to improve the accuracy of forensic age estimation. The present study aimed to measure changes in furosine and pentosidine, two markers of non-enzymatic glycation of proteins (NEGs), in human dentine and clavicle with aging, and to identify possible differences between turnover rates in different mineralized tissues. Furosine and pentosidine were quantified in 32 dentine samples from living donors between 14 and 80 years of age, and in a second group of samples consisting of a tooth and a piece of clavicle collected from the same cadaver (15 individuals aged 18 to 85 years).

Three-dimensional analysis of third molar development to estimate age of majority.

Third molars are one of the few biological markers available for age estimation in undocumented juveniles close the legal age of majority, assuming an age of 18years as the most frequent legal demarcation between child and adult status. To obtain more accurate visualization and evaluation of third molar mineralization patterns from computed tomography images, a new software application, DentaVol©, was developed. Third molar mineralization according to qualitative (Demirjian's maturational stage) and quantitative parameters (third molar volume) of dental development was assessed in multi-slice helical computed tomography images of both maxillary arches displayed by DentaVol© from 135 individuals (62 females and 73 males) aged between 14 and 23years.

Usefulness of telomere length in DNA from human teeth for age estimation.

Age estimation is widely used to identify individuals in forensic medicine. However, the accuracy of the most commonly used procedures is markedly reduced in adulthood, and these methods cannot be applied in practice when morphological information is limited. Molecular methods for age estimation have been extensively developed in the last few years.