Age assessment in unaccompanied minors: assessing uniformity of protocols across Europe.

Age assessment of migrants is crucial, particularly for unaccompanied foreign minors, a population facing legal, social, and humanitarian challenges. Despite existing guidelines, there is no unified protocol in Europe for age assessment.The Forensic Anthropology Society of Europe (FASE) conducted a comprehensive questionnaire to understand age estimation practices in Europe.

Evidence of possible lower limb amputation in a tomb in an ancient Egyptian necropolis: the case report of an on-site radiographic analysis.

Objective: Despite the existing literature, the use of surgery to treat medical diseases in Ancient Egypt remains controversial. Regarding amputations, such procedures were performed in Egypt for therapeutic reasons, although they were never described in medical papyri. Here, we present the radiographic study of a possible lower limb amputation found in a recently discovered tomb in Aswan, Egypt.

A Pilot COVID-19 Surveillance Program at the Zendrini Center in Milan (Italy) for Unaccompanied Foreign Minors.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, not only crowded refugee camps and immigration detention centers, but also receptions were places in which outbreaks occurred. To date there has been no report of the application of a COVID-19 surveillance system in reception centers for unaccompanied foreign minors only, who most of all deserve the utmost attention. Aware of this critical issue, we implemented a pilot COVID-19 surveillance program at the Zendrini center in Milan.

Analysis of interrater reliability in age assessment of minors: how does expertise influence the evaluation?

Nowadays, the clinical forensic medical management of migration flows comprises the age assessment of unaccompanied minors. The process of age estimation is a fundamental pillar for legally ensuring the minors' rights and their protection needs. The procedure is complex and involves different phases and actors, from medical doctors to law enforcement officers.

Age estimation in the living: A scoping review of population data for skeletal and dental methods.

Age estimation of living individuals has become a crucial part of the forensic practice, especially due to the global increase in cross-border migration. The low rate of birth registration in many countries, hence of identification documents of migrants, especially in Africa and Asia, highlights the importance of reliable methods for age estimation of living individuals. Despite the fact that a number of skeletal and dental methods for age estimation have been developed, their main limitation is that they are based on specific reference samples and there is still no consensus among researchers on whether these methods can be applied to all populations.

Histomorphometric analysis of the variability of the human skeleton: Forensic implications.

In the last decades, the histomorphometric analysis of bone tissue has been utilized to develop equations for species discrimination of fragmentary bone. Although this technique showed promising results, its main limitation concerns the lack of knowledge on the histomorphometric variability which may exist between different bones of the skeleton. In a previous study, we demonstrated a significant histomorphological variability in different bones of the same individual and even in different sections of the same bone.

Sex estimation of skeletons in middle and late adulthood: reliability of pelvic morphological traits and long bone metrics on an Italian skeletal collection.

There are several metric and morphological methods available for sex estimation of skeletal remains, but their reliability and applicability depend on the sexual dimorphism of the remains as well as on the availability of preserved bones. Some studies showed that age-related changes on bones can cause misclassification of sex. The purpose of this study was to establish the reliability of pelvic morphological traits and metric methods of sex estimation on relatively old individuals from a modern Italian skeletal collection.

The Utility of Skeletal and Surgical Features for the Personal Identification Process: A Pilot Study.

This pilot study provides a conceptual framework for the application of the anthropological analysis of skeletal features and surgical interventions for the purpose of identification in cases of unknown deceased individuals with unavailable fingerprint, genetic or odontological antemortem data. The study sample includes 276 individuals with known demographic and clinical information from the Italian CAL Milano Cemetery Skeletal Collection. In the sample, 124 (45%) individuals showed one or more skeletal features that may be potentially individualizing.

Histomorphometric analysis of osteocyte lacunae in human and pig: exploring its potential for species discrimination.

In recent years, several studies have focused on species discrimination of bone fragments by histological analysis. According to literature, the most consistent distinguishing features are Haversian canal and Haversian system areas. Nonetheless, there is a consistent overlap between human and non-human secondary osteon dimensions.

Three-dimensional facial anatomy evaluation: Reliability of laser scanner consecutive scans procedure in comparison with stereophotogrammetry.

Laser scanner devices are acquiring a growing importance in facial anatomy. Most studies have analysed facial scans obtained through two simultaneous captures, whereas the same result can be obtained by consecutive three-dimensional (3D) scans. However, this latter procedure has not yet been validated.

Histomorphological analysis of the variability of the human skeleton: forensic implications.

One of the fundamental questions in forensic medicine and anthropology is whether or not a bone or bone fragment is human. Surprisingly at times for the extreme degradation of the bone (charred, old), DNA cannot be successfully performed and one must turn to other methods. Histological analysis at times can be proposed.

3D-3D facial superimposition between monozygotic twins: A novel morphological approach to the assessment of differences due to environmental factors.

Distinction of one twin with respect to the other, based on external appearance, is challenging; nevertheless, facial morphology may provide individualizing features that may help distinguish twin siblings. This study aims at exposing an innovative method for the facial assessment in monozygotic twins for personal identification, based on the registration and comparison of 3D models of faces. Ten couples of monozygotic twins aged between 25 and 69 years were acquired twice by a stereophotogrammetric system (VECTRA-3D® M3: Canfield Scientific, Inc.

A comparative analysis of microscopic alterations in modern and ancient undecalcified and decalcified dry bones.

Objectives: The present study aims to evaluate the preservation of the microstructure of skeletal remains collected from four different known burial sites (archaeological and contemporary). Histological analysis on undecalcified and decalcified thin sections was performed in order to assess which of the two techniques is more affected by taphonomic insults.

Materials And Methods: A histological analysis was performed on both undecalcified and decalcified thin sections of 40 long bones and the degree of diagenetic change was evaluated using transmitted and polarized light microscopy according to the Oxford Histological Index (OHI).

3D quantitative analysis of early decomposition changes of the human face.

Decomposition of the human body and human face is influenced, among other things, by environmental conditions. The early decomposition changes that modify the appearance of the face may hamper the recognition and identification of the deceased. Quantitative assessment of those changes may provide important information for forensic identification.

Sex Assessment from the Volume of the First Metatarsal Bone: A Comparison of Linear and Volume Measurements.

Sexual dimorphism is a crucial characteristic of skeleton. In the last years, volumetric and surface 3D acquisition systems have enabled anthropologists to assess surfaces and volumes, whose potential still needs to be verified. This article aimed at assessing volume and linear parameters of the first metatarsal bone through 3D acquisition by laser scanning.

The Issue of Age Estimation in a Modern Skeletal Population: Are Even the More Modern Current Aging Methods Satisfactory for the Elderly?

The main idea behind age assessment in adults is related to the analysis of the physiological degeneration of particular skeletal structures with age. The main issues with these procedures are due to the fact that they have not been tested on different modern populations and in different taphonomic contexts and that they tend to underestimate the age of older individuals. The purpose of this study was to test the applicability and the reliability of these methods on a contemporary population of skeletal remains of 145 elderly individuals of known sex and age.

Histological determination of the human origin from dry bone: a cautionary note for subadults.

Anthropologists are frequently required to confirm or exclude the human origin of skeletal remains; DNA and protein radioimmunoassays are useful in confirming the human origin of bone fragments but are not always successful. Histology may be the solution, but the young subadult structure could create misinterpretation. Histological tests were conducted on femur and skull of 31 human subjects.

Towards a method for determining age ranges from faces of juveniles on photographs.

The steady increase in the distribution of juvenile pornographic material in recent years strongly required valid methods for estimating the age of the victims. At the present in fact forensic experts still commonly use the assessment of sexual characteristics by Tanner staging, although they have proven to be too subjective and deceiving for age estimation. The objective of this study, inspired by a previous EU project involving Italy, Germany and Lithuania, is to verify the applicability of certain anthropometric indices of faces in order to determine age and to create a database of facial measurements on a population of children in order to improve face ageing techniques.

Pitfalls at the root of facial assessment on photographs: a quantitative study of accuracy in positioning facial landmarks.

In the last years, facial analysis has gained great interest also for forensic anthropology. The application of facial landmarks may bring about relevant advantages for the analysis of 2D images by measuring distances and extracting quantitative indices. However, this is a complex task which depends upon the variability in positioning facial landmarks.