Growth Patterns and Individual Variation in Mid-sagittal Facial Soft Tissue Depth from Childhood to Adulthood.

Previous studies have used longitudinal samples to investigate growth of the skeletal aspects of the face, although far less has been done on facial soft tissue. This study uses a larger sample than previous studies on the same data (Denver and Fels growth series) to explore covariation of bony and soft facial dimensions comprehensively from childhood to adulthood. A total of 1036 lateral cephalometric radiographs were digitized from 60 individuals, and distances between facial landmarks were measured using ImageJ.

Facial soft tissue depth statistics and enhanced point estimators for craniofacial identification: the debut of the shorth and the 75-shormax.

Several methods that have customarily been used in craniofacial identification to describe facial soft tissue depths (FSTDs) implore improvement. They include the calculation of arithmetic means for skewed data, omission of concern for measurement uncertainty, oversight of effect size, and misuse of statistical significance tests (e.g.

Facial soft tissue depths in craniofacial identification (part I): An analytical review of the published adult data.

With the ever increasing production of average soft tissue depth studies, data are becoming increasingly complex, less standardized, and more unwieldy. So far, no overarching review has been attempted to determine: the validity of continued data collection; the usefulness of the existing data subcategorizations; or if a synthesis is possible to produce a manageable soft tissue depth library. While a principal components analysis would provide the best foundation for such an assessment, this type of investigation is not currently possible because of a lack of easily accessible raw data (first, many studies are narrow; second, raw data are infrequently published and/or stored and are not always shared by some authors).

Facial soft tissue depths in craniofacial identification (part II): An analytical review of the published sub-adult data.

Prior research indicates that while statistically significant differences exist between subcategories of the adult soft tissue depth data, magnitudes of difference are small and possess little practical meaning when measurement errors and variations between measurement methods are considered. These findings raise questions as to what variables may or may not hold meaning for the sub-adult data. Of primary interest is the effect of age, as these differences have the potential to surpass the magnitude of measurement error.

Role of orthopedic implants and bone morphology in the identification of human remains.

When conventional methods of identification, such as visual recognition and dental comparison, cannot be used to identify a deceased person, it becomes necessary to consider alternative methods. The presence of an orthopedic implant in a body may assist identification if ante-mortem medical records are available for comparison. Another method of identification involves comparison of ante-mortem and postmortem radiographs.