Root dentin translucency and age at death estimation in adults using single rooted teeth: Update of the Forensic International Dental Database.

Since the publication of Lamendin's age estimation technique, the root dentin translucency has received increasing attention as an important indicator of age. Recently, Parra and colleagues presented the Forensic International Dental Database (FIDB), a proposal to estimate age at death in adults based on Bayes theorem by applying the criteria of Lamendin's technique. The present study aims to update the procedure and to evaluate a new version of the method (named FIDBv2) using two control samples from Colombia and Greece. The performance of this new version was acceptable and suggests that the method is suitable for age at death estimation in adult individuals from different forensic contexts. The best approximations to chronological age were obtained for individuals between 30 and 60 years old, with errors less than 10 years. The age estimations calculated on control samples suggest the adequate performance of FIDBv2 on individuals from varied populations. It can be stated that the FIDBv2 constitutes a solid alternative to be used in contexts where no additional data are available. Here we reinforce the initial idea that this model for estimating age at death in adults may be generalizable to any forensic context in the world.

Interpersonal Violence Against Children and Adolescents: A Forensic Study From Greece.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate differences in victimization of minors after allegations of domestic violence and community violence. METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted by reviewing the archive of clinical examinations after allegations for interpersonal violence against minors that were performed at the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology of our Medical School from 2012 to 2016. RESULTS: 216 cases of allegations for victimization of minors' were referred to our department, representing 8.8% of all clinical forensic examinations. Boys community violence victims were affected mainly on the head, whilst girls mainly on the genital area. Upper limbs were the predominant site of injuries on domestic violence victims of both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents were in greater danger of sustaining injuries than younger children. Upper limb injuries may prove to be a useful screening tool for domestic violence in school-age children and adolescents, while trunk injuries may indicate domestic violence in preschool children.

Intimate partner violence in Greece: a study of 664 consecutive forensic clinical examinations.

BACKGROUND: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a well-known phenomenon, which affects mostly women. While IPV victims may attend emergency departments (EDs) seeking medical care, not all of them will make an allegation against their abusers. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence and the characteristics of the victims, who had made an allegation about the violent incident and had been examined by a forensic pathologist for judicial purposes, and had attended EDs seeking medical care, before the forensic examination. METHODS: We reviewed the archives of clinical examinations that were conducted at the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens during a 5-year period (2012-16). RESULTS: Six hundred sixty-four clinical examinations were conducted at our Department for IPV allegations. According to our findings, women were more likely to seek medical care than men. Victims who have attended EDs were more likely to have sustained injuries located at least on the head or on the lower limbs. CONCLUSION: The majority of IPV victims in the broader region of Attica (Greece) were women, usually married, and aged between 30 and 49 years old. Despite the fact that the majority of IPV incidents are not reported to police, every person who is engaged in the process of dealing with IPV victims has to be educated and adequately informed about this phenomenon, its implications and the possible ways to deal with it. Furthermore, victims need to be educated and informed adequately in waiting rooms of EDs.

Development and validation of a LC/MS method for the determination of Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol and 11-carboxy-Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol in the larvae of the blowfly Lucilia sericata: Forensic applications.

In a number of forensic toxicological cases, Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and its metabolite 11-carboxy-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THCA) are frequently considered as contributor factors to the event. To that, a liquid chromatographic mass spectrometric method is described for the identification and quantitation of THC and its metabolite THCA in the forensically important larvae of L. sericata. Larvae of Lucilia sericata were fortified with varying concentrations of THC and THCA covering the calibration range between 10 and 500pg/mg. For the isolation of the analytes from larvae, several extraction techniques were evaluated and finally liquid-liquid extraction under acidic pH was selected using hexane-ethyl acetate (50:50, v/v) as extraction solvent. For the chromatographic separation, a Waters Symmetry® C18 analytical column was used while the mobile phase was acetonitrile-ammonium acetate (2mM) (30:70, v/v). The detection was performed using electrospray ionization source in negative mode (ESI-) and the selected ions monitored were m/z 313 for THC and m/z 343 for THCA. The proposed method which is simple and sufficiently sensitive for the detection of THC and THCA even in a single larva sampling, assisted the investigation of a forensic case.

A test of the revised auricular surface aging method on a modern European population.

The accurate age estimation of adults is an important step in the construction of the biological profile of skeletonized remains. The auricular surface of the ilium as it was developed in 1985 by Lovejoy et al., is one of the methods employed for age estimation. This study presents the results of a blind test of the revised auricular surface aging method developed by Buckberry and Chamberlain. A sample of 120 individuals from the Athens Collection was used to test this revised aging technique. Almost all features and composite score were positively correlated with known age-at-death. The calculation of bias demonstrated no obvious trend for either overestimation or underestimation of age when all individuals were pooled together. Inaccuracy showed that absolute errors of estimated ages against known ages are substantial. The data generated from this study suggest that the revised method can be reliable for age estimation on a modern European population.

Occupational dermatoses by type of work in Greece.

BACKGROUND: To elucidate the relationship between seven occupational dermatoses (ODs) and 20 types of work in Greece. METHODS: This was a prevalence epidemiologic study of certain ODs among 4,000 workers employed in 20 types of enterprise, in 104 companies, in 2006-2012, using data from company medical records, questionnaires, occupational medical, and special examinations. The χ(2) test was applied to reveal statistically significant relationships between types of enterprises and occurrence of ODs. RESULTS: A high percentage (39.9%) of employees included in the study population suffered from ODs. The highest prevalence rates were noted among hairdressers (of contact dermatitis: 30%), cooks (of contact dermatitis: 29.5%), bitumen workers (of acne: 23.5%), car industry workers (of mechanical injury: 15%), construction workers (of contact urticaria: 29.5%), industrial cleaning workers (of chemical burns: 13%), and farmers (of malignant tumors: 5.5%). We observed several statistical significant correlations between ODs (acute and chronic contact dermatitis, urticaria, mechanical injury, acne, burns, skin cancer) and certain types of enterprises. There was no statistically significant correlation between gender and prevalence of ODs, except for dermatoses caused by mechanical injuries afflicting mainly men [χ(2) (1) = 13.40, p < 0.001] and for chronic contact dermatitis [χ(2) (1) = 5.53, p = 0.019] afflicting mainly women. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of ODs is high in Greece, contrary to all official reports by the Greek National Institute of Health. There is a need to introduce a nationwide voluntary surveillance system for reporting ODs and to enhance skin protection measures at work.

Evaluation of the accuracy of different molar teeth measurements in assessing sex.

Teeth are considered to be a very useful tissue for sex determination and molars are among the most dimorphic teeth. Even though mesiodistal (MD) and buccolingual (BL) crown diameters are usually employed for sex assessment, alternative measurements like MD and BL cervical diameters as well as crown and cervical diagonal diameters have been developed. This study explores the utility of crown and cervical MD, BL and diagonal measurements of molars in sex assessment when used separately. A total of 254 permanent molars (excluded third molars) from 101 individuals (51 males, 50 females) from the Athens Collection were examined. Stepwise discriminant analysis was used to evaluate the accuracy of each diameter group in assessing sex. It was found that the accuracy ranges from 65.5 to 88.4 %. Cervical diagonal diameters are the most accurate followed by crown diagonal diameters, and crown and cervical MD and BL diameters. Therefore the high classification accuracy of diagonal diameters show that these measurements are more reliable for sex determination than the traditional MD and BL and can be considered a promising method for sex assessment from human teeth.

Sex determination in modern Greeks using diagonal measurements of molar teeth.

Sex determination is a necessary step in the investigation of unidentified human remains from a forensic context. Teeth, as one of the strongest tissues in the human body, can be used for this purpose. Most studies of sexual dimorphism in teeth are based on the traditional mesiodistal and buccolingual crown measurements. The purpose of this study is to examine the degree of sexual dimorphism in permanent molars of modern Greeks using crown and cervical diagonal diameters, and to evaluate their applicability in sex determination. A total of 344 permanent molars in 107 individuals (53 male and 54 female) from the Athens Collection were examined. Crown and cervical diagonal diameters of both maxillary and mandibular molars were measured. It was found that males have larger molars than females and in 19 out of 24 dimensions measured male molars exceeded female molars significantly (P<0.05). The most dimorphic molars are the maxillary second molar, and the mandibular second and first molars. Although other molars were also sexually dimorphic they did not have a statistically significant difference in all dimensions. Cervical diagonal diameters have found to be more sexually diamorphic than crown diagonal diameters. In discriminant function analysis the variables entered more frequently were the cervical diagonal diameters mainly of mandibular molars. Classification accuracy was found to be 93% for the total sample, 77.4% for upper jaw, and 88.4% for the lower jaw. Accuracy rates were higher for cervical than crown diagonal diameters. The data generated from the present study suggest that this metric method can be useful and reliable for sex determination, especially when the traditional dental measurements are not applicable.

Sexual dimorphism in permanent teeth of modern Greeks.

Sex determination is considered an important step in reconstructing the biological profile of unknown individuals from a forensic context. Forensic anthropologists have long used teeth as an additional tool for sex determination as they resist postmortem destruction. In this case the use of population-specific data is necessary since sexual dimorphism varies between different populations. Currently there are no odontometric standards for determining sex in Greek populations. The purpose of this study is to examine the degree of sexual dimorphism in permanent teeth of modern Greeks. A total of 839 permanent teeth in 133 individuals (70 males and 63 females) from the Athens Collection were examined. Mesiodistal and buccolingual crown and cervical diameters of both maxillary and mandibular teeth were measured. It was found that males have bigger teeth than females and in 65 out of 88 dimensions measured, male teeth exceeded female teeth significantly (P<0.05). Canines were the most dimorphic teeth followed by first premolars, maxillary second premolar and mandibular second molar. Although other teeth were also sexually dimorphic they did not have a statistically significant difference in all dimensions. The most dimorphic dimension was buccolingual cervical diameter followed by buccolingual crown diameter. A comparison of sexual dimorphism in teeth between different populations showed that it differs among different groups. European population groups presented the highest degree of sexual dimorphism in teeth whereas Native South Americans the lowest.