The use of µCT technology to identify skull fracture in a case involving blunt force trauma.

A 40-year-old man was admitted to hospital with a scalp wound but died 22 days later after unsuccessful treatment. Initial assessment of the cranial fragments removed during surgery revealed fine fracture lines on the endocranial surface, and a dark arcuate line on the ectocranial surface. To investigate the extent of the fractures a µCT scan of the fragments was taken, examined in 3D, and compared to plain radiographs. Some fractures were found to extend through the full thickness of the skull. This case presents a novel application of µCT technology to forensic radiology.

The effects of dental wear on third molar eruption and on the curve of Spee in human archaeological dentitions.

The abrasiveness of food is a key determinant in the rate of physiological attrition (dental wear) in humans. With increasing food processing through time, the rate of physiological dental wear in human teeth has decreased markedly. Many consider such wear to be beneficial to oral health and that insufficient wear may result in impaction of the third molars. If enhanced extraoral food processing provides an evolutionary advantage, then it is possible that agenesis of the redundant third molar may follow. One of the aims here was to examine impaction and agenesis of the third molars in four populations of varying antiquity and hence varying dental-wear rates. Paradoxically, whilst there is a decrease in the rate of dental wear with modernity, there is also an increasing prevalence of advanced dental wear due to prolongation of the lifespan of the human dentition. As the effect of dental wear on the curve of Spee was unknown, a second aim was to examine it in an archaeological population with a high rate of dental wear. The results showed an increase in non-eruption and impaction of the third molars with modernity, but did not demonstrate a significant increase in the rate of agenesis. The time period over which impaction and agenesis could be discerned was of the order of 600 years and this may not be sufficient to observe adaptive changes at the genetic level in humans. In molar teeth there was no clear indication of maintenance of the curve of Spee with dental wear. This has potential implications on the design of prostheses for the worn dentition.

The estimation of late fetal and perinatal age from limb bone length by linear and logarithmic regression.

This paper describes an attempt that was made to confirm the suggestion that limb bone length may be a good indicator of perinatal age. Gestational (menstrual) age was regressed on: (i) the lengths of the ossified shafts of the femur, humerus and radius of 17 subjects of mixed sex aged between 27 and 46 weeks; and (ii) the femur, tibia, humerus, radius and ulna of a second, larger, sample of 65 subjects (29 male; 36 female) aged between 24 and 40 weeks. Age was regressed on single bones and combinations thereof, e.g. humerus, radius and ulna. The data were analyzed both in their raw form and as logarithms, the latter yielding very slightly, but not significantly, better results than the former in the case of sample (ii) but not in (i).