Percorrer por autor "Cunha, Eugénia"
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- All that glitters is not gold: X-ray fluorescence analysis of a fixed dental prosthesis from Colecção de Esqueletos Identificados Século XXI, Portugal (CEI/XXI)Publication . Oliveira-Santos, Inês; Gomes, Ricardo A.M.P.; Coelho, Catarina; Gil, Francisco; Cunha, Eugénia; Baptista, Isabel Poiares; Ferreira, Maria TeresaAccess to better health care anticipates that more medical devices can be found alongside skeletal remains. Those employed in oral rehabilitation, with available brands or batch/series, can prove useful in the identification process. A previous study in the Colecção de Esqueletos Identificados Século XXI described macroscopically the dental prostheses. An unusual case of a dental device with chromatic alterations demonstrated to require a more detailed analysis. The individual, a 53-year-old male, exhibited, at both arches, a fixed tooth-supported rehabilitation, with gold colouring classified initially as a gold-palladium alloy. Simultaneously, a green pigmentation deposit was observable in bone and prosthesis. This investigation aimed to verify the elemental composition of the dental prosthesis alloy. Elemental analysis was performed by X-ray fluorescence in two regions (labial surface of the prosthetic crown and the root surface of the lower right lateral incisor). Both the spectra and the qualitative results found higher levels of copper and aluminium, followed by nickel, iron, zinc, and manganese. No gold or palladium was detected. The most probable assumption is that a copper-aluminium alloy was used, as its elemental concentration corresponds to those measured in similar devices. Dental prostheses of copper-aluminium alloys have been made popular since the 1980s, particularly in the USA, Japan, and Eastern Europe. Apart from the biographical information, it was also known that the individual's place of birth was an Eastern European country, which highlighted the usefulness of this type of information when dealing with missing people cases.
- An Assessment of Intra- and Interobserver Error in Luminol Chemiluminescence as a Presumptive Test for Postmortem Interval EstimationPublication . Ermida, Catarina; Rosa, Joana; Cunha, Eugénia; Ferreira, Maria TeresaPostmortem interval (PMI) estimation constitutes a challenge for forensic anthropologists.The application of the luminol technique as a preliminary test for PMI estimation is considered easy to use and inexpensive. The objective of our study is to validate luminol chemiluminescence testing through the assessment of intra- and interobserver error. Our sample included 266 human clavicles, with known PMIs ranging between 2655 days and 450 years. After sample preparation, luminol was applied, and the results were observed by two different observers. The intensity of the reaction was measured using a binary scale and a 5-level scale, according to the increasing degree of chemiluminescence. The Kappa statistic was used for the assessment of the intra- and interobserver agreement. The obtained results showed total interobserver error agreement regarding the binary scale and a K = 0.98 (95% CI: 0.97–0.99) regarding the 5-level scale. Additionally, Observer 1 and Observer 2 obtained a 100% agreement concerning the binary scale and a K = 1 (95%CI 0.99–1) and K = 0.99 (95% CI 0.99–1), respectively, concerning the 5-level scale. According to our research, it is possible to conclude that luminol chemiluminescence testing is suitable as a rapid diagnostic test, revealing this method as practically independent of observation error
- Ancestry estimation in forensic anthropology: accuracy of the AncesTrees software in a Brazilian samplePublication . Jacometti, Victor; Guimarães, Marco Aurelio; de Moraes, Luis Otávio Carvalho; Marques, Sérgio Ricardo; Cunha, Eugénia; da Silva, Ricardo Henrique AlvesThe objective of this study is to analyze the accuracy and applicability of the AncesTrees software with respect to a set of cranial measurements of a Brazilian sample consisting of 114 identified skulls from two osteological collections, predominantly composed of European (n = 59), African (n = 35), and admixed individuals (n = 20). Twenty-four different craniometric measurements are performed and input to AncesTrees via two algorithms, one of which is used in three configurations, with different ancestral groups integrated in the model. The software exhibits superior performance in the estimation of European individuals, reaching 73% accuracy, compared with 66% in the African individuals. Those individuals classified as admixed produce a variety of ancestral classifications, mainly European. Overall, the most accurate combination of AncesTrees is obtained using ancestralForest with only the European and African groups integrated into the algorithm, where the accuracy reaches 70%. The applicability of this software to a specific population is fragile because of the high admixing load, making it necessary to create a more representative anthropometric database of the Brazilian people. Key points: Ancestry estimation methods are seldom validated in Brazil.AncesTrees performed poorly on our sample, with a maximum accuracy of 70%.Brazil's highly mixed population hinders ancestry estimation.Mixed individuals (pardos) are predominantly classified as Europeans.The insertion of Brazilian metric data into the AncesTrees database would produce better results.
- Aplicação forense de marcadores genéticos de ancestralidade biogeográfica e características visíveis externamente: interpretação e relatório pericialPublication . Afonso Costa, Heloísa; Amorim, António; Nascimento, Rui; Cainé, Laura; Cunha, Eugénia; Corte Real, FranciscoA capacidade de multiplexação da sequenciação massiva em paralelo (MPS), em simultâneo com a capacidade de análise de diversos tipos de marcadores genéticos, conduziu a genética forense a uma utilização mais frequente dos polimorfismos de nucleotído único (SNPs). Iniciaram-se, também, as análises denominadas Forensic DNA Phenotyping (FDP) que incluem a inferência da ancestralidade biogeográfica (BGA) e a inferência das características visíveis externamente (EVC) a partir de uma amostra biológica. Características que poderão orientar a investigação e a pesquisa em registos, dotando o ADN da capacidade de atuar como testemunha. No entanto, a interpretação de genótipos e haplótipos de BGA pode ser desafiadora, faltando ainda, orientações e harmonização sobretudo sobre a forma de expor os resultados obtidos. Este trabalho tem como objetivos apresentar o método desenvolvido no Serviço de Genética e Biologia Forenses da Delegação do Sul (SBGF-S) para a determinação dos marcadores BGA e EVC; e apresentar um modelo de relatório pericial que pretende explanar os procedimentos a que a amostra foi submetida e traduzir os resultados em conclusões adequadas e percetíveis. Foram analisadas amostras colhidas após consentimento informado livre e esclarecido aprovado pela comissão ética e científica do INMLCF. As amostras foram extraídas com PrepFiler Express BTA™ Forensic DNA Extraction Kit e quantificadas com Quantifiler™ Trio DNA Quantification Kit. A preparação de bibliotecas de 41 SNPs autossómicos informativos para a EVC, 163 SNPs autossómicos de ancestralidade, e 116 Y-SNPs específicos de linhagem paterna incluídos no Ion AmpliSeq™ PhenoTrivium Panel, foi realizada de forma manual. A preparação de bibliotecas de ADN mitocondrial (ADNmt) foi realizada num equipamento Ion Chef™ com o Precision ID mtDNA Whole Genome Panel. A preparação do template e carregamento do Ion 530™ Chip foi realizada num Ion Chef™ utilizando o Ion S5™ Precision ID Chef & Sequencing Kit. A sequenciação foi realizada num Ion GeneStudio™ S5 System. A análise primária da sequência detetada foi realizada no Servidor Torrent em relação ao genoma de referência, hg19. A tipagem genética foi realizada utilizando o plugin HIDGenotyper-2.2 e a previsão BGA foi determinada com o Converge™ Software, baseada num método de bootstrap e um intervalo de confiança de 95%. A população de referência utilizada, compreende sete populações da base de dados ALFRED: África, América, Leste Asiático, Europa, Oceânia, Sul da Ásia e Sudoeste Asiático. A ancestralidade paterna e materna foi determinada recorrendo ao software YLeaf e à base de dados EMPOP, respetivamente. A predição do fenótipo foi obtida usando o Erasmus HPS Webtool. O conjunto dos SNPs autossómicos de ancestralidade, SNPs específicos de linhagem paterna e materna, e SNPs autossómicos fenotípicos, escolhidos, mostraram-se adequados para a determinação da BGA e EVC de uma amostra desconhecida, tendo sido elaborado o relatório pericial modelo.
- Automatic variable extraction from 3D coxal bone models for sex estimation using the DSP2 methodPublication . Kuchař, Michal; Pilmann Kotěrová, Anežka; Morávek, Alexander; Santos, Frédéric; Harnádková, Katarína; Henyš, Petr; Cunha, Eugénia; Brůžek, JaroslavThanks to technical progress and the availability of virtual data, sex estimation methods as part of a biological profile are undergoing an inevitable evolution. Further reductions in subjectivity, but potentially also in measurement errors, can be brought by approaches that automate the extraction of variables. Such automatization also significantly accelerates and facilitates the specialist’s work. The aim of this study is (1) to apply a previously proposed algorithm (Kuchař et al. 2021) to automatically extract 10 variables used for the DSP2 sex estimation method, and (2) to test the robustness of the new automatic approach in a current heterogeneous population. For the first aim, we used a sample of 240 3D scans of pelvic bones from the same individuals, which were measured manually for the DSP database. For the second aim a sample of 108 pelvic bones from the New Mexico Decedent Image Database was used. The results showed high agreement between automatic and manual measurements with rTEM below 5% for all dimensions except two. The accuracy of final sex estimates based on all 10 variables was excellent (error rate 0.3%). However, we observed a higher number of undetermined individuals in the Portuguese sample (25% of males) and the New Mexican sample (36.5% of females). In conclusion, the procedure for automatic dimension extraction was successfully applied both to a different type of data and to a heterogeneous population.
- Blows or Falls? Distinction by Random Forest ClassificationPublication . Henriques, Mélanie; Bonhomme, Vincent; Cunha, Eugénia; Adalian, PascalIn forensic anthropology, skeletal trauma analysis can assist pathologists in determining the circumstance, cause, and manner of death. Determining whether the trauma is related to falls or induced by homicidal blows is often asked in relevance to legal issues. The hat brim line rule (HBL) is one of the most commonly used methods. The rule says that fractures resulting from blows may be found above and within the HBL, not on the skull’s base. Recent studies have found that the HBL rule must be used carefully, and postcranial skeletal trauma could be useful in this distinction. Evidence presented in court must follow Daubert’s guidelines for validity and reliability (evidence validated; error rates known; standards available; findings should be peer-reviewed and accepted by the scientific community). In this study, we assessed skeletal fracture patterns resulting from both etiologies. We tested various models for the method; the best one was based on the binary coding of 12 anatomical regions or 28 bones with or without baseline (age and sex). The results show the possible identification of the etiology in 83% of the cases. This method could be helpful for forensic experts in the interpretation of bone fractures
- Combining anthropology and imaging to reconstruct antemortem trauma for identification purposesPublication . Petaros, Anja; Lindblom, Maria; Cunha, EugéniaIdentification of unidentified remains involves a comparison of ante- and postmortem features using biological identifiers. Anthropological identifiers, referred to by International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) as secondary identifiers, have often been judged less reliable than DNA, fingerprints and dental records (referred to as primary identifiers). However, anthropological identifiers have been proven as discriminatory as the primary sources in many instances, and play a decisive role in positive identification. To guarantee better use of anthropological identifiers, it is not only essential to develop standard protocols and statistical frameworks, but also to test different identification approaches in cases from daily practice. Evidence of skeletal antemortem trauma can be a valuable aid in the identification process, especially if the exact type of traumatic event causing the injury is identified. Here, we present a case in which the combination of anthropological analysis and imaging confirmed an interesting and unique sequence of antemortem traumatic events in incomplete skeletal remains. The remains were assumed to pertain to an individual who went missing several years earlier, and whose medical records revealed a unique history of trauma to the right femur. The individual had sustained a fracture due to a fall from a high height followed, 10 years after the primary trauma, by a gunshot wound to the same bone; both treated by intramedullary nail fixation. While the anthropological analysis matched the biological profile of the missing individual and identified a healed defect to the right femur compatible with a gunshot wound, the radiological examination indicated that the bone underwent three surgical procedures on different occasions. Radiological examination also identified a pre-existing healed fracture adjacent to the gunshot defect. In addition to presenting the identification process in this specific case, this article discusses the difficulties in antemortem trauma interpretation, importance of combining macroscopic and radiological analysis to aid the reconstruction of previous traumatic events and mechanisms of injury from healed fractures that can play important roles in forensic human identification.
- Cranial surgical approaches in the 21st Century Identified Skeletal CollectionPublication . Ferreira, Maria Teresa; Coelho, Catarina; Gaspar, Rosa Ramos; de Matos, Daniela P.; Pereira, Ricardo; Cunha, Eugénia; Oliveira-Santos, InêsIn Forensic Anthropology, identification is comparing information from a person whose fate and whereabouts are unknown with data from a person who is present but whose identity is unknown. The rarer and more distinctive the characteristics observed during the anthropological investigation, the greater the probability of reaching an identification. Taking this into account, cranial surgeries can be considered good individualization factors. The cases of skulls with lesions compatible with surgical procedures from the 21st Century Identified Skeletal Collection are presented, and their identification potential is discussed. This collection comprises 302 adult individuals, of which four females (aged 55 to 94 years) and four males (aged 67 to 92 years) present cranial lesions of surgical origin. The results of the macroscopic and imaging analyses (conventional x-rays and CTs) are presented, along with a detailed description and location of each lesion. In five cases there is clear evidence of bone remodelling. This research, which combines anthropological analysis with imaging and neurosurgical insights, demonstrates the importance of correctly interpreting these lesions, illustrating how important is a complete and interdisciplinary analysis for forensic expertise
- Cremação de cadáveres: considerações a propósito da eventual perda definitiva de informação genética individualPublication . Lima, António; Andrade Sampaio, Lisa; Amorim, António; Cunha, Eugénia; Corte Real Gonçalves, Francisco