Estimation of the post-mortem interval of human skeletal remains using Raman spectroscopy and chemometrics

Ortiz-Herrero, L.; Uribe, Beatriz; Armas, L. Hidalgo; Alonso, M.L.; Sarmiento, Alfredo; Irurita, Javier; Alonso, R.; Maguregui, Miren Itxaso; Etxeberria, Francisco; Bartolomé, L.

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.111087

Cited by 16 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Especially recent skeletal remains not older than a few decades are of significant interest to law enforcement [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Depending on the legal system of each country, the time it takes for a case to be relevant varies, for example, with 15 years in Portugal and 50 years in Germany [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]. In skeletal remains, the PMI can be difficult to estimate following the decomposition of soft tissues.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite considerable research, there is still no definitive method for estimating the PMI of skeletal remains [ 8 ]. The difficulties arise from the complex degradation processes, referring to chemical, physical, and biological processes that occur between bones and the environment where they are located [ 4 ]. The type of degradation is not well understood [ 9 ], but different parts of the bone have different characteristics and chemical compositions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, a portion of the cortex is inorganic and surrounded by the organic phase [ 10 , 11 ]. Degradation is affected by both internal and external factors [ 4 , 10 ]. Internal factors include age, diseases, and diet [ 10 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies focus on bones’ chemical and physical changes after death and the varied factors affecting the diagenetic process [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]. So far, techniques applied to determine the time elapsed since death of skeletal remains include histological examination [ 19 , 20 , 21 ], reaction with a mineral acid, reaction with benzidine, nitrogen loss [ 22 ], proteomics [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ], metabarcoding [ 27 , 28 ], degradation of lipids, remnants of fat-transgression [ 29 ], high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry [ 30 ], UV-Vis spectroscopic methods [ 11 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ], radioisotope measurements [ 27 , 35 , 36 , 37 ], luminol chemiluminescent reaction [ 3 , 36 , 38 , 39 , 40 ], X-ray diffraction [ 10 , 41 , 42 ], micro-computed tomography [ 42 ], and infrared (IR) spectroscopy [ 4 , 8 , 9 , 33 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ]. Some of these methods are destructive, others lack objectivity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Post-Mortem Interval of Human Skeletal Remains Estimated with Handheld NIR Spectrometry

Schmidt

Zelger

Wöss

et al. 2022

Biology

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Estimating the post-mortem interval (PMI) of human skeletal remains is a critical issue of forensic analysis, with important limitations such as sample preparation and practicability. In this work, NIR spectroscopy (NIRONE® Sensor X; Spectral Engines, 61449, Germany) was applied to estimate the PMI of 104 human bone samples between 1 day and 2000 years. Reflectance data were repeatedly collected from eight independent spectrometers between 1950 and 1550 nm with a spectral resolution of 14 nm and a step size of 2 nm, each from the external and internal bone. An Artificial Neural Network was used to analyze the 66,560 distinct diagnostic spectra, and clearly distinguished between forensic and archaeological bone material: the classification accuracies for PMIs of 0–2 weeks, 2 weeks–6 months, 6 months–1 year, 1 year–10 years, and >100 years were 0.90, 0.94, 0.94, 0.93, and 1.00, respectively. PMI of archaeological bones could be determined with an accuracy of 100%, demonstrating the adequate predictive performance of the model. Applying a handheld NIR spectrometer to estimate the PMI of human skeletal remains is rapid and extends the repertoire of forensic analyses as a distinct, novel approach.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Post-Mortem Interval of Human Skeletal Remains Estimated with Handheld NIR Spectrometry

Schmidt

Zelger

Wöss

et al. 2022

Biology

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show abstract

“…Various techniques and methods have been employed to estimate the PMI with the highest accuracy. Methods include examination of the external physical appearance; histopathological surveys [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]; reaction with a mineral acid, reaction with benzidine, nitrogen loss [ 9 ]; molecular biology [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]; metabolomics [ 16 ]; high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry [ 17 ]; UV-Vis spectroscopic methods [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]; radioisotope measurements [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]; luminol chemiluminescent reaction [ 24 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]; X-ray diffraction [ 32 , 33 , 34 ]; spectroscopic technology [ 21 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ]; postmortem computed tomography (CT) [ 48 ], micro-CT [ 2 , 34 ]; visible and thermal 3D imaging [ 49 ]; and entomological methods (succession model, carrion insect development) ...…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of Micro-Computed Tomography for the Estimation of the Post-Mortem Interval of Human Skeletal Remains

Schmidt

Zelger

Woess

et al. 2022

Biology

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It is challenging to estimate the post-mortem interval (PMI) of skeletal remains within a forensic context. As a result of their interactions with the environment, bones undergo several chemical and physical changes after death. So far, multiple methods have been used to follow up on post-mortem changes. There is, however, no definitive way to estimate the PMI of skeletal remains. This research aimed to propose a methodology capable of estimating the PMI using micro-computed tomography measurements of 104 human skeletal remains with PMIs between one day and 2000 years. The present study indicates that micro-computed tomography could be considered an objective and precise method of PMI evaluation in forensic medicine. The measured parameters show a significant difference regarding the PMI for Cort Porosity p < 0.001, BV/TV p > 0.001, Mean1 p > 0.001 and Mean2 p > 0.005. Using a machine learning approach, the neural network showed an accuracy of 99% for distinguishing between samples with a PMI of less than 100 years and archaeological samples.

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A preliminary study characterizing temporal changes in soil bacterial communities after dismembered bones were buried

Wang,

Liu,

Ren

et al. 2024

Electrophoresis

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Determining the burial time of skeletal remains is one of the most important issues of forensic medicine. We speculated that the microbiome of gravesoil may be a promising method to infer burial time by virtue of time‐dependent. As we know, forensic scientists have established various models to predict the postmortem interval of a decedent based on the changes in body and soil microbiome communities. However, limited data are available on the burial time prediction for bones, especially dismembered bones. In this exploratory study, we initially conducted 16S rRNA amplicon high‐throughput sequencing on the burial soil of 10 porcine femurs within a 120‐day period and analyzed the changes in soil microbial communities. Compared with the control soil, a higher Shannon index in the microbial diversity of burial soil containing bones was observed. Correlation analysis identified 61 time‐related bacterial families and the best subset selection method obtained best subset, containing Thermomonosporaceae, Clostridiaceae, 0319‐A21, and Oxalobacteraceae, which were used to construct a simplified multiple linear regression model with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 56.69 accumulated degree day (ADD). An additional random forest model was established based on indicators for the minimum cross‐validation error of Thermomonosporaceae, Clostridiaceae, 0319‐A21, Oxalobacteraceae, and Syntrophobacteraceae, with an MAE of 55.65 ADD. The produced empirical data in this pilot study provided the evidence of feasibility that the microbial successional changes of burial soil will predict the burial time of dismembered bones and may also expand the current knowledge of the effects of bone burial on soil bacterial communities.

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Estimation of the post-mortem interval of human skeletal remains using Raman spectroscopy and chemometrics

Cited by 16 publications

References 34 publications

Post-Mortem Interval of Human Skeletal Remains Estimated with Handheld NIR Spectrometry

Post-Mortem Interval of Human Skeletal Remains Estimated with Handheld NIR Spectrometry

Application of Micro-Computed Tomography for the Estimation of the Post-Mortem Interval of Human Skeletal Remains

A preliminary study characterizing temporal changes in soil bacterial communities after dismembered bones were buried

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