The Subadult Virtual Anthropology Database (SVAD): An Accessible Repository of Contemporary Subadult Reference Data

Abstract

The Subadult Virtual Anthropology Database (SVAD) is the largest available repository of contemporary (2010–2019) subadult reference data from around the world. It is composed of data collected from individuals aged between birth and 22 years. Data were collected from skeletal remains (n = 43, Colombia) and medical images (n = 4848) generated at medical examiner’s offices in the United States (full-body Computed Tomography (CT) scans), hospitals in France, The Netherlands, Taiwan (region-specific CT scans), and South Africa (full-body Lodox Statscans), a private clinic in Angola (region-specific conventional radiographs), and a dental practice in Brazil (panoramic radiographs). Available derivatives include individual demographics (age, sex) with standardized skeletal and/or dental growth and development indicators for all individuals from all samples, and segmented long bone and innominate surfaces from the CT scan samples. Standardized protocols for data collection are provided for download and derivatives are freely accessible for researchers and students.

A multifaceted exploration of ontogenetic variation in vertebral neural canal size across contemporary populations

“…Vertebrae were virtually reconstructed using the Volume Rendering tool of the Amira® software with a threshold of around 200 Hounsfield units to exclusively visualize bony elements. All measurements on the CT samples were done with the Amira® software measuring tool and recorded with 0.01 mm precision following a standardized protocol with the superior face of the vertebral body oriented toward the observer, parallel to the computer screen (Stull & Corron, 2021, 2022). One of the authors (Louise K. Corron) measured the AP and TR diameters on the virtual surfaces of the individuals from the French, Taiwanese, and part of the U.S. samples, while another author (Christopher A. Wolfe) took VNC measurements of the individuals from the Netherlands and most of the U.S. sample.…”

“…A large sample of individuals ( n = 1404) between the ages of birth and 22 years from Colombia, France, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and the United States (Tables 1 and 2, Figure 2). The individuals comprise the Subadult Virtual Anthropology Database (SVAD), a freely available repository of contemporary reference data obtained from anonymized computed tomography (CT) scans, radiographic images, Lodox Statscan, or dry bones of either living or deceased male and female individuals aged between birth and 22 years from eight different countries (Stull & Corron, 2022). Previous research exposed similar skeletal and dental growth and development patterns in living and deceased individuals; though the explorations were not specific to VNC growth, the authors feel confident the samples can be compared (Stull et al, 2021).…”

“…Dates of birth for all individuals ranged between the mid‐to‐late 1980's and early 2010's, while dates of death for deceased individuals (samples from the U.S. and Colombia) and dates of acquisition of the medical images for living individuals (samples from France, the Netherlands, and Taiwan) ranged between the late 1990's and 2018. The SVAD samples are meant to be reflective of the range of variation in growth and developmental patterns for contemporary subadults in various countries though there are sampling biases associated with each type of collaborating institution (Stull et al, 2021; Stull & Corron, 2022). Pathologies that could affect growth and development were not always controlled for in the deceased sample from the U.S. as they were often related to a “natural” manner of death, especially for infants (Stull & Corron, 2022).…”

“…The SVAD samples are meant to be reflective of the range of variation in growth and developmental patterns for contemporary subadults in various countries though there are sampling biases associated with each type of collaborating institution (Stull et al, 2021; Stull & Corron, 2022). Pathologies that could affect growth and development were not always controlled for in the deceased sample from the U.S. as they were often related to a “natural” manner of death, especially for infants (Stull & Corron, 2022). However, previous research on that same sample showed that manner of death (“natural,” “homicide,” “accident,” “suicide,” or “undetermined”) did not significantly influence long bone dimensions or dental development for individuals older than two (Stull et al, 2021).…”

An alternative size variable for allometric investigations in subadults

“…Two samples were used in the current study; one was used to identify alternative size variables and the other was used as an external test for inter‐country applicability of the proposed alternative size variable. Diaphyseal data collected from computed tomography (CT) images of 308 subadults aged between birth and 13 years from the Subadult Virtual Anthropology Database (SVAD) (Figure 1) (Stull & Corron, 2021a, 2021b, 2022; Stull, Garvin, & Klales, 2020). These images were generated at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Office of the Medical Investigator and are part of the New Mexico Decedent Image Database (Berry & Edgar, 2021; Edgar et al, 2020) and are used to represent subadults from the United States (U.S.).…”