Bibliometrics Analysis in English and Chinese Literature on Drowning in Forensic Medicine from 1991 to 2020 / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To explore the research hotspots and development trends of the field of forensic drowning from 1991 to 2020 by bibliometrics methods.@*METHODS@#Based on Web of Science, CNKI database, Wanfang Data knowledge service platform, python 3.9.2, CiteSpace 5.8.R3, Gephi 0.9.2, etc. were used to analyze the publishing trends, countries/regions, institutions, authors and topics of the study on drowning.@*RESULTS@#A total of 631 English literature were obtained, including 59 articles from Chinese authors, and 386 Chinese literature were obtained. The Chinese and English journals with the largest number of related literatures were Chinese Journal of Forensic Science (80 articles) and Forensic Science International (106 articles), respectively. Japan published the most articles in English, and China ranked third. Osaka City Univ (Japan, 28 articles) published the most English articles, and Guangzhou Forens Sci Inst (China, 22 articles) ranked second. Among Chinese literature, Guangzhou Forens Sci Inst (32 articles) published the most. The topic analysis of Chinese and English literature showed that diatom examination, virtual autopsy, postmortem biochemical examination, the nature of death, and postmortem submersion interval were the hot spots of current research, but English literature had more studies on new technologies and methods, while Chinese literature was more inclined to practice, application and experience summary.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The number of literature in forensic medicine on drowning is relatively stable. The scope of international and domestic collaborations in this field is still limited. The automated examination of diatoms, the establishment of diatom DNA barcodes and virtual autopsy will be the most important research hotspots in the coming period and are expected to achieve breakthroughs in drowning diagnosis, drowning location inference, postmortem submersion interval estimation, etc.

Metrological Analysis of the Projects in the Field of Forensic Science Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China between 2000 and 2019 / 法医学杂志

Objective To understand the trend of funding in the field of forensic science by analyzing the projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China （NSFC）. Methods Based on the data of funded projects in the field of forensic science published on NSFC website in the twenty years from 2000 to 2019, the trend of project number and fund, project type, discipline type, funded institution and personnel were analyzed with metrological methods. The funding theme was analyzed through multi-methods. Results In the twenty years, NSFC funded 352 projects in the field of forensic science, including 9 project types, 47 institutions and 213 persons. General programs （184 projects）, forensic toxicology, pathology, and toxicology analysis （H2301, 188 projects）, and the Academy of Forensic Science （37 projects） had the most funded projects. NSFC funded 174.69 million yuan in the field of forensic science. The Excellent Young Scientists Fund （3.50 million yuan/project）, forensic toxicology, pathology, and toxicology analysis （H2301, 78.64 million yuan）, and Xi'an Jiaotong University （23.78 million yuan） had the most funding. The differences in the number and funding of subsidized projects between the first ten years and the last ten years had statistical significance （P<0.05）. The main targets of funding were toxicology research, evidence-related research, estimation-related research, brain injury research, et al. The field of research mainly funded from 2010 to 2019 was interdisciplinary research. Conclusion Since 2010, the number of project, funding of project, the number of institutions and persons funded by NSFC in the field of forensic science showed an increasing trend. The types of disciplines, types of projects and themes of projects are more diverse, which will promote the long-term development of basic forensic research in China.

Bibliometrics Analysis of Forensic Toxicology Literature of Mainland Chinese Scholars in SCIE Journals / 法医学杂志

Objective To conduct bibliometrics analysis of forensic toxicology literature of mainland Chinese scholars published in SCIE journals between 1998 and 2018. Methods Gephi 0.9.2 software was used for bibliometrics analysis. The status of forensic toxicology research in mainland China was network visualized through data analysis of institutional cooperation, author collaboration, fund support, keywords co-occurrence as well as literature interpretation. Results The total number of papers published in SCIE journals in the past twenty years by mainland Chinese scholars was 242, and increased year by year. Thematic studies, such as analysis and evaluation of toxins in hair, identification of new psychoactive substances, optical enantiomer analysis of amphetamines, analysis of toxic animal and plant components, etc, reached the international advanced level. Conclusion The forensic toxicology discipline in our country has developed rapidly in recent years. The opening and development of forensic science in colleges and universities, the constant emerging of new research teams, especially the funding of major special projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Ministry of Science and Technology, have promoted high level research output and academic status of Chinese forensic toxicology on the international stage.

Analysis of Forensic Sciences Literature in SCIE from 2008 to 2017 / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To analyze the literature on forensic sciences indexed in Science Citation Index Expanded （SCIE） in recent 10 years, and to understand the research status, characteristics and trends in the field of forensic sciences.@*METHODS@#Literature on forensic sciences from 2008 to 2017 in Web of Science （WoS） was retrieved. The documents number and geographical distribution, document types, source titles, organizations, research areas, authors, funding agencies, and the high cited articles were detected. The impact factors （IF） of journals were retrieved in Journal Citation Reports （JCR）. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics.@*RESULTS@#From 2008 to 2017, there were 21 001 documents on forensic sciences in SCIE. The main document type was articles, with English as the major language. With regards to research areas, pathology has the largest number of papers worldwide, and genetics and heredity has the largest number of publications in mainland China. Among the 18 journals where the documents was published, Forensic Science International ranks the first on publication count, and Forensic Science International Genetics has the highest IF （5.637） in the JCR 2017. In 2017, the number of papers from mainland China increased by 48.50% compared with 2016, which was higher than the global increase （32.63%） and the top-5 countries in terms of number of publications （the US, Germany, the UK, Australia, Italy）. The average document count per organization is 1.98 worldwide and 1.17 in mainland China, respectively. The publication number per author is 0.53 worldwide and 0.36 in mainland China, respectively. Around 28.17% of the publications were funded, with National Natural Science Foundation of China （NSFC） as the Top 1 funding agency （192 papers）. Among the documents with citations, the most cited publication has been cited for 366 times.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The yearly numbers of publications on forensic sciences are increasing during recent 10 years. Focusing on the mainland China, there would be more high-quality papers with the steady funding of NSFC.

Effect of Different Attentional Conditions on ERP Detection of Visual Acuity / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To study the effect of different attentional conditions on the event-related potential （ERP） components generated by the visual information stimuli related to visual acuity, and provide a theoretical reference for clinical forensic visual objective evaluation.@*METHODS@#With visual acuity optotypes as normal form of visual information stimuli, 15 volunteers as study subjects were supposed to account the visual acuity optotypes under the attentional condition of visual stimuli. Furthermore, the subjects were required to listen to the storytelling carefully under the non-attentional condition of visual stimuli, and after the examination, they needed to answer the story-related questions. All the EEG results of two different attentional conditions from the subjects were recorded by 32 channel ERP system.@*RESULTS@#Under two attentional conditions, P₁ and P₃₀₀ components were evoked by the visual acuity optotypes on supra-threshold and threshold visual acuity levels, while only P₁ component were evoked by the visual acuity optotypes on sub-threshold levels. In the ERP waveforms evoked by the visual acuity optotypes on supra-threshold, P₁ and P₃₀₀ amplitudes under attentional condition were larger than that under non-attentional condition.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Attentional conditions can influence the detection of visual acuity. P₃₀₀ component can be used to distinguish the visual acuity levels with supra-threshold and sub-threshold under non-attentional condition.

The analysis of variation of Han female adolescent bone development in Henan and Zhejiang province / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To study the difference of Han female adolescent bone development in Henan and Zhejiang province.@*METHODS@#All radiography including sternal end of clavicle and six main bone joints were taken from 599 female adolescents with age between 12 to 19 in Henan and Zhejiang province. Twenty four skeletal development indexes were analyzed based on "The Grading Standards" of skeletal growth of teenagers and then the bone age were calculated using mathematical model functions. The ratios of the bone age and the chronological age were analyzed by statistical software.@*RESULTS@#The development of Henan female adolescents' skeleton was about 0.39 years earlier than that in Zhejiang at the age of 14-15 years old. The development of Henan female adolescents' skeleton was about 0.37 years later than that in Zhejiang at the age of 15-16 years old. The development of Henan female adolescents' skeleton was about 0.38 years later than that in Zhejiang at the age of 18-19 years old. There was no statistics significance in other age group.@*CONCLUSION@#The female adolescent bone development in Henan province is faster at earlier stage and then slower than that in Zhejiang province. The results provide potential value for the forensic medicine, anthropology and clinical medicine.

Application of Demirjian's method for chronological age estimation in teenagers of Shanghai Han population / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To study the applicability of Demirjian's method for age estimation in teenagers of Shanghai Han population in China.@*METHODS@#Paired t-test was performed between the chronological age and the age determined by Demirjian's method of 501 teenagers whose orthopantomograms were collected from the ninth hospital of Shanghai. There were 168 boys and 333 girls involved in this study with chronological age from 11 to 20 years. Uni-factor model was used to explore the relationships of the two kinds of age.@*RESULTS@#For the marked difference between the chronological age and determined age, Demirjian's method was not suitable to the Chinese Han adolescents. The results of paired t-test between chronological age and predicted age from quadratic equation showed that there was no significant difference in boys aged 12-16 years, in girls aged 12-14 years and 15-17 years repectively. The uni-factor model could make the error of determined age less than 1 year to 81.04% of the samples.@*CONCLUSION@#The age between 11 and 17 years can be well estimated by our method, except for the 17 years of age and above.

Age estimation by dental radiological imaging / 法医学杂志

Dental age plays an important role in age estimation. It has often been used together with skeletal age to improve the accuracy of age estimation abroad, but seldom performed in China. As a noninvasive technology, dental radiological imaging has been widely used in age estimation. By observing the age-related changes such as the pulp cavity and development of crown and root on radiographs. Gleiser and Hunt, as well as Demirjian have developed different methods to determine the age of human. Demirjian's method has been proved to be more accurate but with limitation when used in persons of eighteen and above. The accuracy and reliability of the measurements on pulp cavity could be improved as the development of computed tomography with its high resolution and intelligent software. As a convenient and accurate method, age estimation from dental computed tomographs would be more promising in the future for forensic scientists and anthropologists.