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The age of 18 is an important criterion in judicial trial, immigrant and competitive sports. Consequentially, the estimation of age 18 is a key issue in forensic practice and research. The extremitas sternalis claviculae, iliac crest, third molar, and the proximal limb of the limb bone were usually used as indictors of age 18. The results of the previous studies demonstrated that those indictors could be beneficial to the estimation of age 18. The X-ray, CT, ultrasound and MRI of different indictors were widely utilized for the estimation of age 18, particularly the thin-layer CT. But due to the non-radiation, MRI will be a trend for forensic age estimation in the future. Whilst in the previous studies, the descriptive analysis was applied for the estimation of age 18, but due to the low statistic efficiency, it is unsuitable for forensic age estimation, and the future studies should pay attention to the high efficiency statistical methods, for instance, the ROC curve or the data mining.
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Objective The purpose of this study is to estimate the living age by MRI T2-FS images of the knee and to establish a new age estimation method without radiation in Sichuan Hans population. Methods We retrospectively evaluated sagittal T2-weighted, fat-suppression and turbo spin-echo sequence taken upon MRI of 324patients (170 males, 154 females; age 10~30) using a six-stage method. The gender difference was tested by Mann-Whitney U and the correlation between the knee and age height was tested by Spearman correlation coefficient. Regression models were built for age estimation in both genders. Results The correlation between the distal femur and age was 0.687 in males and 0.661in females and was 0.684 in males and 0.488 in females between the proximal tibia and age. Comparison of male and female revealed nonsignificant differences in the ages at the stages 1~3, 5, 6 of the distal femoral epiphysis and stage 1~3, 5 of the proximal tibial epiphysis. The fusion of distal femur commenced at 18.42 years in males and 19.36 years in females. The fusion of proximal tibia commenced at 16.93 years in males and14.68 years in females. The test of accuracy showed MAD=2.90 years in the males and MAD=3.30 years in the females in the compound regression model. Conclusion MRI T2-FS images of the knee can be an indicator for age estimation in the living and stage 6 of the distal femur can be used to determine 18-year limit.
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Objective The purpose of this study is to estimate the body height of Sichuan Hans population by CT-VRT images of clavicle and to update the data of Stature estimation. Methods Three hundred individual CT-VRT images of clavicle were selected. The length of both side clavicles was measured and then the average clavicle length (ACL),the left clavicle length(LCL),the right clavicle length(RCL)was calculated as independent variable to establish the regression equations. The gender difference was tested by ANOVA and the correlation between the clavicle and the body height was tested by Pearson. Result The correlation between the ACL, LCL, RCL and the body height was normal in both genders (0.534 in male ACL and 0.707in female ACL; 0.484 in male LCL, 0.680in femaleLCL;0.523 in male RCL, 0.695 in female RCL). The test of accuracy showed MAD=4.48cm in the male ACL simple linear regression model and MAD=3.51cm in the female ACL simple linear regression model; MAD=4.60cm in the male LCL model, MAD=3.64cm in the female LCL simple linear regression model; MAD=4.49cm in the male RCL model, MAD=3.59cm in the female RCL model. Conclusion The regression equations derided from clavicle on the basis of CT-VRT images in this study can be used to estimate stature for Sichuan Hans population. But the R2 values were small, so it's better to combine other bone for stature estimation.
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Background High myopia is one of the primary factors of visual impairment,and its prevention and management are researching hot topics.Corneal curvature (CC) measures the steepness of the cornea which is an important parameter leading to myopia.Genome-wide association study (GWAS) showed that several genes are associated with CC in Asian populations.However,the association of corneal curvature-related genes with high myopia is unclear up to now.Objective This study was to investigate the association between single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the rs74225573 (mechanistic target of rapamycin [MTOR]),rs60078183 (cytidine/uridine monophosphate kinase 1 [CMPK1]),rs1800813 (platelet derived growth factor receptor alpha [PDGFRA]),rs11204213 (retinol binding protein 3 [RBP3]) and high myopia in Chinese Han population.Methods A prospective cohort study was performed.Four hundreds and eighty-three patients with high myopia were collected in Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital from February 2012 to August 2013,with the diopter (-10.84±4.69)D in the right eyes and (-10.35±4.67)D in the left eyes or ocular axial length of (28.15±2.27)mm in the right eyes and (27.72±2.51)mm in the left eyes.Five hundreds and nineteen normal volunteers matched in age and gender were included in the same period as controls,and all the subjects were Chinese Han people without genetic relationship.The periphery blood of 4 ml was obtained for the DNA extraction from each subject under the written informed consent.The primers of rs74225573,rs60078183,rs1800813 and rs1 1204213 were designed based on the information of NCBI website.The four SNPs were amplified by real-time PCR and genotyped by SNaPshot method.Results All the genotype frequencies of these four SNPs were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE).There are no significant differences in minor allele frequency (MAF) distribution of rs74225573,rs60078183 and rs11204213 between high myopia group and normal control group (rs74225573:Pag-corrected =0.935,OR =0.98;rs60078183:Page-currected =0.782,OR =1.04;rs11204213:Page-currected =0.058,OR =1.66),and the M AF of rs1800813 was significantly higher in the high myopia group than that in the normal control group (Page-currected =0.001,OR =0.64).The genotype frequency of rs74225573,rs60078183 and rs11204213 was not evidently different in additive model 1 (AB vs.BB),additive model 2 (AA vs.BB),dominant model (AA+AB vs.BB) and recessive model (AA vs.AB+BB) (all at P＞0.05),while significant differences were found in genotype frequency of rs1800813 both in additive model 1 and dominant model (additive model 1:P=0.002,OR=0.59;dominant model:P=0.001,OR=0.58).Conclusions The SNP of rs1800813 in the PDGFRA gene is associated with the pathogenesis of high myopia in the Chinese Han population,but the SNPs of rs74225573 (MTOR gene),rs60078183 (CMPK1 gene) and rs11204213 (RBP3 gene) appear to be not associated with high myopia.
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Chronic hepatitis B(CHB)is one of the most commom cause of liver fibrosis. Accurate assessment of liver fibrosis is essential for the strategy of treatment and judgement of prognosis . Liver biopsy is the gold standard for staging fibrosis,but it is invasive with high cost,low reproducibility and poor acceptance by patients. Therefore,it is urgent to explore a noninvasive modality for the assessment of liver fibrosis. Recent evidence highlights that elastographic techniques, biochemical markers and the diagnostic model consisted of several serum markers have the potential for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis. This article reviewed the progress in noninvasive assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with CHB.
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Objective To establish regression m odel betw een craniofacial lines and body height by m ea-suring craniofacial lines in Southw est H an m ales using C Tand to accum ulate data for the study of foren-sic anthropology. Methods H ead C Tdata of 273 H an m ales in Southw est w ere collected and 7 cranio-facial lines w ere determ ined. M ultiplanar reconstruction and volum e rendering w ere perform ed by im age post-processing softw are and the selected lines w ere m easured. The relationship betw een each m easuring indicator and body height w as analyzed using SPSS 21.0 softw are. The regression equation of body height estim ation w as established and 50 sam ples w ere selected again and put into the m athem atics m odels to verify its accuracy. Results The linear regression equations of 7 lines w ere established (P<0.05). The correlation coefficients of the unary linear regression equations w ere 0.190-0.439 and the standard errors of the estim ate (SEE) w ere 4.597-5.023 cm . The correlation coefficients of the m ultiple linear regression equation w ere 0.494-0.524 and the SEEw ere 4.418-4.458 cm . The return tests show ed that the highest ±1SEEaccuracy of the m ultiple regression equation:y=83.959+3.589 x6+2.573 x2, w ere 30%;and the highest ±2SEEaccuracy of the m ultiple regression equation: y=72.646+3.316 x6+1.586 x2+1.553 x4+2.211 x3, w ere 92% . Conclusion There is significant linear correlation betw een 7 selected lines and the stature in this study, and the plural linear regression equation established could be applied for estim ating the stature of Southw est H an m ales.
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Objective To establish the linear regression equation between body height and com bined length of manubrium and mesosternum of sternum m easured by CTvolum e rendering technique (CT-VRT) in southw est H an population. Methods One hundred and sixty subjects, including 80 m ales and 80 fem ales w ere selected from southw est H an population for routine CT-VRT(reconstruction thickness 1 m m ) ex-am ination. The lengths of both manubrium and mesosternum w ere recorded, and the com bined length of manubrium and mesosternum was equal to the algebraic sum of them . The sex-specific linear regression equations between the com bined length of manubrium and mesosternum and the real body height of each subject w ere deduced. Results The sex-specific sim ple linear regression equations between the com bined length of manubrium and mesosternum (x3) and body height (y) w ere established (m ale:y=135.000+2.118x3 and fem ale:y=120.790+2.808x3).Both equations show ed statisticalsignificance (P<0.05) w ith a 100% predictive accuracy. Conclusion CT-VRTis an effective m ethod for m easurem ent of the index of sternum . The com bined length of manubrium and mesosternum from CT-VRTcan be used for body height estim ation in southw est H an population.
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Objective To establish the mathematical models of stature estimation for Sichuan Han female with measurement of lumbar vertebrae by X-ray to provide essential data for forensic anthropology re-search. Methods The samples, 206 Sichuan Han females, were divided into three groups including group A, B and C according to the ages. Group A(206 samples) consisted of all ages, group B(116 samples) were 20-45 years old and 90 samples over 45 years old were group C. All the samples were examined lumbar vertebrae through C Rtechnology, including the parameters of five centrums (L1-L5) as anterior border, posterior border and central heights (x1-x15), total central height of lumbar spine (x16), and the real height of every sample.The linear regression analysis was produced using the parameters to establish the mathematical models of stature estimation. Sixty-two trained subjects were tested to verify the accuracy of the mathematical models. Results The established mathematical models by hypothesis test of linear regression equation model were statistically significant (P<0.05).The standard errors of the equation were 2.982-5.004 cm, while correlation coefficients were 0.370-0.779 and multiple correlation coefficients were 0.533-0.834.The return tests of the highest correlation coefficient and multiple correlation coefficient of each group showed that the highest accuracy of the multiple regression equation, y=100.33+1.489 x3-0.548 x6+0.772 x9+0.058 x12+0.645 x15, in group Awere 80.6% (±1SE ) and 100% (±2SE ). Conclusion The established mathematical models in this study could be applied for the stature estimation for Sichuan Han females.
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Objective To explore the forensic identification points of deaths caused by secondary dam-ages of road traffic accidents. Methods Seventeen deaths caused by secondary dam ages of road traffic accidents were collected. Through scene investigation and necropsy, the basic inform ation of the acci-dents, distribution and property of the injuries, and other inform ation were collected. A ccording to the collected data, the scene was reconstructed in order to confirm the injury process, analyze the way, mechanism and severity of injury, distinguish antem ortem injury from postm ortem injury, and determ ine the cause of deaths. Results C ertain features such as serious injuries, multiple traum as, com bined in-juries, co-existence of antem ortem and postm ortem injuries, multiple causes of wounds, com plex injury mechanism , as well as the mutual dam aging and overlapping injuries were quite characteristically noted in these secondary traffic accident cases. Conclusion Forensic assessment of deaths caused by secondary dam ages of road traffic accidents should be synthetically analyzed and judged through scene investigation and necropsy.