Two-Dimensional Geometric Morphometric Method on Frontal Sinus for Race Estimation: A Lateral Skull Radiograph Study

@#Introduction: Race estimation of unknown individual is essential in forensic investigation. The resiliency of frontal sinus makes it a potential tool for biological profiling, particularly in cases where fragmented skeleton persists. Geometric morphometrics is an efficient way to characterise shape. However, the use of frontal sinus to identify race of Malaysians is yet to be investigated. This research employed a two-dimensional (2D) geometric morphometric to examine the morphological differences of the frontal sinus among the major races in Malaysia. Methods: Lateral skull radiographs which comprising of 453 adult Malaysian (151 Malays, Chinese and Indian respectively) were used. The 2D landmarks of eight were placed on the digitalized radiographs and 2D geometric morphometric analysis was performed using MorphoJ software. Results: Procrustes ANOVA revealed a significantly different frontal sinus shape (p-value < 0.05) between races. Canonical variate analysis showed significantly different frontal sinus morphology (p-value < 0.05) between Malay and Indian as well as Chinese and Indian. Discriminant function analysis with cross-validation demonstrated a 57.4% accuracy rate. Conclusion: This population-specific study based on frontal sinus of Malaysians using the 2D geometric morphometric, though less reliable, sheds new light on the potential applicability of this method for race estimation purpose.

Facial Muscles and Its Modiolus: A Review of Embryology, Comparative Anatomy, Morphology and Applied Anatomy

@#The modiolus of the face manifests the interesting landmark for facial muscles attachment. The strong connective tissue fibres play an important role in the clinical setting, especially in the aesthetic and dental surgeries. In the fourth week of intrauterine life, the development of the modiolus evolves in accordance with the growth of muscles of facial expression. Microscopically, a white, tendinous structure with the thick irregular collagenous connective tissue of collagen fibres predominance appeared to be the modiolus. Modiolus is morphologically a fibromuscular muscle situated on the lateral border of the mouth. The formation of the nasolabial fold is important and a well-developed modiolus provide a toned face. Several works of literature forementioned the number of facial muscles attached to the modiolus but no definitive similarity are identified. This review summarizes the updated morphological features and applied anatomy of the facial modiolus with its muscle attachment.

Geometric morphometric analysis of malocclusion on lateral cephalograms in Malaysian population / 대한해부학회지

Erratum: Study of sexual dimorphism of Malaysian crania: an important step in identification of the skeletal remains / 대한해부학회지

In the article, two co-authors were missing in the author list.

Morphometric and Morphological Study of Mental Foramen in the Malaysian Population: Anatomy and Forensic Implications

The mental foramen is present on either side of the body of the mandible bone. This foramen transmits mental vessels and nerves. In forensic anthropology, mental foramen may be important for differentiating sex, estimating age and identifying various races based on morphology. The main aim of the present study was to determine the position, shape and diameter of the mental foramen according to sex, age and race by postmortem computed tomography in the Malaysian population. Materials and Methods: A total of 79 dentulous patients (48 males, 31 females) from 3 age groups (18-30 years, 31– 50 years, 51-74 years) were selected for this study, and ten parameters were observed for each mandible. The parameters were divided into two morphological and eight morphometric parameters. The morphometric parameters were measured by using Osirix MD Software 3D Volume Rendering. Results: Results showed that mandibular body length and height were significantly greater in males than in females by independent t-test. (p< 0.05). However, the mandibular body height was found to decrease significantly with age in both sexes by one-way Anova. It was observed that the shape of mental foramen was 45.6% oval and 54.4% rounded. About 44.3% of them were in line with the longitudinal axis of the second premolar tooth. Conclusion: It was concluded that mental foramen may be used for identification purposes, particularly for sex, age and race determination.

Study of sexual dimorphism of Malaysian crania: an important step in identification of the skeletal remains / 대한해부학회지

Sex determination is one of the main steps in the identification of human skeletal remains. It constitutes an initial step in personal identification from the skeletal remains. The aim of the present study was to provide the population-specific sex discriminating osteometric standards to aid human identification. The present study was conducted on 87 (174 sides) slices of crania using postmortem computed tomography in 45 males and 42 females, aged between 18 and 75 years. About 22 parameters of crania were measured using Osirix software 3-D Volume Rendering. Results showed that all parameters were significantly higher in males than in females except for orbital height of the left eye by independent t test (P<0.01). By discriminant analysis, the classification accuracy was 85.1%, and by regression, the classification accuracy ranged from 78.2% to 86.2%. In conclusion, cranium can be used to distinguish between males and females in the Malaysian population. The results of the present study can be used as a forensic tool for identification of unknown crania.