Forensic anthropology of sex and body size

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Sex determination from the femur and tibia in South African whites.

Maryna Steyn, M.Yaşar Işcan (1997)

With the current high incidence of violent crimes in South Africa, it has become very important to be able to determine the sex of individuals from their skeletal remains. The aim of this study is to provide standards usable for this purpose, to be used on the contemporary South African white population. Very little skeletal data is available for this group. Osteometric information was obtained from 56 male and 50 female individuals from cadaver collections. Six femoral and seven tibial measurements were taken, and subjected to SPSS discriminant function analysis. The distal breadths from both the femur and tibia provided the best discrimination. Formulae were developed for a number of combinations of measurements, which can be used to determine the sex on fragmentary remains. Average accuracies ranged from 86% to 91%, with female accuracies slightly higher than those of the males. The results of this study compares well with others, e.g., those from American whites.

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Sexual dimorphism in the humerus: a comparative analysis of Chinese, Japanese and Thais.

M.Yaşar Işcan, Susan Loth, Christopher A King … (1998)

Determination of sex from the skeleton is vital to medicolegal investigations. There is no longer any question that populations differ in size and proportions and these differences affect the metric assessment of sex. The extent of variation in sexual dimorphism among Asian Mongoloids within and between regions has not been quantified by discriminant function analysis, nor have standards for most groups been introduced for the humerus. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to establish metric standards for sex determination from the humerus of Chinese, Japanese and Thais, as well as to compare size and sexual dimorphism in these Asian Mongoloid populations. The database for this study consisted of documented skeletal samples from China (N = 87), Japan (N = 90), and Thailand (N = 104). Six standard dimensions, including maximum length, vertical head diameter, minimum midshaft diameter, maximum midshaft diameter, midshaft circumference, and epicondylar breadth were taken and subjected to stepwise and direct discriminant function analysis. Of dimensions selected by the stepwise function, vertical head diameter and epicondylar breadth were the only elements common to all three groups. Overall, mean accuracies were highest using formulae produced by the stepwise procedure and ranged from 86.8% in the Chinese to 92.4% in the Japanese to 97.1% in the Thais. Group comparisons also revealed that while the Chinese had the largest measurements, they were the least dimorphic. The reverse was true for the Thais and the Japanese were intermediate on both counts. In cross validation tests, classification accuracy decreased in all cases where a formula from one group was applied to another. It was therefore concluded even though all individuals were Asian Mongoloids, these regionally diverse populations exhibited significant metric differences that affect sex determination from the skeleton. These findings confirm those of previous studies that there is a need for group specific metric standards of assessment.

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Histological and radiographic determination of the age of physeal closure of the distal femur, proximal tibia, and proximal fibula of the New Zealand white rabbit.

Roberto M. Aguilar, M Kaweblum, Peggy Lehman … (1994)

A longitudinal study was performed in a series of 124 New Zealand White rabbits to determine the radiographic versus the histologic age of closure of the growth plates of the distal femur, proximal tibia, and proximal fibula. Periodic assessment was made by standard radiographs and histological studies. Histologically, growth plates in the distal femur closed at 19-24 weeks; growth plates in the proximal tibia, at 25-32 weeks; and growth plates in the proximal fibula, at 26-32 weeks. Radiographically, evidence of closure of growth plates in the distal femur occurred at 20-23 weeks; in the proximal tibia, at 22-27 weeks; and in the proximal fibula, at 23-31 weeks. A discrepancy in age between radiographic and histologic closure of the growth plate occurred in 3.6% of the femora, 10.9% of the tibias, and 16% of the fibulas.

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Author and article information

Journal

Title: Forensic Science International

Abbreviated Title: Forensic Science International

Publisher: Elsevier BV

ISSN (Print): 03790738

Publication date Created: January 2005

Publication date (Print): January 2005

Volume: 147

Issue: 2-3

Pages: 107-112

Article

DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2004.09.069

SO-VID: 48eec1a2-ddff-4a50-8750-1339ea602b0b

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http://www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/

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