Age estimation using epiphyseal closure at the wrist joint : an investigation of individuals of African origin, age 14 to 22 years

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-116).Age estimation techniques allow the researcher to compare chronological age, calculated from the individual's date of birth, to the level of functional and skeletal development known as biological age. This is useful in forensic cases where the age of an individual whether living or post mortem is often unknown

Beyond The Butcher\u27s Block: The Animal Landscapes of Eighteenth-Century Chesapeake and Lowcountry Plantations

This dissertation argues that working oxen, horses, and mules contributed to the physical and social landscapes of eighteenth-century plantations in the Chesapeake and the Lowcountry. This research embraces an animal landscape approach, exploring how humans and animals were both active agents in shaping animal husbandry strategies, social interactions, and power negotiations on plantations. This exploration utilized archaeological and historical sources, predominately faunal assemblages from Oxon Hill Manor, Maryland, Mount Vernon, Virginia, Drayton Hall, South Carolina, and Stobo Plantation, South Carolina; articulated equine skeletons from Jamestown Island, Virginia, and Yorktown, Virginia; and probate inventories from plantations within the eighteenth-century Upper Chesapeake and Lowcountry. Working oxen and equines were identified from the archaeological record through pathological and osteometric analyses. Probate inventories supplied complementary information on the number of working oxen and equines in each region and the types of labors these animals performed. In the eighteenth-century Chesapeake, laboring oxen and equines were essential to the plowing and carting required by the shift from tobacco to mixed grain production. Working livestock were husbanded in a manner which relied on producing excess grains which could then be fed to the livestock. In the eighteenth-century Lowcountry, oxen were used sporadically throughout the region to ready fields or to cart products. Horses in the Lowcountry were essential to personal transportation, as many wealthy planters frequently travelled between their multiple estates. Compared to the Chesapeake, livestock in the Lowcountry was husbanded in a more passive manner; working animals were corralled while some of the non-working livestock ranged freely in the woodlands in their natural herd structures. In both regions, interactions between humans and animals combined with the physicality of the plantations to create landscapes of domination and resistance. In the Chesapeake, planters depended on working livestock to increase their wealth and to symbolize that wealth to others. In the Lowcountry, livestock represented large landholdings, and planters used horses to symbolize their mobility and active involvement in those landholdings. In both regions, enslaved laborers relied on working livestock to increase their mobility and their standing within the enslaved community. Additionally, enslaved individuals worked with animals to subvert the social order of the day through active and passive revolt. Rather than being static members in the background of human activity, working oxen and equines actively contributed to the economic, cultural, and social spheres of eighteenth-century plantation life

Development of third molar and Third molar index: I3M Global observations

Uno dei contributi principali dell\u2019odontologia forense \ue8 riguardo alla stima della maggior et\ue0. In molti stati l\u2019et\ue0 piena di responsabilit\ue0 criminale \ue8 definita al 18simo anno di et\ue0. Il terzo molare sembra un indicatore di questa fascia di et\ue0 particolarmente accurato anche perch\ue9 poco influenzato da fattori come la nutrizione la dieta e fattori socio economici. Partendo da questi presupposti l\u2019AgEstimation project ha sviluppato un metodo quantitativo per definire se un soggetto sia maggiorenne o meno misurando I3M index, ottenuto dal rapporto fra la misura degli apici del terzo molare e la sua lunghezza. Il metodo \ue8 stato testato, con successo, su campioni provenienti da diversi paesi. Lo scopo di questa tesi \ue8 di dare una risposta ad una domanda importante. Sebbene siano stati fatti test su molte popolazioni, quanto si applicabile su popolazioni nuove ed inoltre se ci sia una valenza

Basal abelisaurid and carcharodontosaurid theropods from the Lower Cretaceous Elrhaz Formation of Niger

We report the discovery of basal abelisaurid and carcharodontosaurid theropods from the mid Cretaceous (Aptian–Albian, ca. 112 Ma) Elrhaz Formation of the Niger Republic. The abelisaurid, Kryptops palaios gen. et sp. nov., is represented by a single individual preserving the maxilla, pelvic girdle, vertebrae and ribs. Several features, including a maxilla textured externally by impressed vascular grooves and a narrow antorbital fossa, clearly place Kryptops palaios within Abelisauridae as its oldest known member. The carcharodontosaurid, Eocarcharia dinops gen. et sp. nov., is represented by several cranial bones and isolated teeth. Phylogenetic analysis places it as a basal carcharodontosaurid, similar to Acrocanthosaurus and less derived than Carcharodontosaurus and Giganotosaurus. The discovery of these taxa suggests that large body size and many of the derived cranial features of abelisaurids and carcharodontosaurids had already evolved by the mid Cretaceous. The presence of a close relative of the North American genus Acrocanthosaurus on Africa suggests that carcharodontosaurids had already achieved a trans−Tethyan distribution by the mid Cretaceous

Exploring Prehistoric Tuberculosis in Britain: A Combined Macroscopic and Biomolecular Approach

Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial, infectious disease, currently responsible for millions of deaths worldwide. Although the aetiology of the disease in its current form is well documented in the clinical literature, little is known of the form the disease took in earlier times, or the time at which it first entered Britain. This study aimed to test the hypotheses that TB was present in British prehistory, (as it was in Europe), prior to that previously identified in the Iron Age (Mays and Taylor, 2003) and that the infection was caused by both M. tuberculosis and M. bovis; the latter most commonly contracted from cattle. The objective of the project was to use ancient DNA (aDNA) from human skeletons to study the bacteria responsible for TB (M. tuberculosis complex) in order to then study the origin and evolution of the strains of the bacteria causing TB in prehistoric Britain. Thirteen individuals from Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age sites in the south of England (comprising inhumations of reasonable preservation), were selected for inclusion in the project, based on non-specific evidence of infection, potentially representative of early tuberculous skeletal involvement. A biocultural approach was employed in order to better understand the environmental and social context from which the samples originated. The geographical area under study was limited to the south of Britain, (with the exception of Wetwang Slack in Yorkshire) because of the direct contact between Britain and the continent in this region. Biomolecular analysis did not produce positive results for TB, the reasons for which may include poor preservation of pathogen aDNA, and thus, no conclusive evidence was found of the presence of TB in prehistoric Britain prior to that already identified. Problems encountered during the project were highlighted in an effort to improve efficiency of future projects, with suggestions as to how this study may be extended in order to allow development of a much more comprehensive history of TB in Britain to be formed; its origins, spread and possible impact on ancient British populations

Determination of bone age and bone mass in modern United Kingdom and Saudi Arabian populations.

The Greulich & Pyle (G&P) and Tanner & Whitehouse (TW) methods are frequently used to determine bone age. The applicability of these methods for populations who are of different ethnicity or socioeconomic status to the reference standard has been subjected to questions. Therefore, a systematic review was undertaken to evaluate the applicability of the G&P atlas for four major ethnicities. The G&P standard appeared imprecise when applied to Asian male and African female populations. The applicability of the G&P and TW3 to modern population from the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia was assessed. The automatic software called (BoneXpert) which calculates bone age beside on the G&P and TW3, was used. The software can eliminate observer variability and provide timesaving solution. In total 821 hand radiographs (426 males) were included on the analysis. In the UK, the G&P atlas appeared to be applicable while The TW3 consistently underestimates the age of females by an average of 5 months. Furthermore, significant differences between BA and CA were apparent in Saudi Arabian males when using the G&P atlas and TW3 method. The added advantage of BoneXpert is that bone mass can be assessed from left hand radiographs. However, results from 291 patients, in which their dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and hand radiographs have been acquired on the same day, showed weak correlation between DXA and bone mass calculated by the software. The BoneXpert performance with regard to images taken using modalities other than conventional radiography was evaluated. Nevertheless, another advantage is that children are more likely to expose to much lower radiation dose from hand-wrist DXA compare to left hand radiographs. The low quality of DXA prohibits the use of BoneXpert software for the automatic determination of bone age while the TW3 cannot be determined manually from the hand-wrist DXA

Age estimation in the living : a test of 6 radiographic methods

There is a growing recognition that there is a requirement for methods of age estimation of the living to be rigorously tested to ensure that they are accurate, reliable and valid for use in forensic and humanitarian age estimation. The necessity for accurate and reliable methods of age estimation are driven both by humanitarian, political and judicial need. Age estimation methods commonly in use today are based on the application of reference standards, known as atlases, which were developed using data collected from children who participated in longitudinal studies in the early to mid-1900s. The standards were originally developed to provide a baseline to which radiographs could be compared in order to assess the child’s stage of skeletal development in relation to their chronological age, a purpose for which they are still utilised in the medical community. These atlases provide a testable link between skeletal age and chronological age which has been recognised by forensic practitioners who have essentially hijacked this medical capability and applied it to their fields. This has resulted in an increased use of these standards as a method of predicting the chronological age from the skeletal age of a child when the former is unknown. This novel use of the atlases on populations who are distinct, ethnically, temporally and geographically, from those whose data was gathered and was used in the design of the standard leaves the forensic outcomes vulnerable to challenge in court. This study aims to examine the reliability and accuracy of these standards in relation to a modern population, providing a sound statistical base for the use of these standards for forensic purposes. Radiographs were collected from the local hospital from children who had been X-rayed for investigation during attendance at the local A&E department. Four body areas were selected for investigation; the hand-wrist, the elbow, the knee and the foot-ankle and tests were undertaken to assess the radiographs using six commonly uses methods of age estimation. Further images of the wrist and elbow were collected from children in New Delhi, India. These images were subject to age estimation utilising the methods described.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Age estimation in the living : a test of 6 radiographic methods

There is a growing recognition that there is a requirement for methods of age estimation of the living to be rigorously tested to ensure that they are accurate, reliable and valid for use in forensic and humanitarian age estimation. The necessity for accurate and reliable methods of age estimation are driven both by humanitarian, political and judicial need. Age estimation methods commonly in use today are based on the application of reference standards, known as atlases, which were developed using data collected from children who participated in longitudinal studies in the early to mid-1900s. The standards were originally developed to provide a baseline to which radiographs could be compared in order to assess the child’s stage of skeletal development in relation to their chronological age, a purpose for which they are still utilised in the medical community. These atlases provide a testable link between skeletal age and chronological age which has been recognised by forensic practitioners who have essentially hijacked this medical capability and applied it to their fields. This has resulted in an increased use of these standards as a method of predicting the chronological age from the skeletal age of a child when the former is unknown. This novel use of the atlases on populations who are distinct, ethnically, temporally and geographically, from those whose data was gathered and was used in the design of the standard leaves the forensic outcomes vulnerable to challenge in court. This study aims to examine the reliability and accuracy of these standards in relation to a modern population, providing a sound statistical base for the use of these standards for forensic purposes. Radiographs were collected from the local hospital from children who had been X-rayed for investigation during attendance at the local A&E department. Four body areas were selected for investigation; the hand-wrist, the elbow, the knee and the foot-ankle and tests were undertaken to assess the radiographs using six commonly uses methods of age estimation. Further images of the wrist and elbow were collected from children in New Delhi, India. These images were subject to age estimation utilising the methods described.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo