Dental and skeletal imaging in forensic age estimation : disparities in current approaches and the continuing search for optimization

Medical imaging for forensic age estimation in living adolescents and young adults continues to be controversial and a subject of discussion. Because age estimation based on medical imaging is well studied, it is the current gold standard. However, large disparities exist between the centers conducting age estimation, both between and within countries. This review provides an overview of the most common approaches applied in Europe, with case examples illustrating the differences in imaging modalities, in staging of development, and in statistical processing of the age data. Additionally, the review looks toward the future because several European research groups have intensified studies on age estimation, exploring four strategies for optimization: (1) increasing sample sizes of the reference populations, (2) combining single-site information into multifactorial information, (3) avoiding ionizing radiation, and (4) conducting a fully automated analysis

Recovering Protein-Protein and Domain-Domain Interactions from Aggregation of IP-MS Proteomics of Coregulator Complexes

Coregulator proteins (CoRegs) are part of multi-protein complexes that transiently assemble with transcription factors and chromatin modifiers to regulate gene expression. In this study we analyzed data from 3,290 immuno-precipitations (IP) followed by mass spectrometry (MS) applied to human cell lines aimed at identifying CoRegs complexes. Using the semi-quantitative spectral counts, we scored binary protein-protein and domain-domain associations with several equations. Unlike previous applications, our methods scored prey-prey protein-protein interactions regardless of the baits used. We also predicted domain-domain interactions underlying predicted protein-protein interactions. The quality of predicted protein-protein and domain-domain interactions was evaluated using known binary interactions from the literature, whereas one protein-protein interaction, between STRN and CTTNBP2NL, was validated experimentally; and one domain-domain interaction, between the HEAT domain of PPP2R1A and the Pkinase domain of STK25, was validated using molecular docking simulations. The scoring schemes presented here recovered known, and predicted many new, complexes, protein-protein, and domain-domain interactions. The networks that resulted from the predictions are provided as a web-based interactive application at http://maayanlab.net/HT-IP-MS-2-PPI-DDI/

The relevance of body mass index in forensic age assessment of living individuals: an age-adjusted linear regression analysis using multivariable fractional polynomials

In forensic age assessment of living individuals, developmental stages of skeletal maturation and tooth mineralization are examined and compared with a reference population. It is of interest which factors can affect the development of these features. We investigated the effect of body mass index (BMI) on the developmental stages of the medial epiphysis of the clavicle, the distal epiphysis of the radius, the distal epiphysis of the femur, the proximal epiphysis of the tibia, and the left lower third molar in a total of 581 volunteers, 294 females and 287 males aged 12–24 years, using 3 T MRI. BMI values in the cohort ranged from 13.71 kg/m(2) in a 12-year-old female to 35.15 kg/m(2) in an 18-year-old female. The effect of BMI on the development of the characteristics was investigated using linear regression models with multivariable fractional polynomials. In the univariable analysis, BMI was associated with all feature systems (beta between 0.10 and 0.44; p < 0.001). When accounting for the physiological increase of BMI with increasing age, the effect of BMI was lower and in the majority of the models no longer clinically relevant. Betas decreased to values between 0.00 and 0.05. When adding feature variables to a model already including age, r(2) values increased only minimally. For an overall bone ossification score combining all characteristics, the adjusted ß was 0.11 (p = 0.021) and 0.08 (p = 0.23) for females and males, respectively. Low ß and r(2) values (0.00 (adjusted)–0.16 (crude)) were present in both models for third molar development already in the unadjusted analyses. In conclusion, our study found no to little effect of BMI on osseous development in young adults. Teeth development in both sexes was completely independent of BMI. Therefore, dental methods should be part of every age assessment