Paleopathology of Human Tuberculosis and the Potential Role of Climate

Both origin and evolution of tuberculosis and its pathogens (Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex) are not fully understood. The paleopathological investigation of human remains offers a unique insight into the molecular evolution and spread including correlative data of the environment. The molecular analysis of material from Egypt (3000–500 BC), Sudan (200–600 AD), Hungary (600–1700 AD), Latvia (1200–1600 AD), and South Germany (1400–1800 AD) urprisingly revealed constantly high frequencies of tuberculosis in all different time periods excluding significant environmental influence on tuberculosis spread. The typing of various mycobacteria strains provides evidence for ancestral M. tuberculosis strains in Pre- to early Egyptian dynastic material (3500–2650 BC), while typical M. africanum signatures were detected in a Middle Kingdom tomb (2050–1650 BC). Samples from the New Kingdom to Late Period (1500–500 BC) indicated modern M. tuberculosis strains. No evidence was seen for M. bovis in Egyptian material while M. bovis signatures were first identified in Siberian biomaterial dating 2000 years before present. These results contraindicates the theory that M. tuberculosis evolved from M. bovis during early domestication in the region of the “Fertile Crescent,” but supports the scenario that M. tuberculosis probably derived from an ancestral progenitor strain. The environmental influence of this evolutionary scenario deserves continuing intense evaluation

Paleopathology of Human Tuberculosis and the Potential Role of Climate

Both origin and evolution of tuberculosis and its pathogens (Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex) are not fully understood. The paleopathological investigation of human remains offers a unique insight into the molecular evolution and spread including correlative data of the environment. The molecular analysis of material from Egypt (3000–500 BC), Sudan (200–600 AD), Hungary (600–1700 AD), Latvia (1200–1600 AD), and South Germany (1400–1800 AD) urprisingly revealed constantly high frequencies of tuberculosis in all different time periods excluding significant environmental influence on tuberculosis spread. The typing of various mycobacteria strains provides evidence for ancestral M. tuberculosis strains in Pre- to early Egyptian dynastic material (3500–2650 BC), while typical M. africanum signatures were detected in a Middle Kingdom tomb (2050–1650 BC). Samples from the New Kingdom to Late Period (1500–500 BC) indicated modern M. tuberculosis strains. No evidence was seen for M. bovis in Egyptian material while M. bovis signatures were first identified in Siberian biomaterial dating 2000 years before present. These results contraindicates the theory that M. tuberculosis evolved from M. bovis during early domestication in the region of the “Fertile Crescent,” but supports the scenario that M. tuberculosis probably derived from an ancestral progenitor strain. The environmental influence of this evolutionary scenario deserves continuing intense evaluation

Perimortem Skeletal Sharp Force Trauma: Detection Reliability on CT Data, Demographics and Anatomical Patterns from a Forensic Dataset

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The increased use of computed tomography images in forensic anthropology is easily explained with a variety of benefits: among other reasons they are digitally stored, they can easily be shared and they are non-invasive. However, it is not clear how suitable these images are for forensic anthropologists to detect sharp force trauma. Therefore, we analyzed computed tomography images, by observing digital images of 41 forensic cases in different viewing modalities. In addition, we looked for anatomical injury patterns in the soft- and hard-tissues and any significant correlations between the manner of death (suicide or homicide) with different parameters. Our findings indicated a superiority of viewing the images in 2D, but not all bone lesions were detected. The manner of death was significantly correlated to some of the parameters, which could be extrapolated to future forensic anthropological cases. We promote the inclusion of imaging training into the anthropological curricula. ABSTRACT: The increasing importance of trauma analysis by means of postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) is insufficiently reflected in forensic curricula, nor are best practice manuals available. We attempt to detect sharp force bone lesions on PMCT of closed forensic cases with the aims of assessing errors and pointing out patterns in anatomical location and manner of death (MOD). We investigated 41 closed sharp force fatality cases, with available PMCT and forensic reports. Two observers with different radiological training assessed the lesions on PMCT scans (2D and 3D) for comparison with the reports. Between 3% (suicides) and 15.3% (homicides) of sharp force injuries caused visible bone lesions. While our observations were repeatable, each forensic investigation left a similar number of bone lesions undetected. Injury patterns differed between MOD, with thoracic bone lesions being most frequent overall. Soft tissue injury location varied between the MOD. Associations between MOD and age as well as number of injuries were significant. The detection of bone lesions on PMCT for untrained forensic specialists is challenging, curricula and pertinent manuals are desirable. With the low frequency of bone lesions compared to soft tissue injuries, we should be aware when analyzing decomposed bodies

Perimortem skeletal sharp force trauma on postmortem CTs

While ethical discussions about identified human bone collections are on the rise, digital skeletal repositories are of increasing importance in forensics. In addition, there is a global trend within anthropology towards anonymized open access radiological databases. However, the validation of osteological methods on the virtual modality is essential. The paucity of research in this area has led us to analyze the usefulness of CT data in conjunction with skeletal sharp force lesions. Furthermore, little data exists so far on the association between soft- and hard-tissue lesions caused by sharp force, on anatomical injury patterns and on the overall rate of sharp force lesions penetrating to the bone. We collected 41 cases of fatal sharp force trauma from the IRM Bern database and analyzed the pertaining postmortem CT (PMCT) on 2D and 3D, and carried out intra- and interobserver, as well as intermodality agreement tests. We investigated possible correlations between the manner of death (suicide/homicide) and various parameters (sex, age-at-death, presence and number of injuries and affected anatomical regions). All agreement tests (intra- and interobserver, as well as intermodality) resulted in Cohen's kappa (κ-) values between 0.474 and 1 (moderate to perfect). We found that only 11.4% of all sharp force injuries in our sample penetrated to the bone, differing between the manners of death (3% in suicides, 15.3% in homicides). Overall, bone lesions were most frequent on the thorax. We obtained significant results (P-value <0.05) for the manner of death correlating with age-at-death, and with the number of soft- and hard-tissue injuries. The insight gained from PMCT is mutually beneficial for all disciplines involved in forensic cases, stressing the added value of collaboration

Perimortem skeletal sharp force trauma on postmortem CTs

The study of skeletal sharp force lesions is an important step of a forensic anthropological analysis. However, most forensic literature on traumatic lesions focuses on injuries detected on soft-tissue. The links between the type and location of violent skeletal lesions, and skeletal injury patterns are not well explored. Here we address this topic by presenting a tomographic study of sharp force lesions in an identified forensic sample. Our study includes 41 cases of fatal sharp force trauma from the database of the Institute of Forensic Medicine (IRM) in Bern. For each individual we: 1) studied the available postmortem CT data and evaluated the reliability of CT data in revealing these lesions by means of intra- and interobserver agreement tests; 2) explored the possible association between manner of death (suicide vs. homicide) and other parameters (sex, age-at-death, presence and number of injuries and affected anatomical regions). Agreement ranged between moderate and perfect (Cohen's kappa values between 0.474 and 1). Only 11.4% of sharp force injuries penetrated to the bone, differing between the manners of death (3% in suicides, 15.3% in homicides). Bone lesions were most frequent on the thorax (59.2%), head and neck region (38%) and upper extremities (2.8%). No bone lesions were visible on the abdomen and the lower extremities. Self-inflicted bone lesions were found exclusively on the thorax, while soft-tissue injuries were most frequent on the head and neck. A statistically significant association linked manner of death with age-at-death and number of injuries. Our data are relevant for studies attempting to reconstruct violent interactions from skeletal remains in any context featuring sharp force trauma (forensic, bioarchaeological or genocide). Since only 11.4% of sharp force trauma leave traces on the skeleton, investigators need to be aware of the deriving bias

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence: Perimortem skeletal sharp force trauma on postmortem CT

Responding to both modern research sharing requirements and ethical concerns, digital osteological databases are increasingly implemented across the world. Of these, postmortem CT (PMCT) datasets stand as a relevant source of information, especially for forensically oriented research. However, the potential error affecting conclusions based on PMCT observations by anthropologists devoid of a radiological background has not yet been clarified. Here, we address this issue by focusing on the detection of sharp force bone lesions on PMCT images. We screened the database of the Institut für Rechtsmedizin (IRM), Bern, and selected 41 cases involving inflicted and self-inflicted sharp force trauma. We blindly studied each PMCT dataset and then compared our results with those from the original autopsy and radiology reports. We observed each case by means of both 2D transverse slices and 3D reconstructions. We investigated any association between the manner of death with demographic and injury-related parameters. Moreover, we analyzed the relationship between soft- and hard-tissue lesions caused by sharp force. Only 11.4% of all sharp force injuries penetrated to the bone, differing between the manners of death (3% in suicides, 15.3% in homicides). Overall, bone lesions were most frequent on the thorax. The obtained results were significant (P-value <0.05) for the manner of death correlating with age-at-death, and with the number of soft- and hard-tissue injuries. The low ratio between soft-tissue and bone lesions call for caution when inferring violent events from osteological analyses. Our results strongly suggest the potential benefits from the inclusion of virtual observations and virtual protocols into both forensic anthropological and osteoarchaeological curricula

The Late Iron Age in Switzerland: a review of anthropological, funerary, and isotopic studies

The Iron Age in continental Europe is a period of profound cultural and biological importance with heterogeneous trends through space and time. Regional overviews are therefore useful for better understanding the main cultural and biological patterns characterizing this period across the European regions. For the area of modern Switzerland, a rich archeological and anthropological record represents the Late Iron Age. However, no review of the main anthropological and funerary patterns for this period is available to date. Here we assess the available demographic, paleopathological, funerary, and isotopic data for the Late Iron Age in the Swiss territory, and summarize the cultural and biological patterns emerging from the available literature. Finally, we highlight a series of research avenues for future studies

What we see is what we touch? Sex estimation on the pelvis in virtual anthropology.

BACKGROUND Computed tomography (CT) scans are a convenient means to study 3D reconstructions of bones. However, errors associated with the different nature of the observation, e.g. visual and tactile (on dry bone) versus visual only (on a screen) have not been thoroughly investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS We quantified the errors between modalities for sex estimation protocols of nonmetric (categorical and ordinal) and metric data, using 200 dry pelves of archaeological origin and the CT reconstructions of the same bones. In addition, we 3D surface scanned a subsample of 39 pelves to compare observations with dry bone and CT data. We did not focus on the sex estimation accuracy but solely on the consistency of the scoring, hence, the interchangeability of the modalities. RESULTS Metric data yielded the most consistent results. Among the nonmetric protocols, ordinal data performed better than categorical data. We applied a slightly modified description for the trait with the highest errors and grouped the traits according to consistency and availability in good, intermediate, and poor. DISCUSSION The investigated modalities were interchangeable as long as the trait definition was not arbitrary. Dry bone (gold standard) performed well, and CT and 3D surface scans performed better. We recommend researchers test their affinity for using virtual modalities. Future studies could use our consistency analysis and combine the best traits, validating their accuracy on various modalities

Dry bone and virtual modality interchangeability for the estimation of sex on the human pelvis

Traditional osteological methods are typically based on both visual and tactile procedures. The latter are however excluded when investigating virtual models of skeletal remains. This raises the question of the reliability of virtual anthropological data when compared with the tactile modality, an urgent topic given the steady rise of virtual methods and accumulation of imaging data in biological and forensic anthropology. Here, we address this topic and quantify the deviation between the scoring on dry bone and virtual models of sexually dimorphic features on the human pelvis. To this aim, we applied the methods of İşcan & Derrick (1984), Bruzek (2002), Klales et al. (2012) and Bruzek et al. (2017) to 200 archaeological pelves, scoring and measuring each method-specific variable on dry bone and computed tomographic (CT) models of the same individual. We compared the scores and measurements from the two sets of observations using Cohen's κ tests and relative technical error of measurement (rTEM). Results show that: 1) metric traits are more repeatable than nonmetric traits; b) dichotomous variables are more repeatable than ordinal ones; c) most nonmetric traits show overall acceptable κ values; d) one metric variable (depth of the great sciatic notch) stands out due to an rTEM well above 5%. Overall, our data suggest that traditional scoring methods can be applied interchangeably to analogous and virtual specimens without obtaining substantially different information. Imprecise trait definition, more than other factors, is the main source of error between the two modalities