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Researchers able to determine sex of skeletal remains through footbones by wgre ethbtn
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Researchers able to determine sex of skeletal remains through footbones by WGRE ETHBTN
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| Article Posted: 09/25/2012 |
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Researchers able to determine sex of skeletal remains through footbones |
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Law enforcement officials who are tasked with identifying a bodybased on partial skeletal remains have a new tool at theirdisposal. A new paper from North Carolina State Universityresearchers details how to determine the biological sex of skeletalremains based solely on measurements of the seven tarsal bones inthe feet. "Tarsals are fairly dense bones, and can be more durable than otherbones - such as the pelvis - that are used to determine biologicalsex," says Dr. Troy Case, an associate professor of anthropology atNC State and co-author of a paper describing the research.
"Also,the tarsal bones are often enclosed in shoes, which furtherprotects them from damage. That's particularly useful in a forensiccontext." The tarsals are the seven bones that make up the ankle,heel and rear part of the arch in a human foot. Researchers looked at the tarsal bones of 160 men and women ofmodern European-American descent, taking length, breadth and heightmeasurements for each bone, with the exception of the calcaneus.For the calcaneus, or heel bone, researchers measured only itslength. Previous studies had shown that the talus - or ankle bone - andcalcaneus can be fairly good indicators of biological sex. However,little research had been done on the other tarsal bones, which aresignificantly smaller.
The researchers found that the tarsal bones of the right foot aregenerally more reliable indicators for determining biological sex.For example, the length of the talus on the right foot correctlydetermined biological sex 90 percent of the time. However, a single measurement can be misleading. For example, awoman may be particularly tall, or a man particularly short. So theresearchers looked at combinations of measurements from multiplebones, which allow them to measure the relative size of the bonesto each other.
For example, researchers found that looking at the height of thetalus along with the length of the third cuneiform bone - in thecenter of the foot - allowed them to determine the biological sexof a skeleton with 93.6 percent accuracy. While the research has clear forensic science applications, it mayalso help researchers studying ancient populations. "We evaluatedremains of modern European-Americans, so our findings are notdirectly applicable to ancient populations," Case says. "However,it does tell us which tarsal bones are most indicative ofbiological sex. So, if you have a large number of skeletons, andsome of them can be sexed based on skull or pelvis measurements,you could use the information we've provided on tarsals to createequations for sexing the other skeletal remains in that group basedsolely on tarsal measurements." "Sexual Dimorphism in the Tarsal Bones: Implications for SexDetermination"* Authors: Sheena M.
Harris and D. Troy Case, North Carolina StateUniversity Published: March 2012, Journal of Forensic Sciences Abstract: An accurate determination of sex is essential in theidentification of human remains in a forensic context. Measurementsof some of the tarsals have been shown to be sexually dimorphic byprevious researchers. The purpose of the present study is todetermine which dimensions of the seven tarsals demonstrate thegreatest sexual dimorphism and therefore have the most potentialfor accurate sex determination.
Eighteen measurements of length,width, and height were obtained from the tarsals of 160European-American males and females from the William M. BassDonated Skeletal Collection. These measurements were made using amini-osteometric board. Logistic regression analyses were performedto create equations for sex discrimination.
All measurements showedsignificant sexual dimorphism, with the talus, cuboid, andcuneiform I producing allocation accuracies of between 88 and 92%.Combinations of measurements provided better accuracy (88.1-93.6%)than individual measurements (80.0-88.0%). Additional References Citations. I am Footwear writer, reports some information about peridot silver rings , large cabin tent.
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