In recent years many studies have highlighted the great potential of microbial analysis in human identification for forensic purposes, with important differences in microbial community composition and function across different people and locations, s...
This review explores the vital role of orthodontic specialty and orthodontic records in forensic investigations, emphasizing their contribution to human identification. It synthesizes current literature on methodologies, advantages, limitations, and...
Background/Objectives: To identify US military unknowns, the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System’s Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory has historically relied upon mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat testing. Where n...
Diptera identification is fundamental in forensic entomology as well as in funerary archeoentomology, where the challenge is exacerbated by the presence of immature stages such as larvae and puparia. In these two developmental stages, specimens posse...
Physical fit analysis has become an important complementary approach in forensic anthropology, particularly in cases involving fragmented human remains, where fragment reassociation is often critical to human identification. This review examines the...
Background/Objectives: On 22 February 2021, a coastal landslide in Italy caused the collapse of an old cemetery, displacing approximately 370 coffins, with over 200 plunging into the sea. This disaster necessitated the recovery and identification of...
This paper represents the first survey on the application of AI techniques for the analysis of biomedical images with forensic human identification purposes. Human identification is of great relevance in today’s society and, in particular, in m...
The objectives of this study were to identify and correlate orofacial anatomy discrepancies as biometric data and the impact of its rehabilitation as an educational, forensic approach to human identification. An observational and retrospective cohort...
Background/Objectives: Genetic identification of human skeletal remains plays a pivotal role in forensic investigations when other traditional or primary methods are not appropriate. Decomposition, storage and environmental conditions often leave the...
Comparative medical imaging is a well-established scientific method of personal identification that utilizes concordant anatomical features observed in antemortem and postmortem medical images. As access to antemortem medical imaging and digital imag...
Forensic anthropology, a specialized branch of biological anthropology, plays a crucial role in the identification of human remains, particularly when conventional methods such as fingerprinting are not applicable. In Ecuador, its relevance has incre...
Bitemark analysis involves the examination of both patterned injuries and contextual circumstances, combining morphological and positional data. Considering the uniqueness of human dentition, bitemarks caused by teeth on skin or impressions on flexib...
Background/Objectives: This paper focusses on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in automated firearm and ammunition identification. It concentrates on firing pin impressions on fired cartridge cases and secondary rifling land impressions on fir...
Microbiome research is a highly transdisciplinary field with a wide range of applications and methods for studying it, involving different computational approaches and models. The fact that different people host radically different microbiota highlig...
Source camera identification on smartphones constitutes a fundamental task in multimedia forensics, providing essential support for applications such as image copyright protection, illegal content tracking, and digital evidence verification. Numerous...
Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease that, in its more developed stages, can lead to the calcification of fatty plaques on the walls of arteries, resulting in the appearance of new bone elements. It is a condition that has been studied and docu...
Background/Objectives: In the identification of human remains, their genetic profile can be compared with that obtained from biological samples of the person from whom they are suspected to have come. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of storage tim...
Human identification is a central component of medico-legal investigations and disaster victim identification (DVI), particularly when remains are decomposed, burned, fragmented, or skeletonized. Dental tissues, restorations, and prosthetic appliance...
Lateral cephalometric radiographs are crucial in dentistry and orthodontics for diagnosis and treatment planning. However, their use in forensic identification, especially with burned bodies or in mass disasters, is challenging. AM (antemortem) and P...
Illegal wildlife trade and other forms of wildlife crime pose significant threats to global biodiversity. Accurate species identification of wildlife products is crucial for effectively combating illegal wildlife trade. In recent years, forensic spec...
Reliable personal identification remains a major challenge in forensic medicine, particularly in cases involving decomposition, thermal injury, or absence of DNA and dental records. In this context, anatomically protected and morphologically unique s...
Background: The identification of body fluids collected from crime scenes is crucial for determining the type and nature of assaults and for advancing the resolution of crimes. Objectives: The primary aim of this study was to investigate tissue-speci...
This systematic review critically examines the use of 2D and 3D digital imaging technologies of the face and teeth, with and without integration of artificial intelligence, for human identification in forensic and medicolegal contexts. Following PRIS...
Human migration patterns are of interest to scientists representing many fields. Theories have been posited to explain modern human evolutionary expansion, the diversity of human culture, and the motivational factors underlying an individual or group...
Sister Marija Krucifiksa Kozulić (1852–1922) was a Croatian nun who is in consideration for beatification by the Vatican, which is facilitated by the identification of her 20th-century remains. Sister Marija was buried in a tomb in Rijeka, Croa...
Forensic fire debris analysis is an important part of fire investigation, and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is the accepted standard for detection of ignitable liquids in fire debris. While GC-MS is the dominant technique, comprehensiv...
Morphological classification is the gold standard for identifying necrophilous flies, but its complexity and the scarcity of experts make accurate classification challenging. The development of artificial intelligence for autonomous recognition holds...
Mosquito vectors captured at a crime scene are forensically valuable since they feed on human blood, and hence, human DNA can be recovered to help identify the victim and/or the suspect. This study investigated the validity of obtaining the human sho...
Background: Reliable identification remains a cornerstone of forensic investigations, particularly when encountering degraded remains or suboptimal biological evidence. This study evaluates the potential of dentine metabolomics, utilizing proton nucl...
Background: Human skin and saliva microbial communities have emerged as promising forensic biomarkers due to their individual specificity. However, existing studies are limited by small sample sizes and methodological inconsistencies. This proof-of-c...
(1) Teeth, in humans, represent the most resilient tissues. However, exposure to concentrated acids might lead to their dissolving, thus making human identification difficult. Teeth often contain dental restorations from materials that are even more...
Background In the analysis of complex forensic material evidence, conventional detection methods for highly degraded, trace, or mixed samples present several limitations, such as low typing success rates and limited information dimensions. Methods Th...
In forensic sciences, body fluids, or biological traces, are a major source of information, and their identification can play a decisive role in criminal investigations. Currently, the nature of biological fluids is assessed using immunological, phys...
The foremost concern in forensic entomology is the explicit identification of the species recovered from the crime scene. From the different orders of insects, Diptera is the prime focus in this field, followed by Coleoptera, whose identification can...
Flesh flies (Sarcophagidae) are necrophagous insects initially colonizing on a corpse. The species-specific developmental data of the flies collected from a death scene can be used to estimate the minimum postmortem interval (PMImin). Thus, the first...
Forensic entomology offers unique advantages for the minimum postmortem interval (PMImin) estimation of decomposed corpses in forensic investigations. Accurate species identification and up-to-date locality information are essential. Hainan Island ha...
DNA analysis plays a crucial role in forensic investigations, helping in criminal cases, missing persons inquiries, and archaeological research. This study focuses on the DNA concentration in different skeletal elements to improve human identificatio...
(1) Background: the present study continues previous research on new marking techniques by using intelligent materials, NFC-tags (Near Field Communication tags) and Aerogel. They prevent the loss of information over time for cadavers of unknown ident...
The integration of massively parallel sequencing (MPS) technology into forensic casework has been of particular benefit to the identification of unknown military service members. However, highly degraded or chemically treated skeletal remains often f...
Globally, the rapid decline in wildlife species has many causes. The illegal trafficking of fauna and flora is a major contributor to species decline and continues to grow at an alarming rate. To enable the prosecution of those involved in the traffi...
Background: Positive identification is at the forefront of tasks for forensic practitioners when a set of remains is discovered. Standard means of identification include fingerprints, dental, and DNA analyses; however, additional methods are utilized...
A mass disaster is a situation that involves criticality between the number of victims and resources, in terms of both men and means, present on the site of an event that is mostly unexpected and sudden. In the multidisciplinary teams that intervene,...
With the rapid development of information technology and the widespread use of the Internet, QR codes are widely used in all walks of life and have a profound impact on people’s work and life. However, the QR code itself is likely to be printed...
Background: A reliable and science-based taxonomic determination of Papaver somniferum L. (opium poppy), the illegal species of the genus Papaver, may have practical and legal implications for law enforcement. P. somniferum is a controlled plant beca...
Some of the most common microtraces that are currently collected at crime scenes are fragments of single fibers. The perpetrator leaves them at a crime scene or takes them away, for example, on their clothing or body. In turn, the microscopic dimensi...
Although nonhuman remains constitute a significant portion of forensic anthropological casework, the potential use of bone metrics to assess the human origin and to classify species of skeletal remains has not been thoroughly investigated. This study...
Background/Objectives: Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues are sometimes the only DNA source for forensic applications. The quantity and integrity of the DNA extracted from these samples depend on multiple factors. In this work, we analyz...
In forensic veterinary investigations of suspicious animal deaths involving loss of body parts, it is essential to determine whether the wounds were caused by human intervention or by other animals. Detailed postmortem examination of the wounds, comb...
2 February 2023
The INTERPOL standard for the identification of unknown individuals includes the established primary characteristics of fingerprint, DNA, and teeth. Exposure to noxious agents such as fire and water often severely limits the availability of usable ma...
Detection and identification of blood, semen and saliva stains, the most common body fluids encountered at a crime scene, are very important aspects of forensic science today. This study targets the development of a nondestructive, confirmatory metho...
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