Research Will Help ID Bodies Left Behind by Chilean Earthquake, Pinochet Regime

Forensics Kathleen Moriarty
Current Event article 10/13/10

Research Will Help ID Bodies Left Behind by Chilean Earthquake, Pinochet Regime
ScienceDaily.com (Sep. 14, 2010) — New research from North Carolina State University will help medical examiners and others identify human remains of those killed during the recent earthquake in Chile, as well as the bodies of the "disappeared" who were killed during the Pinochet administration. "We have developed population-specific identification criteria for the Chilean population, which will help us determine the stature and biological sex of skeletal remains," says Dr. Ann Ross, an associate professor of sociology and anthropology at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the research.
"My vision for this work is to help identify the remains of victims of political violence that occurred under the Pinochet regime," says Ross, whose mother is Chilean. "This will also help in contemporary body identification efforts in Chile. For example, in the event of a mass fatality -- such as the February earthquake in Chile -- this will help authorities identify recovered remains." For the past decade, forensic researchers -- such as Ross -- have been developing population-specific identification criteria that account for variations in height, build and other characteristics that can be critical when attempting to identify human remains. "This is important," Ross explains, "because populations vary. Identifying characteristics such as height and sex can be significantly different from population to population."
For this study, the researchers evaluated remains from a 20th century Chilean cemetery in order to accurately characterize Chilean skeletal features. They were then able to develop stature criteria that can help researchers arrive at an accurate height for an individual based on an analysis of his or her long bones, including the femur and tibia.
The researchers were able to develop criteria to determine a body's biological sex based on measurements of the articulation of the upper arm bone (the humerus) and the femur.
The paper, "New identification criteria for the Chilean population: Estimation of sex and stature," was co-authored by Maria Jose Manneschi of the Universidad de Chile. The paper will be published in a forthcoming issue of Forensic Science International. The research was made possible by support from NC State.
NC State's Department of Sociology and Anthropology is a joint department under the university's College of Humanities and Social Sciences and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Source: Earthquake, Pinochet Regime." ScienceDaily 14 September 2010. 15 October 2010 .

Summary:
On September 14, 2010, new research from North Carolina State University grabbed the attention of medical examiners and other forensic scientists involved in the reconstruction of Chile, where a massive earthquake had occurred. According to Dr. Ann Ross, an associate professor of sociology and anthropology at NC State, not everyone was killed in the earthquake. In fact, some residents of Chile had disappeared from the scene. Closer looks at the remains of dead Chilean bodies reveal the unique and distinctive traits in their bones. These traits are not present in the skeletons of Caucasoids (Whites), Mongoloids (Asians), or Negroids (Blacks). To put it mildly, Chileans fall into the category of Hispanics (because Spanish is the most common language in Chile); they have different skeletons than the other ethnic groups.
I thought this article was attention-grabbing, especially because I was learning about the same things that the investigators were studying in Chile. Although I don’t know the scientific term for Hispanic skeletons, which I assume is “Hispanoids” (please correct me if I’m wrong), I still find this article to be relevant and worthy of my research. And if I said anything racist about Hispanic skeletons, I apologize.
The reason I chose this article is because I am interested in news outside the United States. I love to learn about foreign cultures. I particularly find Asian cultures (Japanese and Chinese) interesting, as well as Spanish cultures because I am almost fluent in Spanish. In addition, I enjoy learning about forensics. Therefore, this article caught my attention.
Despite the pros of this article, I also noticed some cons. This article is written in English, which, to us, seems like a no-brainer. But what about the Chileans, who might not speak English? Suppose a Chilean man (or woman) wants to read this article, but he/she can’t understand it. I think this article should have a “Translate” button that links you to the Spanish version of the article when you click on it. My other criticism is that the Pinochet regime wasn’t discussed enough in this article. Therefore, I think that part is extraneous (unnecessary). In closing, I hope you liked my article. Be sure to leave comments! (Just don’t write anything inappropriate.) Thank you!

Research Will Help ID Bodies Left Behind by Chilean Earthquake, Pinochet Regime

ScienceDaily.com (Sep. 14, 2010) — New research from North Carolina State University will help medical examiners and others identify human remains of those killed during the recent earthquake in Chile, as well as the bodies of the "disappeared" who were killed during the Pinochet administration. "We have developed population-specific identification criteria for the Chilean population, which will help us determine the stature and biological sex of skeletal remains," says Dr. Ann Ross, an associate professor of sociology and anthropology at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the research.

"My vision for this work is to help identify the remains of victims of political violence that occurred under the Pinochet regime," says Ross, whose mother is Chilean. "This will also help in contemporary body identification efforts in Chile. For example, in the event of a mass fatality -- such as the February earthquake in Chile -- this will help authorities identify recovered remains." For the past decade, forensic researchers -- such as Ross -- have been developing population-specific identification criteria that account for variations in height, build and other characteristics that can be critical when attempting to identify human remains. "This is important," Ross explains, "because populations vary. Identifying characteristics such as height and sex can be significantly different from population to population."

For this study, the researchers evaluated remains from a 20th century Chilean cemetery in order to accurately characterize Chilean skeletal features. They were then able to develop stature criteria that can help researchers arrive at an accurate height for an individual based on an analysis of his or her long bones, including the femur and tibia.

The researchers were able to develop criteria to determine a body's biological sex based on measurements of the articulation of the upper arm bone (the humerus) and the femur.

The paper, "New identification criteria for the Chilean population: Estimation of sex and stature," was co-authored by Maria Jose Manneschi of the Universidad de Chile. The paper will be published in a forthcoming issue of Forensic Science International. The research was made possible by support from NC State.

NC State's Department of Sociology and Anthropology is a joint department under the university's College of Humanities and Social Sciences and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100914095936.htm

Submitted by K. Moriarty 

Fast Forensic Test Can Match Suspects' DNA With Crime Samples in Four Hours

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100804122715.htm

Over the past few months, scientists have been working on developing a new method for DNA profiling. This newly developed method, has made checking DNA collected from people that were arrested for crime with DNA samples from crime scenes stored in forensic databases, essentially as simple and quick as matching fingerprints. The new method allows for the law enforcements to check if a person’s DNA matches other DNA found at past crime scenes, while suspects are being processed and remain in jail. The quickness and efficiency of this new test ensures that criminals are not pre-maturely released on bail. Andre Hopwood, a forensics scientists stated that frequently “criminals are arrested, spend less than a day in jail, and then commit crimes while they are out on bail.” Currently, most DNA tests take any where from 24-72 hours to complete. In order to mitigate the amount of time this process takes, scientists have built a chip that can copy and analyze DNA samples taken from a cotton swab. DNA may be collected from suspects by swabbing their mouth. After the sample is collected, it is then mixed with some chemicals and warmed up. This whole process only take four hours to complete, a number far less than current methods. This is a very beneficial method because police can correctly check and match DNA with suspects from a crime scene before they are released on bail.

This article is very important to society because it can potentially prevent other crimes from being committed by identifying suspects DNA correctly, before they are released on bail and free to commit crimes. This process should be used because it can effectively reduce the amount of time DNA profiling takes.

I chose this article because I was unaware of this new method. I was very interested in the advances forensic scientists have made in their field. This new method could be immensely beneficial for the law enforcement. I thought this article was pretty well written, but I thought it could have included more details regarding the topic. 

Submitted by R. Minetti

In Scandal’s Wake, Police Turn to Quick, Cheap Test for Drugs

Nearly 700 officers were trained to use portable kits to test for cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. The “presumptive” tests, which cost about $1 each, were introduced into the field in April. Police officials hope that they will reduce the need for more comprehensive drug testing, which is now being outsourced to Alameda County at a cost to the city of $155 per case.

Presumptive tests have been standard practice for decades at police departments across the country, including ones in Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. But critics are concerned that the San Francisco police may be moving from one scandal to another. The city’s public defender’s office says the tests could lead to false arrests because some legal substances are known to yield a positive result for illegal narcotics.

In addition, with set time limits to complete the test and myriad ways to interpret the colors, experts say field-testing can be difficult to perform, especially under the often-stressful conditions of police work. The department has issued a seven-page manual to help officers with the portable kits.

The agency responsible for the lab’s accreditation discovered other problems: a short staff, outdated equipment and testing procedures, inconsistent record-keeping, even a family of feral cats living at the facility.

An audit by the United States Department of Justice and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office concluded that the drug analysis staff of three was overworked, handling about 14,000 cases a year. Technicians were struggling to process the caseload under a tight deadline — within 48 hours, the time allotted for prosecutors to file charges after a suspect’s arrest.

Chief George Gascon shuttered the drug-analysis section of the lab and introduced presumptive testing in the hope that it would sharply reduce the number of cases sent out for lab work. Since more than 90 percent of drug cases in San Francisco are resolved with plea agreements or dropped charges, officials reasoned, they would need fewer lab tests, which prosecutors rely on in a jury trial to prove cases beyond a reasonable doubt.

Police officials say field testing could lead to a reduction in lab tests to 4,000 a year, from 14,000. Moving forward from the scandal, police officials have said a reconstituted crime lab could easily handle the smaller caseload, an argument they have presented to the Board of Supervisors in pushing for a new facility. 

Submitted by I. Markota

New Method Developed to Capture Fingerprints on Difficult Surfaces

Penn State. "New Method Developed to Capture Fingerprints on Difficult Surfaces." ScienceDaily 11 May 2010. 4 October 2010 .


      Recently, a process developed by Penn State professors can reveal hard- to develop fingerprints on complicated surfaces without altering the chemistry of the print. This conflict occurs due to the techniques beign used for developing fingerprints, not the chemistry of the prints. Infrared and x-ray imaging also aim towards the chemicals behind the outer layer of the skin. Researchers believe that even after the fingerprints are created, forensic specialists could test the fingerprint material to determine specifics about the person's prints. The researchers used a type of vapor deposition which is a method that uses a vacuum and allows vaporized materials to condense on the surface creating a thin film. The deposition process would usually require exceptionally clean surfaces because any unnecessary items would create a problem in the fingerprint results when the results would be seen. One benefit of this approach would be the ability to retrieve fingerprints off fragments from incendiary ir explosive devices and still able to analyze the chemicals used in the device.
 
     I think that this article is important to society because research has been done to have this problem not be a prominent problem for crime scene investigation. This process may be effective than the original way of creating fingerprints because the method would not take as long as the old way. This development would affect society becuase there will be less unidentified issues in a crime scene due to this procedure. I chose this article because there are so many advances in technology in science. I thought that this article was very interesting becuase I did not realize that this issue would be so prominent in crime scene investigations.
 
     I thought that this article was written well, but I think that the article went too much in depth about the writers and not enough on this new development. Also, I think that this article went into too much detail about fingerprints in general and not enough on the acutal procedure about the new ways to capture fingerprints.

Baking Out DNA

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/0201-baking_out_dna.htm

Recently, Forensic scientists who were analyzing the DNA in the bones of mummified humans in the Gobi desert made a recent discovery. They found that it was relatively easy to extract DNA from the mummified remains. Many scientists were asking the question of why it was easier to extract DNA from bones hundreds of years then it was to from a new bone. The simple fact had to do with the fact that the bones buried in the Gobi Desert were baked for hundreds of years, making it easier to extract the DNA. As of late, Forensic scientists have frozen bones as part of standard procedure. Now however, some scientists such as Dr. Heather Coyle are firm believers in bone baking. "It makes the bone more brittle so it makes it easier to grind and break open more cells, so we think we are accessing more DNA to begin with." Dr. Coyle then tested this theory by baking a bone in liquid nitrogen for 72 hours and then putting them in a pulverizer. To no one's surprise the DNA extraction was much easier.

This new method could prove to shorten the identification process when identifying skeletons. By baking bones, forensic scientists have been able to successfully extract DNA from a bone within 72 hours of receiving it. This in turn could lead to more suspects being caught.