The synergy between radiographic and macroscopic observation of skeletal lesions on dry bone

The Free State Collection for Anthropological Research (FS-CAR): a new contemporary identified skeletal collection in South Africa

Documented skeletal collections are valuable resources for anthropological studies aimed at reconstruction of the biological profile and examination of osteological trauma and pathology. The Free State Collection for Anthropological Research is a new, contemporary skeletal collection, based in central South Africa that has become available for such studies. This paper aims to provide an overview of the collection to encourage its future use in national and international research. The collection currently contains 64 female and 122 male skeletons of individuals that have died in the Free State province since the year 2000. Black individuals constitute 94.6% of the collection. Age-at-death ranges between 19 and 86 years, with an overall mean of 40 years. Year-of-birth ranges from 1927 to 1991. Tuberculosis (22.6%) and influenza/pneumonia (20.4%) are the most common cause of death for these individuals. Although the current demographic profile of the collection is skewed, new individuals are continuously being added. The collection offers several opportunities for anthropological research. The relatively young age-at-death and contemporary nature of the collection make it a useful tool for validation of existing methods for estimations of components of the biological profile. It can also be used in conjunction with other collections for the development of new methods for age and sex estimation and studies of trauma and disease manifestation of the skeleton.

Is infrared thermometry suitable for the determination of the time since death based on ear temperature? A comparative study of two measurement methods

Infrared thermometry has been proposed as an interesting alternative to probe thermometers for recording ear temperature in cadavers to estimate the postmortem interval (PMI), but it has still to be validated in this setting. Our objective was to compare the performance of an infrared thermometer to that of a reference probe thermometer for measuring ear temperature. Temperature measurements were performed on 100 cadavers (mean PMI: 4.5 ± 2.5 h) using the infrared and the probe thermometers. The repeatability of the measurements, their correlation, and the agreement between both methods were evaluated. We showed a good repeatability of the measurements with the infrared thermometer (Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) = 0.93 [0.72;0.98] for the right ear; CCC = 0.94 [0.75;0.98] for the left ear), and there was a strong and significant correlation between measurements provided by the two instruments (p < 0.001). However, a poor agreement was found between both methods, with a systematic underestimation of about 2 °C of the ear temperature when measured with the infrared thermometer. Data from auricular infrared thermometry should not be applied to algorithms developed for probe thermometers to estimate the PMI. Further research is needed to develop a reliable algorithm specifically based on infrared thermometry.