Browsing by Author "Cattaneo, Cristina"

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    Histomorphological analysis of the variability of the human skeleton: forensic implications
    (Springer Verlag, 2018-01-20) Cummaudo, Marco; Cappella, Annalisa; Biraghi, Miranda; Raffone, Caterina; Márquez-Grant, Nicholas; Cattaneo, Cristina
    One of the fundamental questions in forensic medicine and anthropology is whether or not a bone or bone fragment is human. Surprisingly at times for the extreme degradation of the bone (charred, old), DNA cannot be successfully performed and one must turn to other methods. Histological analysis at times can be proposed. However, the variability of a single human skeleton has never been tested. Forty-nine thin sections of long, flat, irregular and short bones were obtained from a well-preserved medieval adult human skeleton. A qualitative histomorphological analysis was performed in order to assess the presence of primary and secondary bone and the presence, absence and orientation of vascular canals. No histological sections exhibited woven or fibro-lamellar bone. Long bones showed a higher variability with an alternation within the same section of areas characterized by tightly packed secondary osteons and areas with scattered secondary osteons immersed in a lamellar matrix. Flat and irregular bones appeared to be characterized by a greater uniformity with scattered osteons in abundant interstitial lamellae. Some cases of “osteon banding” and “drifting osteons” were observed. Although Haversian bone represent the most frequent pattern, a histomorphological variability between different bones of the same individual, in different portions of the same bone, and in different parts of the same section has been observed. Therefore, the present study has highlighted the importance of extending research to whole skeletons without focusing only on single bones, in order to have a better understanding of the histological variability of both human and non-human bone.
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    Histomorphometric analysis of the variability of the human skeleton: forensic implications
    (Elsevier, 2020-04-23) Cummaudo, Marco; Raffone, Caterina; Cappella, Annalisa; Márquez-Grant, Nicholas; Cattaneo, Cristina
    In the last decades, the histomorphometric analysis of bone tissue has been utilized to develop equations for species discrimination of fragmentary bone. Although this technique showed promising results, its main limitation concerns the lack of knowledge on the histomorphometric variability which may exist between different bones of the skeleton. In a previous study, we demonstrated a significant histomorphological variability in different bones of the same individual and even in different sections of the same bone. The present study aimed at investigating the extent of intra-individual variability in bone histomorphometry throughout the human adult skeleton and areas of a single bone. Samples were taken along an entire medieval male adult human skeleton (aged between 26 and 45 years), including long, flat, irregular and sesamoid bones for a total of 49 cross-sections. The histomorphometric analysis revealed that the size of both Haversian systems and Haversian canals were statistically significantly larger in long and irregular bones compared to flat bones. Moreover, osteons were generally bigger in the diaphysis compared to the proximal and distal metaphyses, whereas Haversian canals showed a higher uniformity in the different portions of each bone. The present study has highlighted the importance of conducting similar studies on both human and nonhuman skeletons at different stages of skeletal maturity in order to shed light on the extent of variability in the size of osteons and Haversian canals. This, in fact, represents an important prerequisite to develop reliable histological methods for species discrimination of fragmented bone.
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    How do drugs affect the skeleton? implications for forensic anthropology
    (MDPI, 2022-03-29) Márquez-Grant, Nicholas; Baldini, Elisa; Jeynes, Victoria; Biehler-Gomez, Lucie; Aoukhiyad, Layla; Passalacqua, Nicholas V.; Giordano, Gaia; Di Candia, Domenico; Cattaneo, Cristina
    Forensic anthropologists rely on a number of parameters when analyzing human skeletal remains to assist in the identification of the deceased, predominantly age-at-death, sex, stature, ancestry or population affinity, and any unique identifying features. During the examination of human remains, it is important to be aware that the skeletal features considered when applying anthropological methods may be influenced and modified by a number of factors, and particular to this article, prescription drugs (including medical and non-medical use) and other commonly used drugs. In view of this, this paper aims to review the medical, clinical and pharmacological literature to enable an assessment of those drug groups that as side effects have the potential to have an adverse effect on the skeleton, and explore whether or not they can influence the estimation of age-at-death, sex and other indicators of the biological profile. Moreover, it may be that the observation of certain alterations or inconsistencies in the skeleton may relate to the use of drugs or medication, and this in turn may help narrow down the list of missing persons to which a set of human remains could belong. The information gathered from the clinical and medical literature has been extracted with a forensic anthropological perspective and provides an awareness on how several drugs, such as opioids, cocaine, corticosteroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, alcohol, tobacco and others have notable effects on bone. Through different mechanisms, drugs can alter bone mineral density, causing osteopenia, osteoporosis, increase the risk of fractures, osteonecrosis, and oral changes. Not much has been written on the influence of drugs on the skeleton from the forensic anthropological practitioner perspective; and this review, in spite of its limitations and the requirement of further research, aims to investigate the current knowledge of the possible effects of both prescription and recreational drugs on bones, contributing to providing a better awareness in forensic anthropological practice and assisting in the identification process of the deceased.
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    Identification of human vs non-human bone (Sus Scrofa) in forensic anthropology : Histological perspectives
    (2018-09) Cummaudo, Marco; Márquez-Grant, Nicholas; Cattaneo, Cristina
    In the event of natural disasters, residential and commercial fires, aircraft accidents as well as in clandestine burials, fragmented remains of pets, wildlife animals or other animals used for meat consumption (e.g. pig, cattle), can frequently become commingled with human remains. In such cases, forensic anthropologists are often asked to assist law enforcement in identifying the human or nonhuman origin of the remains. When the skeletal material is highly fragmented lacking any diagnostic feature, species discrimination by the assessment of gross morpohological characteristics may not be exploitable. Thus, forensic anthropologists must turn to other methods, such as the histological analysis. Though bone histology of mammals has been deeply explored since at least the seventeenth century, quantitative data available to perform species discrimination by histological analysis is still scarce and, above all, there is a lack of knowledge on the extent of variability in different bones of the skeleton, considering that most of the previous investigations focused exclusively on some specific bones (e.g. femur, rib), rather than having a wider overview of the entire skeleton. In this regard, this thesis aimed to investigate the intra- and inter-species variability of bone microscopic structure in human and pig (Sus scrofa) at different stages of skeletal maturity from both a qualitative (type of tissues) and quantitative perspectives (measurements of diameter, area and perimeter of secondary osteons and osteocyte lacunae). More than 3000 osteons and Haversian canals were measured during the analyses, as well as over 1200 osteocyte lacunae. This research demonstrated a significant intra-individual, intra-species and inter-species variability of bone microarchitecture which can have implications not only when II assessing the origin of an unknown bone fragment, but also when performing histological age-at-death estimation. Overall, it makes a significant contribution to knowledge of bone histomorphology and histomorphometry in human and pig since it represents the first attempt in investigating bone microarchitecture along the entire human and pig skeleton and provides new insight for species discrimination from a histological perspective’