Forensic Science: New Developments, Perspectives and Advanced Technologies

141 Pages·2015·1.777 MB·English

by  Johanna Brewer

RECENT TRENDS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY

F S
ORENSIC CIENCE

N D ,
EW EVELOPMENTS
P
ERSPECTIVES AND
A T
DVANCED ECHNOLOGIES

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R T B
ECENT RENDS IN IOTECHNOLOGY

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RECENT TRENDS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY

F S
ORENSIC CIENCE

N D ,
EW EVELOPMENTS
P
ERSPECTIVES AND
A T
DVANCED ECHNOLOGIES

JOHANNA BREWER
EDITOR

New York
Copyright © 2015 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Forensic science : new developments, perspectives and advanced technologies / Johanna Brewer,
editor.
pages cm. -- (Recent trends in biotechnology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN (cid:28)(cid:26)(cid:27)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:16)(cid:25)(cid:22)(cid:23)(cid:27)(cid:22)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:19)(cid:26)(cid:16)(cid:28)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:72)(cid:16)(cid:37)(cid:82)(cid:82)(cid:78)(cid:12)
1. Medical jurisprudence. I. Brewer, Johanna.
RA1051.F667 2015
614'.1--dc23
2015019753

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York
CONTENTS

Preface vii
Chapter 1 UV Digital Imaging: New Perspectives for
Quantitative Data Analysis in Forensics 1
Jair E. Garcia and Adrian Dyer
Chapter 2 New Approaches in Postmortem Interval
(PMI) Estimation 25
Sara C. Zapico and Joe Adserias Garriga
Chapter 3 Diagnosis of Drowning Using 16S Ribosomal RNA
Gene of Phytoplankton 47
Jian Tie and Seisaku Uchigasaki
Bibliography 59
Index 121

PREFACE

This book explores recent developments in forensic science research,
including invisible radiation imaging, providing important insights into
evidence normally beyond the visual experience of investigators. Additionally,
establishing the interval between the time of death and when a body is found is
one of the most complex questions to be answered by forensic scientists. The
second chapter examines new approaches in postmortem interval (PMI)
estimation. Finally, in forensic medicine, the diagnosis of a corpse immersed
in water in which a differentiation must be made between death from
drowning or dead on entering the water, is made mainly using the diatom test
by acid digestion. The authors assess the 16S rDNA gene of picoplankton
from tissues. The results verified that the detection of phytoplanton DNA in
the liver and kidney is the most important evidence for the diagnosis of death
from drowning.
Chapter 1 – Invisible radiation imaging provides important insights into
evidence normally beyond the visual experience of investigators. Reflected
ultraviolet (UV) photography has classically been used for recording bite
marks, bruises, car panel damage and fingerprints. The recent application of
UV digital imaging potentially provides many advantages for forensic
investigation as images can be viewed in real time at a crime scene, potentially
enabling efficient collection of critical evidence that previously went unseen.
However, since UV imaging collects data that is beyond our normal frame of
reference for interpreting results, it is important that robust methodologies can
be applied to quantify relative reflectance from different elements of a
potential crime scene. We discuss the dynamics of the non-linear relationships
between reflected radiation and the response of commercial grade image
sensors that are typical in forensic practice, and how the implementation of
image processing algorithms based on non-linear functions enables the
viii Johanna Brewer
recovery of robust linearized data for the precise quantification of reflectance
in a scene. We demonstrate the application of this process with both a typical
(fingerprint) and novel (material identification based on its reflective
properties) problem for forensic imaging, and discuss how this linearized
process will allow for the accurate documentation of reflected UV imaging as
evidence in court proceedings.
Chapter 2 – Establishing the interval between the time of death and when
a body is found is one of the most complex questions to be answered by
forensic scientists. Postmortem interval (PMI) estimation is absolutely crucial
in forensic science for the reconstruction of perimortem events, leading to
possible criminal and civil repercussions. In order to estimate accurately the
time since death, it is essential to have adequate knowledge in decomposition
process and the impact of the different environmental conditions in that
process. The postmortem changes useful for estimating time since death span
from different processes: physical (like body cooling and hypostasis);
metabolic (supravital reactions); physic-chemical (rigor mortis); bacterial
(putrefaction); autolysis (loss of selective membrane permeability, diffusion)
and insect activity. However, as time passes, taphonomic factors accumulate
their effects on the corpse, being less precise and challenging the estimation of
postmortem interval. As a result, PMI is really difficult to be accurately
determined, so that forensic researchers are in need of modern tools to assist in
PMI estimation. Scientific efforts should be made to replace the traditional
methods of estimation the time since death by those that calculate this
parameter providing mean values and confidence limits, including the
precision and accuracy of calculation. Continuing research is developing
towards this objective. Numerous methods have been proposed for the
determination of the time since death mainly by chemical means, like the
measure of volatile fatty acids in the soil solution, as well as the analysis of
amino acids, neurotransmitters and decompositional by-products, leading to
the development of the new field in PMI estimation called thanatochemistry.
Respect to molecular biology approaches, RNA appears as very promising
target for the estimation of PMI. Its conspicuity across tissues with different
degrees of exposure to diverse environmental factors and decay rates points
out to more precise calibration of the PMI, by estimating and comparing its
degradation rates and state across different organs of the subject. Diverse
studies of post-mortem RNA degradation have shown that RNA’s stability
depends on the tissue and its presence also in the long-lived hard tissues of
bone and teeth conducts to the possibility of extending the potential PMI
estimates to longer time spans. In this line of research, it was recently