Lei Zhang, Linli Chen, Zhuoying Zhu, Chunyan Yuan, Hongwen Li
{"title":"Technical note: Y-chromosome short tandem repeat inconsistent typing for loci Y_GATA_H4, DYS481, DYS444, DYS635, DYS437, DYS533 and DYS570.","authors":"Lei Zhang, Linli Chen, Zhuoying Zhu, Chunyan Yuan, Hongwen Li","doi":"10.1007/s00414-024-03403-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00414-024-03403-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Y-chromosome short tandem repeats (Y-STRs) loci have significant research and application value in individual identification, parentage testing, kinship determination and genealogical DNA analysis due to their unique genetic characteristics. Currently, various commercial STR typing kits have used in forensic detection, which greatly promoting the scientific application of STR in criminal investigation and judicial trials. However, due to the complexity and specificity of biological samples, the special STR typing in the sample poses certain difficulties for the construction of DNA databases. In the current study, we explored the Y-STR genotyping in 4670 unrelated individuals using the Yfiler™ Platinum Kit, AGCU Y37 and AGCU Mini Y fluorescence detection kit in the Henan Province. We found that eight samples had inconsistent typing results. Among them, the genotyping inconsistency occurred twice for the Y_GATA_H4 locus, and once each for the loci DYS481, DYS444, DYS635, DYS437, DYS533 and DYS570. We sequenced and analyzed the inconsistent loci of these samples. Sequencing results indicated inconsistent typing due to low polymorphic repeat structures, Poly(N)n structures, single or multiple base insertions/deletions, and base transitions or transversions in flanking regions. Special attention should be paid to using the Y-STR database for family searches and paternity testing.</p>","PeriodicalId":14071,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Legal Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"571-574"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142894388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alexander Tyr, Philippe Lunetta, Brita Zilg, Carl Winskog, Nina Heldring
{"title":"The medico-legal interpretation of diatom findings for the diagnosis of fatal drowning: a systematic review.","authors":"Alexander Tyr, Philippe Lunetta, Brita Zilg, Carl Winskog, Nina Heldring","doi":"10.1007/s00414-024-03397-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00414-024-03397-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The diagnostic use of the diatom test for drowning has been under investigation for more than a century. Despite continuing research, its true usefulness remains controversial and under debate. Data regarding the extent to which diatoms can penetrate the lungs and other organs of drowning victims are conflicting; similar discrepancies exist as to the presence of diatoms in the organs of living individuals; and as to the occurrence of postmortem (PM) contamination. To shed light on current understanding, we conducted a systematic review based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) to investigate how the presence of diatoms PM may be interpreted during medico-legal investigations of drowning. Following sequential screening of records based on our predetermined eligibility criteria, we assessed scientific evidence and risk of bias by use of the SPICOT framework. A total of 17 studies reporting diatom concentrations in victims of drowning, in non-drowned controls, and in non-drowned immersed controls were eligible for this review. Our findings suggest that diatom testing may be of use in medico-legal investigations, although its evidentiary value remains uncertain because both quantitative and qualitative results from the literature are insufficiently comparable. Variations in study design, methodology and reporting approach also fail to provide a comprehensive understanding of the significance of false-positive and false-negative results. Further research is warranted on antemortem and PM contamination, and on standardized autopsy and laboratory procedures, as well as on automated and certified diatom-counting and -identification systems. Moreover, since diatom taxonomy lies outside the specialty of forensic medicine, we underscore that collaboration with expert diatomologists is necessary for analysis and interpretation. Until these issues are adequately addressed, the evidentiary value of diatom testing for the diagnosis of drowning will continue to remain elusive and contentious.</p>","PeriodicalId":14071,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Legal Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"729-746"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11850479/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142978353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Petteri Oura, Hilla Mäkinen, Roosa Ruotsalainen, Miko Ruokomäki, Antti Virtanen, Antti J Hakkarainen
{"title":"First year of in-house forensic neuropathology consultations in Helsinki, Finland.","authors":"Petteri Oura, Hilla Mäkinen, Roosa Ruotsalainen, Miko Ruokomäki, Antti Virtanen, Antti J Hakkarainen","doi":"10.1007/s00414-024-03399-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00414-024-03399-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In July 2023, an in-house forensic neuropathology consultation pilot was established at the Helsinki office of the Forensic Medicine Unit, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. This offered an alternative to the previous practice of full outsourcing to a hospital neuropathology department. This paper aims to introduce the first year experiences of the pilot. The in-house consultant team comprised two forensic pathologists with special training in neuropathology. In-house consultations were offered for medico-legal autopsy cases with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy. The in-house histology laboratory participated in the pilot, implementing beta-amyloid precursor protein (β-APP) stain at the end of the pilot year. An electronic database was also developed for data collection and reporting. The characteristics, costs, and duration of the first 25 consultation cases were reviewed. The cases involved mostly male decedents (84.0%) with TBI (84.0%). The median total cost of a pilot case was €624, which was substantially lower compared to the previous outsourced practice (€1013 per case + €38/84 for each microscope slide with special/immunohistochemical stain, respectively). After the implementation of β-APP stain into the in-house laboratory service, the median total cost of a pilot case was reduced further to €94. The median duration of an in-house consultation was 2.3 months. Thanks to a favourable in-house atmosphere, the first year experiences are encouraging. While the costs of the in-house consultation practice appear to be markedly lower than those of an external provider, both alternatives should be available for cases where sufficient expertise cannot be found in-house.</p>","PeriodicalId":14071,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Legal Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"805-815"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11850508/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142970709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Characterization of challenging forensic DNA traces using advanced molecular technologies.","authors":"Amel Larnane, Caroline Lefèvre-Horgues, Corinne Cruaud, Cédric Fund, Edith Le Floch, Florian Sandron, Béatrice Segurens, Alexandre How-Kit, Jean-François Deleuze","doi":"10.1007/s00414-025-03448-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-025-03448-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The majority of crime scenes contain DNA that is either present in small amounts or degraded, making it difficult to obtain usable DNA profiles using conventional technologies. The current standard for analyzing casework samples is the specific amplification of short tandem repeats (STR), which is limited by DNA quality and quantity. Since the goal of forensic science is to identify a suspect or victim regardless of trace quality, we evaluated three technological approaches to better characterize and exploit these traces: (i) ultra-sensitive pulse-field electrophoresis on a Femto Pulse System (FPS) to visualize DNA content, (ii) real-time quantitative PCR based on Alu repeats to quantify human DNA and analyze its integrity, and (iii) 16S ribosomal RNA gene (16S rRNA) amplicon sequencing to identify microbiota. We optimized FPS analysis using DNA from model traces (blood, saliva, semen, touch DNA, and vaginal swabs) and applied the protocol to 100 casework samples. We found differences between the FPS profiles of model and casework samples, showing a variation in fragment size and distribution, suggesting the presence of non-human DNA. Using Alu-qPCR and 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, we determined the amount and proportion of human and non-human DNA. Human DNA was detected in 84% of traces with an average of 70 pg per trace, while 16S rRNA revealed microbial DNA as the most abundant DNA in traces. These analyses provide new insights into forensic trace composition, allowing better sorting and profiling of traces.</p>","PeriodicalId":14071,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Legal Medicine","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143531534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marta San-Millán, Varsha Warrier, Anna Carrera, Francisco Reina
{"title":"Application of DSP2 for biological sex estimation in a Spanish sample: analysis based on sex and side.","authors":"Marta San-Millán, Varsha Warrier, Anna Carrera, Francisco Reina","doi":"10.1007/s00414-024-03358-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00414-024-03358-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Applying existing sexing methodologies to different populations, and reporting these findings is important to enhance their applicability and accuracy in real cases across the world. DSP was published in 2005 (Murail et al., 2005) and updated as a DSP2 in 2017 (Brůžek et al., 2017) based on a database of 10 pelvic measurements from 2040 individuals worldwide. These tools have been applied subsequently to various populations, however, its applicability to a dry Spanish population is lacking. 303 hipbones belonging to 157 individuals from the School of Legal Medicine from the University Complutense of Madrid (Spain), of which 140 individuals were documented, were analyzed to investigate the reliability, applicability and accuracy of the DSP2 sex estimation methodology, examining side and sex-based potential differences for the first time. In most of the DSP variables, intra-rater reliability showed excellent results and % applicability was higher than 85.0%. Overall % accuracy was higher than 94.0% regardless of the number or discriminant power of the utilized DSP variables. However, % sexing decreased when less variables or less discriminant ones were used for estimations, reaching 45.51% (left) and 43.31% (right). Regarding sexual dimorphism, females' results of % applicability, % sexing and % accuracy were higher compared to males. In addition, left os coxae achieved better outcomes (aforementioned percentages) in most of the cases in the sex-pooled sample. Decreasing the mandatory posterior probability by 10% yielded an increase in the % sexing but reduced % accuracy, and thus, does not seem to enhance the approach's performance. The present study validates the applicability and reliability of DSP for sexing a Spanish population. Future investigations will attempt to assess its applicability within virtual anthropology.</p>","PeriodicalId":14071,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Legal Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"847-862"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11850468/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142638914","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cintia Fridman, João Paulo Gervasio Batista, Pamela Viana Bianchini, Vanessa Procópio Batistutti, Paulo de Sá Osório, Laura de Mello Andrade, José Eduardo Levi, Ana Cristina Victorino Krepischi, Darine Villela, Carla Rosenberg
{"title":"Uniparental disomy (UPD) as the cause of inconsistencies in parentage tests: report of maternal UPD of chromosome 2 and review of the literature.","authors":"Cintia Fridman, João Paulo Gervasio Batista, Pamela Viana Bianchini, Vanessa Procópio Batistutti, Paulo de Sá Osório, Laura de Mello Andrade, José Eduardo Levi, Ana Cristina Victorino Krepischi, Darine Villela, Carla Rosenberg","doi":"10.1007/s00414-025-03428-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-025-03428-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Uniparental disomy (UPD) is the abnormal situation in which both members of a chromosome pair exclusively comprise material of one of the parents. The incidence of UPD is estimated in 1:2000 live births. This rare condition is relevant for medical genetics due to imprinting disorders or recessive diseases; however, it may also impact for parentage testing, leading to apparent false parentage. Herein we report the results of a paternity test in which four inconsistencies were observed, all of them mapped on chromosome 2. To investigate the possibility of a complete maternal compound hetero/isodisomy UPD2 as an alternative to false exclusion paternity result, SNP-array and Y-chromosome haplotyping were additionally performed. The results were compatible with the occurrence of a maternal UPD2. Review of the literature shows that UPD2 represents about half of the UPDs detected in parentage tests. The case reported here illustrates that UPD should be considered in cases of parentage testing exhibiting inconsistencies of at least two markers exclusively in a single chromosome.</p>","PeriodicalId":14071,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Legal Medicine","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143531515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Daniel Kane, Andrea Holmes, Kieran Kennedy, Karen Flood, Maeve Eogan
{"title":"Sexual violence associated with international travel: a review of 443 cases.","authors":"Daniel Kane, Andrea Holmes, Kieran Kennedy, Karen Flood, Maeve Eogan","doi":"10.1007/s00414-024-03388-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00414-024-03388-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Sexual violence (SV) while travelling internationally is underreported and pre-travel advice is often focussed on broader tourist safety concerns. International travellers who experience sexual violence face particular challenges. The aim of this paper was to analyse the attendances of people who disclosed having been subjected to SV during international travel to the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) network in the Republic of Ireland.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Analysis of all people who attended the national SATU network who disclosed an incident of SV experienced during international travel, and comparison of these cases with domestic case attendances.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>During the 7-year period studied, there were 6,447 attendances to the national SATU network, with 443 incidents reported as occurring outside Ireland; in 66 separate countries. The mean age of international attendees was 26.61 years, with females representing 90.3% of cases. Where an incident occurred internationally, the patient was less likely to disclose drug ingestion in the 24 h preceding the incident (p < 0.001) and significantly less likely to be assaulted in the assailant's home (p = 0.009) when compared with domestic cases. Those who were assaulted internationally were significantly more likely to be assaulted by a stranger or recent acquaintance, i.e. ( p < 0.001).They were also more likely be assaulted in a location recorded as 'other indoors' (e.g. hotel, hostel etc) (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in alcohol consumption (p = 0.115) or frequency of assaults occurring outdoors (p = 0.155).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our study has shown that 7% of attendances to the SATU network followed incidents of SV that occurred during international travel. The majority of these incidents were disclosed as being perpetrated by a stranger or recent acquaintance, in an indoor setting with over half having occurred in Europe. Individuals who experience SV while travelling abroad should be encouraged to seek immediate medical attention and appropriate follow-up care upon returning home.</p>","PeriodicalId":14071,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Legal Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"817-823"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142822095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fabio De-Giorgio, Michele Guerreri, Roberto Gatta, Eva Bergamin, Vittorio De Vita, Matteo Mancino, Luca Boldrini, Evis Sala, Vincenzo L Pascali
{"title":"Exploring radiomic features of lateral cerebral ventricles in postmortem CT for postmortem interval estimation.","authors":"Fabio De-Giorgio, Michele Guerreri, Roberto Gatta, Eva Bergamin, Vittorio De Vita, Matteo Mancino, Luca Boldrini, Evis Sala, Vincenzo L Pascali","doi":"10.1007/s00414-024-03396-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00414-024-03396-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of radiomic features extracted from postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) scans of the lateral cerebral ventricles (LCVs) to provide information on the time since death, or postmortem interval (PMI), a critical aspect of forensic medicine. Periodic PMCT scans, referred to as \"sequential scans\", were obtained from twelve corpses with known times of death, ranging from 5.5 to 273 h postmortem. Radiomics features were then extracted from the LCVs, and a mixed-effect model, specifically designed for sequential data, was employed to assess the association between feature values and PMI. Four model variants were fitted to the data to identify the best functional form to explain the relationship between the variables. Significant associations were observed for features, the most significant being the median Hounsfield Units (HU) within the LCVs (p < 9.47 × 10⁻⁹), LCVs surface area (p < 4.69 × 10⁻⁶), L-major axis (p < 2.17 × 10⁻⁵), L-minor axis (p < 1.30 × 10⁻⁴), and HU entropy (p < 4.16 × 10⁻⁴). Our findings align with previous studies, supporting a logarithmic model for PMI-related changes in LCV volume and mean HU intensity value. This study highlights the potential of PMCT-based radiomics as source of complementary information that could be integrated into existing methods for PMI estimation. Our results support the application of a quantitative imaging approach in forensic investigations.</p>","PeriodicalId":14071,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Legal Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"667-677"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142864196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Silvana Magna Cavalcante do Monte, Bruno Sampaio, Júlio César Nogueira Torres, Abigail Marcelino Dos Santos Silva, Bárbara Natieli Silva Pereira, Aparecida Jayane Sampaio Miranda, Bruno Almeida Silva, Teresa Cristina Lima Da Rocha, Samyra Maria Vieira Brasil Rocha, Ana Cláudia de Menezes Sobreira, Sílvia Helena Barem Rabenhorst, Rodrigo Soares de Moura Neto, Valdir de Queiroz Balbino
{"title":"Genetic characterization of paternal lineages by Y-STR in three sample populations in Northeastern Brazil.","authors":"Silvana Magna Cavalcante do Monte, Bruno Sampaio, Júlio César Nogueira Torres, Abigail Marcelino Dos Santos Silva, Bárbara Natieli Silva Pereira, Aparecida Jayane Sampaio Miranda, Bruno Almeida Silva, Teresa Cristina Lima Da Rocha, Samyra Maria Vieira Brasil Rocha, Ana Cláudia de Menezes Sobreira, Sílvia Helena Barem Rabenhorst, Rodrigo Soares de Moura Neto, Valdir de Queiroz Balbino","doi":"10.1007/s00414-025-03407-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00414-025-03407-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Genetic markers of the Y chromosome are powerful tools for investigating paternal ancestry and are widely used in population and forensic genetics. However, in order to obtain statistics with a higher degree of certainty using these markers, it is necessary to obtain haplotypic frequencies from a representative database, as well as knowing the diversity and structure of the population. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity of a sample of 1114 unrelated men from three states in the Northeast of Brazil: Paraíba, Pernambuco and Ceará, through the analysis of 23 Y-STRs and to contribute to the expansion of the Brazilian database on these markers. The PPY23 panel had a high discriminatory power, and the population structure was consistent with the historical aspects of the colonization of the Northeast of Brazil. Population comparisons based on paired genetic differentiation values (Fst) revealed no statistically significant differences between the three populations in this study. However, it was observed that Pernambuco and Paraíba were genetically closer to states outside the Northeast region. Y-STR-based haplogroup prediction, carried out using the NevGen software, revealed that the paternal lineage of the populations in this study is essentially European, with little African or Native American influence, just like the rest of the Brazilian population. Additionally, this work contributes to a more representative database for use in forensic and population genetics.</p>","PeriodicalId":14071,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Legal Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"541-549"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142948538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xinggong Liang, Mingyan Deng, Zhengyang Zhu, Wanqing Zhang, Yuqian Li, Jianliang Luo, Han Wang, Shuo Wu, Run Chen, Gongji Wang, Hao Wu, Chen Shen, Gengwang Hu, Kai Zhang, Qinru Sun, Zhenyuan Wang
{"title":"A novel approach for estimating postmortem intervals under varying temperature conditions using pathology images and artificial intelligence models.","authors":"Xinggong Liang, Mingyan Deng, Zhengyang Zhu, Wanqing Zhang, Yuqian Li, Jianliang Luo, Han Wang, Shuo Wu, Run Chen, Gongji Wang, Hao Wu, Chen Shen, Gengwang Hu, Kai Zhang, Qinru Sun, Zhenyuan Wang","doi":"10.1007/s00414-025-03447-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-025-03447-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Estimating the postmortem interval (PMI) is a critical yet complex task in forensic investigations, with accurate and timely determination playing a key role in case resolution and legal outcomes. Traditional methods often suffer from environmental variability and subjective biases, emphasizing the need for more reliable and objective approaches. In this study, we present a novel predictive model for PMI estimation, introduced here for the first time, that leverages pathological tissue images and artificial intelligence (AI). The model is designed to perform under three temperature conditions: 25 °C, 37 °C, and 4 °C. Using a ResNet50 neural network, patch-level images were analyzed to extract deep learning-derived features, which were integrated with machine learning algorithms for whole slide image (WSI) classification. The model achieved strong performance, with micro and macro AUC values of at least 0.949 at the patch-level and 0.800 at the WSI-level in both training and testing sets. In external validation, micro and macro AUC values at the patch-level exceeded 0.960. These results highlight the potential of AI to improve the accuracy and efficiency of PMI estimation. As AI technology continues to advance, this approach holds promise for enhancing forensic investigations and supporting more precise case resolutions.</p>","PeriodicalId":14071,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Legal Medicine","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143523482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}