Purpose The five-stage Dedouit magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) classification of the proximal humeral epiphysis has so far been applied to forensic age estimation only in Turkish populations. This study applied it to a French cohort. Methods Shoulder MRI examinations of 346 individuals (204 males, 142 females; 7.18–33.82 years) from a French university hospital were retrospectively staged on fat-suppressed proton density–weighted turbo spin echo images. Spearman correlation, Mann–Whitney U tests, sex-specific ordinal probit transition analysis with bootstrap 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and linear-weighted Cohen's kappa were used. Minimum ages were compared with those of previous Dedouit-based studies. Results Ossification stage correlated strongly with chronological age (ρ = 0.816, p < 0.001); intra- and interobserver agreement were κ = 0.799 and 0.658, respectively. Minimum ages for stage 4 were 16.27 years (males) and 16.39 years (females), and for stage 5, 21.35 and 21.58 years. Significant sex differences were confined to stages 1 and 2 (p = 0.004). Transition analysis estimated mean stage 3→4 transition ages of 17.72 years (95% CI 16.95–18.37) in males and 19.30 years (95% CI 18.47–20.05) in females, and stage 4→5 transition ages of 29.55 and 26.19 years, respectively. Conclusion The Dedouit classification was applicable to the proximal humerus in this French cohort, with a strong age association and good observer agreement; stage 5 was not observed before 21 years of age in either sex. These initial Western European reference data require confirmation in larger multicenter samples before forensic application.
For four decades, age estimation from the fourth rib has rested on İşcan's visual phase system, which requires the physical bone and returns an ordinal category, not a calibrated probability. We developed a three-dimensional deep-learning pipeline, automated downstream of AI-assisted segmentation, that estimates age from the whole rib on computed tomography (CT) and reports a likelihood ratio. Right fourth ribs from thin-section (1 mm) chest CT of 453 living adults (225 men, 228 women; 18.0–99.8 years) were segmented, posed canonically and encoded as four representations: metric multi-view RGB-D renderings and a point cloud of the sternal end, a point cloud of the complete rib, and twenty morphometric scalars. Sex-specific networks trained by label-distribution learning were evaluated on a frozen hold-out set (three seeds). The selected estimators reached a mean absolute error of 10.6 years in men and 10.4 in women (45–46% below a mean-age predictor; 9.0 and 8.4 years between ages 18 and 70). Likelihood ratios were informative at every threshold from 30 to 70 years (Cllr < 1), sex was classified with an area under the ROC curve of 0.966, and intra-observer reproducibility was ICC 0.872, limited chiefly by the canonical pose. The age signal was not confined to the sternal extremity examined by phase scoring: in women the complete rib outperformed the sternal end (10.4 versus 14.6 years); in men the two were equivalent, consistent with sex-specific standards. Because 1 mm sections cannot resolve İşcan's fine relief, higher-resolution surface capture is a priority for future work.
Dark coloured surfaces have long presented a challenge for detecting and enhancing bloody impressions at crime scenes. Glossy reflection, background interference, substrate texture and interaction of the blood with the substrate can impede detection and recovery of bloody impressions. Several chemical reagents are used to detect and enhance bloodstains on dark surfaces via luminescent or fluorescent emission. However, there is limited research that directly compares the efficacy of these reagents for enhancing and retaining fine detail in bloody impressions under a statistical framework. This research aimed to address this gap by comparing the fluorescent/luminescent properties of leucocrystal violet (LCV), luminol and Hungarian Red for enhancing bloody shoe sole impressions on a range of common dark flooring surfaces, with a specific focus on scoring the quality of enhanced impressions based on the clarity of fine detail and features useful for comparison purposes.To achieve this, sequentially depleting bloody shoe sole impressions were deposited onto five flooring substrates. Overall, the results showed that Hungarian Red produced significantly better enhancement than LCV or luminol, with ~42% of impressions scored High quality compared with 24% and 9% for LCV and luminol, respectively. However, substrate characteristics significantly influenced the quality of enhancement within and among reagents. Hungarian Red significantly outperformed the other reagents on most non-porous substrates tested, but produced poor results on carpet for which luminol was the most effective treatment. LCV also produced poor results on painted plasterboard but outperformed the other reagents on tile. Taken together, these results supported Hungarian Red as producing the best results overall, with this technique thus representing a valuable tool for enhancing detail in bloody impressions on challenging surfaces.
Rapid and defensible identification of illicit drug exposure is essential in forensic science, where analytical results must withstand legal scrutiny and clearly differentiate between drug use and incidental contact. This study evaluates fingerprints as a non-invasive trace evidence matrix, analyzed using paper spray mass spectrometry (PS-MS), for the qualitative and quantitative detection of heroin and its primary metabolite, 6-acetylmorphine (6-AM). A previously validated PS-MS method for cocaine and benzoylecgonine (BZE) was successfully adapted for retrospective heroin analysis, achieving detection rates exceeding 75% in fingerprints collected from confirmed users. Forensic validity was supported through the establishment of environmental cut-off thresholds derived from non-user populations, confirming no detectable heroin or 6-AM in background samples and minimizing the risk of false-positive interpretations. Critically, the method enables differentiation between secondary transfer (contact) and systemic administration. Persistence experiments showed that heroin residues originating from external contact remained detectable on fingertips for up to 48 h under typical daily activities. In these cases, 6-AM was only qualitatively observed immediately following handwashing, consistent with surface contamination. Conversely, in fingerprints from drug users, 6-AM was consistently detected at quantifiable levels (81 pg to 10.2 ng per fingerprint) even after handwashing, indicating endogenous excretion via eccrine sweat following heroin metabolism. This distinction provides strong forensic evidence for drug intake rather than incidental exposure. Overall, this approach offers a rapid, high-sensitivity, and high-throughput analytical platform with clear forensic applicability, supporting both substance use determination and potential multi-drug confirmation in operational forensic and clinical settings using PS-MS.
