Dimensions around the nutrient foramina of the tibia and fibula in the estimation of sex

El-Dine

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

et al. 2020

Because there is no widely accepted sexing method of fragmented femoral diaphyses, we argue that the diaphyseal diameters and circumference around nutrient foramina (NF) have comparable sex discrimination capacity to their mid-shaft counterparts. Construction of reliable reference sample (n = 61, 29 males and 32 females) using the undocumented Alexandria University Osteological Collection was contingent upon consistent sex estimation of the epiphyses using population and sample specific methods. Statistically significant size differences were found between the males and females diaphyseal measurements around NF. Low intraobserver measurements error and high sexual dimorphism indices were observed in the new measurements at NF level. The logistic regression analysis revealed that combinations of anteroposterior diameter and circumference at both levels were the optimal models for sex classification. Testing in the holdout sample showed complete agreement in the results between both models. The best model at the level of NF achieved consistent total sex allocation of 81.1% with high probability >0.80 of correct estimates in approximately 60% of the reference sample. A great applicability pertinent to sex estimation of a tubular fragment of femur bearing a single NF using the diaphyseal measurements around it because the maximal length is not required to determine the location of the mid-shaft measurements.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sample specific sex estimation method using parameters around dominant nutrient foramina in unknown femur bones collection of contemporary Egyptians

El-Dine

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

et al. 2020

Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences

“…It appears that the inclusion of these measurements (epiphyseal and midshaft width) in these studies improved the prediction classification rates that were observed. Epiphyseal and diaphyseal width measurements have been shown to be significantly impacted by physical activity 73 and have been shown to exhibit sexual dimorphism 51,52,74,[81][82][83] compared to length measurements. However, Case and Ross 73 argued that since epiphyseal or diaphyseal measurements are probably more influenced by lifetime activity and that length measurements appear to have a more stable relationship, length measurements should be used in a forensic context where the lifetime activities of an unidentified individual are unknown.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of sex from metatarsals using discriminant function and logistic regression analyses

Bidmos

Adebesin

Mazengenya

et al. 2020

South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world and the discovery of dismembered bodies for human identification process poses a greater challenge. The South African Africans (also known as South African blacks) population group is often the victims of crimes as they are the largest group. While measurements of several bones of the human skeleton have been used for sex estimation, the potential of metatarsals have not been explored in this population group. Metatarsal bones are usually well-preserved since they are recovered in shoes protected from scavengers and they are able to withstand environmental degradation and taphonomy. This study investigated the potential of measurements of metatarsals in sex estimate amongst South African Africans using logistic and discriminant function analysis. Six measurements of metatarsals from 100 individuals of known sex and population affinity from the Raymond Dart Collection of Human skeletons were analysed. Various combinations of measurements of metatarsal bones yielded suitably high average accuracies (79% to 84%) for sex estimation and are comparable to functions derived from other skeletal elements of South African Africans. Metatarsals of South African Africans are therefore useful as alternatives to highly sexual dimorphic bones in the forensic estimation of sex.

“…Shape and size of leg bones are widely used in both bioarcheological and forensic contexts as sex indicators, e.g., [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Generally, males display larger and more robust tibiae and fibulae, with more robust lower extremities than females [ 5 , 6 ] due to a differentiation in environmental responses, hormonal surges, and physical loading patterns, which contribute to sexual variations of body shape and size/proportions [ 7 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual Dimorphism in the Fibular Extremities of Italians and South Africans of Identified Modern Human Skeletal Collections: A Geometric Morphometric Approach

Pietrobelli

Sorrentino²,

Durante³

et al. 2022

Biology

Fibular metric variations have revealed their potential in distinguishing between males and females; however the fibula remains scarcely analyzed in studies of sexual dimorphism. This work aims at investigating sexually dimorphic features in fibular proximal and distal epiphyses through geometric morphometrics methods. A total of 136 left fibulae, from two Italian and one South African identified skeletal collections were virtually acquired through CT and laser scanning and analyzed using geometric morphometric methods. Statistical analyses were performed on shape, form, and size variables. Results show that fibular epiphyses are smaller with narrower articular surfaces in females than in males in both extremities. Relevant sexual differences emerge in fibular form and size for the two Italian samples but not for the South African one, likely for its small sample size. Discriminant analysis on form principal components (PCs) offers accuracy above 80% when the samples are pooled, and reaches accuracy of 80–93% when the Italian samples are considered separately. However, our method on form PCs was not successful for the South African sample (50–53% accuracy), possibly due to the small sample size. These results show relevant morphological variation in relation to fibular form and size, with a degree of accuracy that indicates the utility of the present method for sexing human fibulae in both forensic and bioarchaeological contexts for Italian samples.