Remien Christopher H, Adler Frederick R, Chesson Lesley A, Valenzuela Luciano O, Ehleringer James R, Cerling Thure E
National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA,
Oecologia. 2014 Jul;175(3):781-9. doi: 10.1007/s00442-014-2945-3. Epub 2014 May 3.
Segmental analysis of hair has been used in diverse fields ranging from forensics to ecology to measure the concentration of substances such as drugs and isotopes. Multiple hairs are typically combined into a bundle for segmental analysis to obtain a high-resolution series of measurements. Individual hair strands cycle through multiple phases of growth and grow at different rates when in the growth phase. Variation in growth of hair strands in a bundle can cause misalignment of substance concentration between hairs, attenuating the primary body signal. We developed a mathematical model based on the known physiology of hair growth to describe the signal averaging caused by bundling multiple hairs for segmental analysis. The model was used to form an inverse method to estimate the primary body signal from measurements of a hair bundle. The inverse method was applied to a previously described stable oxygen isotope chronology from the hair of a murder victim and provides a refined interpretation of the data. Aspects of the reconstruction were confirmed when the victim was later identified.
毛发的分段分析已被应用于从法医学到生态学等多个领域，用于测量药物和同位素等物质的浓度。为了进行分段分析以获得高分辨率的一系列测量结果，通常会将多根毛发组合成一束。单根毛发会经历多个生长阶段，并且在生长阶段以不同的速率生长。一束毛发中毛发的生长差异会导致毛发之间物质浓度的错位，从而削弱主要身体信号。我们基于已知的毛发生理过程开发了一个数学模型，以描述将多根毛发组合进行分段分析所导致的信号平均化。该模型被用于形成一种反演方法，从一束毛发的测量结果中估计主要身体信号。这种反演方法被应用于先前描述的一名谋杀受害者毛发的稳定氧同位素年代序列，并对数据提供了更精确的解释。当受害者后来被确认身份时，重建的各个方面得到了证实。
