Srettabunjong Supawon, Patompakdeesakul Panida, Limawongpranee Suvit
Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Forensic Sci Int. 2016 Oct;267:196-203. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.08.030. Epub 2016 Aug 29.
Human scalp hair is one of the most common trace materials found at violent crime scenes. Accordingly, scalp hair is critical evidential material in forensic investigations for identifying relations and persons, which could result in solving cases. Knowledge about micro-morphological variations of scalp hair in the Thai population, however, is scarce, and information on age changes and sex differences with respect to these traits is limited. The present study was thus undertaken to explore three micro-morphological parameters of Thai scalp hair-hair index (HI), hair area (HA), medullary index (MI)-relative to age and sex differences. Scalp hair samples were collected from 340 unrelated Thai cadavers (170 male, 170 female) of all ages, which were divided into seventeen age groups, 5-year-old interval per group beginning with 0-5years and ending up with ≥80 years. Approximately 30 hair strands at the posterior vertex region of the scalp were cut with scissors as close to the scalp as possible. The hair samples were subsequently used to make permanent slides, and the mounted hairs were examined for microscopic cross-sectional characteristics. The authors found that the HI and MI were similar in the male and female cadavers and did not significantly differ (p>0.05) according to age. In contrast, the HA was significantly different between the male and female cadavers at 50-69years of age (p<0.05). There were other differences according to age as well. That is, the HA increased abruptly during their early twenties and then decreased gradually until ≥80 years of age. Thus, Thai scalp hair shows some age and sex variations that are reflected in the HA and might be useful for forensic, medical, and anthropological investigations.
人类头皮毛发是暴力犯罪现场最常见的微量物证之一。因此，头皮毛发是法医调查中用于识别关系和人员的关键证据材料，这可能有助于破案。然而，关于泰国人群头皮毛发微观形态变异的知识却很匮乏，有关这些特征的年龄变化和性别差异的信息也很有限。因此，本研究旨在探讨泰国头皮毛发的三个微观形态参数——毛发指数（HI）、毛发面积（HA）、髓质指数（MI）——与年龄和性别差异的关系。从340具不同年龄段的泰国无关尸体（170例男性，170例女性）上采集头皮毛发样本，这些尸体被分为17个年龄组，每组间隔5岁，从0 - 5岁开始，到≥80岁结束。用剪刀尽可能贴近头皮，在头皮后顶区域剪下约30根毛发。随后将毛发样本制成永久玻片，并对装片后的毛发进行微观横截面特征检查。作者发现，HI和MI在男性和女性尸体中相似，且根据年龄无显著差异（p>0.05）。相比之下，50 - 69岁的男性和女性尸体之间的HA存在显著差异（p<0.05）。根据年龄也存在其他差异。也就是说，HA在二十出头时突然增加，然后逐渐下降，直至≥80岁。因此，泰国头皮毛发显示出一些年龄和性别差异，这些差异体现在HA上，可能对法医、医学和人类学调查有用。
