Meadows L, Jantz R L
Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, USA.
J Forensic Sci. 1995 Sep;40(5):762-7.
Allometric secular changes in the six long limb bones for White and Black males from the mid 1800s to the present are examined. Long bone lengths are available from the Terry collection and WWII casualties. We conducted two types of analysis to reveal secular changes. First, allometry scaling coefficients were derived by regressing log bone length onto log stature. These showed that the femur, tibia and fibula were positively allometric with stature, while the humerus, radius and ulna were isometric. The lower limb bones were more positively allometric in the WWII sample than in the Terry sample. Second, secular changes in length of femur and tibia and in the tibia/femur ratio were evaluated, using modern forensic cases in addition to the Terry and WWII samples. This analysis shows that secular increase in lower limb bone length is accompanied by relatively longer tibiae. Secular changes in proportion may render stature formulae based on nineteenth century samples, such as the Terry collection, inappropriate for modern forensic cases. The positive allometry of the lower limb bones argues against using simple femur/stature ratio, which assumes constant proportionality, as an alternative to regression equations.
研究了19世纪中叶至今白人及黑人男性六根长肢骨的异速生长长期变化。长骨长度数据来自特里骨库和二战伤亡人员。我们进行了两种类型的分析以揭示长期变化。首先，通过将对数骨长度对对数身高进行回归得出异速生长缩放系数。结果表明，股骨、胫骨和腓骨与身高呈正异速生长，而肱骨、桡骨和尺骨呈等速生长。在二战样本中，下肢骨的正异速生长比在特里样本中更为明显。其次，除了特里样本和二战样本外，还使用现代法医案例评估了股骨和胫骨长度以及胫股比的长期变化。该分析表明，下肢骨长度的长期增加伴随着相对较长的胫骨。比例的长期变化可能使基于19世纪样本（如特里骨库）的身高公式不适用于现代法医案例。下肢骨的正异速生长反对使用假设比例恒定的简单股身比作为回归方程的替代方法。
