EMILY L BERRIZBEITIA - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
EMILY L. BERRIZBEITIA is a biological and a forensic anthropologist. She studied Anthropology at The University of Maryland and has a master’s degree in Forensic Sciences from The George Washington University.
Berrizbeitia was affiliated with the Department of Physical Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, where she conducted research and developed a new method for identifying the sex of human skeletal remains using the diameter of the head of the radius. She conducted research and worked Ad honorem at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Washington DC, and at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.
Berrizbeitia was the Curator of the Osteological Collections at the Museum of La Salle Foundation of Natural Sciences- Caribbean Institute of Anthropology and Sociology (ICAS) in Caracas, Venezuela, and was an active member of the interdisciplinary group from The University of the Andes, Venezuela, for the rescue, preservation and studies of mummified remains from the Venezuelan Andean region. She published various papers on Venezuelan mummies and presented the results of her pioneer research at the Proceedings of the First World Congress on Mummy Studies Tenerife, Spain, 1992.
As a researcher of Biological Anthropology, at the Natural Sciences Museum Foundation in Caracas, Venezuela, Berrizbeitia participated in various projects at IVIC (Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Investigations) and at the CONICIT (National Council of Scientific Investigation).
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Analysis of a sample of 1108 radii corresponding to 567 black and white North Americans in the Te... more Analysis of a sample of 1108 radii corresponding to 567 black and white North Americans in the Terry Collection at the Smithsonian Institution demonstrates that the diameter of the radial head is an accurate sex discriminator for human remains. A simple "radial-head method" of sex determination consists of measuring the maximum and minimum diameters of the head and comparing such measurements with the test cutoff points. The subject is female when the maximum radial head diameter (either left or right) is less than or equal to 21 mm. and male when the maximum diameter (either left or right) is greater than or equal to 24 mm. The same decisions apply to the minimum diameters of 20 mm or less and 23 mm or more. respectively. When the maximum diameter is 23 mm or the minimum is 22 mm. the subject is more likely male; when the maximum diameter is 22 mm or the minimum is 21 mm, the subject is more likely female. The sample frequency of anyone of these latter diameters is never more than 160/0. Cross-validation of the method with a sample of 50 pairs of radii of the Terry Collection, different from the original specimens. resulted in 920/0 sexing accuracy when using the left radius singly. 940/0 accuracy when using the right radius singly. and 96"10 accuracy when using both radii jointly. KEYWORDS: physical anthropology. human identification. musculoskeletal system. sex identification. sex determination. radius. radial head method. sexual dimorphism. forensic anthropology -" A basic problem in physical and forensic anthropology is determination of the sex of incomplete and fragmentary skeletal remains. In the absence of the pelvic bones and the skull. the diameter of the femoral head is generally the most used criterion. even though it is not as precise as the pelvic method. Other methods reported in the literature employ diverse measurements of the scapula, the sternum. the humerus. the radius. and the tarsal bones; although generally not very precise. such methods can be useful in determining sex when the principal indicators mentioned above are unavailable. excessively fragmented, or otherwise indistinct. The objectives of this study are to show that the diameter of the head of the radius can be used to identify the sexof human remains with a high degree of accuracy and to develop a systematic method for this purpose. The idea that the heads of the long bones can be used as sex discriminators can be traced at least as far back as the first decade of this century, when Dwight [1] stated: "it is very evident that the differences between the bones of the arm and thigh in the matter of length are much less important sexually than those of the diameters of the heads." According to
An incomplete human skull collected in Kusia, La Guajira, Zulia State, Venezuela, presents eviden... more An incomplete human skull collected in Kusia, La Guajira, Zulia State, Venezuela, presents evidence of sharp and blunt force injuries. Evidence suggests the lesions occurred antemortem or perimortem. The location and direction of the force indicates the injuries were neither accidentally, nor self-inflicted. Therefore, the remains are probably those of a homicide victim.
Merida, miercoles 13 de tebrero de 1.99:
Analysis of a sample of 1108 radii corresponding to 567 black and white North Americans in the Te... more Analysis of a sample of 1108 radii corresponding to 567 black and white North Americans in the Terry Collection at the Smithsonian Institution demonstrates that the diameter of the radial head is an accurate sex discriminator for human remains. A simple "radial-head method" of sex determination consists of measuring the maximum and minimum diameters of the head and comparing such measurements with the test cutoff points. The subject is female when the maximum radial head diameter (either left or right) is less than or equal to 21 mm. and male when the maximum diameter (either left or right) is greater than or equal to 24 mm. The same decisions apply to the minimum diameters of 20 mm or less and 23 mm or more. respectively. When the maximum diameter is 23 mm or the minimum is 22 mm. the subject is more likely male; when the maximum diameter is 22 mm or the minimum is 21 mm, the subject is more likely female. The sample frequency of anyone of these latter diameters is never more than 160/0. Cross-validation of the method with a sample of 50 pairs of radii of the Terry Collection, different from the original specimens. resulted in 920/0 sexing accuracy when using the left radius singly. 940/0 accuracy when using the right radius singly. and 96"10 accuracy when using both radii jointly. KEYWORDS: physical anthropology. human identification. musculoskeletal system. sex identification. sex determination. radius. radial head method. sexual dimorphism. forensic anthropology -" A basic problem in physical and forensic anthropology is determination of the sex of incomplete and fragmentary skeletal remains. In the absence of the pelvic bones and the skull. the diameter of the femoral head is generally the most used criterion. even though it is not as precise as the pelvic method. Other methods reported in the literature employ diverse measurements of the scapula, the sternum. the humerus. the radius. and the tarsal bones; although generally not very precise. such methods can be useful in determining sex when the principal indicators mentioned above are unavailable. excessively fragmented, or otherwise indistinct. The objectives of this study are to show that the diameter of the head of the radius can be used to identify the sexof human remains with a high degree of accuracy and to develop a systematic method for this purpose. The idea that the heads of the long bones can be used as sex discriminators can be traced at least as far back as the first decade of this century, when Dwight [1] stated: "it is very evident that the differences between the bones of the arm and thigh in the matter of length are much less important sexually than those of the diameters of the heads." According to
An incomplete human skull collected in Kusia, La Guajira, Zulia State, Venezuela, presents eviden... more An incomplete human skull collected in Kusia, La Guajira, Zulia State, Venezuela, presents evidence of sharp and blunt force injuries. Evidence suggests the lesions occurred antemortem or perimortem. The location and direction of the force indicates the injuries were neither accidentally, nor self-inflicted. Therefore, the remains are probably those of a homicide victim.
Merida, miercoles 13 de tebrero de 1.99: