J. Tutkuviene - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by J. Tutkuviene

Research paper thumbnail of Schätzung des Lebensalters kindlicher Opfer auf Bilddokumenten

Rechtsmedizin, 2011

Zusammenfassung Immer mehr Bildmaterial mit fraglich kinderpornografischem Inhalt muss durch die... more Zusammenfassung Immer mehr Bildmaterial mit fraglich kinderpornografischem Inhalt muss durch die Ermittlungsbehörden analysiert werden. Dabei ist das Lebensalter der kindlichen Opfer eine zentrale Frage. Die Lebensaltersschätzung auf Bilddokumenten stützt sich üblicherweise auf die Beurteilung des sexuellen Reifegrads, des Zahnstatus (soweit das Bildmaterial dies zulässt) und der Körperproportionen. Die Beurteilung der Proportionen des Gesichts ist ein neuer Ansatz, der das methodische Repertoire

Research paper thumbnail of Proceedings of the 22nd Aschauer Soiree on Growth and Health Screening", held at Altenhof, Germany, November 15th, 2014

Pediatric endocrinology reviews : PER, 2015

Twenty-five scientists met at Aschauhof, Altenhof, Germany, to discuss various aspects of the com... more Twenty-five scientists met at Aschauhof, Altenhof, Germany, to discuss various aspects of the complex network of modern health screening, focusing on current scientific topics including medical sciences, human biology, and mathematics; on problems in implementing these results at the practical level of physicians, nurses, technicians, and engineers; and the level of administrative and political decisions. Whereas major scientific advancements have been published in the understanding and the bio-statistical evaluation of anthropometric screening parameters such as serial measurements of height and weight for preventive medical check-ups, BMI screening and surveillance in schools, etc., the implementation of these advancements into current health screening concepts, strategies and decision-making is poor. Fear of discrimination, misperception of body image, behavioural responses and political concerns, meanwhile dominate and negatively interfere with the implementation of recent scien...

Research paper thumbnail of Statistical agreement and cost–benefit: Comparison of methods for constructing growth reference charts

Annals of Human Biology, 2010

Growth reference charts are important tools for adequate paediatric decisions. In view of the wor... more Growth reference charts are important tools for adequate paediatric decisions. In view of the workload required to construct empirical growth reference charts we debate practicable and less demanding alternatives and took the recent national 2000-2002 Lithuanian growth charts as an example. Two options appeared reasonable: (1) applying international WHO child growth standards and WHO growth reference data for 5-19 years that are recommended for global use; or (2) replacing the costly empirical method of deriving national growth references by more convenient low-cost statistics, e.g. the method of generating synthetic references for the Lithuanian population. We analysed the degree of agreement between the 2000-2002 Lithuanian growth charts, and the international WHO child growth standards and WHO growth reference data for 5-19 years and synthetic references for the Lithuanian population using the Bland-Altman method. Synthetically generated references for the Lithuanian population slightly surpassed the national Lithuanian reference for body height (males +0.3 (SD 0.9) cm; females +0.2 (SD 0.6) cm) particularly at young age, which may be regarded clinically irrelevant. WHO international child growth standards and the WHO growth reference data for 5-19 years, however, failed to match the Lithuanian references as they underestimated mean height in boys by -2.8 (SD 1.4) cm and in girls by -2.9 (SD 1.1) cm, with extremely discrepant estimates of more than -6 cm occurring in several adolescent cohorts. The analysis revitalizes the debate on clinically relevant and at the same time practicable but less demanding alternatives for constructing growth reference charts, and for economic reasons, strongly suggests replacing the traditional empirical methods by synthetic growth references.

Research paper thumbnail of Can facial proportions taken from images be of use for ageing in cases of suspected child pornography? A pilot study

International Journal of Legal Medicine, 2012

The age of the victim plays a crucial role for the legal implications concerning pornography. Jud... more The age of the victim plays a crucial role for the legal implications concerning pornography. Judges therefore often call on forensic experts to verify the age of individuals depicted on photographs or videos. However, there is no scientifically established protocol available for forensic practice in such cases. The conventional methods such as the evaluation of secondary sexual characteristics provide unsatisfactory results particularly when the legally relevant ages for child pornography (i.e. 14 and 18 years) are concerned. To overcome these limits, a European research group has explored the applicability of facial proportions as an age indicator on images. In this pilot study, standardized facial images of 353 females and 20 males from four age groups (6, 10, 14 and 18 years) were randomly selected for the metric analysis from a large data set including German, Italian and Lithuanian subjects. In this sample, several indices extracted from the frontal and lateral photographs were closely correlated to their respective indices taken from the living individuals. Furthermore, age-related changes were identified for indices taken from the photographs. The discriminant analysis showed that for the pooled sample, 60.3% of the cases were correctly classified into the respective age group. The percentage of correctly classified cases increased in the respective country samples as follows: 69.9% for Germany, 69.4% for Lithuania and 80.5% for Italy. The present study suggests that the metric assessment of the face may be used for age estimation on images. Nonetheless, more work needs to be done in order to verify the reliability of these findings on a large sample.

Research paper thumbnail of The juvenile face as a suitable age indicator in child pornography cases: a pilot study on the reliability of automated and visual estimation approaches

International Journal of Legal Medicine, 2013

In cases of suspected child pornography, the age of the victim represents a crucial factor for le... more In cases of suspected child pornography, the age of the victim represents a crucial factor for legal prosecution. The conventional methods for age estimation provide unreliable age estimates, particularly if teenage victims are concerned. In this pilot study, the potential of age estimation for screening purposes is explored for juvenile faces. In addition to a visual approach, an automated procedure is introduced, which has the ability to rapidly scan through large numbers of suspicious image data in order to trace juvenile faces. Age estimations were performed by experts, non-experts and the Demonstrator of a developed software on frontal facial images of 50 females aged 10-19 years from Germany, Italy, and Lithuania. To test the accuracy, the mean absolute error (MAE) between the estimates and the real ages was calculated for each examiner and the Demonstrator. The Demonstrator achieved the lowest MAE (1.47 years) for the 50 test images. Decreased image quality had no significant impact on the performance and classification results. The experts delivered slightly less accurate MAE (1.63 years). Throughout the tested age range, both the manual and the automated approach led to reliable age estimates within the limits of natural biological variability. The visual analysis of the face produces reasonably accurate age estimates up to the age of 18 years, which is the legally relevant age threshold for victims in cases of pedo-pornography. This approach can be applied in conjunction with the conventional methods for a preliminary age estimation of juveniles depicted on images.

Research paper thumbnail of Age changes of facial measurements in European young adult males: Implications for the identification of the living

HOMO - Journal of Comparative Human Biology, 2012

Metric and morphological analyses of facial features are currently applied in cases of personal i... more Metric and morphological analyses of facial features are currently applied in cases of personal identification of the living on images acquired from video surveillance systems. However, facial assessment in the forensic context needs to be based on reliable comparative data for facial measurements. Facial changes in the age range of early adulthood (20-30 years) have been rarely described so far, although such knowledge would be beneficial for comparative personal identification on images. This study investigates changes in facial measurements in European males aged between 20 and 30 years in order to identify metric characters that can be used for personal identification in young adults. A sample of 404 males of European ancestry, aged between 20 and 30 years from Germany, Italy and Lithuania were recruited for this project. Fourteen facial measurements were taken and correlation coefficients were calculated for each cranial measurement with age. Only two measurements - labial width and physiognomic ear length - seem to change between 20 and 30 years with a positive statistically significant correlation (p<0.05). These results suggest caution for what may concern personal identification by assessment of ear and mouth morphology.

Research paper thumbnail of Metric and morphological assessment of facial features: A study on three European populations

Forensic Science International, 2011

Research paper thumbnail of Statistical agreement and cost–benefit: Comparison of methods for constructing growth reference charts

Annals of Human Biology, 2010

Growth reference charts are important tools for adequate paediatric decisions. In view of the wor... more Growth reference charts are important tools for adequate paediatric decisions. In view of the workload required to construct empirical growth reference charts we debate practicable and less demanding alternatives and took the recent national 2000-2002 Lithuanian growth charts as an example. Two options appeared reasonable: (1) applying international WHO child growth standards and WHO growth reference data for 5-19 years that are recommended for global use; or (2) replacing the costly empirical method of deriving national growth references by more convenient low-cost statistics, e.g. the method of generating synthetic references for the Lithuanian population. We analysed the degree of agreement between the 2000-2002 Lithuanian growth charts, and the international WHO child growth standards and WHO growth reference data for 5-19 years and synthetic references for the Lithuanian population using the Bland-Altman method. Synthetically generated references for the Lithuanian population slightly surpassed the national Lithuanian reference for body height (males +0.3 (SD 0.9) cm; females +0.2 (SD 0.6) cm) particularly at young age, which may be regarded clinically irrelevant. WHO international child growth standards and the WHO growth reference data for 5-19 years, however, failed to match the Lithuanian references as they underestimated mean height in boys by -2.8 (SD 1.4) cm and in girls by -2.9 (SD 1.1) cm, with extremely discrepant estimates of more than -6 cm occurring in several adolescent cohorts. The analysis revitalizes the debate on clinically relevant and at the same time practicable but less demanding alternatives for constructing growth reference charts, and for economic reasons, strongly suggests replacing the traditional empirical methods by synthetic growth references.

Research paper thumbnail of The correlation between central corneal thickness and endothelial cells in healthy patients and in patients with cataract or primary open angle glaucoma

Acta Ophthalmologica, 2012

ABSTRACT Purpose To compare the endothelial cells parameters and central corneal thickness (CCT) ... more ABSTRACT Purpose To compare the endothelial cells parameters and central corneal thickness (CCT) in four different groups of patients, to find the correlation between the corneal endothelial cell density (ECD) and the cell size, percentage of regular hexagonal cells, CCT and age in all four groups. Methods All patients (104 eyes) were devided into 4 groups: patients with cataract, with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), young healthy people and older healthy people. Specular microscopy was performed, endothelial cells parameters were analyzed (ECD, the percentage of regular hexagonal cells), CCT was measured. Results There were 47 (45%) male, 57 (55%) female. Average age was 59 (± 23.8) years. In the POAG group average CCT was 553 (± 32) µm, ECD 2484 (± 482) cell/mm2, hexagonal cells 60% (± 10%). In the cataract group CCT was 540 (± 64) µm, ECD was 2633 (± 430) cell/mm2, hexagonal cells 60% (± 10%). In young healthy subjects average CCT was 555 (± 43) µm, ECD 2940 (± 345) cell/mm2, hexagonal cells 66% (± 10%), in the older healthy patients group average CCT was 545 (± 39) µm, ECD 2394 (± 416) cell/mm2, hexagonal cells 64% (± 10%). Conclusion The ECD is higher in thicker corneas. In young subjects ECD was higher than in elderly patients. In males the percentage of regular hexagonal cells was higher than in females. There was no statistically significant difference in CCT and ECD between the gender. We have found very weak statistically significant direct relationship between ECD and CCT. There was no statistically significant difference in CCT and percentage of hexagonal cells in corneal endothelium in all groups.

Research paper thumbnail of Adolescent growth: genes, hormones and the peer group. Proceedings of the 20th Aschauer Soiree, held at Glücksburg castle, Germany, 15th to 17th November 2013

Pediatric endocrinology reviews : PER, 2014

The association between poverty, malnutrition, illness and poor socioeconomic conditions on the o... more The association between poverty, malnutrition, illness and poor socioeconomic conditions on the one side, and poor growth and short adult stature on the other side, is well recognized. Yet, the simple assumption by implication that poor growth and short stature result from poor living conditions, should be questioned. Recent evidence on the impact of the social network on adolescent growth and adult height further challenges the traditional concept of growth being a mirror of health. Twenty-nine scientists met at Glücksburg castle, Northern Germany, November 15th - 17th 2013, to discuss genetic, endocrine, mathematical and psychological aspects and related issues, of child and adolescent growth and final height.

Research paper thumbnail of Schätzung des Lebensalters kindlicher Opfer auf Bilddokumenten

Rechtsmedizin, 2011

Zusammenfassung Immer mehr Bildmaterial mit fraglich kinderpornografischem Inhalt muss durch die... more Zusammenfassung Immer mehr Bildmaterial mit fraglich kinderpornografischem Inhalt muss durch die Ermittlungsbehörden analysiert werden. Dabei ist das Lebensalter der kindlichen Opfer eine zentrale Frage. Die Lebensaltersschätzung auf Bilddokumenten stützt sich üblicherweise auf die Beurteilung des sexuellen Reifegrads, des Zahnstatus (soweit das Bildmaterial dies zulässt) und der Körperproportionen. Die Beurteilung der Proportionen des Gesichts ist ein neuer Ansatz, der das methodische Repertoire

Research paper thumbnail of Proceedings of the 22nd Aschauer Soiree on Growth and Health Screening", held at Altenhof, Germany, November 15th, 2014

Pediatric endocrinology reviews : PER, 2015

Twenty-five scientists met at Aschauhof, Altenhof, Germany, to discuss various aspects of the com... more Twenty-five scientists met at Aschauhof, Altenhof, Germany, to discuss various aspects of the complex network of modern health screening, focusing on current scientific topics including medical sciences, human biology, and mathematics; on problems in implementing these results at the practical level of physicians, nurses, technicians, and engineers; and the level of administrative and political decisions. Whereas major scientific advancements have been published in the understanding and the bio-statistical evaluation of anthropometric screening parameters such as serial measurements of height and weight for preventive medical check-ups, BMI screening and surveillance in schools, etc., the implementation of these advancements into current health screening concepts, strategies and decision-making is poor. Fear of discrimination, misperception of body image, behavioural responses and political concerns, meanwhile dominate and negatively interfere with the implementation of recent scien...

Research paper thumbnail of Statistical agreement and cost–benefit: Comparison of methods for constructing growth reference charts

Annals of Human Biology, 2010

Growth reference charts are important tools for adequate paediatric decisions. In view of the wor... more Growth reference charts are important tools for adequate paediatric decisions. In view of the workload required to construct empirical growth reference charts we debate practicable and less demanding alternatives and took the recent national 2000-2002 Lithuanian growth charts as an example. Two options appeared reasonable: (1) applying international WHO child growth standards and WHO growth reference data for 5-19 years that are recommended for global use; or (2) replacing the costly empirical method of deriving national growth references by more convenient low-cost statistics, e.g. the method of generating synthetic references for the Lithuanian population. We analysed the degree of agreement between the 2000-2002 Lithuanian growth charts, and the international WHO child growth standards and WHO growth reference data for 5-19 years and synthetic references for the Lithuanian population using the Bland-Altman method. Synthetically generated references for the Lithuanian population slightly surpassed the national Lithuanian reference for body height (males +0.3 (SD 0.9) cm; females +0.2 (SD 0.6) cm) particularly at young age, which may be regarded clinically irrelevant. WHO international child growth standards and the WHO growth reference data for 5-19 years, however, failed to match the Lithuanian references as they underestimated mean height in boys by -2.8 (SD 1.4) cm and in girls by -2.9 (SD 1.1) cm, with extremely discrepant estimates of more than -6 cm occurring in several adolescent cohorts. The analysis revitalizes the debate on clinically relevant and at the same time practicable but less demanding alternatives for constructing growth reference charts, and for economic reasons, strongly suggests replacing the traditional empirical methods by synthetic growth references.

Research paper thumbnail of Can facial proportions taken from images be of use for ageing in cases of suspected child pornography? A pilot study

International Journal of Legal Medicine, 2012

The age of the victim plays a crucial role for the legal implications concerning pornography. Jud... more The age of the victim plays a crucial role for the legal implications concerning pornography. Judges therefore often call on forensic experts to verify the age of individuals depicted on photographs or videos. However, there is no scientifically established protocol available for forensic practice in such cases. The conventional methods such as the evaluation of secondary sexual characteristics provide unsatisfactory results particularly when the legally relevant ages for child pornography (i.e. 14 and 18 years) are concerned. To overcome these limits, a European research group has explored the applicability of facial proportions as an age indicator on images. In this pilot study, standardized facial images of 353 females and 20 males from four age groups (6, 10, 14 and 18 years) were randomly selected for the metric analysis from a large data set including German, Italian and Lithuanian subjects. In this sample, several indices extracted from the frontal and lateral photographs were closely correlated to their respective indices taken from the living individuals. Furthermore, age-related changes were identified for indices taken from the photographs. The discriminant analysis showed that for the pooled sample, 60.3% of the cases were correctly classified into the respective age group. The percentage of correctly classified cases increased in the respective country samples as follows: 69.9% for Germany, 69.4% for Lithuania and 80.5% for Italy. The present study suggests that the metric assessment of the face may be used for age estimation on images. Nonetheless, more work needs to be done in order to verify the reliability of these findings on a large sample.

Research paper thumbnail of The juvenile face as a suitable age indicator in child pornography cases: a pilot study on the reliability of automated and visual estimation approaches

International Journal of Legal Medicine, 2013

In cases of suspected child pornography, the age of the victim represents a crucial factor for le... more In cases of suspected child pornography, the age of the victim represents a crucial factor for legal prosecution. The conventional methods for age estimation provide unreliable age estimates, particularly if teenage victims are concerned. In this pilot study, the potential of age estimation for screening purposes is explored for juvenile faces. In addition to a visual approach, an automated procedure is introduced, which has the ability to rapidly scan through large numbers of suspicious image data in order to trace juvenile faces. Age estimations were performed by experts, non-experts and the Demonstrator of a developed software on frontal facial images of 50 females aged 10-19 years from Germany, Italy, and Lithuania. To test the accuracy, the mean absolute error (MAE) between the estimates and the real ages was calculated for each examiner and the Demonstrator. The Demonstrator achieved the lowest MAE (1.47 years) for the 50 test images. Decreased image quality had no significant impact on the performance and classification results. The experts delivered slightly less accurate MAE (1.63 years). Throughout the tested age range, both the manual and the automated approach led to reliable age estimates within the limits of natural biological variability. The visual analysis of the face produces reasonably accurate age estimates up to the age of 18 years, which is the legally relevant age threshold for victims in cases of pedo-pornography. This approach can be applied in conjunction with the conventional methods for a preliminary age estimation of juveniles depicted on images.

Research paper thumbnail of Age changes of facial measurements in European young adult males: Implications for the identification of the living

HOMO - Journal of Comparative Human Biology, 2012

Metric and morphological analyses of facial features are currently applied in cases of personal i... more Metric and morphological analyses of facial features are currently applied in cases of personal identification of the living on images acquired from video surveillance systems. However, facial assessment in the forensic context needs to be based on reliable comparative data for facial measurements. Facial changes in the age range of early adulthood (20-30 years) have been rarely described so far, although such knowledge would be beneficial for comparative personal identification on images. This study investigates changes in facial measurements in European males aged between 20 and 30 years in order to identify metric characters that can be used for personal identification in young adults. A sample of 404 males of European ancestry, aged between 20 and 30 years from Germany, Italy and Lithuania were recruited for this project. Fourteen facial measurements were taken and correlation coefficients were calculated for each cranial measurement with age. Only two measurements - labial width and physiognomic ear length - seem to change between 20 and 30 years with a positive statistically significant correlation (p<0.05). These results suggest caution for what may concern personal identification by assessment of ear and mouth morphology.

Research paper thumbnail of Metric and morphological assessment of facial features: A study on three European populations

Forensic Science International, 2011

Research paper thumbnail of Statistical agreement and cost–benefit: Comparison of methods for constructing growth reference charts

Annals of Human Biology, 2010

Growth reference charts are important tools for adequate paediatric decisions. In view of the wor... more Growth reference charts are important tools for adequate paediatric decisions. In view of the workload required to construct empirical growth reference charts we debate practicable and less demanding alternatives and took the recent national 2000-2002 Lithuanian growth charts as an example. Two options appeared reasonable: (1) applying international WHO child growth standards and WHO growth reference data for 5-19 years that are recommended for global use; or (2) replacing the costly empirical method of deriving national growth references by more convenient low-cost statistics, e.g. the method of generating synthetic references for the Lithuanian population. We analysed the degree of agreement between the 2000-2002 Lithuanian growth charts, and the international WHO child growth standards and WHO growth reference data for 5-19 years and synthetic references for the Lithuanian population using the Bland-Altman method. Synthetically generated references for the Lithuanian population slightly surpassed the national Lithuanian reference for body height (males +0.3 (SD 0.9) cm; females +0.2 (SD 0.6) cm) particularly at young age, which may be regarded clinically irrelevant. WHO international child growth standards and the WHO growth reference data for 5-19 years, however, failed to match the Lithuanian references as they underestimated mean height in boys by -2.8 (SD 1.4) cm and in girls by -2.9 (SD 1.1) cm, with extremely discrepant estimates of more than -6 cm occurring in several adolescent cohorts. The analysis revitalizes the debate on clinically relevant and at the same time practicable but less demanding alternatives for constructing growth reference charts, and for economic reasons, strongly suggests replacing the traditional empirical methods by synthetic growth references.

Research paper thumbnail of The correlation between central corneal thickness and endothelial cells in healthy patients and in patients with cataract or primary open angle glaucoma

Acta Ophthalmologica, 2012

ABSTRACT Purpose To compare the endothelial cells parameters and central corneal thickness (CCT) ... more ABSTRACT Purpose To compare the endothelial cells parameters and central corneal thickness (CCT) in four different groups of patients, to find the correlation between the corneal endothelial cell density (ECD) and the cell size, percentage of regular hexagonal cells, CCT and age in all four groups. Methods All patients (104 eyes) were devided into 4 groups: patients with cataract, with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), young healthy people and older healthy people. Specular microscopy was performed, endothelial cells parameters were analyzed (ECD, the percentage of regular hexagonal cells), CCT was measured. Results There were 47 (45%) male, 57 (55%) female. Average age was 59 (± 23.8) years. In the POAG group average CCT was 553 (± 32) µm, ECD 2484 (± 482) cell/mm2, hexagonal cells 60% (± 10%). In the cataract group CCT was 540 (± 64) µm, ECD was 2633 (± 430) cell/mm2, hexagonal cells 60% (± 10%). In young healthy subjects average CCT was 555 (± 43) µm, ECD 2940 (± 345) cell/mm2, hexagonal cells 66% (± 10%), in the older healthy patients group average CCT was 545 (± 39) µm, ECD 2394 (± 416) cell/mm2, hexagonal cells 64% (± 10%). Conclusion The ECD is higher in thicker corneas. In young subjects ECD was higher than in elderly patients. In males the percentage of regular hexagonal cells was higher than in females. There was no statistically significant difference in CCT and ECD between the gender. We have found very weak statistically significant direct relationship between ECD and CCT. There was no statistically significant difference in CCT and percentage of hexagonal cells in corneal endothelium in all groups.

Research paper thumbnail of Adolescent growth: genes, hormones and the peer group. Proceedings of the 20th Aschauer Soiree, held at Glücksburg castle, Germany, 15th to 17th November 2013

Pediatric endocrinology reviews : PER, 2014

The association between poverty, malnutrition, illness and poor socioeconomic conditions on the o... more The association between poverty, malnutrition, illness and poor socioeconomic conditions on the one side, and poor growth and short adult stature on the other side, is well recognized. Yet, the simple assumption by implication that poor growth and short stature result from poor living conditions, should be questioned. Recent evidence on the impact of the social network on adolescent growth and adult height further challenges the traditional concept of growth being a mirror of health. Twenty-nine scientists met at Glücksburg castle, Northern Germany, November 15th - 17th 2013, to discuss genetic, endocrine, mathematical and psychological aspects and related issues, of child and adolescent growth and final height.