Angela L. Harden

The Ohio State University | OSU · Injury Biomechanics Research Center

Assessment of skeletal trauma timing is an important component of forensic anthropological analyses. The Standard for Analyzing Skeletal Trauma in Forensic Anthropology (ASB 147) states that trauma timing should be classified as antemortem, perimortem, or postmortem based on defect characteristics. However, standardized criteria for assessing traum...

A key component of the forensic anthropological examination is skeletal trauma analysis, which accounts for the majority of forensic anthropologists’ expert testimonies. However, a major gap in the current knowledge surrounding skeletal trauma has been identified, specifically the data necessary to conduct comprehensive bone trauma analysis with es...

Learning Overview: After attending this presentation, attendees will understand the importance of investigating microstructural variables in relation to skeletal trauma. Impact on the Forensic Science Community: This presentation will impact the forensic science community by presenting innovative and unique methods to develop explanatory mechanism...

Learning Overview: After attending this presentation, attendees will understand the importance and value of multidisciplinary experimental skeletal trauma research through an examination of strain modes (e.g., tension or compression) during fracture of human tibiae in a bending loading mechanism. Impact on the Forensic Science Community: This prese...

Learning Overview: Upon completion of this workshop, attendees should be able to: (1) provide an overview of current methods across disciplines for identification and analysis of blunt force skeletal trauma; (2) identify and analyze blunt force skeletal trauma utilizing X-rays, Computed Tomography (CT) scans, photographs, and 3D virtual models; and...

Skeletal trauma research is critical to improve the understanding of the response of human bones to loading and the interpretation of the resulting fractures. One of the greatest limitations researchers are faced with is ensuring they can communicate their findings to practitioners as well as offer a means for their findings to be employed. The dev...

The Forensic Anthropology Skeletal Trauma (FAST) database is a novel resource, funded by the National Institute of Justice, which provides trauma analysis data for education, training, and case comparisons. Students, academics, and practitioners can gain an interdisciplinary perspective of skeletal trauma through an examination of outcomes from exp...

The tibia is the most commonly fractured lower extremity bone in pedestrian versus motor vehicle crashes [1]. Specifically, the diaphysis is the most frequently fractured region of the tibia [2]. Previous studies have demonstrated considerable variation in number of fractures, fracture type, and fracture group in experimental 4-point bending of hum...

Rib fractures are a significant source of morbidity and mortality, particularly for the elderly. Preliminary work has established that simplified cross-sectional geometry explains a moderate amount of variation in rib structural properties, out-performing age, sex, body size, bone mineral density, and simple whole rib geometry. However, cortical bo...

Recent years have seen an increase in contributions to the criminal justice system through expert testimony regardingskeletal trauma analysis and interpretation. In order to scientifically validate skeletal trauma analysis methods and ensure the dependability of interpretations to support expert testimonies, the reliability of generally accepted co...

Bone ashing, a method that treats bone at 600°C for 18 hours, has been used to quantify inorganic bone content ex-vivo. Previous studies identified relationships between mechanical properties and inorganic bone content utilizing this technique. However, relationships between sex and body size with inorganic bone content, specifically percent minera...

Introduction Dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), the gold standard for diagnosing fracture risk in clinical settings, evaluates bone quality via areal bone mineral density (aBMD). Bone ashing is an invasive technique used to measure inorganic bone content by burning away organic bone material (e.g., collagen) to isolate the inorganic bone content (e.g...

Tibia fractures are the most common injury in vehicle-to-pedestrian impacts. To provide accurate injury risk predictions, sex differences in tibia properties should be investigated. The objective of this study was to identify the relationship between structural properties and cortical bone morphometric parameters of tibiae in males and females. Ten...

Bone quality, and therefore fracture risk, can be evaluated through bone density values obtained from isolating bone mineral content via bone ashing. The literature has identified two main variations of density calculations from bone ashing including apparent density, which accounts for the presence of bone marrow, and true density, which does not...

Existing histological age estimation methods using the rib were developed mainly from the midshaft; however, in forensic practice, uncertainty of sampling location often arises due to fragmented or previously sampled ribs. The potential for error increases when sampling location is uncertain and utilizing a section beyond the midshaft (either anter...

The preauricular sulcus’ presence and morphology is used in forensic contexts for sex estimation of human remains. The traditional method of assessing the preauricular sulcus requires examination of clean physical skeletal elements, which are not always readily available in forensic contexts. The development and application of clinical imaging tech...

Thoracic injuries, specifically rib fractures, are prevalent in motor vehicle crashes and are a significant source of morbidity and mortality. Rib fractures present in a variety of patterns, ranging in severity from minor to severe. The number of fractures also contributes to the injury assessment; as fracture number increases, severity increases....

Thoracic injuries, specifically rib fractures, are associated with high levels of mortality, and a deeper understanding of rib fractures is prudent to accurate trauma analyses. This research investigates the predictability of rib fracture patterns, locations, or number of fractures from individual level variables (age, sex, stature, weight, and BMI...

Current methods for estimating age-at-death utilize osteon population density (OPD) in multiple skeletal elements. These methods are limited in older individuals because of the osteon asymptote (i.e., new osteons replace older ones thereby producing no net change in OPD). Some studies suggest that osteon circularity increases with age in femora and...

Current methods for estimating age-at-death utilize osteon population density (OPD) in multiple skeletal elements. These methods are limited in older individuals because of the osteon asymptote (i.e., new osteons replace older ones thereby producing no net change in OPD). Some studies suggest that osteon circularity increases with age in femora and...

Despite safety advances, thoracic injuries in motor vehicle crashes remain a significant source of morbidity and mortality, and rib fractures are the most prevalent of thoracic injuries. The objective of this study was to explore sources of variation in rib structural properties in order to identify sources of differential risk of rib fracture betw...

After attending this presentation, attendees will have a clear understanding of the initial fracture mechanism and subsequent fracture propagation of butterfly fractures (a.k.a. wedge fractures). This presentation will clarify how butterfly fractures form and where, in regard to the applied loading force, this fracture pattern initiates in moderate...