title: A comparison study of hair examination methodologies.
abstract: A study was conducted to investigate the accuracy between two methods of hair analysis: PCR-STR DNA analysis and microscopic comparison analysis. Standard sets of pubic hairs were collected from volunteers, and unknown sets were generated from these samples. Three out of five (60%) of the hairs analyzed produced full DNA profiles that were correctly matched to the standard sets. DNA analysis was inconclusive (partial or no DNA profile) for two out of five (40%) of the samples. In contrast, the microscopic comparison analysis correctly matched four out of five (80%) of the samples to the standard sets but mis-identified one out of five (20%) of the samples. These results reinforce the practice of preliminary microscopic hair examination in narrowing down a set of hairs for DNA analysis. Microscopic comparison analysis is sufficiently reliable to remain a rapid and inexpensive method for forensic hair analysis.
authors.affiliation: Science Department, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, 445 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019, USA.
authors.forename: Jason C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Kolowski
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Petraco
authors.forename: Margaret M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: De Forest
authors.forename: Mechthild
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prinz
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D008853:Microscopy; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences
chemical_list: D004247:DNA