title: Human identification and analysis of DNA in bones.
abstract: The introduction of molecular biology techniques, especially of DNA analysis, for human identification is a recent advance in legal medicine. Substantial effort has continuously been made in an attempt to identify cadavers and human remains after wars, socio-political problems and mass disasters. In addition, because of the social dynamics of large cities, there are always cases of missing people, as well as unidentified cadavers and human remains that are found. In the last few years, there has also been an increase in requests for exhumation of human remains in order to determine genetic relationships in civil suits and court action. The authors provide an extensive review of the literature regarding the use of this new methodology for human identification of ancient or recent bones.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical Ethics, Social and Work Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. eiwamura@usp.br
authors.forename: Edna Sadayo Miazato
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Iwamura
authors.forename: José Arnaldo
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Soares-Vieira
authors.forename: Daniel Romero
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Muñoz
mesh_terms: D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry*; D002102:Cadaver; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D018732:Forensic Anthropology / Q000379:methods*; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D004247:DNA