title: Identification of Skin Electrical Injury Using Infrared Imaging: A Possible Complementary Tool for Histological Examination.
abstract: In forensic practice, determination of electrocution as a cause of death usually depends on the conventional histological examination of electrical mark in the body skin, but the limitation of this method includes subjective bias by different forensic pathologists, especially for identifying suspicious electrical mark. The aim of our work is to introduce Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in combination with chemometrics as a complementary tool for providing an relatively objective diagnosis. The results of principle component analysis (PCA) showed that there were significant differences of protein structural profile between electrical mark and normal skin in terms of α-helix, antiparallel β-sheet and β-sheet content. Then a partial least square (PLS) model was established based on this spectral dataset and used to discriminate electrical mark from normal skin areas in independent tissue sections as revealed by color-coded digital maps, making the visualization of electrical injury more intuitively. Our pilot study demonstrates the potential of FTIR spectroscopy as a complementary tool for diagnosis of electrical mark.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Pathology, College of Forensic Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Ji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Pathology, College of Forensic Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Hancheng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Pathology, College of Forensic Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Zhenyuan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D002058:Burns, Electric / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D004556:Electric Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D006230:Hand Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D010865:Pilot Projects; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D012867:Skin / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000293:injuries* / Q000473:pathology; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared / Q000379:methods*