Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27627902›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of legal medicine2016

DNA and RNA profiling of excavated human remains with varying postmortem intervals.

M van den Berge, D Wiskerke, R R R Gerretsen, J Tabak, T Sijen

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in International journal of legal medicine, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Review
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  5. Exploring the Post Mortem Interval (PMI) Estimation Model by circRNAInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Article
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  8. Forensic neuropathology in the past decade: a scoping literature review.Forensic science, medicine, and pathology · 2024
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

M van den BergeNetherlands Forensic Institute, P.O. Box 24044, 2490 AA, The Hague, The Netherlands.
D WiskerkeNetherlands Forensic Institute, P.O. Box 24044, 2490 AA, The Hague, The Netherlands.
R R R GerretsenNetherlands Forensic Institute, P.O. Box 24044, 2490 AA, The Hague, The Netherlands.
J TabakInnoGenomics Technologies, 1441 Canal Street, Suite 307, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA.
T SijenNetherlands Forensic Institute, P.O. Box 24044, 2490 AA, The Hague, The Netherlands. t.sijen@nfi.minvenj.nl.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

When postmortem intervals (PMIs) increase such as with longer burial times, human remains suffer increasingly from the taphonomic effects of decomposition processes such as autolysis and putrefaction. In this study, various DNA analysis techniques and a messenger RNA (mRNA) profiling method were applied to examine for trends in nucleic acid degradation and the postmortem interval. The DNA analysis techniques include highly sensitive DNA quantitation (with and without degradation index), standard and low template STR profiling, insertion and null alleles (INNUL) of retrotransposable elements typing and mitochondrial DNA profiling. The used mRNA profiling system targets genes with tissue specific expression for seven human organs as reported by Lindenbergh et al. (Int J Legal Med 127:891-900, 27) and has been applied to forensic evidentiary traces but not to excavated tissues. The techniques were applied to a total of 81 brain, lung, liver, skeletal muscle, heart, kidney and skin samples obtained from 19 excavated graves with burial times ranging from 4 to 42 years. Results show that brain and heart are the organs in which both DNA and RNA remain remarkably stable, notwithstanding long PMIs. The other organ tissues either show poor overall profiling results or vary for DNA and RNA profiling success, with sometimes DNA and other times RNA profiling being more successful. No straightforward relations were observed between nucleic acid profiling results and the PMI. This study shows that not only DNA but also RNA molecules can be remarkably stable and used for profiling of long-buried human remains, which corroborate forensic applications. The insight that the brain and heart tissues tend to provide the best profiling results may change sampling policies in identification cases of degrading cadavers.

Indexed as

Body RemainsDNA FingerprintingExhumationPostmortem ChangesAged, 80 and overBrain ChemistryDNAFemaleHumansKidneyLiverLungMaleMicrosatellite RepeatsMuscle, SkeletalMyocardiumDNARNA, MessengerDNA profilingForensic sciencemRNA profilingOrgan tissue identificationPostmortem interval

Identifiers

PMID27627902

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.