ArticleJournal of forensic sciences2025
Testing the efficacy of surface swab sampling to determine postmortem submersion interval (PMSI), using the microbiome colonization of skeletal remains.
Article in Journal of forensic sciences, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Artificial intelligence in forensic science: a systematic review. Part II: long-range postmortem interval estimation.International journal of legal medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Testing the efficacy of surface swab sampling to determine postmortem submersion interval (PMSI), using the microbiome colonization of skeletal remains.Journal of forensic sciences · 2025Article
- Postmortem submersion interval prediction model based on the rat muscle microbiome.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Postmortem interval (PMI) estimation contributes valuable information in the medicolegal investigation of decomposed human remains, and estimating the postmortem submersion interval (PMSI) can specifically aid investigations involving victims discovered in aquatic environments. Microbial succession-driven models in long-term decomposition studies have utilized the abundant colonizing bacterial community of skeletal remains to estimate the PMSI using bone powder. This study investigates the use of bone surface swabbing as an effective alternative method that minimizes time and resources required for bone sampling and also provides a highly replicable method for decomposition studies. Skeletal porcine (Sus scrofa) remains were caged and submerged in both lentic and lotic environments (Henley Lake in White Hall and James River at the Rice Rivers Center in Charles City, respectively) in Central Virginia from November 2017 to November 2018. Bone surface swabs and water samples were analyzed at 500 accumulated degree days (ADD) intervals, from baseline (0 ADD) to 4500 ADD. Variable region 4 (V4) of 16S rDNA was amplified and sequenced using the Illumina MiSeq Sequencing platform and analyzed using Mothur (v.1.39.5) and R (v.4.04). Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) indicated a significant difference in bacterial community structure among and between the swab, bone, and water samples (p < 0.001, F = 7.92331), and among and between lake and river samples (p < 0.001, F = 9.38829). PMSI models were constructed using random forest models for lake swabs (R
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