This paper is aimed at presenting an innovative ankle rehabilitation device based on a parallel mechanism. A functional analysis and design are described to obtain a device able to guarantee ankle movement while patient's body remains stationary. Human ankle is a challenging context where a series of joints are highly integrated. The proposed rehabilitation device permits a patient with walking...

In recent years, research and case experience have greatly augmented knowledge regarding the effects of extreme heat on skeletal remains. As a result of this effort, enhanced interpretation is now possible on such issues as the extent of recovery, reconstruction, trauma, individual identification, size reduction, thermal effects on histological structures, color variation, the determination if ...

A collection of Native Alaskan remains from Point Barrow, Alaska is currently housed at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The collection was examined for evidence of frostbite to the bones of the hands and feet based on radiographic frostbite damage that has been found in present populations and paleopathologically. Bones of the hands and feet were present f...

To determine the effect of environmental factors on the preservation of DNA, archeological teeth of approximately similar age but greatly differing site milieu were examined for DNA content. The complex relational system of locational milieu of the samples was reduced to its essential and, at the same time, easily measurable factors. These are temperature, humidity, pH value, the geochemical pr...

Analysis of skeletal remains from humans living in the past forms an important complement to observational and experimental studies of living humans and animal models. Including earlier humans in such analyses increases the range of variation in both behavior and body size and shape that are represented, and can provide insights into the adaptive potential of the modern human skeleton. I review...

BACKGROUND/AIM The basic task of a forensic examiner during the exhumation of mass graves or in mass accidents is to establish identity of a person. The results obtained through these procedures depend on the level of perceptibility of post mortal changes and they are compared with premortal data obtained from family members of those missing or killed. Experience with exhumations has shown sign...

The human-specific Alu elements, belonging to the class of Short INterspersed Elements (SINEs), have been shown to be a powerful tool for population genetic studies. An earlier study in this department showed that it was possible to analyze Alu presence/absence in 3000-year-old skeletal human remains from the Bronze Age Lichtenstein cave in Lower Saxony, Germany. We developed duplex Alu screeni...