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The goal of this research is to provide a general portrait of forensic psychological reports under the Portuguese justice system. An analysis of 106 reports in terms of their relevance and coherence was conducted since these two dimensions appear to be key to better understanding some of the specific characteristics related to the overall quality of forensic psychological reports. A grid was constructed to identify elements related to these two dimensions and its application show that, while mostly meeting formal characteristics such as adequate organization, most of the reports surveyed fell short of meeting the criteria defining relevance and coherence. Results suggest that research on the quality of forensic psychological reports should direct more attention to the internal coherence of the reports and to the importance of reporting on assessment findings that regard the uniqueness of assessees in view of optimizing reports’ role as informational support for legal decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA phenotyping research is one of the most emergent areas of forensic genetics. Predictions of externally visible characteristics are possible through analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms. These tools can provide police with 'intelligence' in cases where there are no obvious suspects and unknown biological samples found at the crime scene do not result in any criminal DNA database hits. IrisPlex, an eye color prediction assay, revealed high prediction rates for blue and brown eye color in European populations. However, this is less predictive in some non-European populations, probably due to admixing. When compared to other European countries, Portugal has a relatively admixed population, resulting from a genetic influx derived from its proximity to and historical relations with numerous African territories. The aim of this work was to evaluate the utility of IrisPlex in the Portuguese population. Furthermore, the possibility of supplementing this multiplex with additional markers to also achieve skin color prediction within this population was evaluated. For that, IrisPlex was augmented with additional SNP loci. Eye and skin color prediction was estimated using the multinomial logistic regression and binomial logistic regression models, respectively. The results demonstrated eye color prediction accuracies of the IrisPlex system of 90 and 60 % for brown and blue eye color, respectively, and 77 % for intermediate eye color, after allele frequency adjustment. With regard to skin color, it was possible to achieve a prediction accuracy of 93 %. In the future, phenotypic determination multiplexes must include additional loci to permit skin color prediction as presented in this study as this can be an advantageous tool for forensic investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a research related to genetics of population of Cabo Verde using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) studies. Topics discussed include obtaining mtDNA variability of the population to complement with previous studies using short tandem repeat (STR) genetic markers, identification of haplotypes and polymorphic nucleotide positions, and characteristics of isolated populations due to high frequency of unique haplotypes.

Dental morphology is treated differently by different researchers. Some authors consider tooth size alone, whereas others take the shape of the tooth into account. We distinguish size from morphology because the methods of study, as well as the underlying principles for each one are distinct. Although morphology and shape have more in common than morphology and size, shape also shows noteworthy differences. Methods developed for ascertaining "tooth shape" for dental anthropological and forensic purposes have not been adopted widely, partly because they are difficult to replicate, which diminishes their utility in comparative studies. In this investigation, we focus on what forensic experts refer to as dental morphology; that is, distinct features or traits of the crowns and roots that are present or absent and, when present, exhibit variable degrees of expression. Common examples include shovel-shaped incisors, upper and lower molar cusp number, Carabelli's cusp and three-rooted lower first molars. This study comprises 1210 disarticulated teeth, 179 jaws and 65 skulls from a skeletal assemblage of commingled remains belonging to victims of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. These remains were excavated in 2004 at the Lisbon Academy of Sciences and were analysed according to dental morphology parameters utilised by the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System to ascertain population affinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-two autosomal short tandem repeats included in the PowerPlex® Fusion System Amplification kit (Promega Corporation) were genotyped in a population sample of 500 unrelated individuals from Cabo Verde living in Lisboa. Allelic frequency data and forensic and statistical parameters were calculated and evaluated in this work. The genetic relationship among immigrant population from Cabo Verde living in Lisboa and other populations, such as Brazilian and Angola immigrants living in Lisboa; Afro-Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics and Asians living in the USA and the population from Lisboa was assessed, and a multidimensional scaling plot was drown to show these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]