Measurement of Long Bones of Southern Minas Gerais, Brazil: Anthropometric Study

This study aims to estimate the main measures in long bones of Southern Brazilians adults, and to compare them with those of other ethnicities already cataloged in literature. The measurements were made with an anthropometric ruler and a digital caliper, according to a specific protocol. For this, being the humerus, radius, ulna, femur and tibia (50 specimes of each bone) in which some parameters were measured that allow comparing with existing data in literature. The data shown the mean (cm) and the standard deviation of long bone measured. Femurs are: ML = 46.41 ± 2.35, EW = 7.84 ± 0.57 and HD = 4.43 ± 0.47; Humerus: ML = 33.52 ± 1.45, EW = 6.04 ± 0.39, HD = 4.48 ± 0.24; radios: ML = 26.24 ± 1.51 and APD = 1.58 ± 0.14; ulna: ML = 27.9 ± 1.41 and APD = 1.67 ± 0.10; and tibias: ML = 38.76 ± 2.21, DEW = 5.03 ± 0.38 and DAP = 4.99 ± 0.38. According to results obtained in this study, it is possible to conclude that the values used by forensic anthropology for identification of Southern Brazilian long bones, such as humerus, radius, ulna and tibia, with exception of femurs, do not in fact represent any values already established for some ethnic groups, since the Brazilians presented their own pattern, which was different from the European standard already classified.


Introduction
Forensic anthropology represents a dynamic and rapidly evolving complex discipline within physical anthropology. Academic roots extend back to early European anatomists but development coalesced in the Americas through high-profile court testimony, assemblage of documented collections and focused research 1 .
The use of anthropometry in forensic science and medicine dates back to 1882, with the need to identify individuals in various circumstances, such as natural, intentional and accidental deaths -war, air crashes, road and rail accidents, earthquakes, floods and fires 2 .
The Identification is of paramount importance in forensic cases where decomposed human bodies and human remains are brought to the Medical-Legal Institutes for examination. Bones provide a source of information about the individual's origins, offspring, sex, height, and age at death, helping to establish their identity 3 .
Bone anthropometry develops specific patterns in a population for identification of a biological profile in deceased or living individual. These patterns are created from qualitative observations, which compare the morphological differences in skeleton, and quantitative observations, which statistically measure and quantify these differences 4 . Thus, the anthropometric analysis of bones allows us to verify indispensable inferences about identity of victim, in a fast, reliable and accurate way, beyond using low cost equipment 5,6 . However, the methodologies must be validated for different populations due to ethnic differences, which are directly related to individual phenotype 6,7 .
The stature of present populations has undergone changes, possibly due to genetic combinations, general conditions of feeding, medical advances and influence of different environmental factors 8 . The most significant results showed that height difference between the highest and lowest populations was 19-20 cm, remaining the same for women and increasing for men a century later, despite substantial changes in ranking of countries 9 .
In Brazil, such parameters are used for measurement of bones, but there are no well-defined ethnic groups, causing a misunderstanding in use of these measurements, since they do not respond to Brazilian ethnic miscegenation. Thus, the correct identification of bones by Forensic Anthropology is compromised, as there are no standards that correspond to our population. Based on these facts, the importance in elaboration of Brazilian bone parameters is perceptible, starting from development

Material and methods
In this work, were used 250 human natural long bones of young adults between 40 and 50 years, which compose the appendicular skeleton; of these humerus (n=50), radius (n=50), ulnas (n=50), femurs (n=50) and tibias (n=50) of these, 25 bones were on the left side and 25 bones on the right side, being excluded from measurements cut bones or with some anatomical variation. and, subsequently, converted to centimeters (cm); and followed the protocol described below:

Humerus (Figure 1A)
Maximum length (ML): maximum distance obtained as of proximal end, from the head humerus to the distal end condyle of humerus.

Results
The values of measurements, for each bone, are presented in form of graphs and tables for better visualization from obtained data. It is possible to observe that all values of standard deviations and standard error from mean are low, which confers reliability to data.       The results of this work also show values referring to comparison of data obtained from maximum length averages of all bones with the data presented by 11,12 .
Regarding these data, significant differences in the humerus, radius, ulna and tibia bones were observed, and did not show significant differences related to femur bone. This is shown in Figure 8.

Conclusion
According to results obtained in this study, it is possible to conclude that the values used by forensic anthropology for identification of Brazilian long bones, do not in fact represent any values already established for some ethnic groups, since the Brazilians presented their own pattern, which was different from the European standard already classified. Therefore, the importance of new studies to determine regional groups in the country is emphasized, with new configurations of their indexes.