Post on 09-Mar-2020
Hair
Hair is• A slender threadlike outgrowth from the
follicles of the skin of mammals• Found all over our bodies
– Head– Face– Chest– Limbs (arms and legs)– Pubic region
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Structure (continued)
• Major constituents– Keratin is a protein that makes up most of the hair
shaft.– Melanin is a pigment that gives hair its color.– Redheads have pheomelanin instead of melanin.
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Structure (continued)
• Cortex – the main body (wooden portion)• Medulla – the central cell of the cortex that is not
always present in every hair (lead)• Cuticle – a layer of scales covering the hair shaft
(yellow paint)
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Pencil vs. Hair
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Sample Photomicrographs
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ContinuousClear Medulla
Continuous Opaque Medulla
Wafer Medulla
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Sample Photomicrographs
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Discontinuous Medulla
Bubbly or Cellular Medulla
Coarse CellularAppearance
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Characteristics
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• Pigment• Colors – light, medium, dark; reddish-brown, brown,
black, etc.• Sizes – fine, moderate, large• Density – light, moderate, heavy• Distribution – random, peripheral, even, central,
one-sided
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Characteristics (continued)
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One-Sided Peripheral in Human Hair
Various Pigment Distributions
Central in Red Human Hair
Random in Animal Hair
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Characteristics (continued)• Ovoid bodies – spherical to oval solid structures
found mostly in cattle and dog hairs, but present in some human hairs
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Ovoid Bodiesin human hair
Ovoid Bodiesin dog hair
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Characteristics (continued)• Cortical fusi – elongated, spindle-shaped air spaces
in the cortex• Special characteristics, cuticle damage, artificial
treatment
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Roots
• 3 stages of growth determined by the root (proximal end)– Anagen root – an active growth stage, often
found with a ribbon-like tip and a follicular tag (a soft tissue from the follicle)
– Catagen root – the intermediate stage of growth
– Telogen root – a resting stage, has a bulb-like shape. Often found with very little pigment and an abundance of cortical fusi.
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Roots (continued)
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Anagen Catagen Telogen
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Roots (continued)
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• Hairs that are forcibly removed often end up with a follicular tag (a soft tissue from the follicle) attached to the roots.
• The follicular material may be suitable for nuclear DNA analysis.
telogen root without follicular tag
telogen root with follicular tag
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Roots (continued)
• Postmortem Root Band (aka "Dead man's root”) a dark band that may appear near the root of the hair originating from a decomposing body
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Distal Ends
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Scissor-cut
Abraded
Razor-cut
Rounded
Broken
Burnt hair
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Human & Animal Hair3 Main differences
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Human Hair Animal Hair
Pigmentremains constant in its color and pigmentation throughout the length of the shaft
often exhibits rather rapid and radical color changes
Medullathin, taking up no more than 1/3 of the hair shaft diameter; amorphous
very wide; its structure is very regular and well-defined (with certain patterns)
Scale Structure
has overlapping imbricate(or flattened) scales with narrow margins
some have coronal(crown-shaped) scales or spinous (petal-shaped) scales
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Human & Animal Hair (continued)
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Medulla
Human Animal
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Human & Animal Hair (continued)
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Uniserial Ladder Medulla
Rabbit hair
Multiserial Ladder Medulla
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Scales
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Imbricate Scales Human Imbricate Scales
Coronal Scales Diagram Bat Hair
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More Examples
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Spinous Scales Diagram Mink hair
Cellular MedullaIn opossum hair
Isodiametric ScalesIn Deer hair
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Racial Origin• Caucasian
– moderate shaft diameter with very little variation
– light to moderate pigment density with fairly even distribution
– oval-shaped cross-section
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Racial Origin (continued)
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Caucasian Head Hair cross-section
Caucasian Head hairs
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Racial Origin (continued)• Mongoloid
– coarse shaft diameter– streaky pigments with heavy density– thick cuticle– round cross-section
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Racial Origin (continued)
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Mongoloid Head Hairs
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Racial Origin (continued)• Negroid
– fine to moderate shaft diameter
– considerable variation throughout the hair shaft with prominent twists and curls
– heavy pigment density with aggregate pigment clumpings
– flat cross-section
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Racial Origin (continued)
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Negroid head hairs
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Variations (continued)
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One person'shead hair
One person of multiple race
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Diseases• Certain diseases or deficiencies may result in changes in
the appearance of hair.
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Pili annulati –ringed or banded hairs
Trichorrhexis nodosa -conspicuous nodes due to immunodeficiency or small bowel disorder
Parasites - egg sack of head lice
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Hair Comparisons• Comparison microscope
– 2 compound microscopes connected together with an optical bridge
– Enables side-by-side comparisons– Typical magnification from 100X to 250X
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Hair Comparisons• Information NOT provided by a hair examination
– Age– Gender– Unless nuclear DNA analysis is performed on its follicular tag
• Information provided by a hair examination– Is it human or animal hair?– What is the possible race of the donor?– What area of the body did it come from?– Could it have originated from the donor of the known standards?
• Hair can also be used to distinguish between identical twins (who cannot be distinguished based on their DNA).
– because of the environmental effects on hair such as• weather exposure, diet, artificial treatment, etc.
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Hair Comparisons (continued)
3 basic conclusions that can be reached in hair comparisons:1) Similar microscopical characteristics – the questioned
hairs could have originated from the source of the known hair standards
2) Dissimilar microscopical characteristics – the questioned hairs did not originate from the source represented by the known hair standards
3) Both similar and slightly different microscopicalcharacteristics – inconclusive
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Significance of Hair Evidence
• The frequency of contact between a victim and a suspect, as well as the crime scene, is a big factor in interpreting the significance of hair evidence.
• Examples• The pubic hair of a recent ex-boyfriend found at the scene of a
sexual assault• A husband who is suspected of murdering his wife at home• A missing child's hair in the backseat of a former nanny's car• A missing child's hair in the backseat of a cleaning lady's car• A stepfather's head hair found on a little girl's underwear• A stepfather's pubic hair found in the crotch area of a little girl's
underwear
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