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01-03-2018 | Original Article

A valid method to determine the site of drowning

Authors: Rafael Carballeira, Duarte N. Vieira, Manuel Febrero-Bande, José I. Muñoz Barús

Published in: International Journal of Legal Medicine | Issue 2/2018

Abstract

The diatom test is considered a useful aid in determining the site of death from drowning. Nevertheless, there is disagreement within the scientific community concerning its reliability, and its findings have been challenged and sometimes overturned in courts of law. Using a model based on animal experimentation, we have developed a diatom test to discriminate between the locations of drowning sites from different aquatic systems. We carried out a complementary combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses together with a statistical analysis based on the Kullback-Leibler distance of the samples. A restrictive selection of exclusive diatom species from each reservoir was also made. This approach allowed us to validate the usefulness of the diatom test in determining the location of the site of drowning.

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Title: A valid method to determine the site of drowning
Authors: Rafael Carballeira
Duarte N. Vieira
Manuel Febrero-Bande
José I. Muñoz Barús
Publication date: 01-03-2018
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: International Journal of Legal Medicine / Issue 2/2018
Print ISSN: 0937-9827
Electronic ISSN: 1437-1596
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-017-1708-1

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