A comparative assessment of time-consuming and laborious diatom analysis：Brief experimentation with suggestion of automatic identification

• Published in: Forensic science international Vol. 355; p. 111939
• Main Authors: Wu, Yuhang, Luo, Lisiteng, Li, Yuyang, Sun, Yuntao, Huang, Xinyu, Zhou, Yuchi, Wang, Yi, Wang, Yongqing, Zeng, Debing, Yun, Libing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.02.2024; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Accuracy; Automation; Bacillariophyceae; Classification; Diatom test; Drowning; Efficiency; Electron microscopes; Estimation; Forensic pathology; Forensic science; Image contrast; Kidneys; Liver; Lungs; Marine microorganisms; Medical students; Microwave Digestion-Vacuum Filtration-Automated Scanning Electron Microscopy method; Observation; Pathology; Plankton; Scanning electron microscopy; Statistical analysis; Taxonomy; Vacuum filtration; China; Observation; Microwave Digestion-Vacuum Filtration-Automated Scanning Electron Microscopy method; Drowning; Estimation; Diatom test
• ISSN: 0379-0738; 1872-6283; 1872-6283
• DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2024.111939

Diatom testing is considered a useful method for providing supportive evidence for the diagnosis of drowning in forensic pathology. However, various factors remain controversial for recognizing diatoms, such as being time-consuming and laborious and influencing the consistency of the results. Given the absence of precise and well-defined studies on this subject, this study aimed to determine the relationship between the ability to identify diatoms and researchers with different technical backgrounds. A total of 55 samples from 18 cases, including water, lungs, liver, and kidneys, were treated using the microwave digestion-vacuum filtration-automated scanning electron microscopy (MD-VF-Auto SEM), which was used to compare diatom analyses among three groups of well-trained forensic pathologists (FPs), trained junior employees (JEs), and new trainees (TEs). In addition to achieving similar accuracy of positive findings from drowning cases, counting efficiency was evaluated based on taxonomy records and counting time after viewing more than 5500 diatom images. In contrast to the higher counting efficiency of the JE group than that of the TE group, we observed a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) in the diatom classification between these two groups. Based on our experiments, an efficient analysis for automatically identifying and classifying diatoms is urgently required. •Particular experimental data deliberated on time-consuming and laborious diatom analysis.•This research provided new evidence for the relationship on the ability of different forensic experts in diatoms test.•New index applied to assess counting proficiency contributed to reveal the difference from trainees in diatom analysis.•Special training necessarily guarantees accurate identification of diatom and drowning diagnosis.