Download File - Jaidean St Onge

Article Summary 2
Jaidean St Onge
1. Original source:
b. Title: An Analysis of the Alleged Skeletal Remains of Carin Goring
c. Author(s): Anna Kjellstrom, Hanna Edlund, Maria Lembring, Viktoria Ahlgren, Marie
Allen
d. Authors’ credentials:
Anna Kjellstrom- Osteoarchaeological Research Laboratory, Department of Archaeology
and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden, PhD, researcher
Hanna Edlund- Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Rudbeck
Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, professor, PhD
Mario Lembring- Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Rudbeck
Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, professor, PhD
Viktoria Ahlgren- Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Rudbeck
Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, professor, PhD
Marie Allen- Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Rudbeck Laboratory,
Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, researcher, PhD, professor
e. Source (complete reference): Kjellström A, Edlund H, Lembring M, Ahlgren V, Allen M
(2012) An Analysis of the Alleged Skeletal Remains of Carin Göring. PLoS ONE 7(12):
e44366. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044366
f. Summary:
Research topic- Whether or not the casket and skeletal remains found close to the
destroyed residence of Nazi leader Hermann Goring is his wife Carin Goring’s skeletal
remains.
Hypothesis being tested- The hypothesis is that because the skeletal remains and the
casket found near Hermann Goring’s residence that was once destroyed are his wife
Carin Goring’s remains. She was buried in Karinhall near Hermann Goring’s home in
1934.
Methods- Anthropological analysis to determine the age, ethnicity, and sex of the
skeletal parts. DNA analysis to show the sex and to determine if Carin Goring’s son’s
DNA matched up with the skeletal parts found. Osteological methods to determine the
sex and age of the skeletal remains. Basically they take parts of the bones and study
them to determine the age and sex. DNA extraction from skeletal remains to determine
her identity by comparing it to her sons to see if they match up. Contamination
precautions “in order to avoid contamination by modern exogenous DNA. Therefore, a
special clean-room facility, with HEPA-filtered air, positive pressure and LAF benches
was used”. (plosone.og/april2014) They also wore special clothing and were sterilized
before entering the facility. DNA extraction of paraffin-embedded tissue from Carin
Goring’s son to compare with the skeletal parts found. PCR for mtDNA analysis,
sequencing of mtDNA and analysis of nDNA.
Results- The skeletal parts (26 bones mostly the upper part of the body) had identical
mtDNA sequences as Carin Goring’s son’s mtDNA sequences revealing a child-mother
relationship.
Conclusion- That with the background history of Carin Goring and the history of where
the bones we’re found, along with the DNA and anthropological results they can
determine that it is indeed Carin Goring. The body has been buried.
g. Critical evaluation: All of the authors as you can see above have a lot of credibility.
They have worked in the anthropological field for many years and have continued to
keep researching. The journal is peer-reviewed and shows the research and methods
that went into determining the results that they found.
h. Relevance to biological anthropology: I found relevance to biological anthropology
because forensic anthropology uses biological anthropological methods which they did
use on Carin Goring’s remains to determine if it was really her skeletal remains. In other
words, taking methods from other subfields of anthropology and applying them to
practical problems. (January 2014, Schaefer)
i. Other disciplines touched upon: Biology and chemistry where used in the process of
the methods used the get the results they got.
j. Synthesis: “Skeletal remains of Carin Goring, wife of one of the main nazi ‘s Hermann
Goring have been found and identified”.
2. Reflection
a. Which part of this assignment was most difficult and why? Finding an article that was
peer-reviewed that also had been talked about by a popular source of media like “CNN”
or “Sciencedaily”. I guess it’s just hard to find an article from a popular source that is
proven to be accurate. I struggled with finding one but that could be just me.
b. Indentify at least one question you have after reading the original article and explain
how you could go about finding an answer. First off, half the words in the article and I
could use google for that one! Also I’d like to know what half the DNA and mtDNA and
nDNA analysis and such are because I didn’t really understand them, I only just got the
jist of them.
c. Reflect on how the critical evaluation process impacted your opinion on the article. It
made me realize how accurate it is and that this article is truly correct. Other than that It
didn’t change much of my opinion.
d. How might the information in the article be useful in the future? This might be
answered very breifly such as how an understanding of larger biological principles might
be useful.
I would say for history purposes also an understanding of biological principles could be
useful. I have a better understanding of how they determine identity of bodies and the
process.
3. Related source
a. Title: Carin Goring’s remains identified by Swedish researchers
b. Author(s): Uppsala University
c. Authors’ credentials: It’s one of the most oldest university’s in Europe and is
credited with 15 Nobel Laureates and numerious research discoveries. (April
1012, pysh.org) They derived their information from my original article.
d. complete reference: PLoSONE.com Kjellström A, Edlund H, Lembring M,
Ahlgren V, Allen M (2012) An Analysis of the Alleged Skeletal Remains of Carin
Göring. PLoS ONE 7(12): e44366. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044366
e. Summary: In 1991, treasure hunters found a casket with what was believed to
be Carin Goring’s skeletal remains, wife of famous Nazi leader Herman Goring.
She died due to heart failure in 1931 where she was buried in Stockholm.
Herman Goring had Carin’s remains moved three years later to his residence
outside of Berlin, Karinhall. Eventually after the war, Karinhall was destroyed and
no one knew what had happened to Carin’s remains. In 1951 some skeletal
remains that were assumed to be Carin Goring’s were found and cremated. Then
in 1991, treasure hunters found the skeletal remains in a casket in which were
sent to the National Board of Forensic Medicine in Sweden for identification.
Scientists compared DNA with Carin Goring’s son to the skeletal remains and
found identical DNA sequences indicating a mother-child relationship. They
compared the history background, the DNA, the evidence that the skeletal
remains is an adult female to conclude that it was Carin Goring.
f. Critical evaluation: The article posted on psych.org was written by Uppsala
University. They got there information from a article (my original article posted
above) that shows evidence that supports that the remains that were found are
Carin Goring’s. Also, Maria Allen one of the reseachers/professor who helped
indentify Carin’s remains is a professor of forensic genetics at Uppsala university.
g. Relevance to chosen article: This article basically summarized the original
article and gave some more information about Carin Goring. It was more about
the background of the lady and her famous husband and that they had found her
skeletal remains rather than the scientific side of it. However, they did mention it
a bit in a very simplied way.