Extensive gastric necrosis secondary to acute gastric dilatation: A case report
Gastric necrosis is rare because gastric ischemia is unlikely, given the abundant blood supply to the stomach and its well-developed collateral circulation. Recently, an increasing number of patients (primarily the young) are being diagnosed with eating disorders caused by excessive dietary restriction or psychological stress. Gastric necrosis secondary to acute gastric dilatation has been reported in Japan since the 1990s [1 –3], and approximately 60 case reports are available in the PubMed database [4]. (Source: Legal Medicine)
Source: Legal Medicine - November 13, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Chikako Murakami, Wataru Irie, Chizuko Sasaki, Naomi Nakamaru, Momoko Sakamoto, Junpei Nagato, Fumiko Satoh Source Type: research
The Epidemiology of Sexual Assault of Older Female Nursing Home Residents, in Victoria Australia, between 2000 – 2015
Older people in nursing homes (NH) are a particularly vulnerable population due to their dependency on caregivers, multifaceted health problems [1] , and the co-housing of residents, including some with a background of sexual offences [2]. These contributing factors of older person victimization may prevent reporting [3,4] and hinder investigations [3]. In Victoria, Australia, if a sexual assault is suspected or an allegation is received, the approved provider of the NH is responsible for reporting the concerns to police who will contact a clinical forensic medical examiner and request a forensic medical examination (FME) ...
Source: Legal Medicine - November 10, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Daisy Smith, Nicola Cunningham, Mellissa Willoughby, Carmel Young, Morris Odell, Joseph Ibrahim, Lyndal Bugeja Source Type: research
Detection of cocaine and metabolites from mouse femur buried in soil
Cocaine (methyl benzoylecgonine) is a naturally occurring, slightly volatile, white crystalline alkaloid with a molecular weight of 303.4 that is a potent central nervous system stimulant. Cocaine is extracted from the dried leaves of the coca plant Erythroxylum coca, a shrub indigenous to South America, and other species of Erythroxylum or by synthesis from ecgonine [1 –3] to obtain a powder. The cocaine market has been globally spreading, with steady markets and high prevalence areas in North and South America and in Western and Central Europe [4]. (Source: Legal Medicine)
Source: Legal Medicine - November 9, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Ken-ichiro Nakao, Yuki Tatara, Kazuhiko Kibayashi Source Type: research
Fatal accidental asphyxia in the reverse jack-knife position on a chair with wheels
Fatal accidental asphyxia in a reverse jack-knife position. A female was found dead in a reverse jack-knife position. The cause of death was considered as positional asphyxia. (Source: Legal Medicine)
Source: Legal Medicine - November 3, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Akiko Ishigami, Shin-ichi Kubo, Kenji Hara, Brian Waters, Itsuo Tokunaga, Akiyoshi Nishimura Source Type: research
Forensic Microbiology applications: a systematic review
Nowadays, it is accepted that a human body is composed both of human and microbial components, the latter contributing to normal physiology and disease of a living body [1]. The chance to identify microbial components residing in the human body thanks to the development of biomolecular techniques (e. g. PCR, DNA sequencing) has led to the creation of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP), revealing that microbes colonizing a healthy human body outnumber somatic and germline cells 10-fold [1]. The HMP also revealed a wide diversity in the composition and abundance of microbial communities both among different body sites and he...
Source: Legal Medicine - November 3, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Elvira Ventura Spagnolo, Chiara Stassi, Cristina Mondello, Stefania Zerbo, Livio Milone, Antonina Argo Source Type: research
Na+/K+-ATPase, acetylcholinesterase and glutathione S-transferase activities as new markers of postmortem interval in Swiss mice
Postmortem interval (PMI) is a key parameter for forensic researches [1]. In criminal cases, the precise determination of the PMI is essential to obtain information about the circumstances of death, for confirmation or invalidation of alibis, and finally, for the solution of a crime [2]. After death, physicochemical changes occur in the body immediately, and sequentially progresses until the body completely disintegrated. Endogenous and environmental factors strongly influence these changes, such as temperature, humidity, subject age, medication, disease, and decomposition stage, making difficult to precisely estimate the ...
Source: Legal Medicine - November 3, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Caren A.R. da Fonseca, Jaini Paltian, Ang élica S. dos Reis, Cristiani F. Bortolatto, Ethel A. Wilhelm, Cristiane Luchese Source Type: research
Quantification of secondary dentin formation based on the analysis of MDCT scans and dental OPGs in a contemporary Malaysian population
Examination of dental tissues is widely (and regularly) used in a forensic context to estimate age in the deceased. A number of structural changes associated with age have been documented in fully developed and erupted teeth of adults, including attrition, periodontal recession, cementum apposition, root resorption, secondary dentin formation and root translucency; as first established by Gustafson [1]. Importantly, Gustafson ’s study [1] demonstrated that secondary dentin formation (along with root translucency) had the strongest correlation with age, which is supported by the subsequent work of Dalitz [2] (r=0.61), Joh...
Source: Legal Medicine - November 3, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Salina Hisham, Nurliza Abdullah, Mohamad Helmee Mohamad Noor, Daniel Franklin Source Type: research
Dental age estimation in Malaysian adults based on volumetric analysis of pulp/tooth ratio using CBCT data
Studies on dental age estimation have been conducted for many decades [1]. Age estimation plays a very significant role in law enforcement and legal justice systems all over the world [2,3]. Tooth is the hardest tissue in the human body which can be relied upon for age estimation. Teeth can resist physical and chemical stresses along with nutritional deficiencies for a long time [4 –8]. It is evident that natural and manmade disasters occur unexpectedly and involves extensive loss of life. Besides DNA profiling and fingerprint comparison, dental evaluation plays a vital role in forensic identification of an unknown decea...
Source: Legal Medicine - October 20, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Muhammad Khan Asif, Phrabhakaran Nambiar, Shani Ann Mani, Norliza Binti Ibrahim, Iqra Muhammad Khan, Najihah Binti Lokman Source Type: research
Pathology diagnosis of an atypical thyroid cartilage lesion
We report the case of a decedent, whose body was found in an advanced stateof putrefaction, at the bottom of a ledge, after a one-month disappearance. The face and neck were skeletised. The autopsy found multiple traumatic injuries. The hyoid bone was separatedfrom the other laryngeal structures and seemed to be macroscopically normal. However, the thyroid cartilage had a thin notch at the base of the right upper horn. (Source: Legal Medicine)
Source: Legal Medicine - October 19, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: A. Delbreil, A. Gambier, T. Lefrancq, M. Taris, P. Saint-Martin, M. Sapanet Source Type: research
Undetected severe complication after elective lumbar surgery - how could it happen?
Historically, much of medical training has focused on individual knowledge, skills, and responsibility. As healthcare delivery has become more complex, more than one individual and more than one discipline are usually involved in treatment. This complex network bears a risk of errors, especially when communication between the care providers is insufficient [1]. (Source: Legal Medicine)
Source: Legal Medicine - October 19, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: I. Sinicina, D. Inthorn, H. Pankratz Source Type: research
An experimental study on investigating the postmortem interval in dichlorvos poisoned rats by GC/MS-based metabolomics
The accurate estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) is critically important in excluding or including suspects and delimiting the investigation range in forensic science. The examination of the development of postmortem changes, including hypostasis[1], algor mortis[2] and rigor mortis[3,4], is the traditional method for estimating PMI in forensic practice. Nevertheless, only an approximate estimate can be derived from traditional methods[5]. (Source: Legal Medicine)
Source: Legal Medicine - October 11, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Xinhua Dai, Fei Fan, Yi Ye, Xiang Lu, Fan Chen, Zhigui Wu, Linchuan Liao Source Type: research
Autopsy case of right ventricular rhabdomyoma in tuberous sclerosis complex
Tuberous sclerosis complex is a genetic multisystem disorder characterized by widespread hamartomas in several organs, including the brain, heart, skin, eyes, kidney, lung, and liver [1]. Major clinical features in the 2012 International Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Diagnostic Criteria include hypomelanotic macules, angiofibromas, ungual fibromas, shagreen patch, retinal hamartomas, cortical dysplasias, subependymal nodules, subependymal giant cell astrocytoma (SEGA), cardiac rhabdomyoma, lymphangioleiomyomatosis and angiomyolipomas [2]. (Source: Legal Medicine)
Source: Legal Medicine - October 9, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Takeshi Kondo, Yo Niida, Masashi Mizuguchi, Yasushi Nagasaki, Yasuhiro Ueno, Akiyoshi Nishimura Source Type: research
Association of SNPs in transferrin and transferrin receptor genes with blood iron levels in human
Iron is the most abundant metal in biological tissues. It is crucial for oxygen transport and storage, electron transport and energy metabolism, antioxidant and beneficial pro-oxidant functions, and oxygen sensing. However, excess iron is toxic because of the generation of free radicals [1], and cause dysfunction, fibrogenesis and carcinogenesis in organs [2]. Therefore the processes regulating iron homeostasis and iron absorption are critical. Moreover, an association between high tissue iron concentrations and disease (infection, neoplasia and ischaemic heart disease) have been reported [3] and elevated serum iron associ...
Source: Legal Medicine - October 4, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Junko Fujihara, Toshihiro Yasuda, Kaori Kimura-Kataoka, Haruo Takeshita Source Type: research
Association between sudden unexpected deaths in bathtubs and ambient temperature among elderly Japanese adults: a time-series regression study
Japanese elderly adults have extremely high mortality associated with bathtub-related drowning [1]. Based on postmortem examination, it was revealed that approximately 55% of individuals who experienced sudden bath-related deaths between 2009 and 2011 in Tokyo had circulatory diseases, and more than 90% of these deaths in both sexes were in elderly adults older than 60 years [2]. Although previous studies have addressed cardiac arrest [3] or other symptoms (falling, loss of consciousness, stroke, and others) and accidents [4,5], including deaths not involving a bathtub or showering, many Japanese studies have focused on su...
Source: Legal Medicine - October 3, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Yoshimasa Kanawaku, Takanobu Tanifuji, Youkichi Ohno Source Type: research
Genetic polymorphisms of 20 STR loci in a Chaoshan group from Jieyang, China
Guangdong population has three major groups, Canton, Chaoshan, and Hakka. Jieyang Han population belongs to Chaoshan group. Jieyang is located in southeastern Guangdong Province and faces the South China Sea to the south, borders Meizhou to the north, Chaozhou and Shantou to the east, and Shanwei to the west (Fig.S1). Jieyang is the birthplace of the Chaoshan culture and one of the most densely populated areas in Guangdong Province with a population of approximately 6.739 million (2012 census, www.stats.gov.cn). (Source: Legal Medicine)
Source: Legal Medicine - October 1, 2018 Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Enping Huang, Tianshan Guan, Li Li, Pingping Xia, Zhiyong Peng, Chunlei Feng, Ling Chen Source Type: research
