Forensic scientist’s blog

Milano: arresti domiciliari per Marabotto, ex pm di Pinerolo29 Giugno 2009 00:00 CRONACHEMILANO - Da oggi e' agli arresti domiciliari. Giuseppe Marabotto, ex procuratore di Pinerolo, e' uscito dal carcere, dopo l'arresto lo scorso febbraio con le accus...

Abstract: Detecting the vitality of mechanical skin wounds (antemortem versus postmortem injury) in human cadavers remains a specifically forensic problem. To determine whether skin mast cells (MCs) are activated during the very early phase of human wound healing we performed a histomorphometric evaluation of the extent of MC enzyme loss as an indication of MC degranulation at the wound margins of skin wounds in 64 human cadavers. We compared the number of tryptase-reactive MCs, which are said not to loose all of their enzyme activity during degranulation process, with the number of naphthol AS-D chloroacetate esterase (NAS-DClAE)-positive MCs, which loose their complete enzyme activity in the form of enzyme-positive granula after activation. The enzyme activity was evaluated on sequential...

In this study, the colour of 23 sediment samples collected in different Portuguese beaches in the North (Entre-Douro and Minho) and 33 in the South (Algarve) was tested. Spectral colour parameters (L*a*b*) were measured after several presentation/pre-treatment methods: drying at 40°C, sieving ( (Source: Forensic Science International)

Abstract: According to epidemiological studies adverse drug events are one of the most frequently encountered complications during medical treatment, a leading cause of hospitalisation and frequent cause of death. However, medical malpractice claims due to medication errors seem to be relatively rare. Based on a retrospective multicentre study on medical malpractice cases with lethal outcome (n=4450), drug related cases (n=575) were further evaluated. In 50% of cases a causal connection between drug therapy and death could be ruled out already after autopsy. In 232 cases a causal connection between drug therapy and death could be approved (drug allergies, relative overdose, wrong application, mix-up of drugs and sepsis after injection abscess). However, within the legal context only in 70 ...

We read with interest the Letter to the Editor by Nerantzis et al. entitled “A secret pathway of the sinus node artery”. The use of post-mortem angiography in the above report is impressive in showing also small coronary branches not easily evaluable during autopsy. From an anatomical point of view, some more morphological details would be useful to stress the novelty of the finding. In the above manuscript the authors describe “a unique and hitherto not reported variation” in which the left circumflex (LCX) and the sinus node (SN) arteries “originated with a common trunk branching (3.1mm long, internal diameter 1.4mm) from the posterior wall of the left main coronary artery”. In the literature, the SN arteries are known to frequently originate from the proximal segment of the ...

The interesting comment of the authors raises some remarkable questions concerning our work about the common origin of SN and LCX arteries . Trying to resolve any unclear issues we have to underline the following: (Source: Forensic Science International)

Inghilterra, babysitter di 15 anni uccide a pugni e morsi una bimba di 2 Invia Stampa LONDRA (27 giugno) - Stanco dei suoi pianti e grida che non gli consentivano di guardare la televisione, un ragazzo di 15 anni improvvisato babysitter ha mas...

On m'accuse parfois de n'écrire que des billets à la gloire des experts judiciaires et en particulier à la mienne... J'invite donc ces lecteurs à lire quelques uns des billets de la série "erreurs judiciaires".Pour ma part, je ne fais jamais d'erreur, encore moins lors d'une expertise judiciaire. Sauf peut-être le week-end dernier.Je suis actuellement en déplacement professionnel à Casablanca au

(Source: Forensic Science International)

(Source: Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine)