Abstract: In Penang, Malaysia, the Oriental and Afrotropical Megaselia curtineura (Brues) and the Oriental and Japanese Megaselia spiracularis Schmitz are reported from human corpses, these being the first reports of these species in such forensic cases. (Source: Forensic Science International)
Abstract: This is a report of a case in which, for the first time, direct lightning strike had caused burn injuries associated with internal soft-tissue bruising and visceral injury subjacent to lac jewellery on the chest. The burn injury depicted a symmetrical pattern, which was almost 5 times larger than the size of the jewellery. Surprisingly, there was bruising of soft tissue beneath the burn, associated with extravasation of blood in anterior mediastinum, contusion of anterior border of lungs, contusion to heart and rent by burn to the blouse of the victim over the front and back, all in one line, showing very unusual injury of lightning strike. (Source: Forensic Science International)
Abstract Fifty-six cases of sudden death from myocarditis were reviewed to characterize the range of histologic appearances of myocarditis.
All autopsy cases of myocarditis over 13 years (1996–2008) in the Toronto Forensic Pathology Unit, Ontario Forensic Pathology
Service, were studied. In each case, historical documentation and histological slides were reviewed. The severity of myocarditis
was graded qualitatively and quantitatively (the inflammatory index). We established the inflammatory index in order to classify
the severity of myocarditis, by counting the mean number of inflammatory foci per section of myocardium. Based on the inflammatory
index, myocardial inflammation was classified into four grades. Based on this classification, 47% of the cases were classi...
Abstract Species determination of tissue specimens, including blood, is an important component of forensic analysis to distinguish
human from animal remains. DNA markers based on a method of species-specific PCR and amplifying the 359-base pair (bp) fragment
of the mitochondrially encoded cytochrome-b gene and then digestion with the TaqI restriction enzyme were developed for detection and discrimination of human, cattle, buffalo, horse, sheep, pig, dog, cat
and chicken blood samples. The results reveal that PCR-amplification of the gene encoding the species-specific repeat (SSR)
region generated 603 bp in cattle and buffalo, 221 bp in horse, 374 bp in sheep, ≤100 bp in pig, 808 bp in dog, 672 bp in
cat and 50 bp in chicken. Restriction ...
Abstract There are numerous biochemical and biological processes that occur after death that may have a significant influence on post-mortem
drug concentrations. These processes may render the quantification of particular drugs unreliable, or even result in drugs
being undetectable in some instances, despite the use of several methods. Problems may occur with changes in the drug concentration
via bacterial degradation, residual tissue enzymatic activity, or via post-mortem redistribution from tissues of a higher
to a lower concentration. Many analytical techniques can suffer from interferences due to co-extracted putrefactive compounds
that mask or alter the way a drug is detected, depending on the analytical technique utilised. The following paper reviews
problems associa...
Abstract Previous studies addressing pulmonary artery morphology have compared cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) to controls
but none have compared demographic profiles, exposure to potentially hypoxic risk factors and other pathologic variables in
SIDS cases grouped according to pulmonary artery medial smooth muscle thickness. Aims: To compare the relative medial thickness
(RMT) in alveolar wall arteries (AW) in SIDS cases with that in age-matched controls and 2. Compare demographic, clinical,
and pathologic characteristics among three subsets of SIDS cases based upon alveolar wall (AW) RMT. Retrospective morphometric
planimetry of all muscularized arteries in standardized right apical lung sections in 73 SIDS cases divided into three groups
based on increasing...
Abstract: Human bone and teeth fragments can be useful evidence when found in crime scenes and/or mass burials sites. The elemental and isotopic composition of these samples can provide information about environmental exposure events and could also be used to distinguish different individuals. The development and application of robust analytical methods for the quantification of trace elements in these biological matrices may lead to a better understanding of the potential utility of these measurements in forensic analyses.In this paper, we demonstrate the possibility of conducting quantitative analysis of trace metals found in bone remains and suggest a strategy to discriminate between individuals, based on this information. A LA-ICP-SF-MS method using non-matrix matched standard calibrat...
Abstract: An initial investigation of the application of laser scanning confocal microscopy to the examination of hairs and fibers has been conducted. This technique allows the production of virtual transverse and longitudinal cross-sectional images of a wide range of hairs and fibers. Special mounting techniques are not required; specimens that have been mounted for conventional microscopy require no further treatment. Unlike physical cross-sectioning, in which it is difficult to produce multiple cross-sections from a single hair or fiber and the process is destructive, confocal microscopy allows the examiner to image the cross-section at any point in the field of view along the hair or fiber and it is non-destructive. Confocal microscopy is a fluorescence-based technique. The images desc...
Abstract: Facial reconstruction is a technique used in forensic anthropology to estimate the appearance of the antemortem face from unknown human skeletal remains. This requires accurate skull assessment (for variables such as age, sex, and race) and soft tissue thickness data. However, the skull can provide only limited information, and further data are needed to reconstruct the face. The authors herein obtained further information from the skull in order to reconstruct the face more accurately. Skulls can be classified into three facial types on the basis of orthodontic skeletal classes (namely, straight facial profile, type I, convex facial profile, type II, and concave facial profile, type III). This concept was applied to facial tissue measurement and soft tissue depth was compared in...
We present here a retrospective case series of DUIA offenders (N=40) in half of which there was supporting evidence of an after-drink (eye witness or police reports) and in the other half no such evidence existed apart from the suspect's admission. When there was supporting evidence of an after-drink, the UAC/BAC ratio for the first void was close to or less than unity (mean 1.04, median 1.08, range 0.54–1.21) and the UAC increased by 0.21g/L (range 0.02–0.57) between the two voids. Without any supporting evidence of post-offence drinking the mean UAC/BAC ratio was 1.46 (range 1.35–1.93) for the first void, verifying that absorption and distribution of alcohol in all body fluids and tissues was complete. In these cases, the UAC between successive voids decreased by 0.25g/L on average...
