摘要:

Recently developed frangible ammunition of copper particulate construction in .38 Special, 9 mm, and .223 calibers was evaluated for wounding performance by firing into pigs' heads. The ability to match fired bullets with the corresponding gun was also examined. Results showed that wounds caused by 9-mm and .38 Special frangible bullets were comparable in severity to those caused by regular service ammunition of the same caliber. The recovered 9-mm and .38 Special bullets demonstrated class characteristics but not the individual rifling marks necessary for bullet-to-gun matching. High-velocity .223-caliber rifle bullets fragmented extensively within target tissues, causing severe wounding. Radiologic examination of resulting wounds showed images strikingly similar to the lead "snowstorm" picture caused by high-velocity hunting ammunition.

ISSN:0195-7910    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1998

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

We report 2 cases of sudden death in which hospital autopsies revealed unsuspected primary posterior fossa neoplasms. The first case was a 3-year-old girl who was found apneic and pulseless in bed and was brought to the hospital moribund and could not be resuscitated. Autopsy revealed a 3-cm ganglioglioma that infiltrated nearly the entire medulla. The second case involved a 39-year-old man who was found asystolic and unresponsive in bed. He was resuscitated and maintained on a ventilator for a few hours, after which life support was withdrawn. Autopsy showed a 5-cm pilocytic astrocytoma arising from the ventral cerebellum and extending into the fourth ventricle and compressing the brain stem. Previously reported cases of clinically unsuspected primary posterior fossa tumors presenting with sudden death are reviewed. Hypotheses for the mechanism of sudden death are presented.

ISSN:0195-7910    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1998

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The efficacy and possible health risks of pepper spray were evaluated. In a number of countries, pepper spray is being used by police forces to aid in arresting aggressive individuals. Pepper spray is commercially available as a canister filled withCapsicumextract, which contains capsaicin as the active component. When applied in the form of a spray, it causes an acute inflammation, and humans involuntarily close their eyes, experience a burning feeling on the skin, and are usually rapidly incapacitated. Use by the U.S. police was successful in subduing aggressive individuals in 90% of cases, and a reduction of injury to both police and arrested individuals was noted. In general, pepper spray appeared to be a relatively safe weapon with small risk of causing acute physical harm. Despite this evidence, a number of fatalities were reported in the United States following the use of pepper spray. However, it was concluded that it was not the pepper spray but rather other factors such as drugs and hog-tying that contributed to the cause of death. In only 1 case, that of an asthmatic man, was it concluded that the use of pepper spray contributed to the cause of death. Much attention has been paid to possible genotoxic effects ofCapsicumextract such as mutagenicity and carcinogenicity. It was concluded that the risk of long-term health effects is negligible. Because pepper spray may induce bronchoconstriction, people suffering from chronic obstructive lung disease may be hypersensitive to it. Although the results of one study indicate that asthmatics do not develop additional bronchoconstriction following inhalation of capsaicin, the number of experimental data are too few to draw sound conclusions.

ISSN:0195-7910    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1998

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Medicolegal autopsies in the pediatric age group occur with some frequency. Despite the time-honored and often quoted address by Professor Alan Moritz many years ago, which described mistakes in the forensic autopsy of adults, a comparable discussion of infants and children has not been forthcoming. In this review, ten categories of potential and actual errors are listed, some of which are similar to those given by Moritz. The smaller size of infants as well as their unique growth and development creates problems separate from those in adult autopsies and creates opportunities for mistakes in observation and interpretation. The thorough documentation of all findings, the gathering and proper storage of evidence, and the availability of essential materials (e.g., scene investigation data, complete medical records, all microscopic slides, total laboratory analyses-especially toxicology) help to preclude errors of both omission and commission.

ISSN:0195-7910    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1998

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Two babies were smothered by their baby-sitter. The deaths happened 4 years apart. The baby-sitter was convicted based on a confession, not on the findings at autopsy. These cases illustrate the difficulty in distinguishing SIDS from suffocation homicide.

ISSN:0195-7910    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1998

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Sudden cardiac death due to lethal arrhythmia may be the initial presenting symptom of ischemic heart disease. In many cases, in the absence of trauma, a majority of these deaths will be visually inspected by a medical examiner and released with death being ascribed to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease, arrhythmia, myocardial infarction, or a similar diagnosis. When an autopsy is performed, there may be significant cardiovascular disease but no gross or histologic evidence of an acute myocardial infarct unless the patient survived for several hours following the event. Biochemical assays of creatine kinase MB fraction (CKMB) performed on serum have been used to document myocardial injury in the absence of morphologic changes. Newly developed assays for cardiac troponin I (cTnI) may detect myocardial injury with a greater sensitivity than CKMB. A prospective study was performed on 28 autopsied patients at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the state of Maryland. Subclavian blood was sampled for subsequent analysis of serum CKMB and cTnI. In 3 cases of cardiac-related death, there was insufficient plasma for analysis of both CKMB and cTnI, and only CKMB was quantitated. In 12 cases, hemolysis rendered interpretation questionable. Of the remaining 16 cases, the mean serum CKMB level was 857.9 ng/ml (n= 7) and the cTnI level was 93.4 ng/ml (n= 4) for cardiac-related deaths, compared with mean CKMB levels of 116.4 ng/ml (n= 9) and mean cTnI levels of 16.6 ng/ml (n= 9) for non-cardiac-related deaths. The differences in serum elevation of both CKMB and cTnI noted between the cardiac- and non-cardiac-related deaths were statistically significant. Serum cTnI concentrations >40 ng/ml were only noted in cardiac-related deaths. These data suggest that an elevated postmortem serum concentration of cTnI reflects ischemic heart disease and supports its use in determining cause of death. Quantitation of this analyte may prove useful when death may be due to an arrhythmia following a morphologically undetectable microinfarct.

ISSN:0195-7910    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1998

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

A case of accidental intracranial penetration of a 29-cm-long portion of nasogastric tube (NGT) in a 27-year-old female victim of a severe homicidal skull and brain trauma is reported. Accidental penetration of the NGT occurred through a large fracture of the ethmoid lamina cribrosa. In addition to a systematic review of previously reported cases, circumstantial data, clinical aspects, and autopsy data have been analyzed to draw medicolegal considerations concerning the connection between death and insertion of an NGT, which may also contribute to the ascertaining of any possible professional responsibility of medical staff, in a case fraught with numerous legal complications.

ISSN:0195-7910    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1998

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

To confirm and extend previous research concerning glucose and lactate in vitreous humour, we investigated a randomly selected study population of 271 forensic cases. On the whole, we find our results agree with those of previous studies, but we add certain observations. First, when we considered the sum value of glucose and lactate in the vitreous humour, we found that not only diabetes patients are included in the higher range group (values ≥430 mg%): intensive reanimation or prolonged or intense agony should also be taken into account. Indeed, when we split our study group into acute agony and prolonged agony subgroups, we noticed a statistically significant difference; persons dying after protracted agony showed a higher sum value, which can be explained in terms of biophysical dynamics. Second, a positive correlation was found between the lactate and the sum values on one hand, and the postmortem interval on the other. However, the vitreous glucose, lactate, and sum values are so dispersed that a precise determination of the postmortem interval cannot be obtained on the basis of these parameters. Additionally, we compared several causes of death, but unfortunately, we did not manage to reveal that some causes of death were specifically limited to high or low concentrations. Indeed, the statistically significant differences in sum values could easily be explained by factors such as intensity of agony, reanimation attempts, or iatrogenic interventions (e.g., glucose infusions). Nonetheless, when the death scene as a whole is unclear or confusing, analysis of the vitreous humour can provide some insights, provided that the other autopsy findings are also taken into consideration.

ISSN:0195-7910    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1998

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Relatively little is known about death in children following hanging. This 12-year retrospective study in southeast Scotland revealed 12 such deaths among children <15 years of age, involving 10 boys and 2 girls. The rate of hanging deaths was 0.7 deaths/100,000 children/year and was equal to that from falls in children during this time period. The children who died following hanging were aged between 4 and 14 years. All 12 children were in cardiac arrest when found, and 11 were declared dead at the scene, demonstrating the limited potential to reduce the death rate through improved treatment. Scrutiny of the circumstances surrounding each death suggested that 6 of the deaths were accidents and 6 were suicides. There appears to be some, albeit limited, potential to prevent some hanging deaths in children through increased parental supervision, education, and restriction of access to ligatures.

ISSN:0195-7910    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1998

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Rapid and accurate identification of non-natural deaths is an important component of a good forensic service. To study the identification process and quantify delays in the identification of non-natural deaths in Cape Town, South Africa, we conducted a retrospective review of identification rates between 1980 and 1995 and a descriptive study of time to identification stratified by manner and cause of death for 1995. The mean yearly number of unidentified cases between 1980 and 1995 was 137 (range, 75-280), constituting about 3% of total admissions. There has been no substantial change in the proportion of unidentified cases during this period. Suicides and homicides were most rapidly identified; 84% of suicides and 75% of homicides identified within 3 days. Pedestrian and railway deaths accounted for 72% of the unidentified accident admissions in 1995. Delays in the identification of various categories of deceased victims of violence and unintentional injury reflect the social impact of poverty and impose an unnecessary hardship on next-of-kin. Forensic pathologists should devote both scientific and administrative efforts to reducing such delays.

ISSN:0195-7910    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1998

数据来源: OVID