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Forensic Medicine (forensic + medicine)
Selected AbstractsCharacteristics of spousal homicide perpetrators: a study of all cases of spousal homicide in Sweden 1990,1999CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 2 2004Professor Henrik Belfrage PhD Background In Sweden 20 000 cases of assault against women are reported to the police every year. Method All data on the perpetrators of spousal homicide in Sweden between 1990 and 1999 were investigated (n = 164). A control group of all other perpetrators of homicide in Sweden during the same period, i.e. cases of homicide not committed in the context of spouse violence (n = 690) was used. All verdicts, as well as all material in the police investigations, including interviews with all of the police investigators, were analysed. Copies of police examinations of the suspects, and forensic reports from the autopsies, were also examined. Data on all registered criminality were collected from the National Police Register, and in cases where the perpetrators had been subject to forensic psychiatric examinations, those reports were obtained from the Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine. In addition, the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version scores were rated from the forensic psychiatric examinations. Results There was a four times higher suicide rate among the spousal homicide perpetrators (24%, n = 40) compared with the perpetrators in the control-group (6%, n = 39, chi-squared = 55,42df = 1 , p < 0.001). Consequently, suicidal ideation must be considered as an important risk factor for spousal homicide. In 79% of the cases the spousal homicide perpetrators were subject to forensic psychiatric examinations. All except 5% were diagnosed with at least one psychiatric diagnosis, and 34% were sentenced to forensic psychiatric treatment. If it is assumed that the psychiatric morbidity was high in the 24% of the perpetrators who committed suicide, then 80% of all perpetrators of spouse homicide during the study period can be characterized as mentally disordered. ,Psychopathic' perpetrators, who generally are over-represented in most violent criminality, were comparatively uncommon. Only seven (4%) in the study group met the diagnostic criteria for psychopathy as measured with the PCL:SV. Discussion The group of spouse killers studied here fits the dysphoric/borderline group of spouse assaulters. This is a group that may benefit from treatment. Perhaps police officers could help identify this kind of spouse assaulter before a fatality occurs. Copyright © 2004 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source] Methadone maintenance treatment: the balance between life-saving treatment and fatal poisoningsADDICTION, Issue 3 2007A. Fugelstad ABSTRACT Aim To determine the total mortality related to the Stockholm methadone programme during the period 1988,2000, both the mortality related to the treatment and fatal methadone intoxications in the Stockholm area during the same period. Methods The study comprised all individuals (n = 848) who had been in contact with the methadone programme in Stockholm during the study period, including those patients who had been discharged from treatment and those opiate users who had applied for but not received methadone treatment. All deaths that had been the subject of medico-legal examination at the Department of Forensic Medicine in Stockholm where methadone was found in blood or urine were also analysed during the same period. Results The mortality was lower among those opiate users who remained in maintenance treatment and 91% of the deceased individuals had died due to natural causes, in most cases related to HIV or hepatitis C, acquired before admission to the programme. Those who had been discharged from methadone treatment had a 20 times higher risk of dying from unnatural causes compared to the patients who remained in treatment. The majority died due to heroin injections (,overdoses'). Eighty-nine cases of fatal methadone intoxication were found, but in only two of these cases was there evidence of leakage from maintenance treatment. Conclusion The ,high threshold programme' is safe as long as the patients remain in treatment and there are very few deaths due to leakage from the programme. However, there is a high mortality among those discharged from the programme and only a minority of the heroin users in Stockholm had applied for treatment. [source] Toxicology and Circumstances of Completed Suicide by Means Other than Overdose,JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES, Issue 2 2009Shane Darke Ph.D. Abstract:, To determine the prevalence and circumstances of psychoactive substances amongst nonoverdose completed suicide, 1436 consecutive cases autopsied at the NSW Department of Forensic Medicine over the period 1/1/1997,12/31/2006 were analyzed. Substances were detected in 67.2% of cases, and illicit drugs in 20.1%. Alcohol was present in 40.6% of cases. Males were more likely to be positive for alcohol, cannabis, and psychostimulants, and females for pharmaceuticals. Illicits were associated with younger age. Alcohol was most prominent amongst toxicity cases, as were opioids, psychostimulants amongst gunshot cases, and pharmaceuticals amongst drownings. Cases in which drug and alcohol histories were noted were more likely to have a substance detected. Alcohol was more common where a suicide note was left and where relationship problems were involved. Pharmaceuticals were more common where a previous attempt was noted. Licit and illicit substances are strongly associated with suicide, even when the method does not involve drug overdose. [source] Toxicology and Circumstances of Death of Homicide Victims in New South Wales, Australia 1996,2005JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES, Issue 2 2008Shane Darke Ph.D. Abstract:, To determine the prevalence and circumstances of psychoactive substances amongst homicide victims, 485 consecutive cases autopsied at the NSW Department of Forensic Medicine (1/1/1996,12/31/2005) were analyzed. Substances were detected in 62.6% of cases, and illicit drugs in 32.8%. Alcohol, cannabis, opioids, and psychostimulants were most commonly detected. Alcohol and cannabis were both more prevalent amongst males. Mean ages were significantly younger for decedents who tested positive for a substance and for an illicit drug. Cases where death resulted from a physical altercation were more likely to have had alcohol and cannabis present. Illicit drugs were prominent amongst firearms deaths. The proportion of alcohol positive cases increased from 25.0% on Monday to 49.4% for Saturdays/Sundays. Alcohol was more common in incidents in the 0001,0600 h and 1800,2400 h periods. Psychoactive substances appear to substantially increase the risk of homicide, although there are important differences between drug classes in the circumstances of such incidents. [source] Mole Guns in Turkey in 2003,2005JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES, Issue 1 2007lmaz M.D. ABSTRACT: This study describes the frequency of mole guns in Turkey by examining the cases sent to the Council of Forensic Medicine of Turkey between 2003 and 2005. In total, 11 mole guns were examined. Mole guns are manufactured to be used as a trap against detrimental animals. Although they are not meant to be used as a firearm, they are able to cause death. Mole guns appearing in regular casework were evaluated in terms of type of the gun, number of barrels, size and caliber, rifling, design, mechanism, fitness for use, legality, and geographical distribution. Ninty-one percent of the guns were 12 gauge. Most commonly they originate from Inner Anatolia. Mole guns are typically handmade. Some examples of injuries and deaths caused by mole guns are also offered. [source] Pen Guns in TurkeyJOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES, Issue 1 2007lmaz M.D. ABSTRACT: This study describes the frequency and type of pen guns in Turkey by examining the cases sent to the Council of Forensic Medicine of Turkey between 2000 and 2004. In total, 32 cases and 61 pen guns were examined. These guns were evaluated in respect of the type of the gun, size and caliber, rifling, design, mechanism, fitness for use, legality, and geographical distribution. Fifty-nine percent of the guns were 22-gauge. Most commonly, they originate from South Eastern Anatolia. It is suggested that the guns are handmade. [source] Teaching of forensic medicine in the undergraduate curriculum in Sri Lanka: bridging the gap between theory and practiceMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 11 2002Nilukshi L Abeyasinghe First page of article [source] Effects of delayed excision of oviducts/ovaries on mouse oocytes and embryosMOLECULAR REPRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2007De-Qiang Miao Abstract To achieve the best and reproducible results of experiments, effects of delayed excision of oviducts/ovaries on mouse ovarian/ovulated oocytes and embryos have been studied. Oviducts/ovaries were excised at different times after death of mice and effects of the postmortem interval on ovarian/ovulated oocytes and embryos were analyzed. When oviduct excision was delayed 10 min, many ovulated oocytes lysed or underwent in vitro spontaneous activation, and this postmortem effect aggravated with the extension of postmortem interval and oocyte aging. Oocytes from different mouse strains responded differently to delayed oviduct removal. Delayed oviduct excision did not cause lysis of zygotes or embryos but compromised their developmental potential. When ovaries were excised at 30 min after death, percentages of atretic follicles increased while blastocyst cell number declined significantly after oocyte maturation in vitro. Preservation of oviducts in vitro, in intact or opened abdomen at different temperatures and histological analysis of oviducts from different treatments suggested that toxic substance(s) were secreted from the dying oviducts which induced oocyte lysis and spontaneous activation and both this effect itself and the sensitivity of oocytes to this effect was temperature dependent. It is concluded that a short delay of oviduct/ovary removal had marked detrimental effects on oocytes and embryos. This must be taken into account in experiments using oocytes or embryos from slaughtered animals. The data may also be important for estimation of the time of death in forensic medicine and for rescue of oocytes from deceased valuable or endangered mammals. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 74: 468,477, 2007. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Statistical evaluation of time-dependent metabolite concentrations: estimation of post-mortem intervals based on in situ1H-MRS of the brainNMR IN BIOMEDICINE, Issue 3 2005Eva Scheurer Abstract Knowledge of the time interval from death (post-mortem interval, PMI) has an enormous legal, criminological and psychological impact. Aiming to find an objective method for the determination of PMIs in forensic medicine, 1H-MR spectroscopy (1H-MRS) was used in a sheep head model to follow changes in brain metabolite concentrations after death. Following the characterization of newly observed metabolites (Ith et al., Magn. Reson. Med. 2002; 5: 915,920), the full set of acquired spectra was analyzed statistically to provide a quantitative estimation of PMIs with their respective confidence limits. In a first step, analytical mathematical functions are proposed to describe the time courses of 10 metabolites in the decomposing brain up to 3 weeks post-mortem. Subsequently, the inverted functions are used to predict PMIs based on the measured metabolite concentrations. Individual PMIs calculated from five different metabolites are then pooled, being weighted by their inverse variances. The predicted PMIs from all individual examinations in the sheep model are compared with known true times. In addition, four human cases with forensically estimated PMIs are compared with predictions based on single in situ MRS measurements. Interpretation of the individual sheep examinations gave a good correlation up to 250,h post-mortem, demonstrating that the predicted PMIs are consistent with the data used to generate the model. Comparison of the estimated PMIs with the forensically determined PMIs in the four human cases shows an adequate correlation. Current PMI estimations based on forensic methods typically suffer from uncertainties in the order of days to weeks without mathematically defined confidence information. In turn, a single 1H-MRS measurement of brain tissue in situ results in PMIs with defined and favorable confidence intervals in the range of hours, thus offering a quantitative and objective method for the determination of PMIs. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Virtobot,a multi-functional robotic system for 3D surface scanning and automatic post mortem biopsyTHE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ROBOTICS AND COMPUTER ASSISTED SURGERY, Issue 1 2010Lars Christian Ebert Abstract Background The Virtopsy project, a multi-disciplinary project that involves forensic science, diagnostic imaging, computer science, automation technology, telematics and biomechanics, aims to develop new techniques to improve the outcome of forensic investigations. This paper presents a new approach in the field of minimally invasive virtual autopsy for a versatile robotic system that is able to perform three-dimensional (3D) surface scans as well as post mortem image-guided soft tissue biopsies. Methods The system consists of an industrial six-axis robot with additional extensions (i.e. a linear axis to increase working space, a tool-changing system and a dedicated safety system), a multi-slice CT scanner with equipment for angiography, a digital photogrammetry and 3D optical surface-scanning system, a 3D tracking system, and a biopsy end effector for automatic needle placement. A wax phantom was developed for biopsy accuracy tests. Results Surface scanning times were significantly reduced (scanning times cut in half, calibration three times faster). The biopsy module worked with an accuracy of 3.2 mm. Discussion Using the Virtobot, the surface-scanning procedure could be standardized and accelerated. The biopsy module is accurate enough for use in biopsies in a forensic setting. Conclusion The Virtobot can be utilized for several independent tasks in the field of forensic medicine, and is sufficiently versatile to be adapted to different tasks in the future. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Use of Simulation Technology in Forensic Medical EducationACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 2009Heather Rozzi Although the emergency department often provides the first and only opportunity to collect forensic evidence, very few emergency medicine residencies have a forensic medicine curriculum in place. Most of the existing curricula are composed only of traditional didactics. However, as with any lecture-based education, there may be a significant delay between the didactic session and clinical application. In addition, traditional curricula lack the opportunity for residents to practice skills including evidence collection, documentation, and use of a colposcope. At York Hospital, we have developed a forensic curriculum which consists of both traditional lectures and practical experience in our Medical Simulation Center. As part of their educational conference series, residents receive presentations on domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, evidence collection, sexual assault, ballistics, pattern injuries, documentation, forensic photography, and court testimony. Following these presentations, residents have the opportunity to apply their knowledge of forensic medicine in the Simulation Center. First, they interview a standardized patient. They then utilize the mannequins in the Simulation Center to practice evidence collection, photo documentation, and use of our specialized forensic medicine charts. After evidence collection and documentation, the residents provide safety planning for the standardized patients. Each portion is videotaped, and each resident is debriefed by victim advocates, experienced sexual assault nurse examiners, and emergency department faculty. The use of simulation technology in resident education provides the opportunity to practice the skills of forensic medicine, ultimately benefiting patients, residents, and law enforcement, and permitting teaching and evaluation in all six core competency areas. [source] Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia: A five-hundred year-long lessonCLINICAL ANATOMY, Issue 7 2010Francesco Cappello Abstract Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia was born five centuries ago in Regalbuto, a small town in the center of Sicily. After his medical course in Padua, under the guidance of Vesalius and Fallopius, he gained international fame as a physician and was recruited as a Professor of human anatomy in Naples and later in Palermo. He is remembered as "the new Galen" or "the Sicilian Hippocrates." He contributed to the knowledge of human anatomy through the description of single bones rather than the whole skeleton. In particular, he was the first to describe the "stapes," the "lesser wings of the sphenoid" and various other structures in the head (probably the pharyngotympanic tube) as well as in the reproductive system (corpora cavernosa and seminal vesicles). He was also a pioneer in the study of forensic medicine, hygiene, surgical pathology, and teratology. As Protomedicus of Sicily, he developed the scientific culture in this country. During those years, he faced the spread of malaria and plague with competence and authoritativeness. Indeed, he was one of the first physicians to suppose that certain diseases could be transmitted between individuals, therefore, introducing revolutionary measures of prevention. He is remembered for his intellectual authority and honesty. Five-hundred years after his birth, his teaching is still alive. In this article, we survey the life and contribution of this pioneer of early anatomical study. Clin. Anat. 23:743,749, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. 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