Journal of forensic and legal medicine最新文献

{"title":"Bitemarks and 3D scanner: An objective comparison for bitemarks. A pilot study","authors":"Bianca Beltrame ,&nbsp;Giacomo Fassina ,&nbsp;Anna Aprile ,&nbsp;Andrea Verzeletti","doi":"10.1016/j.jflm.2024.102639","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jflm.2024.102639","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The marks left by the bite of a subject (bitemark) represent an unequivocal character, being useful in identifying the possible perpetrator of a crime. To date, the analysis of bitemarks is mainly based on the direct vision of photographic finds and on the visual comparison with the teeth of the hypothetically responsible person. However, the bitemark also retains three-dimensional characteristics detectable with a 3D scanner. In this pilot study, an innovative method of bitemark analysis, utilizing a three-dimensional scanner and some software, will be introduced, enabling a quantitative comparison of bitemarks and their corresponding human dentitions. For this purpose, 10 complete plaster models (human dentitions) of 10 adult subjects were used to make 20 experimental bitemarks on dentistry wax. All materials were individually scanned with the iTero® 3D scanner and reworked with MeshMixer software. A visual analysis of the characteristics and a computerized analysis with the CloudCompare software were also performed. Study showed a different trend of the distribution curves of the points which were obtained comparing the human dentition and coincident and non-coincident bitemarks. Current results support that the intraoral 3D scanner allows the fast record and the preservation of the three-dimensional characteristics of the bitemarks, and it allows computerized analyses to be carried out.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":16098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of forensic and legal medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1752928X24000015/pdfft?md5=aa56d764ba59708e0b8c618c02d0ce23&pid=1-s2.0-S1752928X24000015-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139374021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The completeness of routine registration of the counterpart in deliberate interpersonal violence in an urban emergency department","authors":"Christian Faergemann ,&nbsp;Jens Martin Lauritsen","doi":"10.1016/j.jflm.2024.102640","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jflm.2024.102640","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Most studies of violence from the health care system lack reliable information about the counterpart, which is important for distinguishing between different types of violence. Since 2014, the emergency department at Odense University Hospital in Denmark has routinely registered information about the counterpart. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the completeness of registering information about the counterpart during routine registration of victims of interpersonal violence in the emergency department. We included 11,200 victims treated at the emergency department 2014–2021. Using the patient registration data, we estimated the proportion of missing information on the counterpart, stratified by age group and gender of the victim as well as type of incident and severity of injury. Information about the counterpart was registered in 91.5 % of all cases. In 43.1 % (CI: 42.2–44.0) of the cases, the counterpart was unknown to the victim, in 24.3 % (CI: 23.5–25.1) the counterpart was an acquaintance, in 10.5 % (CI: 10.0–11.1) the counterpart was a partner, and in 4.2 % (CI: 3.8–4.5) the counterpart was another family member. The proportion of cases with no information about the counterpart varied with gender, age group, time of violence, place of violence, weapon use, and severity of injury. Half of the victims injured with firearms (46.2 %, CI: 30.1–62.8) and one-fourth of the victims injured with knives (25.9 %, CI: 21.9–30.2) did not reveal information about the counterpart. The majority of the victims revealed information about the counterpart, making it possible to analyse different types of violence separately.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":16098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of forensic and legal medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1752928X24000027/pdfft?md5=a8f00c8645a9fb0ee7a90b8e3118f0fd&pid=1-s2.0-S1752928X24000027-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139094545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Alcimedes","authors":"John Gall","doi":"10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102621","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102621","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":16098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of forensic and legal medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138506794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A lucid interval in a victim of abusive head trauma with multiple parenchymal lacerations","authors":"Cree Kachelski ,&nbsp;Kelsey Gavin ,&nbsp;Hayden Head ,&nbsp;Danielle Horton ,&nbsp;James Anderst","doi":"10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102638","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102638","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>Abusive head trauma<span><span> (AHT) is a leading cause of abusive deaths in children under age<span> one. AHT can include intracranial hemorrhages<span>, hypoxic ischemic injury, or parenchymal lacerations. Most infants with parenchymal lacerations present with acute </span></span></span>neurological symptoms. There has been some published literature on </span></span>lucid intervals<span><span> in cases of AHT; however, there has not been a described lucid interval with parenchymal lacerations. Parenchymal lacerations typically present with acute symptomatology such as </span>seizures, alteration in mental status, or increased fussiness/lethargy given the damage to neurons and brain structure. We present a case of a healthy 2-month-old who ultimately was diagnosed with AHT and three parenchymal lacerations and had a 2.5 hour period of normal neurological status prior to acute decompensation.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":16098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of forensic and legal medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139053321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The interest of using vitreous humor for γ-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) quantification in related fatalities: Stability evaluation, case report and literature review","authors":"Antoine Baudriller ,&nbsp;Chadi Abbara ,&nbsp;Marie Briet ,&nbsp;Séverine Ferec ,&nbsp;Léa-Héléna Rossi ,&nbsp;Nathalie Jousset ,&nbsp;Stéphane Malbranque ,&nbsp;Guillaume Drevin","doi":"10.1016/j.jflm.2024.102641","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jflm.2024.102641","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Analysis and interpretation of the findings for γ-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) in related fatalities remains problematic. Indeed, GHB is a naturally occurring compound present in both the mammalian central nervous system and peripheral tissue. Moreover, a postmortem increase in endogenous GHB concentration has been observed, especially in blood. Facing this issue, the use of an alternative matrix such as vitreous humor (VH) can thus be particularly interesting for GHB testing and quantification. VH is considered to be less prone to postmortem redistribution, is easy to collect, and has relatively few interfering compounds for the analytical process. In this context, the authors report the case of a GHB-related fatality involving 22-year-old male. In this case, GHB femoral blood (FB) (790 mg/L) and vitreous (750 mg/L) concentrations appeared similar with a FB to VH (FB/VH) ratio of 1.05. In addition, other similar cases with both GHB blood and vitreous concentrations were reviewed. Five cases were identified. The blood to VH ratios ranging from 0.13 to 2.58. Finally, GHB stability was documented in postmortem blood and VH, in order to address the reliability of VH as an alternative matrix for GHB quantitation at postmortem. GHB appeared relatively stable in postmortem blood specimens (at 50 mg/L) over a period of 28 days when stored at +4 °C or −20 °C. The same results were observed in VH specimens.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":16098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of forensic and legal medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1752928X24000039/pdfft?md5=dee01d5c939259ec1a5ace7a3d11b601&pid=1-s2.0-S1752928X24000039-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139103955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The 21-foot principle: Effects of age and sex on knife attack characteristics","authors":"Michael A. Kantor ,&nbsp;Anthony Bleetman ,&nbsp;Joel Tenbrink ,&nbsp;Hina Garg","doi":"10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102637","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102637","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><p>Knives are commonly-used weapons in criminal activities and interpersonal assaults worldwide. Injury reports have identified the upper body as the most frequent location of knife injuries, and that stabbing attacks are more fatal than slashing attacks. The first two aims of the study explore whether the type of attack and attack location could be predicted from age and sex group. The following aims compared attack times between sex and age groups and evaluated the influence of subject characteristics on attack duration. The exploratory aim surveyed subjects on attack location during the scenario if the target was not wearing body armor.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>A total of 74 subjects (male: n = 40; female: n = 34) participated. Subjects were video recorded during a 21-foot (ft) attack and participated in follow-up questions and completed a push-up test to determine physical strength. Attack time (AT), concealment location, attack type, and demographic information were correlated to age group and sex.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Mean AT from 21 ft was 2.40 ± 0.47 s, with the fastest of 1.75 s. The most commonly observed concealment location, attack type, and attack location on the target included the right hip (n = 62), stab (n = 62), and the chest (n = 28), respectively. After controlling for push-up ability (p &lt; 0.05), no differences were reported between any combination of sex and age group in AT from 21 ft. Push-up ability was the sole significant predictor of AT from 21 ft (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05). Twenty-eight subjects reported they purposely avoided the body armor vest during the 21 ft attack.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Law enforcement officers are encouraged to train for quick defensive or offensive responses, such as hand-to-knife combat or rapid firearm skills that can be performed in under 1.75 s. Stronger people were predicted to complete the 21 ft attack faster.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":16098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of forensic and legal medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138825040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A comprehensive LC-MS/MS method for simultaneous analysis of 65 synthetic cannabinoids in human hair samples and application to forensic investigations","authors":"Yiqi Yang ,&nbsp;Buyi Xu ,&nbsp;Daoxia Li ,&nbsp;Qifu Zhang ,&nbsp;Jing Zhang ,&nbsp;Lin Yang ,&nbsp;Yi Ye","doi":"10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102636","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102636","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Synthetic cannabinoids<span> (SCs) represent a diverse class of new psychoactive substances characterized by extensive substance variety and severe abuse implications. The current situation of synthetic cannabinoid abuse in China is getting worse, with an increasing number of SC variants emerging. Therefore, it is imperative<span> to improve synthetic cannabinoid detecting methods to align with the prevalent abuse situation in the region. In this study, a reliable and validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of 65 SC analogues in human hair samples. The validation results demonstrated satisfactory linearity (r ≥ 0.99) within the range of 25–2500 pg/mg for each SC analogue. The method exhibited limits of detection ranging from 10 to 15 pg/mg and limits of quantification ranging from 25 to 40 pg/mg. The relative standard deviations of intra-day precision and inter-day precision were below 15 %. Furthermore, negligible matrix effects were observed, with recovery rates ranging from 85.70 % to 119.43 %. Analysis of abuser demographics revealed that the primary group engaged in SC analogue abuse consisted of adolescents, predominantly males, accounting for 79.5 % of cases. Among the suspected individuals, ADB-BUTINACA and MDMB-4en-PINACA were the most frequently detected substances. The present study develops a highly sensitive analytical method and provides a comprehensive overview of the prevalence of SC abuse in the eastern region of China.</span></span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":16098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of forensic and legal medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138684227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fibromuscular dysplasia of the coronary arteries: An unusual case of sudden death and review of the literature","authors":"Oumeima Brahim ,&nbsp;Yosra Mahjoub ,&nbsp;Marwa Boussaid ,&nbsp;Hiba Limem ,&nbsp;Abir Aissaoui","doi":"10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102633","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102633","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Fibromuscular dysplasia of the coronary is an uncommon coronary defect with a range of pathological alterations and unpredictable clinical description that can cause sudden death.</p><p><span><span>We present an autopsy case of sudden cardiac death<span> due to a rupture of a coronary artery aneurysm in a 59-year-old woman. Postmortem autopsy revealed two huge </span></span>saccular aneurysms located at the </span>right coronary artery<span>, one of which was ruptured leading to a fatal hemopericardium<span>. Histopathological examination revealed coronary artery fibromuscular dysplasia with fibromyxoid dissociation of the media causing saccular aneurysms. The involvement of coronary arteries in fibromuscular dysplasia with aneurysmal features has been rarely reported in the literature and is most likely an underdiagnosed finding. Due to the little number of published studies, the etiology is not fully understood and data on pathogenesis, risk factors, manifestation, disease course, and mortality are still unclear, which is a gap that needs to be filled in order to avoid under-diagnosis of the disease.</span></span></p><p>Our case report aimed to discuss the mechanisms of sudden death attributed to coronary fibromuscular dysplasia.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":16098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of forensic and legal medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138632638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Review of the demographic factors and toxicology related to deaths due to pregabalin in Northern Ireland","authors":"William Ryan Huddleston ,&nbsp;James Robert Lyness ,&nbsp;Amy Quinn","doi":"10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102635","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102635","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>The potential for recreational abuse of the analgesic and antiepileptic drug pregabalin is now well established in the literature. The potential minimum lethal dose in </span><em>post mortem</em> cases is however less defined. All <em>post mortem</em> examinations in Northern Ireland where the cause of death was found to be due to pregabalin were examined for demographic and toxicological analysis. Deaths are generally seen in young men, especially 30-39-year-olds, many of whom have a history of substance misuse and are often prescribed pregabalin. Until recently, prescription rates have been on the rise regionally. The overall median <em>post mortem</em><span> peripheral blood concentration of pregabalin found in this study is 10.6 mg/L, however this rises when concurrent drugs and alcohol are considered and in cases where pregabalin is considered responsible for death alone (i.e. outside of multidrug toxicity). Pregabalin peripheral blood concentrations returned in this study suggest previously offered minimum lethal dosages may need to be revised downward.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":16098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of forensic and legal medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138572746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Technical note: Excel spreadsheet calculation of the Henssge equation as an aid to estimating postmortem interval","authors":"Masaomi Otatsume ,&nbsp;Norihiro Shinkawa ,&nbsp;Myu Tachibana ,&nbsp;Hisanaga Kuroki ,&nbsp;Ayako Ro ,&nbsp;Ai Sonoda ,&nbsp;Eiji Kakizaki ,&nbsp;Nobuhiro Yukawa","doi":"10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102634","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102634","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In forensic cases for which the time of death is unknown, several methods are used to estimate the postmortem interval. The quotient (<em>Q</em>) defined as the difference between the rectal and ambient temperature (<em>Tr</em> − <em>Ta</em>) divided by the initial difference (<em>T0</em> − <em>Ta</em>) represents the progress of postmortem cooling: <em>Q</em> = (<em>Tr</em> − <em>Ta</em>)/(<em>T0</em> − <em>Ta</em>), (1 ≥ <em>Q</em> ≥ 0). Henssge was able to show that with the body weight and its empirical corrective factor, <em>Q</em> can be reasonably <em>predicted</em> as a double exponential decay function of time (<em>Qp(t)</em>). On the other hand, actual <em>Q</em> is <em>determined</em> as <em>Qd</em> by measuring <em>Tr</em> and <em>Ta</em> under an assumption of <em>T0</em> = 37.2 °C. Then, the <em>t</em> value at which <em>Qp(t)</em> is equal to <em>Qd</em> (<span><math><mrow><mrow><mi>Q</mi><mi>d</mi></mrow><mo>=</mo><mrow><mi>Q</mi><mi>p</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>t</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></math></span>) would be a good estimate of the postmortem interval (the Henssge equation). Since the equation cannot be solved analytically, it has been solved using a pair of nomograms devised by Henssge. With greater access to computers and spreadsheet software, computational methods based on the input of actual parameters of the case can be more easily utilized. In this technical note, we describe two types of Excel spreadsheets to solve the equation numerically. In one type, a fairly accurate solution was obtained by iteration using an add-in program Solver. In the other type (forward calculation), a series of <em>Qp(t)</em> was generated at a time interval of 0.05 h and the <em>t</em> value at which <em>Qp(t)</em> was nearest to <em>Qd</em> was selected as an approximate solution using a built-in function, XLOOKUP. Alternatively, a series of absolute values of the difference between <em>Qd</em> and <em>Qp(t)</em> (|<em>Dq(t)</em>| = |<em>Qd</em> − <em>Qp</em>(<em>t</em>)|) was generated with time interval 0.1 h and the <em>t</em> value that produces the minimum |<em>Dq</em>(<em>t</em>)| was selected. These Excel spreadsheets are available as Supplementary Files.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":16098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of forensic and legal medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1752928X2300152X/pdfft?md5=e44ea69acf0d065d56487183778152b9&pid=1-s2.0-S1752928X2300152X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138506790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}