Nihon hoigaku zasshi = The Japanese journal of legal medicine最新文献

{"title":"[Strategy for investigation of forensic autopsy cases where drugs or poisonous substances are involved].","authors":"K Kimura","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In recent years, the number of drug- or toxin-related criminal cases has gradually increased, and accordingly the establishment of precise forensic autopsy examinations and appropriate chemical analysis is of urgent importance so that such cases are not overlooked. To this end, the author has set up a general instructional objective comprising \"preparation of the most suitable analytical procedures for elucidation of drug- and/or poison-related cases in a forensic medicine laboratory\". Specific objectives within the general instructional objective consist of the following: 1) securing adequate manpower, 2) swift acquisition and accumulation of the latest scientific information, 3) sufficient examinations during forensic autopsy, 4) appropriate collection and storage of human tissues, 5) enforcement of preliminary tests and routine examinations, 6) selection of proper analytical procedures and instruments for qualitative and quantitative analysis, 7) establishment of reliable quantitative analysis, 8) signification of quantitative data, 9) preparation of an accurate analytical report. In our laboratory, we have been able to analyze many kinds of acidic and basic substances as well as volatile hydrocarbons, alcohol and carboxyhemoglobin through the use of absorptimetry, gas chromatography, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatography, however it is thought that more skillful techniques should be developed as soon as possible with regard to the analysis of inorganic and water-soluble agents.</p>","PeriodicalId":19215,"journal":{"name":"Nihon hoigaku zasshi = The Japanese journal of legal medicine","volume":"53 3","pages":"301-5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1999-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21575412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Searching for a new risk factor of sudden cardiac death].","authors":"S Takeichi","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sudden death of cardiovascular origin has been recognized as a major cause of sudden natural death. Advanced coronary atherosclerosis often co-existent, despite this, little or no coronary atherosclerosis was seen in approximately half of the sudden coronary death cases. Some components in the blood seem to induce not only the coronary atherosclerosis but also coronary spasm and/or thrombogenesis under certain conditions, which does not necessarily relate to the severity of atherosclerosis. Postmortem plasma lipids and lipoprotein levels, especially triglyceride-rich lipoprotein remnants (abbreviated as remnants) were measured as remnant-like particles-cholesterol (RLP-C) and triglyceride (RLP-TG) in two groups of Japanese subjects who died suddenly and unexpectedly due to coronary or non-coronary causes. Our study on the postmortem plasma analysis of lipids and lipoproteins indicated that RLP-C was most strongly correlated with the severity of the coronary atherosclerosis and to be the best predictor among various parameters. Furthermore, RLP-TG appeared to be highly associated with the risk of sudden coronary event or death, especially in cases without advanced coronary atherosclerosis, which might be associated with clinical events as coronary spasm or thrombosis. Biological activities of RLP from postmortem plasmas of sudden coronary death cases showed strong effects on platelet aggregation and impaired vasorelaxation in vitro. RLP determined as RLP-TG might affect on the process of spasm or on the formation of thrombus in the coronary artery at the time of sudden coronary death, independent of the severity of coronary atherosclerosis. These data might be clinically important to predict or to prevent sudden coronary death. The studies were conducted as followed: 1) Separation, purification and quantitative analysis of remnants from postmortem plasma. 2) Isolation and characterization of remnants from postmortem plasma. 2-1) Assessment of the methods of TG measurement. 2-2) Characterization of remnants by HPLC methods. 2-3) Characterization of remnants by electrophoresis. 2-4) Electron microscopical observation of remnants. 3) Lipid and lipoprotein analysis of sudden coronary death and control cases. 3-1) Lipid and lipoprotein levels of sudden coronary death and control cases. 3-2) Plasma remnant levels in the postprandial state. 3-3) Severity of coronary atherosclerosis and plasma lipid and lipoprotein levels, especially remnant levels. 3-4) Sudden coronary death cases without advanced coronary atherosclerosis and their plasma lipid, lipoprotein levels, especially remnant levels. 4) Biological activities of the remnants. 4-1) Endothelium-dependent vasodilator function in the coronary artery. 4-2) Aggregation of human blood platelets by remnants. 5) Fatty acids analysis of remnants from sudden coronary death cases. 6) Immuno-histochemical examination of various apo-lipoproteins on the coronary artery. 7) Gene analysis of plasma lipid met","PeriodicalId":19215,"journal":{"name":"Nihon hoigaku zasshi = The Japanese journal of legal medicine","volume":"53 3","pages":"255-75"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1999-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21575408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Present status of forensic analyses and possible approach for a rapid identification of toxins].","authors":"M Ueki","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Frequency of public harm that associated with hazardous chemicals has been increasing in the last several years. These incidents involve nerve gas attacks on Matsumoto-city and on the subways in central Tokyo, doping in sports, amphetamines abuse problem among adolescent boys and girls, potential health risks due to a contamination of environment by endocrine disrupters, and scheduled contamination of foods and drinks by several toxic compounds. US government has learnt from unexpected Sarin-affairs in Japan, and fast-track defensive action has been taken in the USA for a better safe of general public. The Japanese system for forensic analyses consists of a number of in-organizational laboratories that founded in each individual universities, hospitals and police offices etc. Such system allows laboratories to fit regional requirements and to achieve highly professional outcome on a specific area depending on their scientific interests. On the other hand, such situation sometime can cause difficulty in timely identification of certain compounds, which are not frequently analyzed in their laboratories. This paper refers to the possible bottlenecks, critical points and key success factors for a rapid identification of toxins. Two stage testing systems, namely, a) simple rapid examination such as one-step specific immunoassays for on-site emergency testing, and b) following conclusive identification of the compounds in the nearest expert laboratories seemed to be effective and practical corrective measures for the problems that were focused in the recent crises. Documentation of the course of action to be taken in case of emergency, improved supply system of reference standards, circulation of information through the Internet mailing list or other communication infrastructures, use of quality control program, and financial supporting of other educational programs for analyses, may improve the situation.</p>","PeriodicalId":19215,"journal":{"name":"Nihon hoigaku zasshi = The Japanese journal of legal medicine","volume":"53 3","pages":"318-21"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1999-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21575415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Isn't there a gap between ideal and real actions in legal toxicology?].","authors":"M Sagi","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>I showed a view for some problems, which need to be solved, in the process of post mortem examinations and chemical analyses of deaths from poisoning. Basic education program of analytical chemistry has some problems for medical students, post graduated persons and analysts. Analytical procedures have also problems in quality assurance system. I expressed the necessity of \"an analytical center of poisoning\", following I showed a plan as a starting point for \"the analytical center\".</p>","PeriodicalId":19215,"journal":{"name":"Nihon hoigaku zasshi = The Japanese journal of legal medicine","volume":"53 3","pages":"306-12"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1999-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21575413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Proteome analysis: the state of the art of the methodology].","authors":"A Tsugita,&nbsp;T Kawakami","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The proteome is the protein complement of a genome. Proteome analysis has been progressing worldwide. Two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE), a key technique in proteome analysis, separates proteins on a polyacrylamide gel according to the isoelectric point and molecular mass. A total of 1,000-1,500 protein spots can be separated and detected on a polyacrylamide gel using silver-staining. It is important to identify individual protein spots in order to correlate the information of the genome to that of the corresponding proteome. By automatic amino-terminal sequencing, around 15 amino acid residues from the amino terminus can be determined from 1 pmole of a protein sample. The homology search of the obtained sequences against a protein sequence database can clarify the protein unambigously. Recently, a carboxyl-terminal sequencing method using a vapor from a high concentration of an organic acid has been developed. Peptide-mass-fingerprinting is a new method for protein identification using residue-specific proteases and mass spectrometry. Two types of chemical cleavage methods, the carboxyl side cleavage of the aspartyl peptide bond and the amino terminal cleavage of serine/threonine peptide bonds would be more suitable for peptide-mass-fingerprinting of micro amount protein because of no contamination from the gel matrix or the enzyme used. It would be possible to analyse less amount protein sample (100 femtomole) more rapidly according to advancement of mass spectrometry.</p>","PeriodicalId":19215,"journal":{"name":"Nihon hoigaku zasshi = The Japanese journal of legal medicine","volume":"53 2","pages":"191-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1999-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21397854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Tests for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in Japanese population].","authors":"Y Katsumata,&nbsp;M Mizutani,&nbsp;H Nozawa,&nbsp;R Uchihi,&nbsp;T Yamamoto,&nbsp;K Tamaki","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In population genetics, the absence of the departure from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) is usually tested when a population study of a certain DNA marker is performed to show the observed allele frequencies represent those of the whole population. The goodness-of-fit test (chi 2 test) assuming chi 2 approximation has frequently been used with classical blood type markers having a few alleles. However, new tests suitable for DNA markers having many alleles, such as homozygosity test, likelihood ratio test and Guo-Thompson's (G-T') exact test, have recently been devised. In the present study, appropriate tests for HWE was studied using population data of 206 Japanese individuals with 9 different short tandem repeat loci. Firstly, we found that the recommendation of NRC II for the treatment of rare allele frequencies (If a bin in the database contains fewer than five entries, it is pooled with adjacent bins so that no bin has fewer than five) is quite reasonable for personal identification in forensic sciences. Secondly, we proposed that homozygosity test, likelihood ratio test and G-T's exact test should be applied altogether and HWE of the sample population should be valid only when all of the three tests were cleared.</p>","PeriodicalId":19215,"journal":{"name":"Nihon hoigaku zasshi = The Japanese journal of legal medicine","volume":"53 2","pages":"218-26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1999-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21397222","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[The structural polymorphism in D8S580-STR region].","authors":"K Akiyama,&nbsp;K Shimada,&nbsp;E Takeda,&nbsp;T Yoshii,&nbsp;I Ishiyama","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The STR structure of the D8S580 locus was analyzed by the base sequencing technique. Alleles were collected separately by urea denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the PCR amplification product, followed by cutting of the target DNA band from the gel, and reamplification. As a result, this locus was shown to have a complex STR structure consisting of four types of repeat units, i.e. GGAA (II), GAAA (III), GAAAA (IV), and GCAA (V). Of 53 unrelated Japanese individuals, 51 were heterozygous, and the most frequent allele was type IV 8-II 7 III 6 III 3 (16%). Forty-four alleles with distinct structures appeared once the samples tested. As 57 different alleles were detected in this study, this region is considered to be one of the locus that have a high degree of repetitive structural polymorphism and therefore useful in forensic science.</p>","PeriodicalId":19215,"journal":{"name":"Nihon hoigaku zasshi = The Japanese journal of legal medicine","volume":"53 2","pages":"227-30"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1999-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21397223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Histological study of early postmortem changes in various organs: comparison of the paraffin embedding method and the epoxy resin embedding method].","authors":"Y Tomita,&nbsp;M Nihira,&nbsp;Y Ohno,&nbsp;S Sato","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>For the purpose of morphological assessment of the early postmortem interval, Wistar rats were killed by cervical dislocation and left at 23 degrees C for 1, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 24 hours. After a given postmortem interval, tissue samples taken from kidney, pancreas, liver, heart and skeletal muscle were embedded in paraffin or epoxy resin and examined by light microscopy. Specimens obtained from the paraffin block did not show a good correlation between histological changes and postmortem interval, because the postmortem changes continued during the fixation period. On the other hand, the time course of histological changes in specimens obtained from the epoxy block, particularly the development of clumping of nuclear chromatin and cytoplasmic vacuolation in each organ, reflected the postmortem interval because of the rapid fixation by glutaraldehyde. These histological changes were characteristic of each organ up to 24 hours after death. In addition, the semithin epoxy resin section made high-resolution light microscopy possible. Therefore, the epoxy resin embedding method is superior to the paraffin embedding method for the purpose of estimation of the time of death. The morphological changes characterising time after death are as follows: at 1 hour after death, cytoplasmic vacuolization and slight clumping of nuclear chromatin in pancreatic acinar cells; at 3 hours after death, slight clumping of nuclear chromatin in distal tubules, cytoplasmic vacuolization in skeletal muscle, and edema in cardiac muscle; at 5 hours after death, clumping of nuclear chromatin in proximal tubules as well as distal tubules, and cytoplasmic vacuolization in hepatocytes; at 10 hours after death, edema in proximal tubules, condensation of nuclear chromatin (apoptosis) and edema in distal tubules, and atrophy of acinar cells in the pancreas; at 15 hours after death, cytolysis of distal tubules; at 24 hours after death, cytolysis of hepatocytes and clumping of chromatin in skeletal muscle. Thus we can conclude that the time course of histological changes is useful for the estimation of postmortem interval.</p>","PeriodicalId":19215,"journal":{"name":"Nihon hoigaku zasshi = The Japanese journal of legal medicine","volume":"53 2","pages":"207-17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1999-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21397221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[A sudden death case in the bath with peculiar scald].","authors":"H Hosoe,&nbsp;A Tanegashima,&nbsp;H Yamamoto,&nbsp;N Nishiyama,&nbsp;T Ogura,&nbsp;T Hirasawa,&nbsp;T Fukunaga","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A 60-year-old man was found dead in the bathtub of his house on the 2nd of February. Erythema with a clear border was observed on the right side of the face, trunk and around the knees, though the left side of the face, the hips and the feet were normal. The water heater was set outside of the bath, and the heated water flowed from the heater to the bath through the upper pipe. In order to determine the mechanism of the peculiar scalding, changes in the water temperature in the bathtub were measured under the same conditions. An hour after turning on the water heater, the surface water temperature of the bath was 73 degrees C. Zonal gradation of the temperature was observed. At the level of the opening for the lower intake pipe, it was 50 degrees C. The border of the scalding was consistent with the water layer above 50 degrees C.</p>","PeriodicalId":19215,"journal":{"name":"Nihon hoigaku zasshi = The Japanese journal of legal medicine","volume":"53 2","pages":"231-5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1999-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21397224","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Polymorphism of hypervariable region in D-loop of mitochondrial DNA].","authors":"Y Takada,&nbsp;M Mukaida","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>DNA sequences of PCR products from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 80 healthy Japanese volunteers (40 pairs, mother and child) were determined by the direct sequencing method for polymorphism. Thirty (15 pairs) of 80 samples analyzed showed a T-to-C transition at position 16189 (T16189C) of the C-stretch region in the hyper-variable region of mtDNA. For seven pairs randomly selected from the 15 T16189C pairs (C-stretch) and a single pair without the transition (non C-stretch), PCR products from the D-loop region were cloned and then sequenced. The repeat number of C in the C-stretch region was found to show heteroplasmy by sequencing multiples clones from each mtDNA. Statistical analyses of the distribution patterns of the repeat number revealed no significant differences between the mother and child in each lineage but significant differences between the lineages. The seven lineages could be then classified into four groups. The result of our data confirmed the existence of heteroplasmic polymorphism in the C-stretch region and the inheritance of the heteroplasmy from mother to child. Therefore, the analysis of heteroplasmy is applicable to individual identification.</p>","PeriodicalId":19215,"journal":{"name":"Nihon hoigaku zasshi = The Japanese journal of legal medicine","volume":"53 2","pages":"199-206"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1999-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21397855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}