Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2023-02-08DOI: 10.1177/00258172221145109
Alan W Jones
{"title":"Highly cited forensic practitioners in the Nordic countries and their composite citation scores based on six different citation metrics.","authors":"Alan W Jones","doi":"10.1177/00258172221145109","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172221145109","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Forensic science is a multidisciplinary field that involves the use of various scientific methods and techniques for the investigation of crimes. Forensic scientists are often required to testify in court as expert witnesses and explain the meaning of chemical, physical, and/or medical evidence to a judge and jury. This article took advantage of a citation database to identify the most highly cited forensic practitioners in four Nordic countries within the discipline of legal and forensic medicine. The starting point was 7 million scientists indexed in the SCOPUS database, each of whom had their name on at least five entries. Six different citation metrics were used to calculate a person's composite citation score. Those within the top 2% of their primary research discipline were considered highly cited.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"13-18"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9222532","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}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2025-01-17DOI: 10.1177/00258172241279618
Nicholas Taylor, Helen Karimi, Jainith Patel, Joseph Tingen, Joseph D Castellanos, Hiba F Hamid, Ron I Riesenburger, James Kryzanski
{"title":"Is intraoperative neuromonitoring the standard of care for pedicle screw placement surgery? A survey of neurosurgeons' practices.","authors":"Nicholas Taylor, Helen Karimi, Jainith Patel, Joseph Tingen, Joseph D Castellanos, Hiba F Hamid, Ron I Riesenburger, James Kryzanski","doi":"10.1177/00258172241279618","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172241279618","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Spine surgery is highly litigious; misplaced screws and intraoperative neuromonitoring frequently feature in lawsuits. Intraoperative neuromonitoring aims to prevent injury but its standards are debated, and literature suggests its benefits are mixed. We surveyed its use among neurosurgeons from the Congress of Neurological Surgeons with Pearson's chi-square test applied to analyse data within R. Among 188 respondents, 39.9% worked in private practice or academic institutions. Usage rates were 50.5% always, 27.7% never and 21.8% sometimes. Opinions on intraoperative neuromonitoring necessity varied, with 55% disagreeing and 32% agreeing. No differences were noted by practice type or location. Among intraoperative neuromonitoring users, 47% found it sensitive and specific, while 45% used it for medico-legal reasons. Of non-users, 26% preferred other technologies. Overall, the usage of intraoperative neuromonitoring is nuanced and opinions leaned more heavily toward its implementation not being a current standard of care in pedicle screw placement surgery.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"22-28"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143013200","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":"Death from an improvised explosive device (IED) in Nepal.","authors":"Samjhana Ghimire, Mimosa Bajracharya, Alok Atreya, Srijana Kunwar","doi":"10.1177/00258172241275287","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172241275287","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Blast injuries can be caused by pressurised containers like gas cylinders, tyres, etc., and are commonly associated with wars and terrorist attacks. The injuries suffered will depend on the type of explosion, for example from shock wave, burns and fractures, which mainly affect the lungs and hollow organs. Accurately noting the nature and extent of any blast injuries suffered will help to explain the patho-mechanism of these injuries. We report a case of 49-year-old pedestrian who sustained bomb blast injuries at a mobile phone tower office in Nepal. An improvised explosive device was used in the attack. All the peculiarities and typical features of blast injuries were evident at autopsy and may provide useful information for researchers studying explosive-related deaths.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"51-54"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143190840","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}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2023-04-06DOI: 10.1177/00258172221148002
Diana Brahams
{"title":"Dr Neville Davis, MBE, GP and Forensic Medical Examiner (1925-2022): An Obituary.","authors":"Diana Brahams","doi":"10.1177/00258172221148002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00258172221148002","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":"93 1_suppl","pages":"105"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143538145","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}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2023-01-24DOI: 10.1177/00258172221145108
Giuseppe D Albano, Giovanni Scalzo, Ginevra Malta, Giovanni De Lisi, Antonina Argo, Emiliano Maresi, Stefania Zerbo
{"title":"Juvenile sudden cardiac death due to congenital coronary ostial valve-like ridges: A case report and literature review.","authors":"Giuseppe D Albano, Giovanni Scalzo, Ginevra Malta, Giovanni De Lisi, Antonina Argo, Emiliano Maresi, Stefania Zerbo","doi":"10.1177/00258172221145108","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172221145108","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Coronary artery anomalies are a heterogeneous group of congenital disorders affecting the coronary pattern with a characteristic (origin, number, number of hosts, course, etc.). They are rarely found in the population. We report the case of a 21-year-old male who died from sudden cardiac death caused by an isolated coronary ostial obstruction, secondary to a rare anomaly, the presence of a valve-like ridge consisting of a small fold in the Valsalva aortic sinus. The study provides a brief literature review on the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and clinical and medico-legal issues in coronary artery anomaly cases that may be helpful in forensic practice when dealing with sudden cardiac death in young people and highlights key points for further research and public health measures.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"60-64"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10619607","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}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2025-02-06DOI: 10.1177/00258172241306544
Eleanor Jane Turner, Diana Brahams
{"title":"Medicine, Law and the Challenges of the Internet.","authors":"Eleanor Jane Turner, Diana Brahams","doi":"10.1177/00258172241306544","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172241306544","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"2-4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143256914","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}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2023-04-24DOI: 10.1177/00258172231163435
Alok Atreya, Uma D Chhetri, Saurav Shrestha, Ritesh G Menezes, Samata Nepal, Subha S Sainju
{"title":"Suicide attempts due to child abuse: A perspective into the Nepalese legal framework and societal norms.","authors":"Alok Atreya, Uma D Chhetri, Saurav Shrestha, Ritesh G Menezes, Samata Nepal, Subha S Sainju","doi":"10.1177/00258172231163435","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172231163435","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Children who experience violence are more prone to develop high-risk behaviour, mental illness and anxiety disorder. Nepalese law is against any form of physical violence but corporal punishment by parents on children continues in patriarchal Nepalese society. We describe a case of a young boy who attempted suicide twice due to maltreatment and discuss the legal and social issues involved.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"74-77"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9395768","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}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2023-06-20DOI: 10.1177/00258172231160316
Leila Khanfri, Aya Madi, Hafsa Hajji, Salma Naji, Salma E El Kettani, Fadila A Boughima
{"title":"Fatal Atractylis gummifera L. poisoning: A case report of an autopsy.","authors":"Leila Khanfri, Aya Madi, Hafsa Hajji, Salma Naji, Salma E El Kettani, Fadila A Boughima","doi":"10.1177/00258172231160316","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172231160316","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Atractylis gummifera L. is a wild poisonous plant found in rural areas around the Mediterranean. It is also available from herbalists. This plant has a liver tropism which can be fatal whether taken orally or transcutaneously.In this case report, we report and discuss the clinical, biological and autopsy data of one case of poisoning of a small child in Morocco with a view to raising awareness of this dangerous poisonous glue thistle especially when used transcutaneously.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"68-73"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9660931","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}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2023-01-18DOI: 10.1177/00258172221141252
Svetlana Valjarevic, Dejan Radaljac, Milan B Jovanovic, Nenad Miladinovic
{"title":"Late diagnosis of a submandibular gland carcinoma in Covid-19 pandemic.","authors":"Svetlana Valjarevic, Dejan Radaljac, Milan B Jovanovic, Nenad Miladinovic","doi":"10.1177/00258172221141252","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172221141252","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Covid-19 pandemic has created exceptional challenges for patients and medical care systems. Among many factors influencing postponed cancer diagnosis, mask-wearing created difficulties in initial diagnosis of head and neck tumours. This report features a patient who had been covering a submandibular tumour under a surgical mask for more than 6 months. He visited his general practitioner due to a significant weight loss, but he neither took his mask off, nor was he asked to do so. When he reported to our emergency room, we noticed a massive ulcerous mass in the right submandibular region. Histological examination confirmed primary squamocellular carcinoma of submandibular salivary gland. During the Covid-19 pandemic, significant clinical observations may be missed if a surgical mask or respirator are not removed during examination with the potential for increased incidence of medical malpractice claims.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"56-59"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9094849","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}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2021-07-20DOI: 10.1177/00258172211010377
Saverio Potenza, Alessandro Mauro Tavone, Claudia Dossena, Gian Luca Marella
{"title":"Inhalation of helium in plastic bag suffocation with suicidal purpose: Observation and differences of two cases.","authors":"Saverio Potenza, Alessandro Mauro Tavone, Claudia Dossena, Gian Luca Marella","doi":"10.1177/00258172211010377","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172211010377","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The use of helium in plastic bag suffocation is a suicide method recently found in forensic cases. Although it is not common practice, there has been a strong increase in its use during the past 20 years, thanks to the accessibility of information on the web and materials needed to implement it. From a pathophysiological point of view, there are various theories on how helium can change the timing and, also, the cause of death when the head is inside a plastic bag. We report two cases where we believe that the action of helium, whose unequivocal use is demonstrated by the circumstantial data, has unfolded in a different way. In the first case, the discovery of an intense cyanosis of the face, blood leakage from the respiratory orifices and the destruction of numerous alveolar septa with histologically demonstrated blood extravasation, was left for a longer agonic period and a no negligible rate of pulmonary barotrauma in determination of death. In the second case, the total absence of external pathological phenomena, internal and histological, allows us to hypothesise an onset of death that is faster and catalysed by helium and explained by the known sympathetic hyperactivation and consequent cardiac arrhythmic death described in similar plastic bag suffocation cases.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"35-38"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39202229","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}