A microbiological test for the diagnosis of death by drowning

The present study was aimed at demonstrating the diffusion of sea water or freshwater into the bloodstream as a consequence of water aspiration due to drowning. The study was carried out on 42 study group subjects who died by drowning in salt water (20 cases) and freshwater (22 cases) and 30 control group subjects who died from causes other than drowning. For 25 cases we obtained water samples from the aquatic locations where the victims were found. The blood samples of study and control groups were analyzed to search for faecal coliforms (FC) and faecal streptococci (FS) bacteria. The presence of FC and FS was showed by the development of blue and red colonies, respectively. From left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) blood cultures of the 20 sea drowning victims we always isolated FS and FC, whereas 19 (95%) femoral arterial (FA) and 18 (90%) femoral venous (FV) blood cultures were positive for both faecal bacteria. Related to freshwater victims, LV blood cultures showed FS presence for all the 22 cases studied (100%) and FC presence for 20 cases (90.91%). Blood cultures from RV, FV, and FA showed various patterns of faecal bacteria presence. The analysis of 25 water samples from the aquatic locations where the victims were found showed the presence of FC and FS bacteria. Blood cultures from the 30 control subjects uniformly proved the absence of faecal bacteria.     

Study of the diagnostic value of iron in fresh water drowning

The aim of our study was to test the diagnostic value of iron (Fe) in fresh water drowning by investigating the postmortem levels of hemodilution in drowning cases compared to control cases. Twenty-six typical fresh water drowning cases were selected from 128 immersion cases autopsied in our Department of Forensic Pathology between 1998 and 2004. The exclusion criteria were a long postmortem interval and other causes of death than drowning. For all selected cases, the diagnosis of drowning was based on the presence of autopsy findings and positive diatom test. A control population of 12 cases was also selected. For each drowning and control case, iron blood levels were measured in the left ventricle (LV) and right ventricle (RV) of the heart. The mean difference of iron concentration (RVFe-LVFe) between the drowning group and the control group was statistically compared. Furthermore, iron measurements were performed in 19 drowning cases showing advanced putrefaction. The mean difference of iron concentration was significantly higher in the drowning cases compared with controls (P<0.001). All drowning cases showed hemodilution. No overlap was found in the RVFe-LVFe levels between the two groups. Resuscitation attempts seemed to have no effect on the results. In cases of drowning showing advanced putrefaction, the iron test was not reliable because biochemical iron measurement was often prevented by no sufficient blood in the heart or postmortem clots. In conclusion, according to our results, iron seems to be a good biochemical marker in fresh water drowning with a short postmortem interval.     

The reliability of cardiac haemodilution as a diagnostic test of drowning.

The diagnosis of drowning is one of the most challenging problems in forensic pathology. The estimation cardiac haemodilution is a simple method, but its use is limited by its lack of specificity and sensitivity. We have studied the limitations of this method and have defined the circumstances in which such a technique can be used.     

PCR-DGGE法检测浮游生物16S rDNA在溺死鉴定中的应用

目的建立并评估PCR-DGGE法检测浮游生物对溺死鉴定的应用价值。方法大白兔30只随机分为3组:溺死组(n=12),死后抛尸组(n=12)和对照组(n=6);溺死组和死后抛尸组又分为2个亚组:东湖水域组(n=6)和墨水湖水域组(n=6)。死后提取心血和肺、肝、肾、脑等组织,匀浆后,采用Percoll密度梯度离心法分离浮游生物并提取其DNA,PCR扩增浮游生物特异的16S rDNA片段后分别用琼脂糖凝胶电泳及DGGE检测分析。2个溺死案例检材同法检验。结果溺死组各组织器官中浮游生物检测多呈阳性:肺(100%)、肝(83%)、肾(75%)、心血(83%)、脑(42%);死后抛尸组仅2例肺组织(16.7%)检出阳性;对照组全部阴性。溺尸肺组织DGGE分型图谱与相应溺死点水样分型图谱相似,而与非溺死点水样分型结果差异显著。2实际案例均呈阳性。结论本方法不仅有助于定性诊断溺死,而且通过比较产物的多样性可以推断溺死地点,在法医学溺死鉴定中具有较大实用价值。     

液相色谱-电喷雾离子阱质谱联用测定水中14种除草剂

目的建立水中14种除草剂液相色谱-电喷雾离子阱质谱联用分析方法。方法水样经固相萃取,洗脱液过膜后直接进行液相色谱-电喷雾离子阱质谱联用分析。结果水中14种除草剂定量分析线性关系良好,相关系数为0.995～0.998,检测限在0.005μg/mL～0.045μg/mL之间,在低、中、高3个不同浓度下,平均回收率在70.5%～110.2%之间,日内RSD均小于10.2%,日间RSD均小于14.4%。结论该方法具有快速、灵敏、高效等优点,能够满足相关司法鉴定工作的要求。     

稻田水中莠去津及其代谢物的硅烷基衍生化-气质联用分析法

目的建立稻田水中莠去津及其代谢物去乙基莠去津（DEA）、去异丙基莠去津（DIA）和双去烃基莠去津（DDA）的灵敏的气质联用分析方法。方法稻田水样品用GDX501大孔树脂进行固相萃取,萃取物用N,O-双三甲硅烷基乙酰胺（BSA）进行三甲硅烷基衍生化,衍生物用选择离子监测的气质联用法分析。结果稻田水中4种分析物的检出限和测量限都不高于2ng/mL。结论该方法可用于刑事案件中莠去津毁坏稻田案件的检验。     

我国水质监测制度的缺陷及其完善——以相关法律为背景

环境监测是环境保护工作中的重要制度,而水质监测则是环境监测的重要组成部分。本文以我国现行相关法律为背景,对我国水质监测的技术依据—水质标准—的制定权进行了考察,认为应由水利部门和环保部门共同制定,而监测权则应由环保部门专门行使,这是决策民主化和执行单一化的具体要求和体现。文章还指出了水质监测中法律责任机制的缺失,并提出了予以完善的建议。     

水资源管制立法内涵解读

Water resources have the functions as domestic water, resource water and environmental water, on the basis of which the legislative framework of water resource regulations shall be studied. Firstly, domestic water shall be deemed as property right and the legislation shall protect the realization of the fundamental human rights for use of domestic water. Secondly, with respect to resource water, an independent water resource regulatory agency shall be established; and meanwhile, the legislation shall promote the construction of water right market based on property rights and improve the utility of water resources. Thirdly, since environmental water is one of the public goods, the legislation shall create a path of privatization in implementing mechanism for realizing the use of environmental water and the franchising system provides a practical solution to privatization of environmental water. Xu Jinhai, Ph.D in Law, is a vice director of the Public Utilities Law Institute of Hohai University. Since 2001, he has released nearly twenty articles in Nanjing University Law Review and Jiangsu Social Science Journal and other academic journals.     

一起自建集中式供水单位生活饮用水不符合卫生标准行政处罚案例评析

卫生行政执法部门在处理群众投诉举报时,对生活饮用水等与健康相关的产品依法进行采样抽检,对样品抽检结果不合格的单位依法对其处罚时,要对相关证据进行核实。通过本案例分析,提示对于检测样品要严格按照相关规范进行采样,对检验结果要依据国家卫生标准进行相关分析,相关程序符合要求,才能依据检验结果适用法律进行行政处罚。     

The influence of the type of accelerant, type of burned material, time of burning and availability of air on the possibility of detection of accelerants traces

The presented research consisted in a series of field experiments and laboratory analyses of obtained samples. Their aim was to investigate how different factors influence the possibility of identification of accelerant traces in conditions that are as similar as possible to those of real fires. The studied factors were: type of burned material, type of accelerant, length of time between lighting and extinguishing of fire and the air availability level. The obtained results show that, among investigated factors, the type of burned material has the greatest influence. The other factors, with regard to their influence, could be ranked in descending order as follows: ‘other’ (hard to determine and regulate factors), type of accelerant, time of burning and air availability. ‘Other’ factors include arrangement of the burned material and dispersion of the accelerant.     

Full STR profile of a 67-year-old bone found in a fresh water lake

DNA extraction from and DNA typing of fresh water-exposed aged bone specimens poses a challenging task and is not very well examined. This study presents a new method to extract typable DNA from such problematic bone specimens. The procedure comprises low-heat drilling and cryogrinding, mild lysis conditions, and silica-column-based DNA cleaning. DNA quantity is assessed by quantitative PCR prior to short tandem repeat (STR) amplification. The procedure was employed with a 67-year-old tibia bone fragment recovered from a fresh water lake and succeeded to produce a full STR profile using the MPX-SP1 and MPX-SP2 mini-STR kits and a partial profile with 12 successfully amplified STRs using the Identifiler STR kit. The new method for the extraction of DNA from aged fresh water-exposed bone specimens presented herein was successfully applied to prepare DNA of sufficient quality and quantity to generate a full STR profile.     

n-Butanol in blood as the indicator of how long a dead body lay in water

n-Butanol appears in large quantities in the blood of a drowned person and a correlation exists between its quantity (concentration) and the time the body lay in water. This correlation depends on the temperature of the water but not on whether it is fresh or salt water. The time of death can be fixed within the span of 0-26 days after the event, as we have found out in our research (no longer period has been examined).     

Positive identification of the principal component of a white powder as scopolamine by quantitative one-dimensional and two-dimensional NMR techniques

An unidentified white powder collected as evidence in an intelligence investigation was characterized exclusively by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. A small fraction of the powder dissolved in D2O was subjected to a series of one- and two-dimensional techniques which were used to elucidate the molecular structure of the powder's major component and positively identify it as the scopolamine biotoxin. Quantitative one-dimensional experiments identified individual proton and carbon atom sites, and conventional 14N spectroscopy detected a single nitrogen atom site. Heteronuclear single quantum coherence data correlated all protons to their directly bonded carbon atom, and together with the quantitative spectra, were used to determine the number of protons directly bonded to each carbon atom. The presence of a methyl, carboxyl, and a benzyl group was also identified from these data. Correlation spectroscopy detected a three proton and a nine proton JH,H network, representing a CH2CH moiety and seven carbon atom ring, respectively. These five elements were assembled into an almost complete molecular structure by using long-range, J-coupled, 1H-13C pairs detected by heteronuclear multiple bond correlation (HMBC) spectroscopy and 1H-1H dipolar-coupled pairs found from nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY) data. Additional oxygen atom sites were inferred from 1H-13C correlation intensities in the HMBC spectra along with 1H and 13C chemical shift values, or directly from NOESY correlations. Only a single oxygen atom site could not be inferred from NMR data, but its presence was inferred from comparisons to target analyte structures to complete the structure of the scopolamine molecule. To confirm these results, an ethanol/H2O solution of the powder was analyzed by direct infusion into an ion trap mass spectrometer. A prominent base signal was observed at m/z 304.1 amu, corresponding to the protonated molecular ion of scopolamine. Subsequently, the ion was selected and subjected to collision-induced dissociation, producing characteristic major MS/MS fragments at m/z 138.1 and 156.1. Comparisons of 1H and 13C chemical shift values and JH,H values measured from our NMR data were found to agree very favorably with previously reported values for scopolamine in D2O.     

The theoretical aspects of the time dependent Z equation as a means of postmortem interval estimation using body temperature data only

It has been clearly demonstrated that the rectal cooling curve does not obey Newton's Law, which is exponential. The first success in modelling rectal cooling mathematically was achieved by Marshall and Hoare [1]. An amendment was made to the simple exponential curve which led to a good mathematical model, exhibiting the three main sections of rectal cooling, i.e. lag, linear and quasi-exponential. The resultant method of postmortem interval estimation required a knowledge of the body mass and height. The present study has led to a totally different amendment to Newton's Law, which provides a means of postmortem interval estimation from body temperature data only. The derivation of the method, with a background on Newton's Law follows.     

Revised equations allowing the estimation of the uncertainty associated with the Total Body Water version of the Widmark equation

Widmark calculations are the most commonly used alcohol calculations to estimate a) the amount of alcohol consumed based on blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and b) BACs at a set time after consumption of a known amount of alcohol. These calculations are vital in forensic casework. Previous work has demonstrated that using general error propagation-based equations the variability associated with alcohol calculations can be estimated, but these equations have only been determined for the volume of distribution version of the Widmark equation. However, recent investigations have shown that the total body water (TBW) version of the Widmark equation is more reliable than the version that utilizes the apparent volume of distribution of ethanol. To date, there is no general error propagation equation to determine the variability associated the TBW version of the Widmark equation. Using previously published studies of 185 individuals in which alcohol elimination rate (β) and ethanol's volume of distribution were determined, we have shown that there is a negative correlation (?0.247) between the alcohol elimination rate (β) and TBW. Using these data, we were able to produce equations allowing the estimation of the variability of the results calculated using the TBW version of the Widmark equation. This will allow forensic practitioners to give the best determination of the variability associated with Widmark calculations currently possible.     

位于他国内水外国船舶上犯罪之管辖权

针对位于他国内水的外国船舶上的犯罪之管辖权问题,指出船旗国不能根据领土原则行使管辖权。沿海国对在本国内水的外国船舶上的犯罪拥有排他性的领土管辖权。一般而言,沿海国对于下列犯罪行使管辖权：一是沿海国国民犯罪或使该沿海国国民受到损害的犯罪;二是破坏沿海国安宁和安全的犯罪;三是违反沿海国有关检疫、入出境、海上安全、海关事务、水域污染或禁止贩毒的法律的行为或犯罪;四是其他性质严重犯罪。根据国际习惯法规则或双边领事条约的规定,对于轻微的不影响船舶以外秩序的犯罪,沿海国一般不行使管辖权,由船旗国管辖。     

Initial Results on the Composition of Fingerprints and its Evolution as a Functionof Time by GC/MS Analysis

Abstract: Determining the time since deposition of fingermarks may prove necessary to assess their relevance to criminal investigations. The crucial factor is the initial composition of fingermarks, because it represents the starting point of any aging model. This study mainly aimed to characterize the initial composition of fingerprints, which show a high variability between donors (inter‐variability), but also to investigate the variations among fingerprints from the same donor (intra‐variability). Solutions to reduce this initial variability using squalene and cholesterol as target compounds are proposed and should be further investigated. The influence of substrates was also evaluated, and the initial composition was observed to be larger on porous surface than nonporous surfaces. Preliminary aging of fingerprints over 30 days was finally studied on a porous and a nonporous substrate to evaluate the potential for dating of fingermarks. Squalene was observed to decrease in a faster rate on a nonporous substrate.     

论判决的效力--从一起离婚案件看既判力的时间界限

我国民诉法规定的粗陋和缺乏可操作性导致了实践之中出现了许多问题。试图就一个案例来讨论大陆法系中的传统理论———既判力理论在现实生活中的作用,从而解决关于判决生效时间这一看似毫无疑义的问题。