The role of trauma in postmortem blood alcohol determination

In postmortem cases, a blood sample is frequently obtained by transthoracic (TT) puncture. The purpose of this study was to determine if, in traumatic death, blood samples collected by TT provided a valid sample for blood alcohol analysis. A retrospective study (1980–1986) was conducted to evaluate possible contamination of blood by GI alcohol in traumatic death cases. Out of 6000 cases reviewed, 19 cses with BACs >500 mg/dl were found and 8 of these cases involved traumatic death with GI laceration and/or transection. The results of this study support the hypothesis that blood samples from the 8 cases had been contaminated, resulting in a falsely elevated BAC. A transthoracic study (1987–1989) was conducted under controlled conditions, where blood alcohol content of TT blood samples was compared with samples collected from the intact heart chamber. Seven out of 28 cases of traumatic injury revealed trauma to the GI tract. The results showed that when GI traumatic injury occurs and unabsorbed ethanol is present in the stomach, contamination of TT blood samples occurs and artificially elevated BACs are obtained. It is recommended that, in cases of traumatic injury, heart blood samples from the intact heart chamber, as well as samples of additional biological fluids, be collected to rule out the possibility of contamination and to ensure that the BAC used for forensic interpretation is accurate.     

Fatalities due to intoxicated arrestees jumping out of moving police vehicles

Fatalities resulting from emergency vehicle crashes are relatively rare. Mortality, particularly in the case of unbelted occupants, is relatively high. Data on drunken (handcuffed) arrestees jumping out of a moving police vehicle or the circumstances of such events have not been published. Two cases of such fatalities are described in this paper. Since these cases should be considered as "death in custody," may give rise to significant covering and speculation in the media, and may raise liability questions, they require an in-depth medicolegal investigation, including investigation of the crime scene, complete medicolegal autopsy/toxicology, and reconstruction of the event in the presence of an experienced forensic pathologist. From the 2 cases described in this paper, it appears that mechanical malfunctioning of the locking device of the door of the police vehicle and lack of controlling the actual lock-tied closing of the vehicle door (instead just assuming that it happened) may precipitate such cases. Auditory control by the police officers of the arrestee tampering with or manipulating the car door may be hampered by the background noise of the police vehicle, the on-board radio, and the use of a siren. Regular visual control and adequate control of the actual locking of the vehicle door are of paramount importance to prevent such mishaps. Reconstruction of the event in the presence of the forensic experts is mandatory to test the different hypotheses of the fatal event.     

Unusual fatalities caused by glass splinter injury]

In the case of a thorax stab wound and an intrapulmonal position of the glass fragment (fall from a ladder into a glass door) an extrathoracic cardiac massage had been carried out. The result of which, an extremely unusual "reanimationtrauma" and the problems connected with it are discussed. In another case of a stab wound of the right iliacal vessels and the position of the glass fragment in the minor pelvis (jump through a thermopane glass of a door, followed by a fight) investigations were first conducted because of the suspicion of manslaughter. The autopsy, however, completely excluded death through fault of another. Further an unusual figured glass cut wound on the left side of the head (fall into a glass brick wall) led to death through gradual bleeding. The question arose whether death was caused by failure to give assistance.     

Measuring the Effects of Post-Government-Employment Restrictions

The "revolving door" problem linking private interests and governmentdecision makers has become an important mechanism in the implementationof influence peddling. The "revolving door" problem is premisedon the assumption that a market exists for the services of formergovernment employees. However, no attempt has been made to providea measure of the value of these services, nor to evaluate theeffect of regulations intended to curb the problem. This articleattempts to fill this gap by utilizing an event-study methodologyto measure the effect of gaining "access" to government underalternative regulations.     

Correction

The title of the article by Paul Matthews in Volume 3 Number5 should have read: "Tracing through the back door? The Doctrine of ProprietarySubrogation" We apologise to Mr Matthews and the readers for the misspellingwhich occurred in this title.     

Wrapped to death. Unusual autoerotic death

Despite the large population of New Orleans, including many homosexual and transsexuals, there have been relatively few cases of autoerotic deaths. The case reported here is an interesting one as it includes a bizarre form of autoerotic behavior from the standpoint of the method used. There have been no deaths reported in the literature in which the victim died as a result of jeopardizing himself by enclosing his body into plastic with an airway out of his "cocoon" in the form of a snorkel tube. He was engaged in masturbation when he apparently lost his mouth piece or airway. He attempted to use a knife to cut himself out.     

血液中乙醇保存稳定性研究

目的确定血液中乙醇最佳保存条件,探讨影响血液中乙醇含量稳定性的主要因素。方法对血液保存的温度(-20、4、20℃)、防腐剂(NaF、无防腐剂、Na2O2)、储存容器中空气所占比例(0%、25%、50%)和血醇质量浓度(0.2、0.8、2.0mg/mL)四个因素采用正交试验L9(34)方法分组,样本采用顶空气相色谱法进行测定,测定结果采用方差分析进行讨论。结果在20℃保存且不加入防腐剂的两组样本中血醇浓度变化明显,其余变化不明显。结论血液样本在4℃、储存容器中空气比例为50%和加防腐剂(NaF)的条件下保存,稳定性最佳;四个影响因素中温度为影响血液中乙醇含量稳定性的主要因素。     

法国司法官制度的特点及启示

法国司法官制度涵盖司法官会考、培训、遴选、晋升、任职、纪律等一系列制度,其主要特点表现在以下几个方面会考制度因人制宜,具有多样性;培训制度面向用人单位,追求实用性;遴选制度与时俱进,广开门路,尽纳贤才,体现开放性;晋升制度标准严格,程序透明,注重公正性;任职制度强调终身性,赋予法官不受罢免的权利;纪律制度保持严厉性,促进法官正确行使权力.这些特点对我国的司法改革特别是司法官制度改革具有重要的借鉴意义.     

浅析网络购物中快递延误纠纷的解决机制

互联网时代的信息共享使"足不出户可知天下"成为可能,而网络零售和快递服务的迅猛发展更让现代人享受到了足不出户可拥天下的便利,但伴随而来的快递纠纷也层出不穷,其中"快递不快"久居投诉榜首的地位。面对现有救济手段不足且赔偿金额微薄的窘境,如何才能既保护消费者的合法权益,同时又让快递行业持续发展,已成为我们亟待解决的问题。分析现行快递延误纠纷救济方法,并改进快递延误救济机制,不失为预防、减少和化解这类纠纷之良策。     

赣商，权力社会的标本

传统赣商作为中国帝国制度下一个商帮的活标本，与帝国制度一道，没能摆脱被淘汰的命运。而当代赣商的问题不在于他们个人的商业能力，在于作为一个商人的群体，他们发展现代商会可资吸取的精神资源在哪儿？     

Postmortem biochemistry

Postmortem biochemistry may provide significant information in determining the cause of death. Due to the rapid postmortem breakdown of metabolism and active membrane transport only analytes which are stable in blood can be determined on this fluid compartment, other parameters have to be analysed on other fluid compartments like vitreous humor (VH). However, using another fluid compartment as a mirror of blood at the moment of death involves severe methodical problems. The conceptual problems of reference values in vitreous humor as a mirror of blood are addressed. Additionally, the necessary steps to be taken before calculating the discriminating values between "normal" and "diseased" are described. For all chemical determinations, a clear definition of the site of sample acquisition is necessary. Up to now chemical determinations on alternative fluids have mainly been carried out using instruments calibrated for urine or serum. Developing calibrated methods for analysis of alternative fluids is a further task for the future.     

Acute effects of carbon monoxide and cyanide on hepatic mitochondrial function

The effects of carbon monoxide and cyanide on the hepatic redox state and energy charge were investigated. Rats were used for the experiment under pentobarbital anesthesia. Immediately after laparotomy, a rat was placed in an animal chamber made of a transparent plastic box and exposed to a test gas for 3 min. Every test gas was produced in a gas chamber connected to the animal chamber with a flexible tube. HCN was produced from NaCN and H2SO4. In the CO inhalation experiment, various amounts of CO were introduced into the gas chamber. Immediately after an exposure, about 2 g liver was frozen in situ with a precooled clamp. Oozed blood from the wound surface was sampled. Concentrations of ATP, ADP, AMP, acetoacetate, and beta-hydroxybutyrate in hepatic mitochondria were determined, and the redox state and the energy charge were calculated. For cyanide as well as CO, significant negative correlations were found between the concentration in the blood and the redox state. The same held true for the energy charge. The redox state showed a slight increase at low concentrations of both gases; however, thereafter it began to decrease sharply with increases in concentrations. When concentrations of the toxicant in the blood reached certain levels, a kind of turning point, beyond which the redox state does not decrease any more, was observed. It was about 40% for HbCO and about 2.0 micrograms/ml for cyanide, and the points seemed to be related to the concentrations, beyond which cells are irreversibly damaged. On the other hand, the energy charge did not change at low concentrations. With an increase in toxicant concentrations, the energy charge decreased drastically. The rate of decrease in the energy charge became higher when blood concentrations exceeded certain levels. It was about 40% for HbCO and 2.0 micrograms/ml for cyanide. The presence of low levels of blood cyanide did not affect the relationship between the energy charge and the HbCO concentration.     

Forensic fluid dynamics and the Indian Spring (1991) cave collapse problem

Nof and Paldor (Safety Sci 2010;48:607-14) suggested that resonance in the air pockets in the Indian Spring cavern might have contributed to the 1991 collapse. Here, we extend the resonance theory to one pocket in the cavern and a very broad basin that serves as the other branch of the U-tube. Our methodology is to apply familiar fluid dynamics principles to the situation that occurred in the cave. We did so on the basis of our interviews with four of the five surviving cave divers. We dissected their testimonies to arrive at a physically plausible scenario determined on the basis of a fluid dynamics application to the natural flow in the cave, the flow induced by the compressed air released by the divers and the mudslide. We found that there was a temporary flow blocking during the collapse, but no total flow reversal within the cave.     

9个Y-STR基因座荧光复合扩增系统的法医学应用

目的建立9个Y-STR基因座的复合扩增系统,提高Y-STR的法医学检测效能。方法6-FAM标记DYS434、Y-GATA-A10、DYS438、DYS439,HEX标记DYS531、DYS557、DYS448,TAMRA标记DYS456、DYS444引物,PCR复合扩增,毛细管电泳得到结果,考察扩增系统的个体识别能力、灵敏度、特异性、组织同一性。结果所建立的9个Y-STR复合扩增系统分型清晰,单倍型多样性达0.9968,特异性好,灵敏度高(0.5ngDNA),并且在男女混合斑检验上较常染色体STR分型更有优势。结论9个Y-STR复合扩增系统具有较高的识别能力,对建立Y染色体STR数据库,研究群体遗传学和进行法医学混合斑物证鉴定有重要意义。     

Purple Pasts: Color Codification in the Ancient World

While developments in intellectual property have opened the door for trademarking color alone or color per se, it is important to observe that color codification is not a new phenomenon. This article outlines the quest to metaphorically trademark purple in antiquity and to provide it with clear "secondary meaning." It highlights how language, literature, and sumptuary law was deployed to infuse purple with the appropriate symbolism, and it links contemporary debates to some of the historic moves to sequester color.     

Nonfracture-associated fatal fat embolism in a case of child abuse

Fatal fat embolism is usually thought of as a sequel to long-bone fracture, although cases secondary to soft tissue injury and atraumatic conditions have been infrequently reported. In this case of a two-year-old child-abuse victim who sustained multiple blunt traumatic injuries without skeletal fractures, pulmonary and systemic (brain and kidney) fat emboli were identified. At autopsy, all thoracic and abdominal viscera were intact; cranial contents exhibited only diffuse symmetrical petechial hemorrhages of the white matter. Because of the severe and widespread nature of soft tissue hemorrhage, and the absence of a grossly discernible cause of death, fat embolism was suspected. Using a combination of frozen section with oil red O staining and formalin-fixed osmium stained tissues, the immediate cause of death was determined to be diffuse fat embolism. Review of the literature reveals a pathophysiologic basis for fat embolism in the absence of fracture, both as a consequence of an acute increase in local pressure at the site of trauma and an alteration of the emulsification of blood lipids during shock. In light of these findings, we present this case to remind the forensic science community to consider fat embolism as the cause of death in cases of blunt-force injury without fracture.     

Rupture of the spleen or splenic vessels (splenic emergency syndrome) in late pregnancy: a report of two autopsy cases

During the years 2004-2006, seven divers, who had deadly accidents, underwent post-mortem examination at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the University of Munich. The cause of death in all divers was drowning with typical pathomorphological findings. This should be regarded as separated to the triggering reason for drowning. The trigger for accident was established in four of seven cases by technical analysis and police investigation. High risk-taking, lack of technical service, and deficiency of dive equipment care were main reasons for death. We present two of these cases which showed several problems occurring concurrently. Autopsy always is necessary to look for indices for application of force or to exclude competitive reasons for death.     

Slaves as criminal informers in ancient Rome

The Romans expected slaves to inform on their fellow slaves, particularly in regard to the master's safety. If a slave killed his master, a terrible retribution on the entire household of slaves would have to be paid to atone for the offense. In the final analysis, the slave‐informer system, with all of its drawbacks, supported the Roman criminal justice system nearly 1,000 years and the Byzantines employed it in a modified form. This paper is a case study of how a culture, with its values, musters its resources, in the case of slavery, to cope with the problems of internal security.

With most of the crime problems that confront us today, the ancient Romans were hard put to protect the public peace. They had neither the modern technology nor the forensic science that we do, so they utilized the limited resources they had to prevent crimes and catch criminals. They devised a policy of enticing slaves to act as criminal informants with the offer of freedom. Considering the sizeable adult slave population, this policy greatly deterred crime and the saying “Every slave, an enemy” became current among the citizenry.

The Romans, however, did not intend to open a door by which slaves could accuse citizens of false charges out of vindictiveness. The legal‐minded Romans adopted the safeguard of having the slave informant interrogated under torture.

Slaves also served the criminal justice system in other ways besides volunteering information. When the police were stymied in an investigation, they “rounded up the usual suspects” in the form of slaves who might have knowledge of the crime, but for some reason had not stepped forward. The police would use their powers to interrogate slaves in this case, too. This ancient practice reflects the procedure of modern police investigators checking surveillance cameras in the vicinity of the crime scene in the hopes of discovering a clue.     

Death caused by accidental hanging in the hand strap loop of a garage door

The authors report on a 10-year-old boy who accidentally hanged himself in the hand strap of a garage door. The door was an electric overhead door of an underground garage. The accident was reconstructed at the scene using a dummy. The strap of the door was long enough to be slipped over the head easily. In view of this background it seems advisable to consider whether the current safety regulations on the operation of electric doors should be changed accordingly.     

废除南京国民政府"六法全书"之思考

废除南京国民政府"六法全书"在当时是必然的,这是由共产党人的法律观、马克思主义的国家观以及中国传统法律文化等方面的原因决定的."六法全书"的废除,对新中国法制建设产生了深远的影响,既有正面的经验,也有反面的教训.其最大危害就是中断了中国法制现代化的历史进程,强化了中国社会蔑视法律的民族传统心理,为新中国政策治国、以党代政、以党治国开了方便之门.