Strontium90 for determination of time since death

Strontium90 (Sr90) is an artificial nuclear fission product of the atmospheric a-bomb testing between 1945 and 1979. It was spread throughout the atmosphere in the following years. Sr90 is an analogue to calcium and therefore enriched in human bones. Several studies especially in the 1960s and 1970s were undertaken to investigate the Sr90 burden and the resulting incorporated radiation in humans, but present studies are missing. In this study nine bone samples, three from 1931/32 and six from 1989 to 1994 were examined by measuring the Sr90 radiation. The samples from 1931/32 did not show any Sr90 activity. All the samples from 1989 and later showed a Sr90 activity, but the intensity was very variable. Subsequent investigations should be done to determine the cut-off year for measurable Sr90 activity. Furthermore the determination of a specific time since death depending on Sr90 activity should be possible, due to the ranging Sr90 pollution between 1950 and 1980 and different uptake in adolescents and adults.     

Historical aspects of the determination of the time of death

The origins of the determination of the time of death are presented with special reference to the signs of death, rigor mortis and body cooling, as well as to the supravital electrical response of skeletal muscle. The systematic method for future research resulting from these old experiments is presented, with the aim of making a more precise estimation of the time of death by standardization of the influencing factors.     

Homicides with postmortal emasculation of the victim

Among criminal offences with mutilation of the genitals the number of cases with isolated removal of the testicles is small. This paper describes two homicides with postmortal emasculation of the victim from the autopsy material of the Berlin Institute of Legal Medicine (Humboldt University). In both of them no further mutilation had been committed. Yet the perpetrator's motivation was different in the two cases. In one case the cut-off testicles had been concealed in the victim's mouth, an act never described anywhere before. Obviously the offender wanted to mislead the police in their investigations. In the second case the motivation was of a homosexual nature and was thus comparable to previously described cases.     

脑温死亡时间测定仪的研制

目的研制脑温死亡时间测定仪。方法根据动物和尸体实验了解脑温下降的规律,并选择针状温度传感器,确定测温入径途径。结果针状传感器的优点是:快速敏感、准确性高、对组织破坏少、插入方便。尽管这种方法仍有误差,但它与现在法医学上常用的方法相比误差已减少了许多。结论所研制的死亡时间测定仪具有体积小,便于携带、探头灵敏,可以迅速方便地探测死者的脑温,并能直接推断死亡时间,避免了某些人为的因素造成的误差。     

Estimation of the time since death

The main principle of the determination of the time since death is the calculation of a measurable date along a time-dependent curve back to the start point. Characteristics of the curve (e.g. the slope) and the start point are influenced by internal and external, antemortem and postmortem conditions. These influencing factors have to be taken into consideration quantitatively in order to improve the precision of death time estimation. It does not make any sense to study the postmortem time course of any analyte without considering influencing factors and giving statistical parameters of the variability. Comparison of different methods requires an investigation of the same postmortem interval. For practical purposes, it must be concluded that the amount of literature on estimating the time since death has a reverse correlation with its importance in practice.     

Empirical criteria for the determination of suicide manner of death

A 16-item instrument was constructed as a tool to assist medicolegal official in their investigations and certifications of suicidal deaths. The Empirical Criteria for the Determination of Suicide (ECDS)--derived from a combined set of the 22 criterion items of the Operational Criteria for the Determination of Suicide (OCDS) and 33 other items obtained from experts and the professional literature--was constructed and validated by using 126 suicide and accident cases obtained from 70 medical examiner participants. Analysis of the cases confirmed that suicide is a manner of death in which there is evidence of both self-infliction and intention to die. The 16 items retained in the ECDS discriminated suicides from accidents best in relation to self-infliction and intention. In analysis of its concurrent validity, the ECDS instrument predicted 100% of the suicides and 83% of the accidents, thus correctly identifying 92% of all cases.