Crime scene investigation in child-abuse cases

Although child abuse and neglect continue to appear in the medical literature frequently, little regarding scene investigation in such cases has been discussed. Many explanations have been offered for this deficit, the most common one is based on the time delay between infliction of the injury and discovery. At the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, child-abuse cases submitted for consultation repeatedly show deficits in the scene investigation and its documentation. Since the discovery of child abuse is dependent on either physical evidence of repetitive punitive measures or an injury pattern not in agreement with the alleged circumstances, it behooves the assigned investigator to make every attempt to document the scene(s) as in any other criminal investigation.     

Concentrations of ethanol in two segments of the vascular system.

The time courses of capillary and venous blood concentrations of ethanol after oral administration of 0.30 and 0.34 g/kg doses of ethanol to two normal human subjects indicated that, by interpolation, equal capillary and venous concentrations are reached at only one time, and this time varied with the subject. The capillary/venous blood concentration ratios varied markedly as a function of time in both subjects over the entire observation period of 4 h.     

Is Germany Going Bananas? Life Cycle and Cohort Effects on Party Performance in Germany from 1953 to 2049

In the public debate concerning the consequences of demographic change in Germany it is often argued that the rising share of older voters will help the CDU/CSU to consolidate its power. This argumentation only applies if the age effect is assumed to be dominant. However, diverse socialisation backgrounds, captured by the cohort effect, also have to be taken into account. Based on the Repräsentative Wahlstatistik (Representative Electoral Statistic, RES) and Population Forecasts, the consequences of demographic shifts for federal elections since 1953 are estimated, as well as for future elections. First, age, cohort and period effects on vote choice for previous elections are calculated by using cohort analysis. Second, these effects are applied to the future age distribution. The results show that the ‘greying’ electorate is expected to favour the CDU/CSU and the FDP, while especially the SPD is likely to suffer electoral losses due to demographic shifts.     

The Quantitation of Cocaine on U.S. Currency: Survey and Significance of the Levels of Contamination

It has long been suspected that the illicit distribution of cocaine in the United States has led to a large‐scale contamination of the currency supply. To investigate the extent of contamination, 418 currency samples (4174 bills) were collected from 90 locations around the United States from 1993 to 2009. The extent of their cocaine contamination was quantitated via gas chromatography/mass spectrometry or liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. The level of cocaine contamination was determined to average 2.34 ng/bill across all denominations ($1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100). Levels of cocaine contamination on currency submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory in criminal cases over the 1993–2001 timeframe had significantly higher contamination than currency in general circulation. A mathematical model was developed based on the background survey that indicates the likelihood of drawing a bill in specific concentration ranges. For example, there is a 0.8349 likelihood that random bill will have contamination less than 20 ng.     

Standardization of Histological Procedures for the Detection of Toxic Substances by Immunohistochemistry in Dipteran Larvae of Forensic Importance

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) technique is an alternative toxicological analysis to detect drugs in insects of forensic importance, but it requires thorough histological procedures. In this study, we tested different fixatives—phosphate‐buffered paraformaldehyde 4% (PP), Carnoy's fluid (CF), Kahle's solution (KS), ethanol in different concentrations, and ethanol associated to PP and CF, time of fixation and histological processes for dipteran larvae's tissue, aiming to develop a sample preparation protocol for IHC application. A suitable fixation was achieved using PP for 12 and 24 h, CF for 3 h, 70% ethanol for 19 days, and 70% ethanol/CF for 2 h/3 h. Postfixation using negative pressure, two immersions in xylene for 30 min each, and one in xylene plus paraffin for 45 min increased tissue preservation. An immunohistochemical test for cocaine detection was performed using monoclonal benzoylecgonine antibody from mouse, peroxidase‐conjugated anti‐mouse IgG and visualized by 3,3′‐diaminobenzidine method showed these histological procedures didn't compromise antigenicity.