Investigations on the cause of death in a polytoxicomanic patient treated with wires and intermaxillary fixation for a chronic, infected mandibular fracture

The case of a 36-year-old male and former patient is presented who died for initially unknown reasons, with intermaxillary wire fixation for the treatment of an infected mandibular fracture still in place. The combined investigation of forensic experts and maxillofacial surgeons excluded aspiration and asphyxia as cause of death. Evidence was found for lethal methadone concentrations after intravenous drug abuse and a broncho pneumonia. Despite the clear evidence of a fatal intoxication in this case, caution must be exercised when dealing with individuals carrying intermaxillary fixation.     

Intramuscular bleeding in deaths from an internal cause: forensically significant differential diagnosis between external trauma and hemorrhages occurring during agony

Five cases of death from an internal cause are described in which bleeding into the muscles of the neck, the region of the shoulder girdle, the back of the thorax and partly the arms occurred during agony. As the cause of death was unclear at first and a violent crime could not be ruled out, a forensic autopsy was ordered in the course of which hemorrhages were detected which raised the differential diagnostic question whether extravasation might have been caused by an impact of blunt force. However, thorough investigation of the macroscopic and especially the microscopic structure of the lesions provided clear evidence that all the hemorrhages were due to internal causes. The pattern of these muscular lesions suggests intensified breathing with dyspnea leading to ruptures of the accessory respiratory muscles. Intramuscular bleedings of this type are a well-known phenomenon in legal medicine in connection with death by drowning, but have not been described in the medicolegal literature in cases of natural death from an internal cause so far.     

Cutaneous current marks due to a stun gun injury

Histological changes of the skin following electrical injury with a stun gun have rarely been described. We report the case of a 61-year-old man who died after having been tortured with a stun gun during a robbery. At autopsy two reddish, dot-like lesions where found on the chest and histological examination revealed electric current-related changes. Only a few reports concerning micromorphological cutaneous changes following stun gun injury have been reported; therefore further investigations concerning the frequency and type of histological findings due to stun gun injuries will be necessary in order to provide sufficient characteristic data for a conclusive interpretation.     

Is Consensual Politicizing Being Punished in Switzerland?

Over the last decade, Switzerland has been characterized by both a radicalization of its political system and the relative success of the SP and SVP parties, which tend to adopt a strategy of permanent campaigning. Because of this, it is often argued that politicians are held accountable for their behaviour and that their electoral successes depend on their voting behaviour in parliament. We thus explore whether the voting behaviour of representatives, or citizens' evaluations of parties' ideological positions had an impact on their electoral success in the 1995, 1999, and 2003 national elections. More precisely, we assess how far the proximity and directional models explain the electoral success of incumbents and parties using roll call data for the National Council as well as the Selects surveys at the individual level. The results at both levels suggest that voters' choice is largely consistent with what is predicted by the spatial models of electoral behaviour. Swiss voters form their party preference on both proximity and direction, which supports a mixed model of electoral behaviour.     

Participatory community analysis: identifying and addressing challenges to Ethiopian smallholder livelihoods

In 2012, Africa RISING conducted participatory community analysis (PCA) as the first phase of a participatory development approach in the Ethiopian highlands. The PCA identified trends, constraints, and opportunities – and shed light upon how farmers perceive livelihoods to be changing. Inputs, diseases, pests, soil fertility, post-harvest management, and fodder shortages were seen as challenges, while off-farm income has become increasingly important. Gender differences in livestock and crop preferences for food security and income sources were observed. PCA established development priorities in a way that researchers may have approached differently or missed, providing research development priorities for Africa RISING scientists.     

Space,discourse and environmental peacebuilding

The concept of environmental peacebuilding is becoming increasingly prominent among peacebuilding scholars and practitioners. This study provides a brief overview about the various discussions contributing to our understanding of environmental peacebuilding and concludes that questions of space have hardly been explicitly considered in these debates. Drawing on discourse-analytic spatial theory, I discuss how the social construction of scale, place and boundaries are relevant for environmental peacebuilding processes and outcomes. This theoretical approach is then applied to the Good Water Neighbours project, which aims at improving the regional water situation and at building peace between Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians. The results suggest that discursive constructions of space are important in facilitating, impeding or shaping environmental peacebuilding practices. Analyses of environmental peacebuilding, but also of peacebuilding more general, are therefore encouraged to draw more strongly on the findings of spatial theory.     

Mouth Width and Cupid’s Bow Estimation in a Southern African Population

Standards for estimating mouth width and Cupid’s bow width in craniofacial approximation and superimposition are limited. Currently, the only guideline for mouth width, using direct skeletal references, is a general rule indicating a 75% inter-canine to mouth width ratio. The philtrum, which closely corresponds to the Cupid’s bow, is said to be equal to the inter-superior prominences of the maxillary central incisors. This study tested these guidelines against newly generated regression models and mean values. Cone-beam CT scans of 120 black and 39 white southern African adults were used. Comparative hard and soft tissue measurements were taken using a 3D DICOM viewer. Regression equations accounting population, sex, and approximate age variables (20–39 and 40+ years), utilizing maxillary inter-canine width to estimate mouth width and maxillary central–lateral incisor junction width to estimate Cupid’s bow width, performed statistically best. The regression models were more reliable than existing standards in validation tests.     

Carboxyhaemoglobin and methaemoglobin findings in burnt bodies

The often observed absence of carboxyhaemoglobin in burnt (charred) bodies is rediscussed in the light of two new cases in which the inhalation of very hot gases obviously led to reflex breathing and circulation arrest. (Macro and microscopic evaluations of the upper respiratory tract can give significant information as to whether a person was still alive at the time of the fire outbreak.) In the cadaver blood of people who survived a given period after a fire, high methaemoglobin values (up to 37%) were found. This was caused by the inhalation of nitrogen oxides that were produced by burning plastic.