Fatal child abuse (caused by physical violence) in Germany during 1 January 1985 to 2 October 1990. Results of a multicenter study]

No reliable data are available on cases of lethal child abuse (by active force) in the area of Federal Republic of Germany prior to reunification (the former West Germany). In a multicenter study we therefore examined the police and court records for such cases occurring in the period 1 January 1985 to 2 October 1990 in nearly the entire area of Federal Republic of Germany. RESULTS: The study center received information on 58 cases of lethal child abuse. Extrapolated to all institutes of legal medicine, this corresponds to 62 cases in all of West Germany in the period studied. An approximately equal number of unreported cases should be added to this figure. Including unreported cases, at least 20 cases of lethal child abuse occurred per year; thus only one in every two cases ever came to light. Almost two thirds of the victims were younger than one year old. At autopsy 59% exhibited signs of repeated abuse at autopsy. By far the most common cause of death was direct impact from a blunt object, usually to the head. Mostly, the male person to whom the victim relates most closely (father, stepfather, partner of the mother) has killed the child. Twenty-one of the 74 persons charged saw the charges against them dropped or were acquitted due to lack of evidence; 51 received sentences ranging from one year probation to life. In the remaining two cases the outcome of the trial was unknown. Signs of abuse were readily apparent at autopsy in almost all cases. The high number of unreported cases underscores the need to educate medical students and practicing physicians to be on the look-out for signs of abuse and argues for an increase in the rate of autopsy.     

Marine taphonomy: adipocere formation in a series of bodies recovered from a single shipwreck.

Taphonomy of marine environments has been studied mostly from individual cases. The formation of adipocere, or "grave-wax," is an important indicator of the postmortem interval. In the present paper, the conditions and the timing of adipoceric formation are observed in a series of 15 cadavers recovered at different times, over a period of 433 days, from the same contained environment. Initial foci of adipocere on the subcutaneous tissue of the cadavers were detected as early as 38 days from the time of immersion in cold (10-12 degrees C) sea water. The discrepancies between our findings and previous reports on the correlation between time since death and decomposition stages in marine environments are discussed.     

Begriff der gebührenpflichtigen Amtshandlung. Entgegennahme und Erfassung von Voranzeigen zum Klärschlammaufbringen (in Hessen); keine gebührenpflichtige Handlung; Kostenschuldner

Keine Zusammenfassung     

Criteria for differentiating self- or other-inflicted injuries of alleged or real victims

A synoptic study of six cases of self-inflicted sharp force injuries is presented, where young, mostly female people had simulated assaults to gain sympathy or other personal advantage. The morphological distinctives of simulated assault wounds from such of real assault are worked out and the common situative and motivative background is cleared up.     

Hair analysis for drug abuse: I. Determination of methamphetamine and amphetamine in hair by stable isotope dilution gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method

Determination of methamphetamine and amphetamine in hair was performed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry using stable isotope-labeled internal standards, 2-methylamino-1-phenylpropane-2,3,3,3-d4 and 2-amino-1-phenylpropane-2,3,3,3-d4. Extraction of hair with methanol/5M hydrochloric acid (20:1) using ultrasonication was chosen as the standard method. The calibration curves for amphetamines in the hair were linear from 1 to 100 ng/mg (r greater than 0.99). The detection limit was 0.5 ng/mg at the 95% confidence level. The coefficients of variation (CV) (n = 8) of analysis using the spiked hair with methamphetamine were from 0.7 to 6%. The CV (n = 8) of analysis of the methamphetamine abuser's hair was 17.5%. Sectional analysis of monkey and human hair after methamphetamine ingestion suggested a good correlation between the duration of drug use and drug distribution in the hair.     

Correlations on radioimmunoassay, fluorescence polarization immunoassay, and enzyme immunoassay of cannabis metabolites with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis of 11-nor-delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid in urine specimens.

Results obtained from three commercial immunoassay kits, Abuscreen, TDx, and EMIT, commonly used for the initial test of urine cannabinoids (and metabolites) were correlated with the 11-nor-delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid (9-THC-COOH) concentration as determined by GC/MS. Correlation coefficients obtained based on 26 (out of 1359 total sample population) highly relevant samples, are 0.601 and 0.438 for Abuscreen and TDx. Correlation coefficients obtained from a parallel study on a different set of 47 (out of 5070 total sample population) highly relevant specimens are 0.658 and 0.575 for Abuscreen and Emit. The immunoassay concentration levels, that correspond to the commonly used 15 ng/ml GC/MS cutoff value for 9-THC-COOH, as calculated from the regression equations are 82 ng/ml and 75 ng/ml for TDx and EMIT and 120 ng/ml and 72 ng/ml for Abuscreen manufactured at two different time periods. The difference of these calculated corresponding concentrations provides quantitative evidence of the reagent specificity differences.