Suicidal yew poisoning--from Caesar to today--or suicide instructions on the internet

Already the Celts and ancient Germanic peoples knew about the poisonousness of the yew, which played an important part in the mythology of these civilizations. For hunting, the arrows were made poisonous with yew juice, and yew leaves were used for homicide and suicide. In modern times taxine is rarely used with suicidal intent, although this method is actually recommended on the respective Websites. After a 14-year-old boy had intensively studied poisonous plants and methods of suicide on various Websites, he cut leaves from a yew tree (taxus baccata) in his parents' garden, crushed and ingested them and died soon afterwards. At the forensic autopsy pieces of the partially crushed, partially completely preserved yew leaves were found in the stomach. The histological findings were unspecific, e.g. marked general blood congestion of the internal organs and pronounced cerebral and pulmonary edema. When the tree leaves found in the stomach were viewed under the light microscope, a stoma typical of taxus was observed; chemical-toxicological investigations revealed 3,5-dimethoxyphenol in the gastric content, which is considered a marker for the ingestion of taxus.     

An unusual area of injury in postmortem animal feeding beneath clothing

The authors report on a woman who died on the age of 75 years and who was found dead in her dwelling with an extensive injury of the left thigh two days after the last sign of life. Together with the corpse a poodle was present in the dwelling. Due to the unusual localization totally beneath the clothes (trousers) and the morphology of the injury an unnatural cause of death was suspected. According to the autopsy findings and the histological results, postmortal animal scavenging caused by the poodle remained the only explanation for the injury. Supplementary DNA testing yielded final certainty.     

Optimization of extraction parameters for the chemical profiling of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) tablets

The extraction of impurities from illegally produced 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has been studied in order to optimize the parameters. Two different MDMA samples were used. Particular attention was paid to the influence of the pH, the evaporation step, and the sample storage. The method used was an extraction of impurities by diethyl ether from a buffer solution at pH 11.5, followed by gas chromatography (GC) mass spectrometric (MS) analyses after a dryness concentration under monitored conditions of the ethereal extract. Repeat extractions of the same sample gave an average relative standard deviation (RSD) of less than 8.5% within day and less than 10.5% between days.     

Automated headspace solid-phase dynamic extraction for the determination of cannabinoids in hair samples

This article describes a fully automated procedure for detecting cannabinoids in human hair samples. The procedure uses alkaline hydrolysis and headspace solid-phase dynamic extraction (HS-SPDE), followed by on-coating derivatization and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). SPDE is a further development of solid-phase microextraction (SPME), based on an inside needle capillary absorption trap. It uses a hollow needle with an internal coating of polydimethylsiloxane as extraction and pre-concentration medium.Ten mg of hair were washed with deionised water, petroleum ether and dichloromethane. After adding deuterated internal standards, the sample was hydrolyzed with sodium hydroxide and directly submitted to HS-SPDE. After absorption of analytes for an on-coating derivatization procedure, the SPDE-needle was directly placed into the headspace of a second vial containing N-methyl-N-trimethylsilyl-trifluoroacetamide before GC-MS analysis. The limit of detection was 0.14 ng/mg for Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol, 0.09 ng/mg for cannabidiol, and 0.12ng/mg for cannabinol. Absolute recoveries were in the range of 0.6 to 8.4%. Linearity was verified over a range from 0.2 to 20 ng/mg, with coefficients of correlation between 0.998 and 0.999. Intra- and inter-day precision were determined at two different concentrations and resulted in ranges between 2.3 and 6.0% (intra-day) and 3.3 and 7.6% (inter-day). Compared with conventional methods of hair analysis, this automated HS-SPDE-GC-MS procedure is substantially faster. It is easy to perform without using solvents and with minimal sample quantities, and it yields the same sensitivity and reproducibility. Compared to SPME, we found a higher extraction rate, coupled with a faster automated operation and greater stability of the device.     

Area-specific increased density of mu-opioid receptor immunoreactive neurons in the cerebral cortex of drug-related fatalities

In animal experiments and in cell culture, chronic morphine treatment has been followed by "up-regulation" as well as "down-regulation" of the mu-opioid receptor (OR) number. The present postmortem morphometric study of morphine-related fatalities of drug-addicts (n=13, 20-35 years old, with blood unconjugated morphine levels from 27.1 ng/ml to 458 ng/ml, m.v. 198.5 ng/ml) versus a non-addicted control group (n=13, 10-44 years old) was intended to examine, whether chronic opiate exposure affects the numerical density of mu-OR expressing neurons in the human neocortex (areas 11, 24 and 25 according to Brodmann). For the immunohistochemical procedure, vibratome sections (100 microm) were incubated with a monoclonal antibody against the mu-OR, diluted 1:100, and immunolabelled sites were visualized using an immunoperoxidase protocol. The numerical densities of OR immunoreactive neuronal profiles and Nissl-stained central profiles were assessed morphometrically (camera lucida-drawings). In both groups, the anti-mu-OR-immunoreactivity was mainly localized in pyramidal neurons of layers (L) II/III and V and in multiform neurons of L VI. In the areas 24 and 25, the density of the immunoreactive neuronal profiles did not display a significant difference between the two examined groups. In the area 11, however, the number of immunolabelled neuronal profiles amounted to 2777+/-206 mm(3) in the drug-related fatalities and to 2320+/-124 mm(3) in the control group and thus was significantly increased.     

Tissue distribution of lidocaine in critical care patients after intubation

We investigated tissue distribution of lidocaine in 33 patients after endotracheal intubation with Xylocaine jelly that contains 2% lidocaine hydrochloride. Blood levels of monoethylglycinexylidide (MEGX), an active metabolite of lidocaine, were also determined. Five patients (Group A) were alive on arrival and six patients (Group B) resumed heartbeats after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The survival times for Groups A and B ranged from 3 to 72 h. The remaining 22 patients (Group C) did not survive cardiopulmonary arrest on arrival (CPAOA). Systemic distribution of lidocaine was measured in nine patients from Group C. The liver-to-kidney lidocaine ratios and cerebrum-to-cerebrospinal fluid lidocaine ratios were: Group A, 0.1-0.7 and 1.4-3.6, respectively; Group B, 0.2-0.8 and 1.2-2.3, respectively; Group C, 0.1-17 and 0.2-1.0, respectively. MEGX was detected in all blood samples from Group A and only two samples from Group B. No MEGX was detected in samples from Group C. Our results indicate that the absorption of tracheal lidocaine during natural circulation results in a cerebrum-to-cerebrospinal fluid lidocaine ratio of 1.2 or more, whereas absorption during artificial circulation by cardiac massage gives a ratio of 1.0 or less. The cerebrum-to-cerebrospinal fluid lidocaine ratio may be a more useful index to estimate circulatory dynamics of patients during CPR than the liver-to-kidney lidocaine ratio. MEGX was not a useful parameter for monitoring circulatory changes during cardiac massage.     

Immunostaining by complement C9: a tool for early diagnosis of myocardial infarction and application in forensic medicine

Before the first 12 hours, diagnosis of early myocardial infarctions is always difficult for forensic pathologists. We tested complement C9 expression in 121 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded heart samples by an immunohistochemical procedure. The heart specimens were separated into four groups: 33 cases in group 1 with typical ischemic damages histologically located, 20 cases in group 2 with death related to myocardial infarction on the basis of ischemic presentation on electrocardiogram but no obvious histological ischemic damage, 35 cases in group 3 with severe coronary disease without cause of death found at the autopsy, and 33 cases in group 4 without sign of myocardial infarction and without coronary disease. In the first group, all 33 heart samples showed a well-defined C9 expression in the necrotic areas. The second group in 17 of 20 cases showed positive areas for C9 expression. In the other three heart specimens, only few stained cells were observed whereas the painful symptoms had begun less than 1 h before death. The third group showed C9 immunopositive areas in six of 35 cases, few stained cells in 8 cases, and no C9 deposition in the 21 other cases. The last group showed no staining area. To avoid nonspecific C9 staining due to tissue autolysis, we studied C9 expression during a controlled putrefactive process in four cases included in group 1; staining was found only in infarcted myocardial areas, and was observed up to ten days. Specificity of C9 expression was evaluated to be 100% [89.4 to 100%] and sensitivity to be 85% [62.11 to 96.79%]. In conclusion, evaluation of immunohistochemical expression of C9 appears to be a highly sensitive and specific marker of early myocardial infarction, useful in forensic medicine if survival is more than 1 h after the beginning of myocyte damage.     

Image matching algorithms for breech face marks and firing pins in a database of spent cartridge cases of firearms

On the market several systems exist for collecting spent ammunition data for forensic investigation. These databases store images of cartridge cases and the marks on them. Image matching is used to create hit lists that show which marks on a cartridge case are most similar to another cartridge case. The research in this paper is focused on the different methods of feature selection and pattern recognition that can be used for optimizing the results of image matching.The images are acquired by side light images for the breech face marks and by ring light for the firing pin impression. For these images a standard way of digitizing the images used. For the side light images and ring light images this means that the user has to position the cartridge case in the same position according to a protocol. The positioning is important for the sidelight, since the image that is obtained of a striation mark depends heavily on the angle of incidence of the light. In practice, it appears that the user positions the cartridge case with +/-10 degrees accuracy.We tested our algorithms using 49 cartridge cases of 19 different firearms, where the examiner determined that they were shot with the same firearm. For testing, these images were mixed with a database consisting of approximately 4900 images that were available from the Drugfire database of different calibers.In cases where the registration and the light conditions among those matching pairs was good, a simple computation of the standard deviation of the subtracted gray levels, delivered the best-matched images. For images that were rotated and shifted, we have implemented a "brute force" way of registration. The images are translated and rotated until the minimum of the standard deviation of the difference is found. This method did not result in all relevant matches in the top position. This is caused by the effect that shadows and highlights are compared in intensity. Since the angle of incidence of the light will give a different intensity profile, this method is not optimal.For this reason a preprocessing of the images was required. It appeared that the third scale of the "à trous" wavelet transform gives the best results in combination with brute force. Matching the contents of the images is less sensitive to the variation of the lighting.The problem with the brute force method is however that the time for calculation for 49 cartridge cases to compare between them, takes over 1 month of computing time on a Pentium II-computer with 333MHz. For this reason a faster approach is implemented: correlation in log polar coordinates. This gave similar results as the brute force calculation, however it was computed in 24h for a complete database with 4900 images.A fast pre-selection method based on signatures is carried out that is based on the Kanade Lucas Tomasi (KLT) equation. The positions of the points computed with this method are compared. In this way, 11 of the 49 images were in the top position in combination with the third scale of the à trous equation. It depends however on the light conditions and the prominence of the marks if correct matches are found in the top ranked position. All images were retrieved in the top 5% of the database. This method takes only a few minutes for the complete database if, and can be optimized for comparison in seconds if the location of points are stored in files.For further improvement, it is useful to have the refinement in which the user selects the areas that are relevant on the cartridge case for their marks. This is necessary if this cartridge case is damaged and other marks that are not from the firearm appear on it.     

Spectra interference between diquat and paraquat by second derivative spectrophotometry

A rapid and accurate method, combining solid-phase extraction and second-order derivative spectrophotomety approaches, is developed for the simultaneous determination of diquat (DQ) and paraquat (PQ) in blood, tissue and urine samples. Supernatant resulting from the precipitation of protein (with trichloroacetic acid) in plasma and tissue or Amberlite IRA-401 resin treated urine are passed through a mini-column packed with Wakogel gel (Silica gel). Analytes are then eluted with a non-organic solvent, 0.2mol/l HCl solution containing 2mol/l NH(4)Cl. UV spectrum of the eluent in 220-350nm range provides effective screen to detect the presence of DQ and/or PQ. In the presence of DQ or PQ alone, the analyte present is quantitated by conventional zero- or second-order derivative spectrophotometry. The calibration curve in the 0.1-5.0mg/l range for either analyte obeys Beer's law. When both DQ and PQ are present, their concentrations are determined by the peak amplitudes of their respective second-derivative spectra after the addition of alkaline dithionite reagent. Interference is negligible when the DQ/PQ concentration ratio is within the 5.0-0.2 range.Using a 2-ml of sample size, the detection limits for DQ and PQ in plasma are 0.02 and 0.005mg/l. The corresponding detection limits for urine samples (10ml sample size) are 0.004 and 0.001mg/l. Recoveries of DQ and PQ in triplicate plasma and urine samples spiked with 0.5mg/l of analytes are 93 and 85%. The precision of the proposed method resulting from triplicate study of spiked urine samples varies from 3.2 to 4.6% at 0.5mg/l of DQ and PQ, respectively.