Mechanism of formation of spinal injuries

It was stipulated that in medicolegal examination of deaths due to mechanical trauma accompanied by vertebral column separation it is necessary to investigate the surface of separation, which as a rule passes along the verge of the osseous and cartilagnous locking laminae. At the initial stage of avulsion a fragment of osseous lamina of the adjacent vertebral corpus remains fixed to cartilaginous lamina. Taking into account the localization of this fragment one may judge upon the direction of spine flexure.     

Fatal intoxication by Remoxipride

The case history and toxicologic findings of a 23-year-old woman who committed suicide with Remoxipride are described. Remoxipride is a recently developed neuroleptic drug of the benzamide type. Remoxipride was detected in the liver, stomach content, blood, and urine. The concentration of Remoxipride in the blood was 230 mg/L. The recommended therapeutic level for Remoxipride should not exceed 7 to 8 mg/L. The victim had no blood alcohol, but an ethanol concentration of 0.048 g/100 L was detected in the urine. The mechanism of death from Remoxipride intoxication is not known. In clinical studies, sinus bradycardia and infrequent supraventricular and ventricular ectopic beats have been noted.     

ABO and Lewis typing of secretion stains on nitrocellulose membranes using a new dot-blot-ELISA technique

A new method for ABO and Lewis typing of body fluids is described. It combines the advantages of a good antigen binding to nitrocellulose membranes, the need of only very small amounts of stain material and the high sensitivity of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for antigen detection. This is of special interest because conventional ABO and Lewis typing of secretion stains need relatively large stain dimensions. The method is very easy to handle, does not need any expensive equipment and gives a permanent record. Furthermore the high sensitivity offers the possibility of analyzing even sweat and urine stains without the need of concentrating these extracts.