Forensic chemical testing of cadaveric material for acetonitrile

Gas chromatographic conditions for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of acetonitrile in biological material were determined, including those for reactive gas chromatography. Absolute and relative time of acetonitrile and concomitant substances retention in three columns of different polarity was determined. Study of the time of acetonitrile retention in biological material showed that acetonitrile concentration in the blood virtually did not change in cadaveric material stored in a hermetically closed flask for 2 weeks at 20 +/- 3 degrees C, while its concentration in the stomach decreased by 10-15%. Distribution of acetonitrile in human viscera in lethal poisoning was studied; the agent was evenly distributed in the gastric wall, intestine, liver, and kidney, while its concentrations in the lung and brain were 2-3 times higher. Forensic chemical expert analyses of the blood, urine, and viscera from corpses of humans dead from lethal acetonitrile poisoning showed that lethal concentration in the blood was 28.3-57.0 mg and in the urine 23.2-40.6 mg/100 ml.     

Determination of heavy metals in some human organs, tissue, and fluids under normal conditions

A table has been created, presenting normal levels of heavy metals (Hg, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, Ni, Zn, Sn, Tl, Ag) in human biological media. In contrast to other handbooks, the authors use the normal values derived on the basis of their own investigations at the spectral laboratory of Bureau of Forensic Medical Expert Evaluations, Public Health Committee of Moscow and published reports. Comparative analysis was carried out for each element in human organs, tissues, and urine, which will facilitate expert work. Every laboratory engaged in expert evaluations and analysis in cases with suspected poisoning with heavy metal salts is to have reference values of these elements' concentrations in human organs and tissues obtained in this very laboratory on available equipment with consideration for specific features of its biogeochemical region.     

Hypophyseal damage in persons with cerebrocranial injuries and who died in the hospital

The pituitary was examined in patients with craniocerebral injuries who died in hospital in various periods after treatment. Control group consisted of victims died at the site of accident. The results indicate the significance of examining the pituitary in craniocerebral injuries for the diagnosis of thanatogenesis, particularly in patients died in hospital. Causes of traumatic changes in the organ were determined, highly incident in the practice of forensic medical experts: directly during injury, as a result of skull bone fractures; during development of dislocation syndrome and in disorders of blood and lymph circulation in the brain matter; resultant from augmenting traumatic edema of the brain.     

Detecting Deception in Children's Testimony: Factfinders' Abilities to Reach the Truth in Open Court and Closed-Circuit Trials

This study examined the influence of closed-circuit television (CCTV) on jurors' abilities to detect deception in children's testimony. Children ages 7–9 individually played games and made a video movie with a male confederate. In the guilty condition, stickers were placed on exposed body parts (i.e., the child's arm, toes, and bellybutton). In the not-guilty and deception conditions, stickers were placed on the child's clothing rather than on bare skin. Approximately 3 weeks later, mock jurors recruited from the community viewed child participants testify either in a traditional courtroom setting or via one-way CCTV. The mock jurors responded to questions about the child witness and the defendant as well as deliberated to reach a verdict. Children in the deception condition were asked to testify as if the stickers had been placed on exposed body parts rather than on their clothing. Predeliberation, jurors were less likely to convict when a child testified in the deception condition as opposed to the guilty condition. These differences disappeared following deliberation. There was no support for the notion that jurors reach the truth better when children testify in open court versus via CCTV. Implications for jurors' abilities to reach the truth are discussed.     

Clinico-morphological parameters of heroin abuse and pathology connected with it

Morphological manifestations of narcomania in heroin users are described. Diseases associated with heroin narcomania and causes of death of heroin users are presented. Morphological manifestations at the site of injections and inflammatory reactions in parenchymatous organs are characterized. The authors pay special attention to the productive inflammation which can serve as one of the signs that confirm narcomania in cases with parenteral injections of crude heroin. The authors refer the granulomas to toxic allergic form of granulomatous hypersensitive inflammation.     

Glucose and lactate in vitreous humor compared with the determination of fructosamine for the postmortem diagnosis of diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic illness responsible for a great number of deaths. In postmortem diagnosis, because of the difficulty involved in interpreting blood glucose levels and relatively nonspecific pathologic features, biochemical markers in vitreous humor are useful. The aim of this study was to compare the results obtained for the combined determination of lactate and glucose with fructosamine levels recorded in the vitreous humor of two diagnostic groups (one diabetic and the other nondiabetic). The authors intended to ascertain the capacity of different markers measured in vitreous humor to diagnose diabetes mellitus. Fifty-one cadavers (mean age, 58.7 years; standard deviation, 17.09) were studied. The mean postmortem interval was 16.4 hours (standard deviation, 9.05). Cases were assigned to two diagnostic groups according to whether they were previously diagnosed as either diabetic or nondiabetic. Statistically significant differences for glucose, fructosamine, and the sum values of glucose and lactate were found between the two diagnostic groups. The highest levels were obtained in the group of cases with a previous diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. After the comparison of receiver operating characteristic curves, the sum values of glucose and lactate in vitreous humor is a better predictor of antemortem diabetes mellitus than the fructosamine.     

Numerical density of mu opioid receptor expressing neurons in the frontal cortex of drug related fatalities

In animal and cell culture experiments, chronic morphine treatment has been followed by 'up'- as well as 'down-regulation' of the mu opioid receptor (mu OR) number. The present postmortem morphometric study of morphine-related fatalities of drug addicts (n=12, and 22-35 years old, with blood unconjugated morphine levels from 27.1 to 458 ng/ml, m.v. 198.5 ng/ml) versus a non-addicted control group (n=13 and 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 (area 10 according to Brodmann). For the immunohistochemical procedure, thick (100 microm) vibratome sections were incubated with a monoclonal antibody against the mu OR [Arvidsson et al., J. Neurosci. 15 (1995) 3328] and immunoreactive sites were visualized using an immunoperoxidase protocol. The numerical densities of mu OR-expressing and Nissl-stained neurons were assessed morphometrically (camera lucida-drawings). In both collectives, the anti-mu OR immunoreactivity was mainly found in pyramidal neurons of layers (L) II/III and V and in multiform neurons of L VI. In the drug-related fatalities and the control group, the density of neurons expressing mu OR protein was similar, amounting for 2698 +/- 153 and 2688 +/- 172/mm(3), respectively. These findings extend the binding studies of opioid ligands in postmortem brains of heroin addicts [Gabilondo et al., Psychopharmacology 115 (1994) 135] revealing similar receptor densities and affinities by showing no difference in the density of mu OR-positive neurons.