Complex Suicide by Self‐stabbing with Subsequent Drowning in the Sea

The paper presents a unique case of a complex suicide committed by a young man, mostly probably triggered by a disappointment in love. The uniqueness of the suicide lies in the fact that the victim inflicted several deep stab wounds on himself, in the chest and abdomen, while standing partly submerged in the sea and, having done so, he dropped and disappeared in the water. The postmortem examination showed, apart from deep wounds in the trunk, characteristics of drowning that manifested itself in the form of aqueous emphysema of the lungs. Suicide was clearly determined on the basis of the circumstances preceding death, the location, and arrangement of the trunk wounds and the testimony given by a witness of the incident. The circumstances preceding the suicidal act clearly suggest an underlying undiagnosed mental disorder.     

Assessment of bone age based on morphometric study of the upper end of the humerus

Assessment of changes in the spongy bone structure of the upper end of the humerus is one of the common methods of age estimation. This method was devised many years ago (1894) and has never been verified in an objective numerical testing. We projected an objective morphometric method assessment of the upper end of the humerus. The study was carried out on humeri from cadavers of 88 men and 84 women. The surface area of atrophy of the spongy structure (medullary cavity) was calculated on the longitudinal section of the humerus. A new morphometric method was applied, which allowed numerical presentation of results. The results of the study show a lack of statistical correlation between atrophy of the spongy structure within the upper end of the humerus and the chronological age. Therefore, it can be concluded that the assessment of humerus structure should be omitted in the forensic medical age estimation.     

Allele frequencies for 10 STR loci in a population from central Poland

Allele frequencies of 10 STR loci included in the AmpFlSTR SGM Plus Kit (PE Applied Biosystem) was obtained a simple of 222 unrelated individuals residing in Warsaw (Poland) region.     

Ankle joint injuries as a reconstruction parameter in car-to-pedestrian accidents

The study has assessed the usefulness of ankle joint injuries for deducing about the presumable location of a pedestrian in relation to a motor vehicle at the moment of collision. A statistically significant correlation was found between the direction of impact and the mechanism of ankle joint injuries. Such injuries were found in 113 of 317 pedestrian, fatal victims of road traffic accidents (36%). In the cases of impacts on the medial surface of the lower limb, the injuries associated with the supination mechanism were six times more frequent than the injuries associated with the pronation mechanism, while in the group of impacts on the limbs from the lateral side those connected with the pronation mechanism were four times more frequent. In victims hit from the back, the injuries connected with the plantarflexion mechanism were found almost four times more frequent than the dorsiflexion mechanism and in victims hit from the front in three of the five damaged joints the dorsiflexion component was observed (without any plantarflexion case). Less frequent "pronation injuries" in the limbs hit from the medial side and "supination injuries" in the limbs hit from the lateral side as well as "dorsiflexion injuries" in victims hit from the back predominantly occurred in impacts to the pelvic area, i.e. resulting from collisions with a van or lorry. Injuries of upper ankle joints are, thus, useful for reconstructing the presumable location of the pedestrian in relation to the vehicle at the moment of collision, especially, when the vehicle involved in the accident is known.     

Population genetics of Y-chromosome STRs in a population of Podlasie, Northeastern Poland

Haplotype and allele frequencies for the 12 Y-STRs were determined in a population sample of 186 Polish males. Five of the haplotypes were encountered in duplicate, while 176 haplotypes were unique. The overall gene diversity was 0.9973. This database study provides an essential precondition for applying Y-chromosomal STRs estimates in forensic identification of male DNA and tracing of paternal lineages.     

Allele distribution of 15 STR loci in a population sample of the Lithuanian minority residing in the Northeastern Poland

Allele frequencies for the 15 STRs included in the AmpFlSTR Identifiler kit were determined in a population sample of 140 unrelated individuals of the Lithuanian minority residing in the Northeastern Poland. Departure from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for loci VWA, TPOX and D7S820 did not sustain after applying Bonferroni correction for multiple testing. Exact tests disequilibrium analysis revealed five departures from independence out of 105 pair-wise comparisons. The combined MP and PE for all 15 loci are 5.00 x 10(-17) and 0.9999, respectively.     

Gendered perceptions: women in the labour market in Poland

Abstract

This paper considers the consequences of economic and political change in the early 1990s for women's situation in the Polish labour market. New types of employment emerged in various sectors of the Polish economy around the mid-1970s. Some, such as finance, insurance, education and health care became highly feminised. Under the Communist system, many regulations were introduced to allow women to combine paid labour with taking care of the household. In the new post-Communist economic situation, these gender-specific regulations work against women, making them less attractive to employers. In a situation of high unemployment, employers in the growing private sector can afford to make specific demands of their employees: that they be young, male, and mobile. Women are thus in a worse situation in the labour market even though they are often more educated than the men with whom they must compete for work. There is urgent need to introduce mechanisms to create a more equal labour market.     

A cooperative Peru: Is centralisation of cooperatives better for local development?

Research shows that some agricultural cooperatives implement development projects in their local communities. What remains to be explained is why certain cooperatives pursue local development while others do not. Through a comparison of coffee cooperatives in two regions of Peru, this study examines the implications of a regional cooperative for local development. The creation of a regional cooperative leads to a concentration of resources and a decrease in the need and ability of local cooperatives to pursue independent development projects. At the same time, it allows for more equal access to those resources and to the benefits of cooperative-led development projects.     

The role of international brokers in frozen conflicts: the case of transnistria

Asia Europe Journal - The “frozen” conflict between Moldova and its separatist Transnistrian region—which developed into a de facto state—is dynamic. Despite an active...