A case of fatal intoxication with ammonium sulfate and a toxicological study using rabbits.

Agricultural fertilizers such as ammonium sulfate are widely used in house gardens as well as in agriculture, but few case reports or toxicological studies of ingested fertilizers have been reported. This paper investigates a fatal case of ammonium sulfate poisoning and demonstrates its clinical and biochemical findings in rabbits. An 85-year-old woman was found dead lying on the ground outside her house in the middle of March, but the autopsy could not determine the cause of her death. Examination at the police laboratory of the solution in the beer can found next to her showed that it was very likely ammonium sulfate. Our measurement showed a significant increase of ammonium and sulfate ions in serum and gastric contents. The cause of her death was determined as poisoning by ammonium sulfate. The total dose of 1500 mg/kg of ammonium sulfate was administered to three rabbits, all of which showed similar symptoms such as mydriasis, irregular respiratory rhythms, local and general convulsions, until they fell into respiratory failure with cardiac arrest. EEG showed slow, suppressive waves and high-amplitude slowing wave pattern, which is generally observed clinically in hyperammonemia in man and animal. There was a remarkable increase in the concentration of ammonium ion and inorganic sulfate ion in serum, and blood gas analysis showed severe metabolic acidosis. These results, mainly findings by EEG, have shown that a rapid increase in ammonium ions in blood can cause damaging the central nervous system without microscopic change. When the cause of death can not be determined, measurement of ammonium ion, inorganic ion and electrolytes in blood as well as in stomach contents at forensic autopsy is necessary.     

The determination by gas chromatography with atomic emission detection of total sulfur in fuels used as forensic evidence

In Japan, taxed diesel fuel from non-taxed fuel oil-A is illegally produced by removing coumarin, which is added as a non-taxed marker. The coumarin is removed using concentrated sulfuric acid and this produces a high viscosity and hazardous material, called "sulfuric acid pitch", as a by-product. This compound has a detrimental effect on the environment and is hazardous to humans. The actions have been associated with organized crime with the illegally gained taxes becoming financial bases. To discriminate legal and diesel oil from illegal product, the peak area ratio R(SC), the ratio of total sulfur to carbon (>C(14)), was used. R(SC) is calculated by the total areas of sulfur and carbon (>C(14)) from the gas chromatogram obtained by gas chromatography-atomic emission detection (GC-AED). Sulfur in legal diesel fuels is strictly regulated by a maximum limit, which was 50ppm (and is now 10ppm), but in the preparation of illegal diesel oil, in which coumarin is eliminated, sulfur cannot be removed. Therefore, the R(SC) of fuel oil-A and illegal fuel oil is over 15, whereas those for legal fuel oil and diesel fuel are under 2.0. Furthermore, these ratios do not change in weathering experiments. GC-AED was applied to an actual arson case and was found to be effective for the determination of total sulfur in trace amounts of accelerants detected in fire debris at the arson scene, and hence was effective for the characterization of the ignitable liquids used.     

Trial investigation of post-mortem non-invasive transnasal endoscopy

We performed a trial investigation of transnasal endoscopy for post-mortem examinations to assess its efficacy in superficial post-mortem examinations. Transnasal endoscopy proved capable of permitting detailed visual inspections of the respiratory and the upper gastrointestinal tract, equal to direct viewing, on an LCD digital display. In 18 (40.9%) of 44 cases, findings obtained by post-mortem transnasal endoscopy (PMTNE) provided valuable clues regarding cause of death. The cases examined included seven deaths by fire, four by hypothermia, four by asphyxia (three involving death by mechanical asphyxia, the other by choking), two by drowning and one case of lung cancer. In two cases, PMTNE also led to informative findings not directly related to the cause of death. Under Japan's current systems, we are required to diagnose the cause of death for over 80% of all the unnatural death cases based solely on superficial post-mortem examinations, in the absence of an autopsy. Introducing PMTNE to superficial post-mortem examinations will undoubtedly provide much more information on the cause of death than relying solely on superficial post-mortem examinations.     

Allele frequencies for nine STR loci in Ovambo population using AmpFlSTR Profiler Kit

Allele frequencies for the nine short tandem repeat (STR) loci D3S1358, vWA, FGA, TH01, TPOX, CSF1PO, D5S818, D13S317, and D7S820 were investigated in 195 unrelated Ovambo (Bantus) population from Namibia. AmpFlSTR Profiler Kit was employed for amplification. For each locus, 6-19 alleles were observed. Comparison between Ovambo population data and that of other African populations was performed. AmpFlSTR Profiler detection system is a useful tool for individual identification in Ovambo population.     

Proposal for internet-based Digital Dental Chart for personal dental identification in forensics

A dental chart is very useful as a standard source of evidence in the personal identification of bodies. However, the kind of dental chart available will often vary as a number of types of odontogram have been developed where the visual representation of dental conditions has relied on hand-drawn representation. We propose the Digital Dental Chart (DDC) as a new style of dental chart, especially for open investigations aimed at establishing the identity of unknown bodies. Each DDC is constructed using actual oral digital images and dental data, and is easy to upload onto an Internet website. The DDC is a more useful forensic resource than the standard types of dental chart in current use as it has several advantages, among which are its ability to carry a large volume of information and reproduce dental conditions clearly and in detail on a cost-effective basis.     

Stalin's Great Terror and the Asian Nexus

Stalin's Great Terror of 1937–1938 did not stop at the Soviet borders: under Moscow's explicit instructions, it extended to Asia, particularly to the People's Republic of Mongolia and to Xinjiang or Chinese Turkestan. More people proportionately suffered from the Terror in Mongolia than in the Soviet Union. Stalin's terror operations in the Asiatic lands were implicitly directed against Japan, the main competitor for influence in the region.     

Acknowledgement of the Secret Protocol of the German–Soviet Non-aggression Pact and the Declaration of State Sovereignty by the Union Republics of the USSR

In June 1989, the First Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union established the Commission for Historical and Legal Estimation of the Soviet–German Non-aggression Pact of 1939. In the commission, representatives from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania condemned the Soviet annexation of the Baltic States, prompting heated arguments regarding the invalidity of the related secret protocol of the pact with other members who continued to hold the traditional Soviet ideological view of the pact as something positive. The debate over the secret protocol had the further potential to extend to disputes over ‘recovery of lost territory’ amongst the Baltic States, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and Russia. This article analyses the arguments used by commission members, considering the interplay of national interests, how they balanced arguments between restoration of ‘state sovereignty’ and maintenance of borders, and how they finally compromised and concluded the commission's report.     

16 Y chromosomal STR haplotypes in Japanese

A total of 1079 Japanese males were typed for the following 16 Y chromosomal short tandem repeat (Y-STR) markers: DYS456, DYS389I, DYS390, DYS389II, DYS458, DYS19, DYS385, DYS393, DYS391, DYS439, DYS635, DYS392, Y GATA H4, DYS437, DYS438 and DYS448 using an AmpFlSTR(R) Yfiler PCR Amplification kit (Applied Biosystems). A total of 950 haplotypes for the 16 Y-STR markers were detected and, of these, 886 haplotypes were unique. The most frequent haplotype was found in 22 Japanese males. The haplotype diversity was 0.9992, indicating a high potential for differentiating between male individuals. There were 10 haplotypes with no allele detected at the DYS448 marker. Thus, the presence of such atypical haplotypes should be noted, when DNA typing results obtained from degraded DNA samples and/or DNA mixture samples from more than one male individual are being interpreted.     

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for determination of plasma thyroglobulin and its application to post-mortem diagnosis of mechanical asphyxia

A high sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for determination of plasma thyroglobulin was devised and applied to the postmortem diagnosis of mechanical asphyxia. The sensitivity of the present ELISA was 5 ng/ml. All of the 15 victims who died from causes other than mechanical asphyxia showed plasma thyroglobulin levels lower than 200 ng/ml (99.8 +/- 37.9 ng/ml), while 12 out of 14 victims of mechanical asphyxia showed the levels higher than 200 ng/ml (2100 +/- 3450 ng/ml in 14 victims). Thus, the present ELISA appears to be useful for postmortem diagnosis of mechanical asphyxia.