Educación jurídica,investigación y derechos humanos inteligentes

The recent studies on the genes, the neurons and the information, are influencing the form to know us and to know the reality. The opportunity is had, for this reason, to improve the formation of the professor and the students of the Right, to happen of an education of repetitions to one of new features, discovery, diversion, that is to say, investigation. One is to avoid “to transmit” information, but to explore it, to construct it, only to invent it, working in equipment, professor and students, inside and outside the hall classes. The contents to investigate can be placed in the past, the present or in the future, like the human rights. Thus, it is tried that the well-known or effective human rights, the products of the legal rationalism, are extended to protect the emotional human dignity: the respect, the confidence, the tolerance, the responsibility, the happiness, desire, the pleasure. Human intelligence is multiple, for that reason the human rights must be intelligent, that protect and develop the intellect, the affectivity, the corporal one, the energy, the environment and its cosmovisión.     

Ear identification: a pilot study

Although several papers have recently been devoted to establishing the validity of identification using the ear, this part of the human body still remains underexploited in forensic science. The perfect overlap of two images of the same ear is not really possible, but photographs of the ears as a reliable means of inferring the identity of an individual are poorly treated in the literature. In this study, we illustrate a simple, reproducible method, which divides the photograph of an ear into four parts-helix, antihelix, concha, and lobe-by means of a suitable grid of four straight lines. Although the division does not follow exact anatomical features, their edges do join anatomical points which are more easily identifiable. Measurement of certain areas of these parts can be combined to produce a code allowing personal identification. This method produces false-positive identifications of <0.2%. Last, the repeatability and reproducibility aspects of the method are tested.     

Evidence of Haldol (haloperidol) long-term intoxication

A case of intoxication by haloperidol is reported. Haloperidol is a butyrophenone derivative commonly used in many hospital units as an antipsychotic agent. Adverse reactions due to haloperidol intoxication include drowsiness, blurred vision, extrapyramidal effects, tardive dyskinesia, tachycardia, hypotension and muscular rigidity. In August 2008, a 49 year-old female nurse started feeling various symptoms such as muscular rigidity, drowsiness and buccal dyskinesia. After 3 months, she was hospitalized for the worsening of these symptoms. Four months later, she showed once more the same symptoms. Two open water bottles from which the nurse used to drink in the hospital were confiscated and analyzed. Moreover, the nurse was asked to give a sample of her hair for executing the inherent toxicological analyses. Haloperidol was found in both bottles 1 and 2 at a concentration of 31.5 μg/mL and 43.6 μg/mL, respectively. Based on segmental hair analysis, it was deduced that the nurse consumed haloperidol in the approximate period from August 2008 to March 2009. The higher levels of haloperidol in hair were found in accordance with the periods of most severe appearance of symptoms, requiring the hospitalization of the nurse. The analysis of preservatives and excipients led us to conclude that the pharmaceutical drug was probably added to the water bottles as "Haldol 2mg/mL oral solution".     

Screening and quantification of antipsychotic drugs in human brain tissue by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry: application to postmortem diagnostics of forensic interest

A quantitative LC-MS/MS method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of 17 antipsychotic drugs in human postmortem brain tissue. Sample preparation was performed using Hybrid Solid Phase Extraction-Precipitation technology for the removal of endogenous protein and phospholipid interferences. The chromatographic separation was performed for 16 min on a C8 column, which used a gradient elution of formate ammonium and acetonitrile, and a flow rate gradient. Triple quadrupole mass spectrometry was employed to generate tandem mass spectrometric (MS/MS) data of the target analytes to select the ion m/z signals. Quantitation of the analytes was performed by operating in the dynamic multiple reaction monitoring (dMRM) mode using an electrospray ionization interface. Calibration curves prepared in the spiked brain tissue were linear in the range 20-8000 ng/g (r(2)>0.993) for all drugs (except olanzapine). Within- and between-day coefficients of variation were lower than 25% for all drugs at the LOQ. The LOQ in the matrix ranged between 2 ng/g and 80 ng/g. The method was successfully applied to the unequivocal identification and accurate quantification of antipsychotic drugs in human postmortem brain tissues: therefore, this method can be used in forensic investigations.     

The detection of metallic residues in skin stab wounds by means of SEM-EDS: A pilot study

The morphological analysis of stab wounds may often not be accurate enough to link it with the type of wounding weapon, but a further evaluation may be performed with the search for metallic residues left during the contact between the instrument and the skin. In this study, Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) was applied to the study of cadaveric stab wounds performed with kitchen knives composed of iron, chromium and nickel, in order to verify the presence of metallic residues on the wound's edge. Two groups of 10 corpses were selected: group A, including victims of stab wounds and a control group B (died of natural causes). Samplings were performed on the lesions and in intact areas of group A, whereas in group B sampling were performed in non-exposed intact skin. Samples were then analysed with optical microscopy and SEM-EDS. In group A, optical microscopic analysis showed the presence of vital haemorrhagic infiltration, while SEM-EDS showed evidence of microscopic metal traces, isolated or clustered, consisting of iron, chromium and nickel. Moreover, in two cases organic residues of calcium and phosphate were detected, as a probable sign of bone lesion. Control samples (group A in intact areas and group B), were negative for the search of exogenous material to optical microscopy and SEM-EDS. The results show the utility and possible application of the SEM-EDS in theidentification of metallic residues from sharp weapons on the skin.     

Unexpected perinatal death and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS): anatomopathologic and legal aspects

This work intends to be a review of the recent histopathological findings elicited by research into sudden and unexpected perinatal death and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) that have dictated a novel approach to the inherent problems by pathologists, especially those entrusted with forensic medical authority. The new approach stems from the recent advances made in the understanding of neuro- and/or cardiac-conduction-system diseases present in unexpected perinatal death and SIDS. These demand that an accurate morphologic examination be performed of these structures, which modulate respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, and arousal activities, in all victims of sudden death. A histopathologic study of an ample register of cases of victims of sudden death, either perinatally or in early infancy, has demonstrated frequent alterations both of the autonomic nervous system (especially hypoplasia of the arcuate nucleus) and of the cardiac conduction system (accessory atrioventricular pathways). The present research provides an in-depth study of the many still-controversial aspects underlying perinatal unexpected death and SIDS and is recommended for professionals working in the forensic field, whose greater insight into this problem will allow more complete medicolegal documentation.