Digoxin, magnesium, and potassium levels in a forensic autopsy material of sudden death from ischemic heart disease

In 91 cases where the cause of death was heart disease, digoxin, Mg and K concentrations in serum and ventricular myocardium were measured post mortem. Forty per cent were positive for digoxin in both serum and myocardium. The mean serum level was 5.1 +/- 2.4 nmol/l and the mean myocardial level was 42.6 +/- 27.5 ng/g. Correlation could be established between serum and myocardial concentrations of digoxin. There were statistically significant differences in serum as well as in myocardial digoxin levels in persons on 0.13 mg and 0.25 mg per day, respectively. Myocardial levels of Mg and K were low as generally found in persons with ischemic heart disease. There was no correlation between these levels and myocardial digoxin concentrations. Caution must be exercised in the assessment of digoxin results from cadaver samples because of the postmortem rise of digoxin serum concentrations. Considering this fact, the results still indicate that the prevalence of toxic digoxin concentrations might be more common than previously thought.     

Determination of succinyldicholine in different tissue samples from guinea pigs after injection of a single intravenous dose

The distribution and postmortem stability of succinyldicholine in different tissues and urine from guinea-pigs has been studied. Succinyldicholine was extracted from tissue homogenates and urine samples from animals sacrificed by intravenous injections of succinyldicholine hydrochloride (40 mg/kg). The bis-quaternary ammonium compound was demethylated and the tertiary amine was analysed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The concentrations found in muscle, kidney and urine were often low; in muscle below 5 pmol/g, in kidney from 5 to 1500 pmol/g and in urine from 5 to 650 pmol/ml. The eye proved to be the best tissue sample, with a rather high and constant concentration (280 +/- 36 pmol/g) of succinyldicholine. The postmortem stability was studied by storing the bodies at 4 degrees C. After 6 days storage the drug concentrations in the eyes started to decline. Four weeks after death it was not possible to detect any succinyldicholine in this tissue.     

‘Demonstrative Evidence’: A Genealogy of the Racial Iconography of Forensic Art and Illustration

This essay stages a critique of the unacknowledged racialising visual regimes that inform forensic pathologys typical body charts. In order to disclose these unacknowledged regimes, I stage a genealogy of the racialising iconography that continues to shape forensic pathologys visual texts. In drawing attention to the racialising visual conventions that constitute the contemporary production of caucacentric forensic body charts, I attempt to disrupt the scientifico-objective status of these visual artefacts in order to underscore their ideological effects. By focusing on the ontological/epistemological split between the corporeality of native informants and white knowledge workers, I underscore the white medico-legal professions historical transmuting of other bodies into objects of knowledge. I conclude by outlining the discursive effects of presenting forensic pathologys caucacentric body charts as demonstrative evidence within the court of law.This is an extended version of an essay first presented at the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities Conference, Cardozo Law School, New York University, New York, USA, March 2003. My thanks to Peter Goodrich and Penelope Pether for their generous enthusiasm and support.     

Social Connection to Neighbors,Multiple Victimization,and Current Health Among Women Residing in High Crime Neighborhoods

This study assessed current health [physical health, bodily pain, global distress, posttraumatic stress-related disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and illicit substance use] among 160 minority women residing in high crime areas with varying numbers of different types of victimization histories and varying levels of social connections (SCs) to neighbors. Multivariate analyses of covariance indicated a main effect for number of different types of victimization and for SC to neighbors, after considering ethnicity, immigration, and marital status. Women with two or three+ different types of victimization reported higher global distress, PTSD symptoms, and illicit substance use than women with zero or one type of victimization. Likewise, women with low levels of SC to neighbors reported higher bodily pain than women with high levels of SCs to neighbors.