Difficulties in forensic medical evaluation of some forms of craniocerebral injury

Conclusions of 41 repeated expert evaluations of craniocerebral injuries within the framework of criminal and civil cases investigation are analyzed. Some aspects of clinical and forensic medical diagnosis of lethal and nonlethal injuries to the head, evaluation of the quality of medical care, and qualification of the severity of harm to health are discussed. Causes of typical expert errors and approaches to their prevention are shown.     

Infrared spectroscopy of the dry residue of liquor crystallograms in various diseases

The article presents the results of an examination of the dry residue of liquor crystallograms (DRLC) using infrared spectroscopy technique. 36 spectrograms were studied. Elements of similarity and difference were revealed in the spectrograms of organic substance (antifreeze, sodium cyclamate and fatty tissue), of DRLC of the crystal-forming matter CuCl(2)x2H(2)0, of DRLC of a live person and cadaveric liquor (with no brain injury in respective case histories), of DRLC of liquor of live persons with a brain injury, of DRLC of liquor of persons who died of a brain injury and of persons who died of other causes.     

Violations of out-group and in-group regulations in the eyes of ordinary and protected prisoners: an instance of judgmental modularity

According to the functional theory of cognition, everyday life blaming for wrongdoing reflects individuals' functional morality. The judgments of normative people were found to be modular, that is, changeable as a function of the social role taken at the moment of the judgment. This article presents several empirical indications that prisoners' functional moral judgments are modular as well. These studies were conducted within the experimental framework of functional measurement, which was chosen due to its ability to bypass prisoners' suspicion and resistance to out-group investigations. The studies focus on delinquents' core moral issues such as eyewitness testimony and informing to out-group authorities. As expected, the judgments of ordinary and protected inmates were modular. It is claimed that these findings are applicable to offender rehabilitation and correction and to offender therapy.     

Bile analysis of drugs in postmortem cases

Bile is, in certain cases, collected together with blood from different sites (heart, brain, femoral), urine and other organs or matrices. This study reports comparative results obtained from the analysis of blood and bile for different drugs found: acetaminophen, amphetamine and related compounds, several antidepressants, several benzodiazepines, cocaine and its metabolites, dextropropoxyphene and its metabolite, hydroxyzine, methadone and metabolite, morphine and codeine, levomepromazine, thioridazine, propranolol, tramadol and its metabolite. Several findings are presented: (1) There were no significant differences in the levels of the compounds among the samples of blood obtained from different sites. (2) Levels in bile are generally several fold higher than those in blood. The mean bile to blood ratios vary from about 1 (for acetaminophen, amphetamine) to about 2000 (for desmethylclobazam). (3) In certain cases (16 over 44), although the drug or its metabolite was not detected in blood from different sites, it was detected in bile. As other authors had advocated, it is very useful to ask the pathologist to take the gall bladder with its contents together with the other samples, in order that the sample of bile can be used in the comprehensive toxicological analysis and therefore be complementary to the other fluids or matrices. An additional advantage for using bile is that the concentrations of drugs or their metabolites are generally several fold higher than their blood concentrations.     

Plasma,oral fluid and sweat wipe ecstasy concentrations in controlled and real life conditions

In a double-blind placebo controlled study on psychomotor skills important for car driving (Study 1), a 75 mg dose of +/- 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) was administered orally to 12 healthy volunteers who were known to be recreational MDMA-users. Toxicokinetic data were gathered by analysis of blood, urine, oral fluid and sweat wipes collected during the first 5h after administration. Resultant plasma concentrations varied from 21 to 295 ng/ml, with an average peak concentration of 178 ng/ml observed between 2 and 4h after administration. MDA concentrations never exceeded 20 ng/ml. Corresponding MDMA concentrations in oral fluid, as measured with a specific LC-MS/MS method (which required only 50 microl of oral fluid), generally exceeded those in plasma and peaked at an average concentration of 1215 ng/ml. A substantial intra- and inter-subject variability was observed with this matrix, and values ranged from 50 to 6982 ng/ml MDMA. Somewhat surprisingly, even 4-5h after ingestion, the MDMA levels in sweat only averaged 25 ng/wipe. In addition to this controlled study, data were collected from 19 MDMA-users who participated in a driving simulator study (Study 2), comparing sober non-drug conditions with MDMA-only and multiple drug use conditions. In this particular study, urine samples were used for general drug screening and oral fluid was collected as an alternative to blood sampling. Analysis of oral fluid samples by LC-MS/MS revealed an average MDMA/MDEA concentration of 1121 ng/ml in the MDMA-only condition, with large inter-subject variability. This was also the case in the multiple drug condition, where generally, significantly higher concentrations of MDMA, MDEA and/or amphetamine were detected in the oral fluid samples. Urine screening revealed the presence of combinations such as MDMA, MDEA, amph, cannabis, cocaine, LSD and psilocine in the multiple-drug condition.     

Dental age estimation and third molars: a preliminary study

The aim of the present investigation was to reconstruct the chronological age based on the dental developmental stages of third molars evaluated on orthopantomograms. A total of 1175 orthopantomograms were assembled from patients of Caucasian origin between 16 and 22 years of age. Each third molar present was scored by two observers according to a 10-stage developmental scale. The kappa statistics measured the intra- and inter-observer reliability. The general statistical analysis was based on multiple regression analysis in order to obtain multiple regression formulas for dental age estimation based on the number of third molars present on the evaluated orthopantomogram. No regression models were statistically significant when there was only one-third molar present because of the relatively small number of orthopantomograms that fitted this criterion. A strong agreement was found between the intra- and inter-observer measurements. The statistical analysis revealed both for males and females high Pearson correlation coefficients between contralateral third molars and smaller coefficients between antimeres. The obtained multiple regression formulas are only applicable in certain specified conditions, for instance when four third molars are present the following formulas should be used in a Caucasian male "age=10.2000+0.5122UL+0.5273LL" (developmental stage of upper and lower left third molars) or in case of a female "age=13.6206+0.1933UR+0.5080LR" (developmental stage of upper and lower right third molars). This investigation revealed that the chronological age of a Caucasian individual may be estimated based on regression formulas with a S.D. of 1.52 or 1.56 years for males and females, respectively, when all four third molars are present.     

The talus: sex assessment of prehistoric New Zealand Polynesian skeletal remains

Prehistoric Polynesian skeletal remains are frequently being recovered in New Zealand due to the increasing pace of urbanisation. Since such material must often be reinterred quickly, it is important that the sex of individuals be determined from the remains in a relatively short time. For this purpose, discriminant function analysis was utilised for sex determination of prehistoric adult New Zealand Polynesian tali (24 males and 27 females). Five measurements were taken and subjected to Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) discriminant function analysis. For the discriminant functions derived, accuracy of sex determination ranged from 85.1 to 93.3%. Reduction in error over random assignment by sex ranged from 70 to 87%.     

Allele frequencies for the four major sub-populations of New Zealand at three STR loci--HUMTH01, HUMTPOX and CSF1PO

Allele frequencies for the three STR loci included in the GenePrint CTT multiplex system (HUMTH01, HUMTPOX, HUMCSF1PO) have been determined for the four major sub-populations of New Zealand.