Gasoline exposure in motor vehicle accident fatalities

Three cases are described in which deaths after motor vehicle accidents occurred as a result of positional asphyxia associated with exposure to gasoline. The deceased individuals were aged 16, 34, and 35 years, respectively (M:F = 1:2) and had all been in the back seat of motor vehicles involved in rollover accidents that had resulted in spilling of gasoline with contamination of the cabins. Major components of gasoline were detected in blood and tissues by headspace gas chromatography. Postmortem toxicologic investigations of such cases, which include analyses for volatile hydrocarbons, may therefore produce additional significant information.     

Fatal childhood vascular injuries associated with seat belt use

The deaths of two children who were passengers in motor vehicles involved in accidents were directly attributable to vascular injuries derived from seat belts. In the first case, a 10-year-old boy died as a result of abdominal aortic transection by a lap seat belt, and in the second case a 15-year-old boy died as a result of transection of his common carotid artery by a lap-shoulder seat belt. Although these cases demonstrate rare fatalities associated with seat belt use, there is no doubt that seat belts have significantly reduced mortality and morbidity from traffic accidents. Although it is possible that a fatal outcome might have occurred in each of these cases from other injuries that might have been sustained had seat belts not been worn, appropriate positioning and size of seat belt harnesses might have avoided the lethal injuries.     

Characteristic features of suicidal drownings: a 20-year study

A retrospective study of cases of drowning suicide was undertaken at the Forensic Science Centre in Adelaide, South Australia for the period April 1980 to March 2000. A total of 123 cases were found, with 76 males (age, 16-88 years; average, 50.5 years; standard deviation [SD], 20.1 years) and 47 females (age, 34-88 years; average, 60.6 years; SD, 13.9 years). There were 66 fresh water drownings and 57 saltwater drownings. Female victims were significantly older than male victims for both fresh water and saltwater drownings (P < .05 and P < .01, respectively). Deaths in young women were rare. No temporal trend in drowning suicides could be shown, with annual numbers varying from 0 to 12 cases (average, 6.15; median, 7). Women preferentially chose the ocean or bath to drown themselves in, whereas males chose rivers, ditches, and lakes. Swimming pools were rarely used for suicide in this population; alcohol use was not usual; and there was often a significant history of mental illness.     

Traditional punishment and unexpected death in Central Australia.

Three cases of traditional punishment in Central Australian Aboriginal men are presented in which the thighs were speared or stabbed as part of a "payback" system. In two cases, an unexpected effect of the stabbing or spearing was death due to severing of major leg vessels. The relationship between customary Aboriginal law and general law in Australia has not been clearly defined; however, these cases demonstrate that significant and untoward effects may result from traditional punishments. Pathologists working near traditional Australian Aboriginal communities may still encounter such injuries at autopsy.     

Nomadic Territories: A Human Rights Approach to Nomadic Peoples' Land Rights

In most societies nomadic peoples face discrimination. At theheart of this discrimination frequently lies the crucial issueof property in land. The sharing of lands between nomads andsettled agriculturalist societies has often led to violent confrontation.Access to land is a determining factor for many nomadic peoplesas whether or not nomads have access to land will determinethe survival of their mobile lifestyle. Historically nomadicpeoples have not been regarded as having any rights to landbecause their nomadic lifestyle was not considered to fulfilthe criterion of ‘effective occupation’ of the land.By exploring the evolution of international law regarding nomadicpeoples’ land rights, this article analyses how humanrights law could provide nomadic peoples with rights to usetheir lands. Ultimately, this article argues that under thebanner of international human rights law, nomadic peoples aregaining the right to live on their land in their traditionalways through the gradual establishment of a specific corpusof law dedicated to the rights of nomads.     

An interlaboratory study to evaluate the utility of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-infrared spectroscopy spectral libraries in the forensic analysis of fentanyl-related substances

Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl account for over 71,000 of the approximately 107,000 overdose deaths reported in the United States in 2021. Fentanyl remains the fourth most identified drug by state and local forensic laboratories, and the second most identified drug by federal laboratories. The unambiguous identification of fentanyl-related substances (FRS) is challenging due to the absence or low abundance of a molecular ion in a typical gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis and due to a low number of fragment ions that are similar among the many potential isomers of FRS. This study describes the utility of a previously reported gas chromatography-infrared (GC-IR) library for the identification of FRS within a blind, interlaboratory study (ILS) involving seven forensic laboratories. Twenty FRS reference materials, including those with isomer pairs in the library, were selected based on either their presence in the NIST library and/or some similarity of the mass spectra information produced. The ILS participants were requested to use the Florida International University (FIU) GC-MS and GC-IR libraries supplied by FIU to search for matches to their unknown spectra generated from in-house GC-MS and GC-IR analysis. The laboratories reported improvement in the positive identification of unknown FRS from ~75% using GC-MS alone to 100% correct identification using GC-IR analysis. One laboratory participant used solid phase IR analysis, which produced spectra incompatible with the vapor phase GC-IR library to generate a good comparison spectrum. However, this improved when searched against a solid phase IR library.