Morphological changes in lungs of patients with spinal injuries died in hospital

Morphological characteristics of changes in the spine and lungs in patients with spinal injuries dead in hospital are described. Spinal edemas were detected in all cases. Edemas were found even in subjects dead at the place where the injury was inflicted. Morphological changes in the lungs were characterized by a phase-wise process, depended on the volume of injury, duration of hospitalization, medical care rendered, and manifested by disorders of blood content of the organ, development of tissue edema, and pneumonia. These data do not rule out the development of pneumonia in patients with spinal injuries.     

Diagnostic evaluation of main signs of liquor crystallograms in live subjects with craniocerebral injuries of different severity

Liquor samples from 159 live subjects with craniocerebral injuries were analyzed. Forty-four patients had brain concussions, 30 light contusions of the brain, 43 medium-severe contusions of the brain, and 42 severe contusions of the brain. Crystallograms were evaluated by 37 signs detected visually and by stereoscopy. The main diagnostic criteria for evaluation of the severity of craniocerebral injury were defined.     

Morphology of hairs on the head and other parts of the body in the residents of Africa

The morphology of hairs from the head, beard, chest, armpits, and pubis was studied in indigenous population of Sudan, Sierra-Leone, Cote d'Ivoir, Ruanda, Nigeria, Gambia, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Zaire, Southern African Republic, Angola, Benin, and Guinea Bissau. A total of 327 hair specimens were examined. A number of new parameters of hairs were determined: thickness, number of cuticle pattern lines per mm, optic edge pattern, cuticle patterns, methods for detecting the cortical and medullar layers, width of hair layers and their transverse sections. The resultant morphological signs are new specific signs for African residents (Negroid) which can be used in forensic medical studies for identifying the race appurtenance of hairs.     

Mechanism of sudden death in female pseudohermaphroditism

Sudden death in female pseudohermaphroditism is described. Hemorrhage into hyperplastic adrenals leads to acute adrenal failure and is the immediate cause of death.     

Medical anthropological aspects of hand phalanx dermatoglyphics

Main and middle phalanx skin patterns represent a polymorphic hereditary system of signs practically not studied in anthropology, but interesting for forensic medicine and criminology from the viewpoint of expert evaluation of relation and personality identification. Based on a vast scope of data (600 hand impressions of 300 subjects from Russian families), a classification of patterns on the main and middle finger phalanges has been developed and their incidence evaluated. The proposed classification includes 15 types and 40 subtypes. The incidence of individual patterns on phalanges of different site and order has been determined. The problem of genetic determination, i.e. inheritance of certain patterns from father and mother, remains open and requires a special research.     

Computer-aided personality identification by skull and life-time photography by POSKID 1.1 method

An improved method for computer-aided personality identification by the skull, based on the POSKID 1.1 software, consists in investigation of enlarged images of the skull and life-time photograph of the probable individual by coordinates of 49 anatomical points; independent quantitative evaluation of the aspect of each of the compared objects by the X, Y, and Z axes; formal evaluation of the results of comparative study of the skull-portrait by multidimensional discriminant analysis models. The proposed version differs from the POSKID 1.0 software in the method for evaluating the spatial position of the head on the portrait and adequate orientation of the skull in space, which necessitates the utilization of coordinate-regulated holder POSKID 1.1 method is based on multidimensional discriminant analysis and suggests a virtually reliable solution in 76.13-80.65% cases, a probable solution (positive and negative) in 11.61-18.06% cases, and motivated refusal from solution in 5.81-7.74% cases. In case of a probable or indefinite solution further investigations are recommended making use of life-time photographs with different aspects.     

A simple and cost-effective method for preparing DNA from the hard tooth tissue, and its use in polymerase chain reaction amplification of amelogenin gene segment for sex determination in an Indian population

The use of teeth as an important resource in the analysis of forensic case history by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or other related methods has been reported. However, a major drawback in using teeth has been that the DNA is present only in trace amounts, and the methods to recover DNA from the flinty material have not been efficient or cost effective. In this report, we describe a method to prepare DNA from the hard tooth tissues. Our studies show that ultrasonication of teeth samples yields sufficient amounts of good quality DNA useful for PCR-based diagnostic methods. The teeth could serve as a reliable source of DNA for amplification-based forensic methods in sex determination. DNA could be obtained from any tooth, regardless of the age of subject. Furthermore, by using the AMEL gene-based primers in PCR, we have shown that the AMEL gene serves as a good marker for sex determination in the Indian population. In our study, the PCR-based method was sensitive and proved to be successful for sex determination with a complete specificity.     

Reagents for the chemical development of latent fingerprints: scope and limitations of benzo[f]ninhydrin in comparison to ninhydrin

Benzo[f]ninhydrin was compared to ninhydrin for fingerprint development on paper. Overall, the performance of ninhydrin on exhibits was slightly better than that of benzo[f]ninhydrin. The significant advantages of the benzo[f]ninhydrin over ninhydrin were the much stronger fluorescence it gave after treatment with zinc salts and a slightly quicker reaction under ambient conditions. This fluorescence is, however, similar to that obtained with other reagents, such as DFO or ninhydrin analogs. These advantages apparently are not sufficient to justify regular usage of benzo[f]ninhydrin, especially when one considers its low solubility and high cost.     

Morphology and phenomenology of death by kicking (II)

In the years from 1982 to 1995, 20,504 autopsy cases were examined at the Departments of Forensic Medicine in Hamburg and Greifswald. In 103 cases death was caused by kicking. In the Greifswald area, the occurrence of kicking as the cause of death could be demonstrated in 68 cases (30% of all homicides), which is in contrast to the observations in Hamburg, were kicking amounted to only 2.5% of the homicides. Most of the victims (average age 44 years) were under the influence of alcohol (mean blood alcohol concentration 1.75/1000), and most were on social support. The victims often showed other signs of blunt trauma such as blows with the fist and strangulation. In a few cases, cutting and stabbing wounds were also found. In the majority of cases death was due to severe haemorrhages and aspiration of blood in addition to the direct effects of the head injuries. The crimes were committed by one person in 46 cases, two in 20 and three in 4 cases. The perpetrators (average age 27.6 years) were always younger than the victims. Case reports show that fatal kicking was mostly triggered by relatively trivial arguments. None of the incidents were preplanned by the perpetrators. In contrast to an expected higher incidence of kicking deaths in the urban area of Hamburg, these crimes occurred ten times more frequently in the rural area of Greifswald.