Sex differences in suicidal ideation in a community sample from China

In a large sample of over 4,000 Chinese residents in the Wuling and Sino-Vietnamese border regions of China, females had a higher incidence of ever wishing that they were dead. This sex difference was found regardless of marital status, age, and occupation.     

Supermarket tampering: cocaine detected in syringes and in fruit

Product tampering, as detailed by the Federal Anti-Tampering Act of 1983 (1), is a felony punishable by both fine and imprisonment. The rationale for product tampering ranges from pranks and attention seeking acts to extortion, terrorism, and homicide. One such case submitted for analysis involved four medical syringes found in a supermarket and suspected of being used to tamper with various products. One of the syringes was found piercing a pear while the other three syringes were found with needles exposed in other parts of the supermarket. Microscopic analysis was used to collect residue from the syringe barrels and the pear. A multidiscipline approach involving SLM, PLM, including microchemical analysis, FTIR, and GC/MS analyses, performed on the residual liquid found in the syringe barrels and in the suspect pear, confirmed the presence of cocaine. This multidisciplinary approach is often necessary when there is a possible health risk to the public and rapid response is important. With this approach, it was quickly determined which drugs or poisons were used in this tampering.     

Polyclonal systemic immunoblast proliferation: an unusual hematologic entity presenting as a medical examiner case

A 43-year-old woman who was receiving oral antibiotics for several days for a superficial foot infection developed a persistent rash, fever, and lymphadenopathy, despite discontinuation of the antibiotic and administration of steroids for a presumed drug reaction. Hours after a subsequent visit to the emergency room for worsening symptoms, she died at home. At autopsy, there was a florid, systemic proliferation of polyclonal plasma cells and immunoblasts infiltrating nearly every organ and tissue of the body, most notably the lymph nodes and spleen. The polyclonal nature of the process was confirmed by immunofixation electrophoresis and immunohistochemistry. Cases of fatal polyclonal systemic immunoblast proliferations are extremely rare, and the trigger for such proliferations is not always known. We review the literature on this unusual entity and discuss the clinical and pathologic findings.     

Chronology of a homicide and an attempted suicide by DNA analysis of selected blood stains on the weapon (knife)]

A five-year-old boy was fatally injured by a stab and a cut to the throat. The suspected offender, an acquaintance of the victim's mother, stated that he had been disturbed by the boy while attempting suicide and had therefore killed the boy. The suspect showed superficial cuts on both wrists and three shallow stabs on the right-hand side of the abdomen. The purpose of the forensic investigations was to answer the question if the suspect's statement could be confirmed or if the attempted suicide took place after killing the boy. The blood-smeared blade of the knife was divided into different sectors with the cutting edge and the tip of the blade being examined separately from the sides. The blood traces from the different blade sectors were then typed in 12 different DNA regions by PCR (polymerase-chain-reaction). It could be demonstrated that the strong blood traces on the sides of the blade originated from the victim alone, whereas in the area of the edge and the tip of the blade the amount of the victim's blood was negligible compared with that of the suspected offender. The explanation for this finding is that in the areas of the edge and the tip of the knife the blood of the victim must have been replaced by the blood of the suspected perpetrator, which means that the suicidal injuries were the last to be caused by the knife.     

Morbidity and cause of death in homeless persons

The Hamburg Institute of Forensic Medicine analysed 388 deaths of homeless people between 1990 and 1998 considering demographic data, post-mortem results and autopsy findings. The manner of death was either unnatural or unascertained; the autopsy rate amounted to 43.8%. The results confirm the observation discussed in the last few years that homeless people are usually in a poor state of health. In relation to the average age of death, which is 44.5 years, the number of previous diseases is high. Unnatural causes (excluding homicides) account for a high percentage, viz. 62.6%, primarily intoxications. The most frequent natural cause of death is infection (16.8%). Women account for 8.5% of the deaths with their organ findings and causes of deaths being different from those of homeless men in terms of distribution and incidence. The data presented in this report may be helpful for the improvement of the present system of medical help in Hamburg.