Postmortem gastrointestinal ruptures in burn cadavers

The report informs on ruptures within the area of the gastro-intestinal tract of two siblings (2 and 3 years of age) that were fatally burned in their apartment. The ruptures are obviously pointing to an "explosive-like" evaporation of the watery part of the gastro-intestinal contents under the influence of the heat, at impeded pressure balance through shrinking of the esophagus caused by the heat in the upper area and the closure of the pylorus. Of significance here is surely also the shrinking of the gastro-intestinal wall caused by the heat and the thin abdominal walls which were not likely to have acted as "heat insulators". These findings are a supplement to the burn hematoma of the stomach as described by Berg and Schumann (1985).     

Money laundering: some facts

This paper tackles the quite difficult topic of money laundering. After defining money laundering, and after explaining the three stages (steps), placement, layering and integration, the paper tries a quantification and estimation of the volume and development of money laundering activities. Besides it shows national and international measurements to fight money laundering and various effects on macroeconomics. The overall turnover in organized crime for example had a value of 800 billion USD in 2001 and increased to 1.700 billion USD in 2007. These figures are very preliminary with a quite large error, but give a clear indication how important money laundering and the turnover of organized crime is nowadays.