Predicting Institutional Violence among Death Row Inmates: The Utility of the Sorensen and Pilgrim Model

The (Sorensen and Pilgrim, An actuarial risk assessment of violence posed by capital murder defendants. J Crim Law Criminol 90:1251–1270, 2000) actuarial model was developed to predict institutional violence among life-sentenced murderers. However, despite its presentation at capital sentencing, the model has not been validated on death row inmates specifically. This study examined the association between Sorensen and Pilgrim model scores and five types of institutional violence (serious assaults, minor assaults, verbal assault/threats, prison order offenses, and non-violent infractions) among a sample of 155 individuals who had been incarcerated on death row in Texas. Results revealed that risk scores performed better for non-violent infractions than for serious assaults, calling into question the utility of this measure for capital sentencing evaluations.

在死亡中追求永生——水族"控拟"葬仪的人类学考察

本文从文化人类学视角,通过对贵州省都匀市基场乡一个典型水族村寨——翁降村一次"控拟"葬仪的田野调查描述,着重探讨这一祭祀过程中的"祭祀的组织"、"铜鼓与水牛"、"祭祀的禁忌"、"祭祀的消费"等方面问题。文章认为,水族这一传统葬仪源于水族原始宗教信仰中的祖灵崇拜,是水族人追求生命永生的具体表现。     

对美国死刑案件诉讼程序的考察

美国是西方发达资本主义国家中保留并且适用死刑最多的国家,其对死刑案件设置了严格的诉讼程序,如特殊的死刑的诉讼提请批准程序、大陪审团制度、“人身保护令”制度、死刑执行方式等,以期最大限度地避免出现错判、误判的死刑,保障公民的生命权。这对我国的死刑案件诉讼程序改革具有重要的借鉴意义。     

Correlation between Genetic Variants and Polymorphism of Caveolin and Sudden Unexplained DeathCSCD

Objective: To explore the genetic variation sites of caveolin (CAV) and their correlation with sudden unexplained death (SUD). Methods: The blood samples were collected from SUD group (71 cases), coronary artery disease (CAD) group (62 cases) and control group (60 cases), respectively. The genome DNA were extracted and sequencing was performed directly by amplifying gene coding region and exonintron splicing region of CAV1 and CAV3 using PCR. The type of heritable variation of CVA was confirmed and statistical analysis was performed. Results: A total of 4 variation sites that maybe significative were identified in SUD group, and two were newfound which were CAV1:c.45C>T (T15T) and G4V7:C.512G>A (R171H), and two were SNP loci which were CAVl:c.246C>T (rs35242077) and CAV3:C.990T (rsl008642) and had significant difference (P<0.05) in allele and genotype frequencies between SUD and control groups. Forementioned variation sites were not found in CAD group. Conclusion: The variants of CAV1 and CAV3 may be correlated with a part of SUD group. © 2017 by the Editorial Department of Journal of Forensic Medicine.     

致心律失常性右室心肌病研究进展

致心律失常性右室心肌病(ARVC)是一种新命名的原发性心肌病,其病因和发病机制至今未明。过去研究报道的病因发病机制有炎症、免疫、退行性变及个体发育不良等几种学说,但新近越来越多的研究表明其与凋亡和基因突变有关。ARVC以青壮年男性多见,多有家庭病史和遗传倾向,属常染色体显性遗传,是年轻人较常见的猝死原因之一。心脏病变的特征是右心室心肌局灶性或大片被脂肪和纤维脂肪组织所取代,正常心肌被分隔成岛状或块状,散在分布于纤维脂肪组织间,右心室壁变薄、右心室腔扩张。鉴别诊断主要是扩张型心肌病和脂肪心等。尸检时除应全面系统地解剖外,心脏需多部位,特别是右心室取材做病理切片检查。     

基质金属蛋白酶与心血管疾病及其法医学意义

在心血管疾病发病机制中起重要作用的蛋白质大分子,对于心脏性猝死的发生及确诊具有十分重要的意义。基质金属蛋白酶(Matrixmetalloproteinases,MMPs)是一类锌依赖的金属内肽酶的总称,是降解心肌细胞外基质最重要的蛋白水解酶类。本文就基质金属蛋白酶生物学特性、功能在心血管疾病发生发展中的作用和在法医病理学中的意义作一介绍。     

心脏钠通道SCN5A基因突变与致心律失常性疾病

致心律失常性疾病患者死后尸检时心脏没有发现病理学异常的证据,过去都将其归为原因不明的猝死,近年研究显示,很多致心律失常性疾病与心脏钠通道基因(SCN5A)突变相关。本文对钠通道SCN5A基因的基本结构、SCN5A基因突变与几种相关的致心律失常性疾病的相关性等进行了综述,旨在为原因不明猝死的研究提供新思路。     

Diagnostic value of post-mortem examination of the cardiac conduction system

Introduction (Aim)

Sudden unexplained death (SUD) is a common problem in forensic pathology. In many of these cases, the autopsy findings, toxicological examinations and patient history are inconclusive. Many studies suggest that in such cases, the cardiac conduction system (CCS) should be histologically examined. We decided to determine the diagnostic value of histological examination of the CCS.

Methods

We reviewed autopsy files from the period 2005–2007 and selected those cases in which the CCS had been sampled. These were divided into two groups, the first comprising cases with an obvious cardiac pathology (e.g. severe coronary disease, myocardial infarction, significant myocardial hypertrophy/dilatation, valvular disease, etc.) and the second comprising cases without obvious cardiac pathology (i.e. fatal injuries, intoxications and deaths unexplainable by routine procedures). The CCS was sampled according to a detailed protocol and examined under a light microscope. On the basis of the findings of histological examination of CCS, we formed subgroups of the aforementioned main groups.

Results

We analyzed 118 cases, of which 83 were males and 35 females. In 57% of cases, autopsy revealed gross pathological abnormalities of the heart. In 10 (15%) of them, examination of the CCS showed significant pathological changes (narrowing of the nodal artery and its branches, moderate to severe interstitial fibrosis, calcifications in the central fibrous body impinging upon CCS). In some, especially those with no acute findings, CCS disease can be considered to have been the cause of fatal arrhythmias. In 43% of cases, autopsy revealed no gross abnormalities of the heart, while histological examination of the CCS disclosed significant pathological changes in 4 (8%). Among them, CCS disease was regarded as the cause of death in one case and as a possible cause in another case.

Conclusion

As with other similar studies, our study showed that examination of the CCS can provide valuable information on the cause of death. We therefore consider that examination of the CCS should be performed in all SUD cases, especially those in which the cause of death cannot be established by routine procedures. Although we had only 1 confirmed cause of death linked to CCS disease and one possible, we had 14 cases with significant pathological CCS changes. This leads us to the conclusion that post-mortem examination of the CCS is of diagnostic value.     

论绝对确定性和死刑

近年来死刑误判案件的披露引起了人们对如何减少此类错误的重新关注。因此,建议提高死刑案件中陪审团成员对被告人罪行确定性的研究者们一致呼吁适用高于排除合理怀疑的证明标准。本文在第二部分列举了一些当前论证死刑案件中可以适用排除合理怀疑证明标准的理论．并说明这些理论是否能证明死刑案件的定罪阶段和量刑阶均应适用更高证明标准。但因为死刑案件仍相对较少．所以误判死刑案件对正当性造成的整体损害小于每年误判数以千计的非死刑案件造成的损害：2002年仅有159人被判处死刑,但2000年有近925000名成年人在州法院被判处重罪,其中45000人在审判中被定罪（其余为自己认罪）。如果在死刑案件中要求真正的绝对确定性．那么可能会因为没有陪审团成员能真正声称自己有“绝对的确定性”而导致无人会被判处死刑。     

医疗纠纷中死亡争议案件尸检价值的评估

目的探讨尸体检验对死亡争议事件的医疗鉴定、赔偿处理上的价值,以妥善处理医疗纠纷中医患双方的矛盾。方法对温州市4个市、区、县2002—2004年的182例死亡争议事件进行回顾性分析,就尸检率,临床、尸检诊断,尸检对医疗鉴定及争议事件处理上的作用,及其在不同级别医院的具体情况等进行了统计处理。结果182例其中尸检46例,尸检率25.27%。二级以上医疗机构死亡争议事件112例,尸检率19.64%。临床死因诊断与尸检死因诊断不符合率37%,以循环系统、呼吸系统为多。46例尸检中,医疗鉴定32例(69.5%),经济赔偿29例(63%)。未尸检136例,医疗鉴定20例(14.7%),经济赔偿121例(88.9%),两者差异显著,有统计学意义(P<0.05)。结论尸体检验对死亡争议案件的医疗鉴定与处理具有重要意义,尤其在死因鉴定方面具有不可替代性。