猪肋软骨和肋骨的ATR-FTIR光谱变化与死亡时间的关系

目的应用衰减全反射傅里叶变换红外(attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared,ATRFTIR)光谱技术分析长白猪死后肋软骨和肋骨组织随死亡时间推移的化学降解过程,为死后较长时间段内推断死亡时间提供可行的新途径和方法。方法猪放血处死后取肋软骨和肋骨离体置于20℃环境,后每72 h提取部分组织样本,进行ATR-FTIR光谱分析,并与对应死亡时间点进行相关性分析。结果随死亡时间的延长,肋软骨与肋骨FTIR的主要吸收峰峰位没有发生明显变化,而其部分峰强比出现了不同时序性的变化趋势,并与死亡时间存在良好的相关性,肋软骨较肋骨组织有更好的时序性。结论应用ATRFTIR光谱技术发现死后猪肋软骨和肋骨组织光谱学变化存在一定的规律性,有望成为基于光谱学推断死亡时间的一种新途径。     

中国古代审判中的狱贵初情

“狱贵初情”是指在案件受理之初认真调查证据，并在事实认定时重视采信此类证据。“狱贵初情”观念萌芽于先秦时期，历经秦汉至隋唐的发展，到宋代时成型，元明清时期继续深化。“狱贵初情”对中国古代的立法与司法实践都产生了深远的影响，而部分司法者对初情采信的偏面强调在一定程度上导致了“狱贵初情”观念与实践的异化。     

Anaphylaxis After the Injection of Buprenorphine

Cause of death rulings in cases when the concentration of a drug or drugs is higher than observed following therapeutic use are generally straightforward “drug deaths.” However, when toxicology testing identifies drug concentrations consistent with therapeutic use or detects no drugs at all, then the cause of death determination is more complicated. Given the rapidity and protean manifestations of anaphylaxis, it should be considered in deaths where no other cause of death is apparent in a suspected drug death. This article reports two cases where an anaphylactic reaction was observed following either the actual or alleged use of therapeutic formulations of buprenorphine intravenously.     

Analysis of 2,4-Dinitrophenol in Postmortem Blood and Urine by Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry: Method Development and Validation and Report of Three Fatalities in the United States

2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) is a compound used in the early 1900s as a weight-loss drug but later prohibited due to its severe adverse effects, including death. It has however been attracting interest, due to its weight-loss properties, and appears to be re-emerging in forensic casework. As 2,4-DNP is available for use in industry and as a pesticide and easily accessible online, the dissemination of this drug can be fast. The compound exerts its effects through inhibition of ATP synthesis, and corresponding thermogenic energy loss which can be fatal. A method for qualitative and quantitative analysis of 2,4-DNP in blood and urine specimens using GC-MS with hydrogen as carrier gas is described. The method was validated and displayed acceptable performance parameters with linearity (R² higher than 0.998), inter-assay imprecision (lower than 10.6%), intra-assay imprecision (lower than 10.7%), and extraction efficiency (92.1%). Stability of 2,4-DNP in blood and urine was studied, and the drug was stable up to 30 days refrigeration or frozen. Six cases in United States suspected to be related to 2,4-DNP were analyzed. Three cases were found to be positive for 2,4-DNP. Concentrations of 2,4-DNP were in the range of 61.6–220 mg/L in urine and <3–114 mg/L in blood. Based on our findings, we suggest that medical examiners and forensic toxicologists be aware of the reappearance of 2,4-DNP, including this compound as a target in death investigations related to weight-loss drugs.     

傅里叶变换红外光谱技术在死亡时间推断中的运用

死亡时间(postmortem interval,PMI)推断是命案现场首先要解决的重要问题之一,因此法医学者运用了大量的技术和统计学方法试图精确推断PMI.由于PMI推断受到外部、内部、死亡前和死亡后等多种因素影响,既往多种方法均存在局限性.傅里叶变换红外(Fourier transform infrared,FTIR)光谱技术已应用于蛋白质、核酸、碳水化合物的纯品物质研究上,近年来也被广泛用于研究复杂的细胞和组织.功能强大的计算机软件可以对光谱变换、平滑、基线校正、归一化等进行处理,使FTIR光谱仪对样本的定量研究成为可能,并从分析化学领域推广到生物学和临床医学研究.本文综述了FTIR光谱原理及其在生物医学中的应用,并着重阐述死后尸体组织的FTIR光谱学变化及在PMI推断中的应用价值.     

Post-mortem Iris Decomposition and its Dynamics in Morgue Conditions

With increasing interest in employing iris biometrics as a forensic tool for identification by investigation authorities, there is a need for a thorough examination and understanding of postmortem decomposition processes that take place within the human eyeball, especially the iris. This can prove useful for fast and accurate matching of antemortem with postmortem data acquired at crime scenes or mass casualties, as well as for ensuring correct dispatching of bodies from the incident scene to a mortuary or funeral homes. Following these needs of forensic community, this paper offers an analysis of the coarse effects of eyeball decay done from a perspective of automatic iris recognition. We analyze postmortem iris images acquired for a subject with a very long postmortem observation time horizon (34 days), in both visible light and near-infrared light (860 nm), as the latter wavelength is used in commercial iris recognition systems. Conclusions and suggestions are provided that may aid forensic examiners in successfully utilizing iris patterns in postmortem identification of deceased subjects. Initial guidelines regarding the imaging process, types of illumination, and resolution are also given, together with expectations with respect to the iris features decomposition rates. Visible iris features possible for human, expert-based matching persists even up to 407 h postmortem, and near-infrared illumination is suggested for better mitigation of corneal opacity while imaging cadaver eyes (Post-mortem iris decomposition and its dynamics in morgue conditions. ArXiv pre-print, 2019).     

Increasing Methamphetamine Detection in Cases of Early Childhood Fatalities

Age and organ maturity can influence drug toxicity in children; however, most clinical data and literature are based on drug concentrations in adults. Therefore, the interpretation of drugs detected in children is often difficult or not possible. Retrospective reviewing of pathology and toxicology information from postmortem cases may assist in future interpretations or identify drug trends. A search of the Forensic Science SA case files was undertaken over 15 years from January 2002 to December 2016 for all children (<13 years). Of the 412 pediatric coronial cases, toxicological information was available on 373. At least one drug was detected in 94 cases with paracetamol, ibuprofen, codeine and hospital-administrated lignocaine and morphine among the most commonly detected agents. Methamphetamine, one of the most commonly abused illicit drugs in Australia, was found in seven cases. In the methamphetamine cases, deaths were associated with shared sleeping in three, pneumonia in one, and stillbirth in one. Methamphetamine was considered potentially contributory to death in two cases. The causes of death in the remaining two cases were undetermined. As six of the seven positive cases occurred in the 2012–2016 (n = 106) timeframe, an increase has occurred over recent years in the number of infants and young children presenting to forensic autopsy in South Australia who have detectable concentrations of methamphetamine. If this is an indication of a more generalized increased childhood exposure in the community there may be significant long-term physical and psychological effects.     

The nocturnal oviposition behaviour of blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in Central Europe and its forensic implications

Numerous factors may cause delayed colonisation of a corpse by blowflies, leading to a discrepancy between the entomologically determined post-mortem interval (PMI) and the time of death. Blowflies, for example, are considered to be inactive at night, however, published observations are contradictory. In the present study, several field experiments and one type of indoor experiment were conducted in summer of 2004 and 2005 in order to investigate the nocturnal ovipositional behaviour of blowflies. In the field, two types of bait, dead hedgehogs and fresh beef liver, were placed at night in different urban and rural locations in Frankfurt and in Munich, Germany. For the indoor-experiments beef liver was placed in small plastic boxes containing caged Lucilia sericata females in the evening and left overnight. At night, no ovipositon was observed in the field (n=51, T=10-24 degrees C). Nocturnal oviposition in complete darkness occurred in the plastic boxes in two of six cases (T=25 degrees C). Considering the behavioural and physiological characteristics of flies we suggest that nocturnal oviposition of blowflies appears to be unlikely under natural conditions in Central Europe but may occur under certain circumstances, such as unusual high nightly temperatures and the presence of gravid flies with an appropriate arousal threshold.     

A study of drug detection in a postmortem pediatric population

At The Office of the Cuyahoga County Coroner (CCCO), Cleveland, Ohio, it is customary to perform an autopsy and conduct toxicological testing on decedents less than 19 years of age. This study provides a retrospective evaluation of drugs detected in a pediatric postmortem population between the years 1998 and 2002 (n = 730). Demographic information, cause and manner of death, and toxicological results were examined. Blacks comprised 54% of cases, males 59%, and 48% were less than one year of age or stillborn. Forty-two percent of deaths were ruled natural, 27% accident, 13% undetermined, 5% suicide, and 2% homicide. Of the 640 cases subjected to comprehensive testing, 38% of the cases were positive for at least one compound. Resuscitative/treatment drugs were detected most frequently (56% of positive results), followed by illicit drugs (26%), ethanol (11%), carbon monoxide (8%), and antihistamines (6%). Eighty-seven cases contained more than one drug. The deaths of 47 individuals were drug related (6%). In this population, it is recommended that illicit drugs and ethanol are targeted for testing, especially when limited specimens are available for analysis.