Early Repolarization,Acute Emotional Stress and Sudden Death

We herein report the case of a 36‐year‐old man who died suddenly after a fight with another man. Forensic investigations included unenhanced computed tomography, postmortem angiography, autopsy, histology, neuropathology, toxicology, and biochemistry and allowed a traumatic cause of death to be excluded. An electrocardiogram recorded some years prior to death revealed the presence of an early repolarization pattern. Based on the results of all investigations, the cause of death was determined to be cardiac arrhythmia and cardiac arrest during an emotionally stressful event associated with physical assault. Direct third party involvement, however, was excluded, and the manner of death was listed as natural. The case was not pursued any further by the public prosecutor.     

An Examination of the Postmortem Redistribution of Fentanyl and Interlaboratory Variability,

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid agonist used for pain control. Often administered as a transdermal patch, it is an interesting drug for study of postmortem redistribution. We hypothesized that fentanyl concentrations would increase over time after death, as measured in blood drawn on the day prior to autopsy and in blood drawn at the time of autopsy in ten cases where fentanyl patches were identified at the scene. Concentrations were compared, and heart blood to femoral blood ratios were calculated as markers of postmortem redistribution. Fentanyl concentrations measured in peripheral blood drawn the day of autopsy (peripheral blood 2 [PB2]) were higher than those drawn the day prior to autopsy (peripheral blood 1 [PB1]) with a mean ratio (PB2/PB1) of 1.80. The ratio of heart blood concentrations (HB) to femoral blood concentrations drawn at autopsy (PB2) had a mean ratio (HB/PB2) of 1.08. Some cases had blood from the same source analyzed at two different laboratories, and concentrations of fentanyl in those samples showed inter‐ and intralaboratory differences up to 25 ng/mL. Postmortem fentanyl concentrations may be affected by antemortem factors, postmortem redistribution, and laboratory variability. Forensic pathologists must use caution in interpreting fentanyl levels as part of death investigation.     

尸体心血红细胞ATP降解规律与早期死亡时间的相关性

目的观察早期死亡时间（PMI）与血液红细胞ATP含量的相关性。方法选择具有确切死亡时间的尸体30例,在死亡后6、8、10、12、14、16、18、20、22、24h分别于第4肋间进行心脏穿刺取血,利用生物发光法检测血液样本红细胞ATP含量（μmol／gHb）,并观察红细胞ATP含量变化与死亡时间的关系。结果尸体心血红细胞ATP含量在死亡后1～24h之内呈现非匀速下降趋势,与死亡时间的Pearson相关系数为-0．971（P=0．000）;尸体心血红细胞ATP含量与死亡时间的回归方程及尺。值为：Y=-0．096X＋2．872（x为死亡时间）,R2=0．936,P=0．000。结论尸体心血红细胞ATP含量在死后1—24h之内的变化与死亡时间具有相关关系,可以作为法医学死亡时间推断的生物学指标。     

利用猪胸主动脉生物力学性能时序性变化推断死亡时间

目的观察分析家猪尸体胸主动脉生物力学性状指标的变化规律,探讨其在死亡时间(PMI)推断中的应用价值。方法采集180根家猪的主动脉,在恒定温度、湿度下,于2～230h之间每间隔12h设置1个取检材时间点组;各组主动脉检材用电子万能材料试验机拉伸检测极限载荷、极限载荷变形、平均力、应力、应变,宽度和厚度等生物力学参数指标;应用多元逐步回归方法进行统计学分析。结果家猪死后230h内,随PMI延长,胸主动脉大体观呈自溶腐败性变色、瘫软、液化趋势。生物力学参数指标中,极限载荷、平均力和应力呈随PMI延长呈明显下降趋势,PMI间隔24h组间比较差异性均有统计学意义(P<0.05),校正决定系数分别为0.923、0.806、0.867,估计标准误差分别为±18.39h、±29.88h、±24.58h,PMI间隔24h组间比较差异性均有统计学意义(P<0.05),其它指标与PMI之间相关性不显著均P>0.05。结论死后230h内家猪胸主动脉的极限载荷、平均力和应力的死后时序性变化,与PMI呈明显的负相关性,可用于PMI推断,其中极限载荷效果最佳。     

反相高效液相色谱法检测生物胺的法医学应用初探

目的采用反相高效液相色谱法(RP-HPLC)检测大鼠肌肉组织中7种生物胺,并探讨其在法医学中的应用价值。方法以丹磺酰氯为衍生剂,通过ZORBAX Rx-C18反相色谱柱分离,以乙腈-水作流动相梯度洗脱,流速为1.0mL/min,柱温为20℃,DAD检测器,对色胺、腐胺、尸胺、组胺、酪胺、亚精胺、精胺7种生物胺进行检测。结果 7种生物胺得到良好分离,在0.5～100.0μg/mL的范围内线性良好,相关系数均>0.99,检出限在0.14～0.50μg/mL之间;对大鼠肌肉样本的添加回收率在83.8%～100.6%之间,相对标准偏差均<11%。结论采用RP-HPLC法检测生物胺,方法简便、快速、灵敏,能够满足尸体组织中生物胺检测的需要。     

256例命案尸体死亡时间推断的回顾性分析

目的探讨降低死亡时间推断误差的方法。方法收集常州市和南京市2003年1月一2013年1月256例已破命案．采用传统方法进行死亡时间推断,与破案后获得的实际死亡时间进行比较,并根据死亡时间进行分组,计算死亡时间推断准确率,分析判断错误原因。结果早期尸体死亡时间（≤12h和13～24h）推断准确率分别为90％、89％,晚期尸体死亡时间（1—7d、1～2周、3～4周、1～6个月、7～12个月和1～5年）的推断准确率随时间的延长下降,分别为79％、76％、83％、79％、60％和50％。推断方法不当、水中尸体、极端温度、客观依据不足、抛尸以及变动或破坏现场是影响死亡时间推断准确率的常见因素。结论综合参考多项指标可降低死亡时间推断的误差。     

普通数码相机光谱成像技术在文件检验中的应用研究

根据光谱成像技术原理,论述了用普通数码相机实现光谱成像的方法与特点,并从定性角度介绍了普通数码相机光谱成像技术在文件检验中的主要应用.     

尿素氮、肌酐和尿酸死后生化学检测的法医学应用

死后生化学是法医鉴定中重要的检查手段。研究表明含氮化合物中尿素氮、肌酐、尿酸是临床上常用的生化学检测指标,其在法医死后生化学检测中也有重要的价值。本文就体内上述三者的特征及其在法医学中的研究及应用加以综述,以期为法医死后生化学分析提供参考。     

A Novel Application of Infrared Imaging for the Diagnosis of Death by Fire

This paper demonstrates a novel and simple technique for the diagnosis of death by fire using a digital infrared (IR) camera system. At autopsy, the inhalation of soot by a fire victim is a definite indicator proving a vital reaction during the fire. However, there can be difficulties in confirming the presence of soot because of the relative lack of soot or the similarity in color between soot and surrounding tissues. To evaluate the effectiveness of IR imaging at autopsy, we acquired internal images of the respiratory and gastrointestinal system by both an ordinary color and IR cameras. Using our method, the inhaled soot is visible as black particles or deposits, while the blood is transparent and the surrounding tissue is whitened. This technique enables the detection of normally undiscriminating soot in an ordinary color image. This is the first report suggesting the usefulness of IR imaging in forensic autopsy for the diagnosis of death by fire.     

Characteristics of Forensic Imaging Performance—An Analysis of Forensic Imaging Bottlenecks

Disk imaging involves copying all of the data from a source disk drive to a target. Typically, the target for the copy is another disk drive. Forensic processes developed years ago do not appear to be adequate for current storage technology. For example, with disk drive capacities now exceeding 1 Terabyte, a typical disk imaging can take over 8 hours at typical rates. With disk drive capacities increasing, forensic copying is expected to take even longer. Along with increase in disk capacity, the industry has also seen an increase in data transfer rates. In many cases, forensic imaging is taking longer than necessary. To identify the bottlenecks, an examination of different methods used to transfer data from a source disk was performed. Factors considered were differing disk access technologies. One finding is that the USB disk access technology (version 2.0 and earlier) is a significant bottleneck for data transfer rates, especially when the USB device is a write‐blocker. Other factors that contribute to the efficiency of a forensic copy are the file system used to write a forensic image and the data transfer size used when reading from a disk drive. Optimal parameters for performing a forensic acquisition from a disk drive are identified.