Identity development and formal operations as sources of adolescent egocentrism

The self-concerns and social expectations that are part of the identity development process may lead adolescents to think that others survey them for signs of individuality. The novelty of identity development may also lead to feelings of uniqueness and invulnerability. The imaginary audience and personal fable may therefore stem from identity development and not from the emergence of formal operations. In this study high school and first-year university students (N=255) completed measures of adolescent egocentrism, identity development, and formal operations. Egocentrism was moderately associated with higher scores on identity crisis and identity achievement, and with lower scores on identity diffusion. There was no significant relationship between egocentrism and the emergence of formal operations.Received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Victoria. His main interests are in personality, social and developmental psychology.Currently completing a master's degree at Lakehead University. Interests are in social and clinical psychology.     

Analysis of neck injuries in hanging

Retrospective study of suicidal hangings was made on 175 cases (133 male victims, 42 female victims) for a 5-year period. The mean age was 47.33 +/- 17.51 years. The sample was divided in 4 groups according to the position of the ligature knot (anterior, right, left, and posterior hanging). The authors analyzed all visible injuries of soft tissues and bones and cartilage of the neck, and in 150 cases (85.7%), we established that there was at least one injury of these structures (hematoma or fracture for example). The most frequent injury was to sternocleidomastoid muscles. Fracture of throat skeleton was detected in 119 cases (68%). The proportion of fractures increases with age of the deceased. There was no clear correlation between frequency of neck injuries and type of hanging.     

Popliteal artery bullet embolism in a case of homicide: a case report and review of the tangible literature

Bullet embolism is a well known but a relatively rare phenomenon in common medicolegal autopsy practice. We present a homicide case of a bullet embolism to the left popliteal artery with interesting trajectory of projectile through the chest wall and right heart ventricle into the aortic lumen. Since in our presented case obvious homicidal manner of death was in question, discovery of bullet was an obligatory part of investigation in order to positively identify the responsible firearm. Detection of the missile transported through the circulation requires very thorough autopsy examination, especially if X-ray equipment is not available. As in all other cases in which initial bullet trajectory is changed in the body, the very important part of the medicolegal autopsy in cases accompanied with missile embolism, is to determine direction of the first part of the bullet's trajectory, because this indicates the position of the axis of the weapon barrel in the moment of firing (if there was no external ricochet), taking into consideration the posture of the victim and the location of the shooting person in the same moment. A review of the tangible literature is given.     

Forensic or Archaeological Issue: Is Chemical Analysis of Dental Restorations Helpful in Assessing Time Since Death and Identification of Skeletonized Human Remains?

In 2011, small mass grave with completely skeletonized remains was discovered in Belgrade suburb. An eyewitness claimed that skeletons belonged to German soldiers killed in WWII. Anthropologists were engaged to investigate whether the skeletal remains correspond to the indicated German group or represent more recent case requiring court trial. Numerous dental restorations were noticed. Owing to the fact that different dental materials were used in dental practice at certain times, the aim of this study was to explore whether analysis of dental restorations could help in identification and estimation of time since death. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry revealed that dental fillings corresponded to copper amalgam, conventional silver amalgam, silicophosphate cement, and zinc phosphate cement. Chemical results combined with anthropological and historical facts suggest that the individuals lived before the 1960s in country with well‐developed dental service at that time. Therefore, chemical analysis of dental fillings was useful to distinguish between skeletal remains that are too old to be of forensic interest and the remains relevant to legal investigations.     

Frequency and severity of injuries in correlation with the height of fall

The main aim of this study was to examine the correlation between the height of fall and the frequency, extensiveness, and type of injuries of certain body regions and organs. The specific objective was to determine characteristic injuries of the analyzed body regions in relation to the certain height of fall. The study included 660 cases of fatal falls from height (469 males and 191 females). Results support the hypothesis that the frequency and extent of the injured body regions and organs are related to the fall height. Head injuries are characteristic of the falls from heights up to 7 m and beyond 30 m. Brain injuries in high falls from heights beyond 30 m show an absence of contre coup contusions and macroscopically evident intracranial bleeding. The extensiveness of chest injuries is significantly statistically associated with fall height. In cases of high falls, the frequency of abdominal injuries is not significantly statistically related to the height of fall. Liver injuries are the most common abdominal injury and the critical height of fall at which the liver injury occurs is 15 m. Injuries of liver and spleen are concomitant in high falls from heights beyond 24 m, irrespective of the manner of impact. The height of fall over 15 m appears to be a reasonable boundary height beyond which the injuries of two or three body regions are generally associated.     

Interpretation of blood alcohol concentration in maritime accidents—A case report

The human element is increasingly acknowledged as an important factor contributing to accidents at sea. Alcohol and drug abuse is becoming an increasing problem among seafarers in the last few years. Recently we registered a few similar maritime accidents on the Adriatic coast. During the analysis of these incidents, it became apparent that the consumption of alcohol on duty was the main cause of the ship being stranded. We report a maritime accident recently happened in port of Rijeka, where the merchant ship stranded on the main breakwater. During the investigation, forensic alcohol analysis established that master's consumption of alcohol on duty was the main cause of the incident. The BAC–UAC relation we found was not physiologically possible, so further diagnostic workup demonstrated that urine was diluted. Various issues are being discussed, such as urine dilution, retrograde calculation, elimination rate, two subsequent blood samples, drinking after the accident, as well as prevention measures. Our observations indicate a need for stricter and more precise legislation as well as more frequent police control that will hopefully result in prevention of serious maritime accidents caused by alcohol consumption. In our opinion, better understanding of the above mentioned apparent problems in navigation rules and maritime law regulations can prevent similar accidents from happening in the future. Accidents like the one described cause double damage for society: due to acute health problems of the crew and navigation safety, as well as due to the long-term harmful consequences such as suspension of career on ship board and early retirement of employees.     

Amount of postmortem bleeding: an experimental autopsy study

An experimental autopsy study was performed on 64 cases (55 male, 9 female; average age 51.5 +/- 16.2 years) of sudden natural (38 cases) and asphyxic deaths (26 cases). The study objective was the amount of postmortem bleeding from postmortem cutting of the thoracic aorta, related to the time since death. The amount of postmortem bleeding ranged from 100 to 1300 cm, 440.6 +/- 268.1 cm on average. The time since death up to the autopsy time ranged from 4 to 72 hours, 19.4 +/- 12.9 in average. A statistically significant correlation between the amount of postmortem bleeding and postmortem time interval was stated: Pearson correlation test value r = -0.461 (P = 0.000): the shorter the time interval, the larger the amount of bleeding. The formula of linear regression was estimated according to this correlation: amount of postmortem bleeding (cm) = -9.571 x time since death (h) + 626.659. This proves that the amount of postmortem bleeding (eg, from aortic blunt rupture) could be about 620 cm.     

Mechanisms of aortic blunt rupture in fatally injured front-seat passengers in frontal car collisions: an autopsy study

We tried to explain the mechanisms of the aortic blunt ruptures in fatally injured drivers and front passengers, unrestrained by seatbelts, by analyzing the frequencies of both aortic ruptures and concomitant injuries to 12 organs and body regions. The sample consisted of 393 subjects: 251 drivers and 142 front passengers (325 male and 68 female passengers, the mean age 41.0 +/- 15.5). The total number of the complete blunt aortic ruptures in the sample was 116 (80 in the drivers and 36 in the front passengers). The weakest part of the aorta seems to be the isthmus (47 isthmus ruptures in the drivers and 27 in the front passengers). The statistically significant concomitant injured organs and body regions with the aortic ruptures were the liver, the sternum, and the diaphragm in the car drivers and the head and the neck in the front passengers. According to these results, the mechanisms of thoracic aorta rupture are different for fatally injured drivers and front passengers. For car drivers, they are associated and simultaneous with both thoracic and abdominal compression due to deceleration of the body at the moment when the driver's body slides forward and flexes across and against the steering wheel. For the front passengers, the mechanism is the caudorostral hyperextension of the thoracic aorta at the moment when the body is stopped by a dashboard, but the head continues forward with great velocity: the carotid vessels pull the aortic arch forward at the same time as the intercostal arteries fix the thoracic part of the aorta and pull it downwards.