Fatal gunshot wounds between 1995 and 2001 in a highly populated region in Finland

Gunshot injuries are a major problem worldwide from the human, medical, and economic perspectives. The number and characteristics of gunshot fatalities have been observed to vary significantly between countries. This study analyzes fatal gunshot wounds in the region of Uusimaa, Southern Finland, between 1995 and 2001. Gunshot wounds were typically found in suicides committed by men aged between 20 and 60 years. In most cases, a handgun was used. Mental disorders were present in the history of almost one quarter of the victims. Alcohol was identified in postmortem toxicology in half of the cases, but drugs of abuse were relatively uncommon. The autopsy rate in Finland is among the highest of the European Union countries, and a medicolegal investigation is performed in virtually all fatal gunshot incidents. This study is therefore representative of forensic investigations of gunshot fatalities in Finland overall.     

Amniotic fluid embolism as cause of death in a car accident--a case report

Amniotic fluid embolism (AFE), a relatively rare complication in pregnancy, has a high mortality rate. We describe a case of a 38-week pregnant woman with such an embolism leading to almost immediate death after a blunt abdominal trauma inflicted in a motor vehicle accident and probably associated with improper positioning of a seat belt. It has been assumed that the pathophysiology of amniotic fluid embolism is related to an anaphylactoid reaction and that mast cell degranulation indicates this mechanism. Moreover, immunohistochemical antitryptase staining of pulmonary tissue samples in our case revealed mast cell degranulation.     

Piercing the surface: A mechanical analysis of stabbing with household tools

Estimating the applied power during a stabbing incident, or estimating the minimal force necessary to penetrate the body with a certain weapon is a challenging task in forensic practice. A thorough forensic evaluation of stabbing forces needs objective numerical experimental data. Stabbing tests of 12 different weapons – including knives, a pair of scissors, a fork, screwdrivers, a rasp, a corkscrew, and a utility knife blade – were performed with a Mecmesin MultiTest-dV material tester on pork loin and ballistic gel to estimate the stabbing forces and dynamics. Penetration force (F_p) and maximal force (F_max) were recorded, and the registered force curves were analyzed. F_max was 159.8–212.07 Newton (N), 30.56–30.58 N, 168.9–185.48 N for various knives; 171.39–190.43 N for the pair of scissors, 233.6 N for the fork; 532.65–562.65 N, 370.31–367.19 N and 314.51–432.89 N for various screwdrivers, 44.14–56.62 N for utility knife during pork loin stabbing. The butter knife, corkscrew and rasp were not able to penetrate the pork loin, and the curved fork bent during stabbing. The results prove that weapon characteristics greatly influence the force necessary for penetration. Maximal stabbing force depends mostly on tip sharpness, and the force sharply decreases after penetration occurs, which indicates that edge sharpness is not as important as tip characteristics during stabbing perpendicular to skin surface. The penetration force during stabbing with a pair of scissors is comparable to the penetration force of knives. Stabbing with screwdrivers generally needs larger force than average knives but depends greatly on screwdriver size.     

Under-recording of ethanol intoxication and poisoning in cause-of-death data: causes and consequences

In the present study we examined how consistently and completely the role of acute alcohol (ethanol) intake as a cause of death is reported on death certificates, how complete and specific the statistical recording of cause-of-death data on acute alcohol-induced deaths is, and how the information ultimately appears in the national mortality statistics. Data on all alcohol-positive deaths with blood alcohol concentration of ≥ 0.5‰ (g/kg) in Finland in 2005 (N = 2348) were reviewed. Overall, a concentration-dependent association was found between forensic-toxicologically determined blood alcohol concentrations and acute alcohol-specific cause-of-death diagnoses. Based on a medico-legal re-evaluation of death certificates, acute alcohol-specific causes were found to be underreported nationally at a rate of 8%. For accidental alcohol poisonings alone, the figure was about 1%. This underreporting was not corrected during recording of the cause-of-death data, though individual corrections and changes were observed. Especially, recording of multiple causes suffers from this underreporting of acute alcohol-specific causes. ICD-10 seems to do well in fulfilling the demands for a specific classification of uncomplicated alcohol poisoning. In combined alcohol-drug poisonings, however, ICD-10 shows a bias towards drugs over alcohol, even when alcohol has been specified and reported as the most toxic component by the medico-legal pathologist. Since the national statistics is based on the underlying causes, this state of affairs is likely to result in the underestimation of the role of acute alcohol intake as a cause of death. This observation of underreporting of acute alcohol-specific causes on death certificates should result in a harmonisation of education and principles and practices used in death certification. To increase the coverage and specificity of mortality statistics, based on the underlying causes of death, the coding of all components of alcohol-drug combinations and their classification according to the most important intoxicant or combination of intoxicants is recommended.     

Information exchange networks at the climate science‐policy interface: Evidence from the Czech Republic,Finland, Ireland,and Portugal

Scientifically informed climate policymaking starts with the exchange of credible, salient, and legitimate scientific information between scientists and policymakers. It is therefore important to understand what explains the exchange of scientific information in national climate policymaking processes. This article applies exponential random graph models to network data from the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, and Portugal to investigate which types of organizations are favored sources of scientific information and whether actors obtain scientific information from those with similar beliefs as their own. Results show that scientific organizations are favored sources in all countries, while only in the Czech Republic do actors obtain scientific information from those with similar policy beliefs. These findings suggest that actors involved in climate policymaking mostly look to scientific organizations for information, but that in polarized contexts where there is a presence of influential denialists overcoming biased information exchange is a challenge.     

What is the incidence and significance of "dry-lungs" in bodies found in water?

BACKGROUND: Drowning without aspiration of liquid, generally attributed to death from asphyxia while submerged and in laryngospasm, has been reported to occur in approximately 10% to 15% of drowning victims. OBJECTIVES: The occurrence of "dry-drowning" recently has been questioned and the hypothesis developed that "dry-lungs" in bodies found dead in the water could conceal more natural deaths than previously recognized. METHODS: Based on 578 selected adult victims who presumably drowned, we analyzed the correlation between the cases with a low combined lung/pleura liquid weight (< 1000 g and < 750 g) and a wide set of individual, circumstantial, and postmortem (PM) variables, using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Victims with lung weight < 1000 g were screened for long-QT syndrome (LQTS) founder mutations in KCNQ1 and KCNH2 genes. RESULTS: Of the 578 victims, 120 (20.7%) had a lung weight of < 1000 g, and 22 of these (3.8%) of < 750 g. Multivariate analysis showed a significant correlation for women (P < 0.001), for women aged 65 years or older (P < 0.001), and for men with prolonged PM submersion time (P < 0.001). "Normal" lungs were found in only 8 (1.4%) victims. Low-weight (< 1000 g), overdistended lungs with no sign of liquid penetration were seen in 11 (1.9%). No LQTS founder mutations were detected. CONCLUSIONS: The actual incidence of death of persons found in water who have normal lungs or do not have penetration of liquid into their airways, based on our study, is much lower (below 2%) than currently assumed.     

The effectiveness of rural versus urban nonprofit organisations in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a country with high natural resources, but it has suffered from decades of civil wars and social turmoil, being heavily aid-dependent. In the DRC, several Nonprofit Organisations (NPOs) are major players in fighting poverty and enhancing welfare. This research aims to analyse the effectiveness of small NPOs in improving poor peoples’ lives through health, education, and economic activities. Two NPOs working in the DRC, one in a rural and the other in an urban area, are compared by researching the aid sites and surveying 201 households (aid beneficiaries). Our case observations and the survey results facilitate analysing the mission accomplishment, effectiveness, and accountability of the NPOs although we admit that the DRC conditions make exact measurements difficult. Multivariate analyses are used to study the differences in aid impacts. There are significant differences in the beneficiaries’ perception of the NPO effectiveness in improving health while no significant differences in education impact were found. This is probably because both case NPOs have succeeded in getting a large proportion of the children of their area registered in the education centres created by the NPOs. Differences were observed in the accountability and reporting style of the NPOs.     

Sponsoring Private Member's Bills in Finland and Estonia: The Electoral Context of Legislative Behaviour

This article examines the degree to which sponsored private member's bills (PMBs) in parliament can be explained by electoral incentives. Such bills are a peculiar piece of draft legislation – technically simple, topically unimportant and with negligible passage rates. Yet members of parliament (MPs) sponsor them in large numbers. One possible explanation for this behaviour is the electoral context arising out of the variance in electoral district size and electoral list types, which makes a strong personal reputation comparatively more important for some MPs. Sponsoring bills that have no realistic chance of becoming actual regulations could be a form of personal reputation‐building and/or vote‐seeking behaviour. Evidence is examined on the sponsoring of such bills in Finland between 2003 and 2007 and in Estonia between 1999 and 2007 in order to determine if the electoral context explains why some MPs do this more frequently. The results suggest that the electoral system does have an effect. MPs who have been elected under rules where personal reputation is not central in getting elected are less likely to sponsor such bills the larger their electoral district becomes.