A novel method for cyanide quantification in human whole blood using ion chromatography with amperometric detection and its application to cyanide intoxication cases

Cyanide is a highly toxic agent that has been frequently used for suicide in South Korea. It is also used in various industrial fields, such as metal plating, in which many accidental cyanide intoxications have occurred. To overcome the disadvantages of conventional cyanide analysis methods, a simple and fast method for the analysis of cyanide in whole blood using ion chromatography (IC) with amperometric detection was developed in this study. Whole blood samples were deproteinized, diluted, and analyzed using an IC–amperometric detection system. The limits of detection and quantitation were 0.1 and 0.2 mg/L, respectively. The method showed good linearity in the range of 0.2 to 50 mg/L with R² > 0.99. The intra- and inter-assay precision and accuracy values were <10%. The established method was successfully applied to analyze whole blood samples from three cyanide intoxication cases.     

Conception and the Irrelevance of the Welfare Principle

This article challenges the assumption that their future children's welfare is a relevant consideration when deciding whether to provide a person with assisted conception services. It does not argue that infertility treatment ought to be available as of right. Rather, this article's proposal is that section 13(5) – which specifies that no-one shall receive assistance with conception unless account has first been taken of the welfare of any child who might be born – should be deleted from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. Extending the 'welfare principle' to decisions taken prior to a child's conception is shown to be unjust, meaningless and inconsistent with existing legal principle.     

甲维盐中毒死亡小鼠体内的分布及死后再分布

目的研究甲氨基阿维菌素苯甲酸盐(简称甲维盐)中毒死亡小鼠的致死血浓度、靶器官组织、毒物蓄积库和死后毒物再分布的特征。方法采用灌胃法建立中毒小鼠模型,动态观察急性中毒组、亚急性中毒组小鼠的主要中毒症状和临床死亡时间。观察中毒死后小鼠各器官组织病理形态学改变,应用酶联免疫吸附试验测定死后0、24、48、72h甲维盐体内分布及死后再分布,采用高效液相色谱法测定中毒小鼠的致死血浓度和死后各时间点的血中甲维盐浓度。结果中毒小鼠均在灌胃后15~30 min内依次出现神经、呼吸系统症状。急性中毒组小鼠的临床死亡时间为(45.8±7.9)min,亚急性中毒组为(8.0±1.4)d。甲维盐的急性致死血浓度范围为447.164 0~524.463 5 mg/L。光镜及荧光显微镜下各器官组织均见明显的病理改变;小鼠中毒死后72 h内,血、心、肝、脾、肺、肾及脑甲维盐浓度变化具有规律性(P0.05)。结论甲维盐中毒作用的主要靶器官为心、肝、肾、肺、脑和接触部位(胃),其主要蓄积库为肾、肝,甲维盐在小鼠体内存在死后再分布现象。     

死后眼组织变化与死亡时间推断

眼组织推断死亡时间一直是国内外法医学界的研究热点之一,从肉眼观到镜下观,从细胞水平到分子水平,不断有新的研究成果和报告出现。大量研究资料表明,随着死亡时间的延长,眼角膜、视网膜、玻璃体液及房水等均出现规律性的变化,并与死亡时间高度相关,可用于死亡时间推断。本文对其在法医学领域的研究进展作以综述。     

男孩偏好作为一种生育文化的生产与再生产

本文采用实践社会学视角,以吉登斯的结构化理论为基础,利用对一个亲属群体生育实践的访谈数据,从时空两个维度系统地分析了中国农村地区男孩偏好生育文化的生产与再生产机制,在此基础上还探讨了生育政策对男孩偏好文化再生产机制的影响,发现在生育政策背景下,部分农民因为偏离传统的例行性生育路径而陷入"生育困境",并从两个方面引发男孩偏好文化的生产与再生产:1.在生育困境的压力下,一些文化要素伴随生活事件不断的卷入生育实践之中,使得直接遭遇生育困境的行动者在日常生活的互动中领会到男孩的社会意义;2.亲属网络将所有亲属卷入到当事人的生育困境之中,从而引发出对生育实践的集体性反思。正是这些日常的生活事件与亲属网络使得男孩偏好文化在广泛的时空向度上延伸。     

民法视野中的网络转载直接侵权之归责

网络转载行为在极大地丰富互联网信息的同时,也可能侵犯到著作权人的信息网络传播权。平衡网络发展与著作权保护之间的冲突是解决纠纷的正确思路。应当在明确界定网络转载直接侵权行为的基础上,以责任归结为路径,实行过错推定责任。     

Residential tourism and depeasantisation in the Ecuadorian Andes

International residential tourism is a recent phenomenon in the Andean area. However, in places where it has been established, rapid changes in social and economic structures have occurred. The Municipality of Cotacachi (Northern Ecuador) is paradigmatic. Having become a destination for American retirees, residential tourism has generated a sharp increase in the price of rural land and has decelerated a land market that once allowed young farmers to continue agricultural activities. Residential tourism has promoted land exchange value while sacrificing use value, threatening peasant reproduction mechanisms.     

Postmortem chest computed tomography for the diagnosis of drowning:a feasibility study

It may be difficult to distinguish the cause of death in drowning cases without specific findings. The aim of this study was to explore the forensic value of thoracic postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) using routine images and three-dimensional (3D) image reconstructions. The imaging data of PMCT examinations of six drowning cadavers, aged 21–54 years, were analyzed. Twelve victims of sudden death from coronary artery disease (CAD) were chosen as a control group. After 3D bilateral lung images were reconstructed using image processing software, an interactive medical image control system was used to measure and analyze parameters including lung volume, lung volume ratio, mean CT value of the whole lung, and lung CT value distribution curves. Lung volume and lung volume ratio were used to assess the shape changes of the lung. Lung CT value distribution curves showed the corresponding number of pixels of the different CT values in the lung image. Lung volume was not significantly larger in drowning cases (mean 2 958 cm³) than in controls (mean 2 342 cm³). Lung volume ratio values in the drowning group (mean 0.3156) were greater than those in the control group (mean 0.2763); (P = 0.02). There was no significant difference between the drowning and control group in the mean CT value of the whole lung. There were differences between lung CT value distribution curves in drowning victims and controls, with drowning victims showing a single peak and CAD cases showing a bimodal distribution. Thoracic PMCT is helpful for the forensic medical diagnosis of drowning. Lung volume ratio and lung CT value distribution are potential indicators to distinguish between drowning and CAD.     

Volatile Organic Compound Profiling from Postmortem Microbes using Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are by-products of cadaveric decomposition and are responsible for the odor associated with decomposing remains. The direct link between VOC production and individual postmortem microbes has not been well characterized experimentally. The purpose of this study was to profile VOCs released from three postmortem bacterial isolates (Bacillus subtilis, Ignatzschineria indica, I. ureiclastica) using solid-phase microextraction arrow (SPME Arrow) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Species were inoculated in headspace vials on Standard Nutrient Agar and monitored over 5 days at 24°C. Each species exhibited a different VOC profile that included common decomposition VOCs. VOCs exhibited upward or downward temporal trends over time. Ignatzschineria indica produced a large amount of dimethyldisulfide. Other compounds of interest included alcohols, aldehydes, aromatics, and ketones. This provides foundational data to link decomposition odor with specific postmortem microbes to improve understanding of underlying mechanisms for decomposition VOC production.     

Evaluating Bioinformatic Pipeline Performance for Forensic Microbiome Analysis*,†,‡

Microbial communities have potential evidential utility for forensic applications. However, bioinformatic analysis of high-throughput sequencing data varies widely among laboratories. These differences can potentially affect microbial community composition and downstream analyses. To illustrate the importance of standardizing methodology, we compared analyses of postmortem microbiome samples using several bioinformatic pipelines, varying minimum library size or minimum number of sequences per sample, and sample size. Using the same input sequence data, we found that three open-source bioinformatic pipelines, MG-RAST, mothur, and QIIME2, had significant differences in relative abundance, alpha-diversity, and beta-diversity, despite the same input data. Increasing minimum library size and sample size increased the number of low-abundant and infrequent taxa detected. Our results show that bioinformatic pipeline and parameter choice affect results in important ways. Given the growing potential application of forensic microbiology to the criminal justice system, continued research on standardizing computational methodology will be important for downstream applications.