Legal Medicine

BACKGROUND: Medical interventions are procedures that are conducive to creating danger on people's life and body immunity due to their characteristics. We aimed to raise awareness and make contributions by revealing the fact that serious bodily and mental harms occur due to medical interventions by the ones who do not have the authority to perform. METHODS: We evaluated 210 cases appealled to our institution between the years of 2017 and 2022 who suffered damage after medical interventions by people who do not have any authorization or license...

Age estimation is an essential step in identifying human corpses. Several mandibular landmarks have been highlighted as skeletal sites for age estimation since aging causes morphological changes. Reports suggest that mandibular torus size may be associated with aging; however, thorough investigation has not been performed owing to the difficulty in measuring it. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the association between age and mandibular torus thickness using postmortem computed tomography data from Japanese corpses...

This study aimed to estimate A-STR mutation rates in 2,317 Korean parent-child trios by examining 20 Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) core loci (D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D21S11, CSF1PO, FGA, TH01, TPOX, vWA, D1S1656, D2S441, D2S1338, D10S1248, D12S391, D19S433, and D22S1045) and three non-CODIS loci (Penta E, Penta D, and SE33). Locus-specific mutation rate estimates varied from 0.00 to 8.63 × 10-3 per generation, with an average mutation rate of 1.62 × 10-3 (95 % CI, 1...

A smoothbore musket firing a round ball was the primary weapon of the infantry from the 16th to mid 19th century. Musket ball injuries are thus relatively common when archaeological remains of battlefield victims from that period are studied. Several experimental studies have focused on terminal ballistics of a musket ball. In addition, there is a good supply of historical records directly from the battlefield and military hospitals. Studies and historical records have both concluded that head injuries are among the most lethal types of musket ball damage...

Age estimation is important in forensic investigations of unidentified human remains. This study assessed the correlation between age and Hounsfield unit (HU) values of the palate and mandibular condyle based on postmortem computed tomography (CT) and analyzed the influence of occlusal support in developing an age estimation method for Japanese individuals, including older adults. The sample consisted of a training dataset (357 cadavers) and a validation dataset (300 cadavers) that underwent postmortem CT. Three measurements were selected: the respective HU values of the palate and mandibular condyle and the Eichner classification...

The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of postmortem contrast-enhanced CT (PMeCT) performed via direct large-vessel puncture when routine postmortem CT suggests a vascular lesion as the cause of death. PMeCT was performed in 9 cases (4 male, 5 female) with a mean age of 76 years (range 52-92) at the time of death. The mean time elapsed since death was 29.1 h (12.0-72.0). The location of the target vessel for puncture was determined based on the CT table position and a grid placed on the body surface...

PURPOSE: The accurate age estimation of cadavers is essential for their identification. However, conventional methods fail to yield adequate age estimation especially in elderly cadavers. We developed a deep learning algorithm for age estimation on CT images of the vertebral column and checked its accuracy. METHOD: For the development of our deep learning algorithm, we included 1,120 CT data of the vertebral column of 140 patients for each of 8 age decades. The deep learning model of regression analysis based on Visual Geometry Group-16 (VGG16) was improved in its estimation accuracy by bagging...

The pedigree likelihood ratio (LR) can be used for determining kinship in the forensic kinship testing. LR can be obtained by analyzing the DNA data of Short tandem repeat (STR) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci. With the advancement of biotechnology, increasing number of genetic markers have been identified, thereby expanding the pedigree range of kinship testing. Moreover, some of the loci are physically closer to each other and genetic linkage between loci is inevitable. LRs can be calculated by accounting for linkage or ignoring linkage (LRlinkage and LRignore , respectively)...

Depressed skull fractures occur when broken bones displace inward, meaning that a portion of the outer table of the fracture line lies below the normal anatomical position of the inner table. They typically result from force trauma, when the skull is struck by an object with a moderately large amount of kinetic energy but a small surface area, or when an object with a large amount of kinetic energy impacts only a small area of the skull. In the present case, a depressed fracture of the frontal bone was detected at the autopsy of a 52-year-old man who, according to the belated confession of the assailant, was kicked in the head...

Volatile substance abuse is widespread among adolescents due to its easy availability and methods of consumption. Inhalant abuse represents a current problematic issue, causing significant morbidity and mortality due to direct toxicity on several target organs and displacement of gas which results in a lack of oxygen. This review aims to evaluate post-mortem and toxicological investigations in cases of suspected butane intoxication. We performed comprehensive research using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review (PRISMA) standards...

BACKGROUND: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is an important target for prevention of alcohol-related problems. In this study, we analyzed forensic autopsy cases to reveal the characteristics of the living conditions and death situations of individuals with AUD. METHODS: We retrospectively investigated 486 cases with a history of alcohol consumption for which a forensic autopsy was performed from 2012 to 2021 in Yamaguchi prefecture. Judgement of AUD was made using DSM-5...

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Forensic pathologists are frequently asked to investigate cases of sudden death (SD), and identifying the cause of death can be of particular importance, especially where it may be necessary to perform family screening among the relatives of the victim. A multidisciplinary approach inclusive of genetic analysis is therefore strongly recommended. According to forensic practice, arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is a well-known cause of SD. However, cases of SD caused by a left ventricular pattern of ACM diagnosed at autopsy are rarely reported in the literature...

The objective of this study is to investigate whether common genetic variants of the LTBP4 gene are linked to the susceptibility of sudden cardiac death in individuals who have atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (SCD-CAD) in Chinese populations. A total of 208 SCD-CAD cases and 638 controls were included in the analysis, and logistic regression was employed to assess the association between a 4-bp insertion/deletion polymorphism (rs34005443) within LTBP4 and the susceptibility to SCD-CAD among Chinese individuals...

In forensic practice, medicolegal physicians are often tasked with estimating age using dental evidence. This calls for an uncomplicated, reliable, and reproducible method for dental age estimation, enabling physicians to proceed without specific odontological expertise. Among various dental methods, third molar eruption analyses are less complicated and easier to perform. In our study, we explored the effectiveness of Gambier et al.'s scoring system, which examines the eruption of all third molars. We retrospectively analysed 1032 orthopantomograms (528 males and 504 females) of individuals aged between 15 and 24 years...

Discovering a body displaying signs of multiple head trauma requires a thorough examination by the forensic pathologist, and a multidisciplinary approach is recommended. However, determining the manner of death is not always possible. We present a case in which the body of a 60-year-old man was discovered lying face down on the floor of his apartment, partially unclothed, surrounded by blood and vomit, and presenting numerous head injuries. The autopsy concluded that the cause of death was a result of post-traumatic brain injury...

Sigma-1 receptor (σ-1R) modulates cellular signaling pathways, probably acting as a ligand operated chaperone. When activated, the receptor translocates from the interface mitochondrion associated membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum to the cell membrane. σ-1R was demonstrated in some brain regions, including the pineal gland, and was proposed to be involved in several cerebral processes, including neuroprotective responses against homeostasis alterations. On this basis, the immunohistochemical expression of σ-1R in human pineal glands was evaluated, with particular regard to the different causes of death...

This study aims to discuss the forensic and criminological implications of child homicides in the territory of Milan, Italy. The authors present a retrospective study on all the cases of child and adolescent homicides, that were observed at the Institute of Legal Medicine of Milan (Italy) in the last 30 years (from January 1991 to December 2020). A total of 46 child homicides were collected, focusing on the sociological features, by highlighting peculiar cases, risk factors, potential changing social trends, and comparing our cases with the current literature...

In this study, a case of lithium-ion battery fire is presented. The blood of the deceased was analyzed for lithium (Li) using ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry). When compared to normal individuals in the same region, the deceased had much higher levels of Li in their blood. Therefore, conducting quantitative analyses of Li in the bodies of individuals who die in lithium-ion battery fire can provide valuable information into the specific circumstances surrounding their deaths.

As an auxiliary method in the process of human identification, forensic facial approximation (FFA) is an important tool for identifying unknown human bodies whose remains do not present the necessary traceability to any antemortem data collection. Specific characteristics are necessary when addressing children aged between 6 and 10 years, who have little sexual differentiation and a mixed dentition. Due to the chronology of eruption of the permanent second molars in this population, it is not possible to measure facial soft-tissue thickness (FSTT) from specific landmarks such as supra and infra M2...