Article
Medicine, Legal
Paul Baldrick, Sanjay Jain
Summary: This study examines the regulatory process of carcinogenicity testing for pharmaceutical drugs, particularly through the Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) process of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). By analyzing 37 submission documents, it is found that the current regulatory interaction allows for drug approval and marketing, but there is room for improvement in study design and submission content.
REGULATORY TOXICOLOGY AND PHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Wim Kerkhoff, Keanu Maitimu, K. Dieter H. Pater, Markus A. de Jong
Summary: This study investigates the relationship between pellet size and shotgun dispersion patterns, finding that as pellet size decreases, the dispersion pattern of the shotgun increases, regardless of the material used (lead or steel). The difference in pattern sizes between consecutive pellet sizes is generally small, allowing for the use of cartridges with the next nearest shot number for muzzle-to-target distance determination.
JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Wim Kerkhoff, Frits R. Broekhuis, Erwin J. A. T. Mattijssen, Fabiano Riva
Summary: This study describes the effect of gravity on the vertical component of bullet trajectory reconstruction. By calculating bullet drop, drop angle, and vertical offset for various handgun/ammunition combinations at different distances, it provides forensic firearm examiners with reference data and proposes conservative distances for modeling bullet trajectories as straight lines.
JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Tiffany Sheganoski, Michael T. Wiltsey, Timothy Horne, Andrew Sheganoski, Ian Hood
Summary: Homicide perpetrators often use concrete to conceal their victims, and the method of concrete encasement presents unique challenges for identification. However, through meticulous excavation techniques and utilizing concrete molds to obtain fingerprints, the victim's identity can ultimately be established.
JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Hisham Zein-Elabdin, Maha A. Ghanem
Summary: This article reports two fatal injuries caused by tear gas guns using pebbles as ammunition. The two cases involved 19-year-old males, one with head trauma and the other with abdominal trauma. Autopsy reports showed that the relatively larger weight and size of the pebble projectiles were the main factors contributing to the severity of the injuries.
FORENSIC SCIENCE MEDICINE AND PATHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
S. C. Koelzer, M. A. Verhoff, S. W. Toennes, C. Wunder, M. Kettner, N. Kern, A. Reif, C. Reif-Leonhard, C. Schlang, I. Beig, V. Dichter, N. Hauschild, D. Lemke, S. Kersten, F. Holz
Summary: This study examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health by comparing completed suicides in Frankfurt am Main before and during the early pandemic. The results showed no significant increase in suicides during the early pandemic period. However, there was a higher proportion of male suicides and a shift in suicide methods for women. The study also found a trend towards more suicides among non-German nationals during the early pandemic.
FORENSIC SCIENCE MEDICINE AND PATHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Paige Tynan
Summary: This article discusses the limitations of 2D imaging in forensic taphonomy and highlights the potential of 3D modeling techniques. 3D modeling provides multidimensional data and accurate representation of decomposition dynamics, reducing subjectivity and increasing the reliability of forensic assessments. Further research is needed to develop the application of 3D technology in forensic taphonomy.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEGAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Luchuan Tian, Hong Jiang, Xin Zhang
Summary: In this study, a classification model for paper cup samples was proposed, which integrated shifted-excitation Raman difference spectroscopy (SERDS) with self-organizing map (SOM) and Bayesian optimization-support vector machine (BO-SVM). The results showed that the SOM clustering effectively discerned samples with different fillers, while the BO-SVM model exhibited superior classification accuracy and performance in handling outliers.
JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Leuteris Rizos, Nefeli Garoufi, Eustratios Valakos, Efthymia Nikita, Maria-Eleni Chovalopoulou
Summary: Estimating age-at-death from human skeletal remains is essential in forensic anthropology, but it is challenging due to the disparity between chronological and biological age, inter-individual variability in skeletal aging rate, and biases in available methodologies. This study tests a new method for skeletal age-at-death estimation using multiple anatomical traits and machine learning, with promising results. However, caution is needed with some variables, and the software showed better accuracy for older individuals. These findings emphasize the importance of cross-validation and population-specific methods in forensic anthropology.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEGAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Law
Elizabeth Wicks
Summary: This article investigates whether a death caused by negligence in healthcare violates the right to life under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It argues that the assumption of responsibility and nature of risk are key factors in determining the existence of an operational duty to save life.
MEDICAL LAW REVIEW
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Alper Ozkok, Taner Akar, Birol Demirel
Summary: This study investigates the influence of photography training on the precision of autopsy photographs in depicting findings. The results show that trained medical photographers achieved higher accuracy in representing the findings compared to individuals without photography training. This is particularly noticeable in the assessment of stab wound length.
FORENSIC SCIENCE MEDICINE AND PATHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Zefang Shen, Yue Zhong, Yucong Wang, Haibiao Zhu, Ran Liu, Shengnan Yu, Haidong Zhang, Min Wang, Tiantong Yang, Mengzhou Zhang
Summary: This study aims to establish a multi-tissue machine learning model for estimating postmortem interval (PMI) using postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) data. By collecting PMCT data from various tissues, researchers utilized support vector machine, random forest, and K-nearest neighbors algorithms to build PMI estimation models, and a stacking model was used to improve accuracy. The results showed that the multi-tissue stacking model demonstrated strong predictive and generalization abilities.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEGAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Catarina Ermida, Eugenia Cunha, Maria Teresa Ferreira
Summary: Estimating the postmortem interval is challenging for forensic anthropologists, and the Luminol technique shows promise but is influenced by various taphonomic factors.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEGAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Dechan Li, Ji Zhang, Wenqing Guo, Kaijun Ma, Zhiqiang Qin, Jianhua Zhang, Liqin Chen, Ling Xiong, Jiang Huang, Changwu Wan, Ping Huang
Summary: This study utilized computational pathology to precisely quantify fat emboli in whole slide images, achieving a high accuracy rate. The results demonstrate the potential of computational pathology as an affordable and rapid method for fatal PFE diagnosis in forensic practice.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEGAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
C. A. Keyes, K. R. Giltrow, T. -J. Mahon
Summary: The study aimed to determine the most suitable maceration method for infant remains for forensic anthropological analysis by testing five different methods. Enzymatic maceration using laundry detergent and sodium carbonate was found to be the most successful method for complete maceration of infant skeletal remains.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEGAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Doreen Gehrels, Frank Ramsthaler, Mattias Kettner, Sarah C. Koelzer, Peter Jan Chabiera, Marcel A. Verhoff
Summary: In Germany, individual states have legislative power over death verification and postmortem examination of corpses, while the Federation has legislative power over civil status registration. This study investigated the implications of an amendment to the Civil Status Regulations on external postmortem examination, specifically focusing on the distinction between stillbirth and miscarriage.
Review
Medicine, Legal
Sreelakshmi Krishna, Pooja Ahuja
Summary: The investigation and reconstruction of firearm-related crimes using GSR analysis are crucial, but traditional methods have limitations. This review discusses various techniques, highlighting the potential of spectroscopy-based methods such as LIBS, SERS, IMS, and electrochemical sensors for GSR detection. Overcoming these limitations will enhance forensic capabilities and strengthen the use of spectroscopic data in criminal investigations. The techniques discussed have the potential to link GSR particles to specific ammunition types.
EGYPTIAN JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Kelly Brinsko-Beckert, Skip Palenik, Otyllia R. Abraham, Ethan Groves, Christopher S. Palenik
Summary: This paper presents a microscopic analysis method for recognizing and characterizing pigmented fibers in the field of forensic analysis. The method provides a specific approach for trace evidence examiners to identify and exploit the pigments used in solution dyed fibers encountered in casework.
JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Medhat Fathy Sakr, Amal Mohamad Abd El-Khalek, Nanies Sameeh Mohammad, Nehal S. Abouhashem, Mohammed Hassan Gaballah, Hosnia M. Ragab
Summary: In forensic medicine, studying the correlation between postmortem interval (PMI) and bone marrow antioxidant enzyme levels using ELISA, as well as the changes in histological structure of human bone marrow, can accurately estimate PMI. The level of antioxidant enzymes decreased significantly with increasing PMI, and histopathological examination showed gradual and regular morphological changes after death, indicating the value of PMI determination.
FORENSIC SCIENCE MEDICINE AND PATHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Devansh Sheth, Josep De Alcaraz-Fossoul
Summary: The CDC-issued vaccination card used during the COVID-19 pandemic had minimal security features, making it vulnerable to counterfeiting. The research suggests the development of a dual authentication system with digital and printable components, including a QR code linked to a database, to enhance security.
JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES
(2023)