In living children, the use of a wide field fundus camera such as RetCam is the gold standard practice to document retinal haemorrhages in suspected cases of abusive head trauma (AHT). In case of sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI), child …
verfasst von:
Jean-Baptiste Ducloyer, Frédérique Jossic, Valentine VAN Goethem, David Lebosse, Charlène Cornee, Guylène Le Meur, Mathilde Ducloyer
It is pivotal to avoid cross-sample contamination in forensic genetic laboratories and optimal cleaning protocols for the removal of DNA are essential. A survey was performed, and ten forensic genetic laboratories shared their cleaning protocols …
verfasst von:
Marie-Louise Kampmann, Jacob Tfelt-Hansen, Claus Børsting
Taphonomy studies the environmental effects on remains from the time of deposition to the time of recovery and has been integrated into the field of forensic anthropology. The changes to skeletal remains are dependent on the method of disposal and …
The scientific literature contains little reliable data regarding new psychoactive substances and designer drugs, making it difficult to assess toxic blood levels and potentially lethal threshold. Here, we report a fatal co-intoxication involving …
The European Council of Legal Medicine (ECLM) is the body established in 1992 to represent practitioners forensic & legal medicine and is composed of delegates of the countries of the European Union (EU) and from other countries which form part of …
verfasst von:
Jason Payne-James, Grace Payne-James, Rossana Cecchi, Denis Cusack, Eva Keller, Bertrand Ludes, Burkhard Madea, Marika Väli, Duarte Nuno Vieira, Antti Sajantila
The decomposition of animal remains is a multifaceted process, involving ecological, biological, and chemical interactions. While the complexity is acknowledged through concepts like the necrobiome, it’s unclear if this complexity is reflected in …
verfasst von:
Donna B. McIntyre, Blake M. Dawson, Benjamin M. Long, Philip S. Barton
To date South African forensic anthropologists are only able to successfully apply a metric approach to estimate population affinity when constructing a biological profile from skeletal remains. While a non-metric, or macromorphoscopic approach …
verfasst von:
Leandi Liebenberg, Ericka N. L’Abbé, Kyra E. Stull
Suspected physical abuse (SPA) or non-accidental injury (NAI) affects vulnerable members of our society, particularly children. According to the most recent estimates, 50% of children aged 2–17 years globally experienced some form of violence in …
verfasst von:
Edel Doyle, Lyndal Bugeja, Matthew R. Dimmock, Kam L. Lee, Jessica Ng, Richard B. Bassed
Sharp-force injuries are one of the most common forms of homicide [ 1 ]. The incidence of sharp-force injuries is very high, particularly in countries with strict firearm regulations, and the fatality rate is 33.2%~51.7% [ 2 – 4 ]. Knife injuries …
verfasst von:
Jin Yang, Shangxiao Li, Shufang Yuan, Yi Shi, Bin Ni, Chaopeng Yang, Wenxia Guo, Mingzhi Wang, Weiya Hao
Chile had a violent military coup (1973–1990) that resulted in 3,000 victims declared detained, missing or killed; many are still missing and unidentified. Currently, the Human Rights Unit of the Forensic Medical Service in Chile applies globally …
verfasst von:
Natalia Rojas González, Zuzana Obertová, Daniel Franklin
Commercial short tandem repeat (STR) kits exclusively contain human-specific primers; however, various non-human organisms with high homology to the STR kit's primer sequences can cause cross-reactivity. Owing to the proprietary nature of the …
The primary responsibility of a medical practitioner is to attend to the medical needs of their patient [ 1 ]. Beyond patient care, every medical professional is additionally entrusted with a legal responsibility towards the State in varying …
verfasst von:
Benjy Tom Varughese, Daniel Manoj, Antony L Arakkal, Latif Rajesh Johnson, Ranjit Immanuel James
Forensic microbiology is rapidly emerging as a novel tool for human identification. The human microbiome, comprising diverse microbial communities including fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and viruses, is unique to each individual, offering a new …
verfasst von:
Lorenzo Franceschetti, Giorgia Lodetti, Alberto Blandino, Alberto Amadasi, Valentina Bugelli
High-risk coronary plaques (HRP) are characterized in clinical radiological imaging by the presence of low plaque attenuation, a napkin-ring sign (NRS), spotty calcifications (SC) and a positive remodeling index (RI). To evaluate if these signs …
verfasst von:
Katarzyna Michaud, David C Rotzinger, Mohamed Faouzi, Silke Grabherr, Salah D Qanadli, Allard C van der Wal, Virginie Magnin
Blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) are generally early colonisers of fresh cadavers, enabling the estimation of a minimum post-mortem interval (minPMI) based on an accurate aging of the oldest immature stages associated with a cadaver. In blow …
verfasst von:
Daniel Martín-Vega, Thomas J. Simonsen, Martin J. R. Hall
Conducting external post-mortem examinations is an essential skill required of physicians in various countries, regardless of their specialization. However, the quality of these examinations has been a subject of continuous debates, and notable …
verfasst von:
Christina Klus, Katja Krumm, Sindy Jacobi, Marie-Christin Willemer, Charlotte Daub, Dietrich Stoevesandt, Katrin Metzler, Carolin Richter, Lisa-Maria Peter, Steffen Heide, Uwe Schmidt
Non-prescription use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) is associated with an increased risk of premature death. However, these substances are seldom screened in connection with forensic cause-of-death investigation, unless the forensic …
verfasst von:
Paula Vauhkonen, Petteri Oura, Pirkko Kriikku, Katarina Lindroos, Mikko Ilari Mäyränpää
Computed tomography angiography (PMCTA) is increasingly used in postmortem cases. Standardized validated protocols permit to compare different PMCTA images and make it more easily to defend a case in court. In addition to the well-known technique …
verfasst von:
G. M. Bruch, S. Grabherr, C. Bruguier, F. T. Fischer, R. Soto, V. Magnin, P. Genet
Gunshot wound analysis is an important part of medicolegal practice, in both autopsies and examinations of living persons. Well-established and studied simulants exist that exhibit both physical and biomechanical properties of soft-tissues and …
verfasst von:
Victoria K. S. Fischer, Markus A. Rothschild, Beat P. Kneubuehl, Thomas Kamphausen
Initial experiences with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of living strangulation victims demonstrated additional findings of internal injuries compared to the standard clinical forensic examination. However, existing studies on the use of MRI for …
verfasst von:
Melanie Bauer, Christina Hollenstein, Johanna Maria Lieb, Sabine Grassegger, Tanja Haas, Laura Egloff, Celine Berger, Eva Scheurer, Claudia Lenz
