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Diagnostic Utility Of Postmortem Fine-needle Aspiration Cultures.

November 30, 2018September 27, 2017 by admin

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Microbiological cultures at autopsy have not proved to be very useful. In life, transthoracic and fine-needle aspirations of other tissues have provided better results. The aim of this prospective study was to assess the diagnostic utility of postmortem cultures obtained by fine-needle aspiration puncture (FNAP) of several tissues when punctures were performed in the immediate postmortem period.

METHODS: Comparative analysis was performed between FNAP cultures and those obtained in life and by conventional autopsy. All adult autopsied patients who died at a general teaching hospital in a 3-year period were included. Clinical data, microbiological cultures before death, and pathologic data from autopsies of all patients were recorded, as were results of FNAP performed after death from the heart, right lower lung, liver, spleen, and other areas suspicious for infection. Cultures from the same sites were made at autopsy. Microorganisms were isolated and defined as infectious agents, colonizers, or contaminants according to standard criteria.

Collection, Preservation And Forwarding Of Biolgical Samples For Toxicological Analysis In Medicolegal Autopsy Cases : A Review

February 20, 2019September 27, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Collection of proper autopsy specimen is an essential step in the process of toxicology case work.Improper collection of these specimens can greatly alter or negate chemical and toxicological analysis. This article is an update about the standard methods of biological specimen collection procedures for toxicological analysis which will be helpful for the forensic pathologist and forensic scientists.

Introduction

In handling the Medicolegal autopsy cases, certain standard guidelines are necessary to be laid down to assist in the selection of appropriate specimens of the body fluids and tissue for postmortem biochemical and toxicological analysis.After death there is a rapid change in the cellular level biochemistry due to autolysis. The drugs and other poisons may be released from the binding sites in tissues and major organs.

The unabsorbed drug may diffuse from stomach, care should be taken in selection of blood and tissue sampling sites. Many a times the autopsy is conducted before all the...

Multiple Stab Wounds: A Short-term Respiratory Case Study.

November 30, 2018September 27, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Respiratory management is a role that is of paramount importance to intensive care nurses. Proactive nursing allows a nurse to have a positive effect on a patient's condition by actively improving the patient's status and setting priorities of care, avoiding deterioration wherever possible. In this account of the respiratory management of a patient who has sustained bilateral pneumothoraces following multiple stab wounds to the chest and back, the physiological assessment of the patient is described and a proactive respiratory plan of care is formed. Anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology in relation to pneumothoraces, metabolic acidosis and magnesium links with functional residual capacity are addressed. The potential risk of Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) following direct and indirect lung injury is discussed. Recent research into ventilation modes and into areas of nursing practice relating to respiratory management are also considered....

Homicidal And Suicidal Sharp Force Fatalities: Autopsy Parameters In Relation To The Manner Of Death.

November 30, 2018September 27, 2017 by admin

Abstract

A retrospective, comparative study was carried out on 118 sharp force fatalities, including 70 homicides and 48 suicides, and covering a 22-year period from 1986 to 2008. The objective was to identify relevant parameters that may be used to distinguish between these two manners of death. The following parameters were analysed: age, gender, number of wounds, type of wounds, anatomical sites of the wounds, presence of wounds affecting bones or cartilage, the longitudinal axis of stab wounds located at the anterior part of the trunk, Injury Severity Score (ISS) and associated traumatic injuries. Our statistical analyses revealed several relevant parameters that may help differentiate the two manners of death. Homicide victims were younger than those who had committed suicide. Homicide cases showed associated stab and cut wounds, whereas suicide cases predominantly showed isolated cut wounds. Wounds located at the head, limbs, hands, nape of the neck, or back were predictive of a homicide,...

Management Of Stab Wounds Of The Back And Flank

November 30, 2018September 27, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Abdominal stab wounds are managed on a selective basis with increasing frequency. Retroperitoneal injuries are more difficult to evaluate; hence wounds to the flank and back pose different considerations. A retrospective review of 108 patients with deep stab wounds of the flank and back was compared with a prospective study of 109 patients selectively managed with similar injuries. Physical examination was accurate in 86% of flank and 88% of back wounds. Local exploration was an effective procedure in differentiating superficial from deep wounds. Peritoneal lavage may be more accurate in flank wounds but is probably less reliable with retroperitoneal injuries. Adjunctive studies are helpful in selected patients. The incidence of negative celiotomies was reduced from 85.2% to 7.3% when the selective approach was adopted. There was no mortality or increased morbidity in the series. Although the risk of retroperitoneal injury is greater with flank and...

Retroperitoneal Injuries: Pitfalls In Diagnosis And Management.

November 30, 2018September 27, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Retroperitoneal injury caused by penetrating trauma or associated with progressive shock following blunt trauma is usually recognized promptly and managed appropriately. Isolated retroperitoneal injury from blunt trauma, unless accompanied by major hemorrhage or gross hematuria, is often difficult to diagnose and needed treatment may be delayed. Although clinical examination remains the cornerstone of diagnosis, the high incidence of ethanol abuse and/or concurrent head injury in trauma patients has led to increased use of computed tomography in the diagnosis of abdominal trauma. To determine the effect, if any, of CT examination on the diagnosis and management of retroperitoneal trauma, we reviewed our patient experience. During the 16-month period ending in April 1986, 135 patients sustained 177 retroperitoneal injuries (116 by blunt and 19 by penetrating trauma). There were 26 deaths (19% mortality). There were 90 pelvic fractures and 31 lumbar spine fractures, as well as 21 genitourinary, 12 gastrointestinal, five pancreatic, and eight major vascular injuries....

Reconstructing Homicide Events: The Role Of Witnesses In Fatal Encounters

November 30, 2018September 27, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Examinations of homicide have used both micro and macro level data to account for the interaction between victims and offenders. Missing from such analyses, however, is an examination of the role of witnesses or third parties present at homicide events. These individuals may play a variety of roles in homicide events including instigating, mediating, escalating, or facilitating fatal violence. Using St. Louis homicides for the years 1985–1989, this study provides a classification scheme for the roles of witnesses in homicide events...

The Influence Of Forensic Evidence On The Case Outcomes Of Homicide Incidents

November 30, 2018September 27, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Objective In spite of the growth of forensic science services little published research exists related to the impact of forensic evidence on criminal case outcomes. The present study focused on the influence of forensic evidence on the case processing of homicide incidents.

Materials and Methods The study utilized a prospective analysis of official record data that followed homicide cases in five jurisdictions from the time of police incident report to final criminal disposition.

Results The results showed that most homicides went unsolved (34.5% conviction rate). Only 55.5% of the 400 homicide incidents resulted in arrest of which 77% were referred to the district attorney. On the other hand, 94% of cases referred to the district attorney were charged. Cases were more likely to have arrests, referrals, and charges when witnesses provided information to the police. Suspects who knew their victims were more likely to be arrested and referred to the district attorney...

A Modified Labeling Theory Approach To Mental Disorders: An Empirical Assessment

November 30, 2018September 27, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Proposes a modified labeling perspective that claims that even if labeling does not directly produce mental disorder, it can lead to negative outcomes. The authors' approach asserts that socialization leads individuals to develop a set of beliefs about how most people treat mental patients. When individuals enter treatment, these beliefs take on new meaning. The more patients believe that they will be devalued and discriminated against, the more they feel threatened by interacting with others. Such strategies can lead to negative consequences for social support networks, jobs, and self-esteem. The authors test this modified labeling perspective using samples of psychiatric patients (n = 164) and 429 untreated community residents (aged 19–59 yrs), and find that both believed that most people will reject mental patients. Additionally, patients endorsed strategies of secrecy, withdrawal, and education to cope with the threat they perceive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)...

Measuring the Performance of Law Enforcement Agencies – Part 1 of a 2-Part article

November 30, 2018September 27, 2017 by admin

I. INTRODUCTION

This is the first segment of a two-part article on measuring the performance of law enforcement agencies. It is written for a policing audience, and draws in part on my discussions with members of CALEA’s Performance Measurement Subcommittee and those who have attended my training workshops at the last two CALEA Conferences. In this first segment, I introduce the general concepts, terminology, and history of comparative performance measurement in policing. The second segment, which will appear in the next edition of the CALEA Update, will show you how to develop, pilot-test, and implement comparative performance measurement in your agency. This article is one small part of a larger effort by CALEA to explore the feasibility and utility of agency-level performance measurement in policing. That journey is just beginning, and will proceed slowly, but it is expected to be a worthwhile one...

The Origin Of Psychiatry:the Alienist As Nanny For Troublesome Adults

November 30, 2018September 27, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Discusses the historical, political, economic, and cultural origins of psychiatry. The author distinguishes between the origins of the medical and psychiatric professions, noting that medicine began with persons seeking relief from pain, while psychiatry began with persons seeking relief from the socially unacceptable behavior of their relatives, who were unwilling patients. The author argues that psychiatry was based on coercion and had nothing to do with healing. Madhouses are described as English inventions that were convenient to wealthy families and profitable to madhouse keepers. The role of clergy as madhouse keepers is addressed, highlighting the Western tradition of interpreting insanity in religious terms. Other topics discussed include critics of "madhousing" and "madhousing" as depicted in English literature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)...

A Study of Assassination

February 12, 2019September 27, 2017 by admin

A STUDY OF ASSASSINATION

DEFINITION Assassination is a term thought to be derived from "Hashish", a drug similar to marijuana, said to have been used by Hasan-ibn-Sabah to induce motivation in his followers, who were assigned to carry out political and other murders, usually at the cost of their lives. It is here used to describe the planned killing of a person who is not under the legal jurisdiction of the killer, who is not physically in the hands of the killer, who has been selected by a resistance organization for death, and whose death provides positive advantages to that organization.

EMPLOYMENT Assassination is an extreme measure not normally used in clandestine operations. It should be assumed that it will never be ordered or authorized by any U.S. Headquarters, though the latter may in rare instances agree to its execution by members of an associated foreign service. This reticence is partly due to the necessity...

False Memories, Psychology of

February 20, 2019September 27, 2017 by admin

A false memory is a mental experience that is mistakenly taken to be a veridical representation of an event from one’s personal past. Memories can be false in relatively minor ways (e.g., believing one last saw the keys in the kitchen when they were in the living room) and in major ways that have profound implications for oneself and others (e.g., mistakenly believing one is the originator of an idea or that one was sexually abused as a child). False memories arise from the same processes as do true memories and hence their study reveals basic mechanisms of memory.

This article describes empirical research investigating false memories and a theoretical approach—the source monitoring framework—for integrating the findings and guiding further investigation.

1. Selected Early Research Psychologists have long been interested in memory distortions. A classic example from the 1930s is Bartlett’s report of studies in which he told people a folk tale from an unfamiliar...

False Memories And False Confessions: The Psychology Of Imagined Crimes

November 30, 2018September 26, 2017 by admin

It involved two sisters who, in 2015, had given the police vivid descriptions of being sexually abused by a close female relative. They alleged that the abuse had taken place between 1975 and 1976. The lawyer, who was representing the defendant, wanted Shaw's input as an expert witness.

Shaw, a criminal psychologist at the London South Bank University, was struck by how unusual the scenario was. "Usually, in cases of sexual abuse, the father is the accused," she says. "In this case, it was a girl." At the time of the alleged abuse, the sisters had been around four and seven years old, and the relative was between ten and 12.

As she leafed through the interview transcripts, Shaw noted the older sister's language. "She kept saying, 'My childhood was rough and I buried so much. I think it was my coping mechanism, I must have just blocked it.' ...

Therapeutic Forgetting: The Legal and Ethical Implications of Memory Dampening

February 20, 2019September 26, 2017 by admin

INTRODUCTION

Suppose we could erase memories we no longer wish to keep. In such a world, the victim of a terrifying assault could wipe away memories of the incident and be free of the nightmares that such memories often cause. Some memories, however, even quite unpleasant ones, are extremely valuable to society and ought not be eliminated without due consideration. An assault victim who hastily erases memory of a crime may thereby impede the investigation and prosecution of the perpetrator. In a world with memory erasure, our individual interest in controlling our memories may conflict with society’s interest in maintaining access to those memories.1 While true memory erasure is still the domain of science fiction,2 less dramatic means of dampening the strength of a memory may have already been developed. Some experiments suggest that propranolol, an FDA-approved drug, can dull the emotional...

Spoliation of Evidence

November 30, 2018September 26, 2017 by admin

The spoliation of evidence is the intentional, reckless, or negligent withholding, hiding, altering, fabricating, or destroying of evidence relevant to a legal proceeding.[1] Spoliation has three possible consequences: in jurisdictions where the (intentional) act is criminal by statute, it may result in fines and incarceration (if convicted in a separate criminal proceeding) for the parties who engaged in the spoliation; in jurisdictions where relevant case law precedent has been established, proceedings possibly altered by spoliation may be interpreted under a spoliation inference, or by other corrective measures, depending on the jurisdiction; in some jurisdictions the act of spoliation can itself be an actionable tort.[2]

The spoliation inference is a negative evidentiary inference that a finder of fact can draw from a party's destruction of a document or thing that is relevant to an ongoing or reasonably foreseeable civil or criminal proceeding: the finder of fact can review all evidence uncovered in as strong a light...