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Nonchemical Suffocation Deaths In Forensic Setting: A 6-year Retrospective Study Of Environmental Suffocation, Smothering, Choking, And Traumatic/Positional Asphyxia*

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Abstract

There are still several areas of forensic pathology mainly based on tradition, with textbooks explaining and describing common knowledge that is not supported by modern research data. This study is intended to contribute to evidence-based data on nonchemical suffocation deaths in the forensic population aged more than 1 year. From 2000 to 2005, all autopsy cases were reviewed: age, gender, type of suffocation, and manner of death were compiled for all victims (96 cases). In general, the results from this study are concordant with the textbook literature, therefore supporting common knowledge related to manner of death in nonchemical suffocation. However, discrepancies have been underscored in smothering: smothering, contrary to the general belief, is probably not mostly homicidal, and accidental smothering is probably not that unusual. Furthermore, new data without actual literature correlates were obtained in the conducting of this study and are presented here....

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Homicide in the Bathtub

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Abstract

Retrospective analysis of the deaths investigated in the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the University of Cologne (1980–1993) revealed 215 fatalities in the bathtub comprising 11 homicides. In six cases mouth and nose were found beneath the surface of the water, and signs of drowning were encountered in four cases. In two cases drowning was the cause of death, the remaining fatalities being due to strangulation or sharp violence. Four corpses had merely been deposited in the bathtub, four homicides were committed in the bath, and three victims were put into the bathtub to control or ensure the occurrence of death. Two homicides were not recognized before autopsy. The particular difficulties of establishing the diagnosis of strangulation under the conditions of water-logging are discussed...

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Characterization Of Lesions In Hanging Deaths.

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Abstract

Hanging is a common method of committing suicide and a routine task in medico-legal autopsies. The hanging mark is the most relevant external sign and its characteristics are well known, but, for unknown reasons, there are major differences in reports on internal findings. We retrospectively studied 228 consecutive cases of hanging deaths. A complete standard autopsy was performed for every case. We investigated the association between the characteristics of the hanging mark and the frequency of bone, cartilage, soft tissue, and vascular injuries with the mode of suspension. Most cases (75.3%) presented some kind of bone or cartilage fracture, but these were unrelated to any of the variables studied. Vascular lesions are clearly more infrequent: intimal injuries were found in the carotid artery (9.1%), the jugular vein (2.2%), and ruptures of the carotid adventitial layer (21.7%). These could be partially associated with the use of a hard fixed noose and body weight....

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Periligature Injuries In Hanging.

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Abstract

Hanging is a common mode of suicide while ligature strangulation is a common way of homicide. Ligature marks (patterned abrasion caused by ligature material) can be of great significance to the forensic pathologist in determining the cause and manner of death. Ligature material usually produces a prominent mark over the bight area, which is opposite to the knot and an inverted 'V' pattern at the site of the knot. Apart from ligature mark, sometimes findings such as rope burns & nail marks may be seen around the ligature mark and can be termed as 'periligature injuries'. Nail marks over the neck are usually suggestive of throttling. But they can also be self inflicted by the victim while trying to extricate himself/herself from the strangling grip of hanging or ligature strangulation. Such injuries, when present may mislead the forensic pathologist in drawing conclusion as to whether it is due to...

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Death Threats and Violence

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Threats of violence—and especially of homicide—are a too-familiar part of modern life, paralleling stressful conditions at home, on the job, on campus, and in relationships. Death Threats and Violence analyzes the meaning and impact of homicidal threats, the means by which they are communicated, and their development from infrequent private occurrence to ongoing social problem. Using data from the Stalking and Violence Project and recent events including the Virginia Tech massacre, Stephen Morewitz explores the lives of the men (and to a lesser degree, women) who make threats against their partners, strangers, social groups, and institutions. By balancing individual variables against the larger context of social norms and controls, this book offers a well-rounded assessment of death threats and their role in domestic and public violence.

Among the topics included:

• Personal and societal risk factors of threat makers and their victims...

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Dyadic Death: a Typology

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Abstract

In dyadic deaths, a second victim acts in consort with, is associated with, or is killed by a person who, contemporaneous with the first death, then suicides. Dyadic deaths thus include both homicide-suicides and suicide pacts. This paper describes, suggests organizing dynamics of, and illustrates distinct types of dyadic deaths. The proposed typology varies by levels of dominance, dependence-enmeshment, and the presence or absence of hostility in and between partners.

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Risk Of Homicidal Behavior Among Discharged Forensic Psychiatric Patients.

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Abstract

We studied the risk of homicidal behavior among 281 released male forensic psychiatric patients during the 14-year period 1978-1991. Released patients were about 300 times more likely to commit a homicide than the general male population during the first year outside hospital, and the corresponding risk was 53-fold during a mean follow-up period of 7.8 years. The odds ratio for committing a homicide among all Finnish schizophrenics during the 12-year period 1980-1991 was 9.7, which indicates that previous criminality associated with schizophrenia also increases the risk of homicidal behavior remarkably when compared with schizophrenia per se. We believe that this kind of epidemiological approach is a useful method of identifying and classifying factors associated with very high risk of homicidal behavior and preventing homicidal behavior among high-risk populations...

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Transfer Of Biological Traces In Cases Of Hanging And Ligature Strangulation.

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Abstract

In hanging and ligature strangulation, the noose mostly causes a mark or groove which is formed partly by compression of the skin and partly by abrasion with loss of the upper epidermal layers. The horny scales abraded from the neck may be transferred to the strangulation device or to the interposed textiles where they are sometimes visible at stereomicroscopic examination or even to the naked eye as silver-grey particles. The morphologic features of the epidermal transfer due to hanging and ligature strangulation is demonstrated by 14 case examples. The biological traces may be sufficient for comparative DNA typing by means of PCR-based methods. In 9 out of the 14 cases, genomic DNA typing was successful. Analysis of mtDNA succeeded in another two cases, although genomic DNA could not be detected. Beside the accumulation of solid epidermic particles the paper describes deposition of serous and fatty tissue fluid at the ligature (mainly adjacent to skin ridges)....

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The Contract Murderer: Patterns, Characteristics, and Dynamics

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Abstract

A case of an independent professional contract murderer, who killed over 100 people, is reported. After eluding law enforcement for 30 years, the subject killed several associates who he believed could implicate him in various crimes. These homicides eventually led to his arrest, since the victims were individuals who could be linked to him. This hit man had a background of poverty and childhood abuse but, as an adult, had pursued a middle-class lifestyle and kept his family totally separate from his criminal career. In addition, he had a number of characteristics that helped him carry out his crimes in a highly planned, methodical, and organized manner: he had adept social judgment; personality traits of orderliness, control, and paranoid vigilance; useful defense mechanisms of rationalization and reframing; and an exceptional ability to encapsulate emotions. This case is discussed within the context of contract murder, a crime that...

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Suicide by Proxy: The Unintended Consequences of Public Executions in Eighteenth-Century Germany

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Abstract

On May 24, 1704, at about ten in the morning, Agnes Catherina Schickin, a thirty-year-old serving woman from the town of Schorndorf in Württemberg arrived at the village of Krumhard. After asking for and receiving a glass of milk from a local peasant woman, Agnes was on her way out of the village when she saw four, in her words, “beautiful little boys” playing together by the roadside. She approached the children and asked for directions to Schorndorf. When one of the boys, Hans Michael Furch, the seven-year-old son of the local cowherder, said he knew the way, she offered him a gift and asked him to walk with her. The three other boys wanted to come along, too, but she dissuaded them. Agnes and the seven-year-old walked off into the forest alone.

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Prosecutor, Journal of the National District Attorneys Association

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NDAA was formed in 1950 by local prosecutors to give a focal point to advance their causes and issues at the national level. NDAA representatives regularly meet with the Department of Justice, members of Congress and other national associations to represent the views of prosecutors to influence federal and national policies and programs that affect law enforcement and prosecution.

The NDAA is governed by a board of directors that is made up of state directors appointed to the board by the prosecuting associations of the states, and current and past officers of the association. The officers are chosen by the board annually to govern the NDAA; they are the president, president-elect, treasurer, assistant treasurer, secretary, assistant secretary, and ten vice-presidents. The outgoing president becomes the chairman of the board.

NDAA is located in Arlington, Virginia.

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Paranoid Personality Disorder Paranoia Personality Traits

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What is Paranoid personality disorder?

Paranoid personality disorder is characterized as a longstanding suspiciousness and mistrust of people in general. Paranoid individuals are suspicious, resentful, hostile and often times irritable and angry. The essential picture of paranoid personality disorder is a pervasive and unwarranted tendency to interpret other people's actions as deliberately demeaning or threatening. Combined with this is the desire to remain free of close personal relationships in which there is a chance of losing power or self-control. Paranoid individuals frequently, without justification, question the loyalty or trustworthiness of friends, family and associates. In the workplace, they tend to be jealous of coworkers, guarded, and loners, often times isolating themselves from others. They react with anger even to constructive criticism and have a tendency to be quarrelsome, abrasive and would much rather work alone. It is commonplace for them to turn a small issue or problem into a catastrophic issue....

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Common Anticholinergic Drugs Like Benadryl Linked To Increased Dementia Risk

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One long-ago summer, I joined the legion of teens helping harvest our valley’s peach crop in western Colorado. My job was to select the best peaches from a bin, wrap each one in tissue, and pack it into a shipping crate. The peach fuzz that coated every surface of the packing shed made my nose stream and my eyelids swell. When I came home after my first day on the job, my mother was so alarmed she called the family doctor. Soon the druggist was at the door with a vial of Benadryl (diphenhydramine) tablets. The next morning I was back to normal and back on the job. Weeks later, when I collected my pay (including the ½-cent-per-crate bonus for staying until the end of the harvest), I thanked Benadryl.

Today, I’m thankful my need for that drug lasted only a few weeks. In a report published in JAMA Internal Medicine,...

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Symptoms Of Substance-Induced Psychotic Disorder

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Substance-Induced Psychotic Disorder

A large number of toxic or psychoactive substances can cause psychotic reactions. Such substance-induced psychosis can occur in multiple ways. First, people may inadvertently ingest toxic substances by accident, either because they don't know any better (as is the case when a child eats lead paint chips, or mercury in tuna fish), or by mistake (such as when someone eats a poison mushroom they thought was safe, or gets food poisoning from mishandled food). Alternatively, people may take too much of a legitimately prescribed medicine, medicines may interact in unforeseen ways, or doctors may miscalculate the effects of medicines they prescribe. Finally, people may overdose on recreational drugs they commonly use (such as cocaine), or become dependent on drugs or alcohol and experience psychotic symptoms while in withdrawal from those substances. While the substance induced psychosis is triggered and then sustained by intoxication or withdrawal,...

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Antihistamines

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Histamine is an important mediator of immediate hypersensitivity reactions acting locally and causing smooth muscle contraction, vasodilation, increased vascular permeability, edema and inflammation.  Histamine acts through specific cellular receptors which have been categorized into four types, H1 through H4.  Antihistamines represent a class of medications that block the histamine type 1 (H1) receptors.  Importantly, antihistamines do not block or decrease the release of histamine, but rather ameliorate its local actions.  Agents that specially block other H2 receptors are generally referred to as H2 blockers rather than antihistamines.

H1 receptors are widely distributed and are particularly common on smooth muscle of the bronchi, gastrointestinal tract, uterus and large blood vessels.  H1 receptors are also found in the central nervous system.  The antihistamines are widely used to treat symptoms of allergic conditions including itching, nasal stuffiness, runny nose, teary eyes, urticaria, dizziness, nausea and cough...

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Effect Of Electromagnetic Field On Endocytosis Of Cationic Solid Lipid Nanoparticles By Human Brain-Microvascular Endothelial Cells.

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Abstract

This study investigates the electromagnetic field (EMF)-regulated transport of cationic solid lipid nanoparticles (CSLNs) across human brain-microvascular endothelial cells (HBMECs). The positive charge of CSLNs was from dioctadecyldimethyl ammonium bromide and stearylamine, and radiofrequency EMF was applied to HBMECs for promoting uptake of CSLNs. Immunochemical staining revealed that the expression of clathrin on the membrane of HBMECs enhanced during vesicular endocytosis of CSLNs. However, CSLNs and EMF slightly affected the expression of P-glycoprotein on the membrane of HBMECs. An exposure to EMF yielded negligible increase in the permeability of free saquinavir (SQV) across the HBMEC monolayer. Nevertheless, the permeability of SQV across the HBMEC monolayer increased about 17-fold when SQV was entrapped in CSLNs. Moreover, the permeability of SQV across the HBMEC monolayer increased about 22-fold by applying the CSLN encapsulation and EMF exposure. CSLNs and EMF could produce synergistic effect on improving the brain-targeting delivery.

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