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Postmortem Burns-An Artefact Due toTransportation

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Abstract
An artefact is any change caused or feature introduced in a body after death (accidentally or physiologically unrelated finding to the natural state of the body) that is likely to lead to misinterpretation of medico legally significant ante mortem findings. Artefacts due to burns are usually attributed to prolonged exposure of flame (in cases of death due to burns), Or else due to attempts made to burn a body after homicide with the object of concealing the crime. Post mortem artefact due to burns in the present case, its implication and proposed mechanism are discussed in detail due to rarity of its kind

Introduction
An artefact is any change caused or feature introduced in a body after death (accidentally or physiologically unrelated finding to the natural state of the body) that is likely to lead to misinterpretation of medico legally significant ante mortem findings . Determination of the cause of death following autopsy is an interpretative and intelligent procedure, and depends upon sound

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Case Report On The Identification Of A Murder Victim By Forensic Dental Techniques

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Introduction

Case Report

One of the common methods of identifying unknown dead persons is by confrontation identification. This method is used by the police on the basis of a presumed identity of the body, which a relative or someone else subsequently visually confirms when confronted with the face or the general appearance of the dead person's body and clothes. The facial features can also be compared with a past photograph or other identity cards. However, if the body is damaged in some manner, be it by fire or simple putrefaction, the facial features may be missing and then other features or characteristics have to be used. One such feature is the anatomy of the frontal sinus according to a posterior-anterior radiograph. But a dental identification is usually easier to perform, since radiographs are only infrequently unavailable, because most people are likely to have visited their dentists at least once and had radiographs taken of the teeth. Moreover, teeth are the hardest tissue of the body and can resist...

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Analysis of Suspected Trace Human Remains from an Indoor Concrete Surface

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ABSTRACT:

This paper describes the sequence of analyses used to determine the nature of a stain located on the floor of room in the former Athens Mental Health and Retardation Hospital in Athens, OH. The location of the stain was reported to be the position in which a decomposing body was discovered on January 11, 1979. The current stain is found to contain strong evidence for both natural decomposition products and deliberate adulteration. Microscopic analyses, solubility tests, FTIR, ICP-OES, pyrolysis-MS, and derivatization GC-MS were consistent in determining the removable parts of the stain to be composed mostly of calcium and sodium salts of free fatty acids, such as palmitic acid, consistent with previous descriptions of adipocere. The free fatty acids could have been formed via known bacterial degradation pathways or via saponification through the basic environment caused through contact with the concrete. To our knowledge, adipocere formation on an exposed indoor environment has not been described before. The stain and concrete also show signs of being chemically...

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