Forensic science international
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The Statistical Office of Berlin recorded a total of 5488 suicides within the 10-year period 1990-1999 (3550 males, 1938 females). Firearms were used in 238 cases (218 males, 20 females). An autopsy was performed in 19 of the 20 female cases. ⋯ The site of bullet-entry was the right temple (n=11), high-parietal (n=2), mouth (n=3), neck (n=1), and chest (n=2). A comparison of our results with the data of other authors for male or predominantly male collectives did not indicate any sex-specific differences regarding the type of weapon, location of the entry wound or the scene. However, alcohol was detected at a lower frequency compared with male gunshot suicides.
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A homicidal case by an air gun involving a 73-year-old woman who was found dead in her home is described. At autopsy, two gunshot wounds were observed on the left anterior chest and the right back. There was neither exit wound nor powder burns. ⋯ This case has exhibited two rare phenomena: homicide by an air gun and pellet embolisation. This is the first homicide case by use of air gun in Japan and demonstrates that although it may be rare, air guns can be used as potential homicidal weapons. This experience will alert our society and others on the potential hazards of air guns we have tended to regard as toys.
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We describe a minisequencing protocol for screening DNA samples for the presence of 12 mutations in the human melanocortin 1 receptor gene (MC1R), eight of which are associated with the red hair phenotype. A minisequencing profile which shows homozygosity for one of these mutations or the presence of two different mutations would strongly indicate that the sample donor is red haired. The absence of any red hair causing mutations would indicate that the sample donor does not have red hair. We report the frequencies of MC1R variants in the British red haired population.
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Review Case Reports
Fatal myeloencephalopathy due to accidental intrathecal vincristin administration: a report of two cases.
We report on two fatal cases of accidental intrathecal vincristine instillation in a 5-year old girl with recurrent acute lymphoblastic leucemia and a 57-year old man with lymphoblastic lymphoma. The girl died seven days, the man four weeks after intrathecal injection of vincristine. Clinically, the onset was characterized by the signs of opistothonus, sensory and motor dysfunction and ascending paralysis. ⋯ The clinical course and histopathological results of the two cases are presented. A review of all reported cases in the literature is given. A better controlled regimen for administering vincristine and intrathecal chemotherapy is recommended.
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On the market several systems exist for collecting spent ammunition data for forensic investigation. These databases store images of cartridge cases and the marks on them. Image matching is used to create hit lists that show which marks on a cartridge case are most similar to another cartridge case. ⋯ This method takes only a few minutes for the complete database if, and can be optimized for comparison in seconds if the location of points are stored in files. For further improvement, it is useful to have the refinement in which the user selects the areas that are relevant on the cartridge case for their marks. This is necessary if this cartridge case is damaged and other marks that are not from the firearm appear on it.