Forensic science international
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Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) and Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) are the most common bacteria involved in sexually transmitted infections (STIs). In France, combined screening for CT and NG using nucleic acid amplification tests is recommended in populations that are considered at risk. However, no data have been published about victims of sexual assaults. The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the usefulness of real-time PCR for the rapid detection of CT and NG genomic DNA, and the prevalence of CT/NG infections in a sample of sexual assault victims examined at a department of forensic medicine. ⋯ Given the high prevalence of CT and NG infections, systematic screening of both pathogens at the time of forensic examination should provide an opportunity for the early treatment of diagnosed STIs.
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Violence against women and adult femicides are critical medico-legal issues worldwide. Intimate partner violence is one of the leading contributory risk factors. This study aimed to describe the characteristics of femicides in Taiwan. ⋯ The characteristics of adult femicides, and the patterns of injury in victims killed by intimate partners and non-intimate partner offenders were different. This data is helpful for corpus inspection in forensic casework and for strategic planning of femicides prevention.
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While standard magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences are increasingly employed in post-mortem (PM) examinations, more advanced techniques such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) remain unexplored in forensic sciences. Therefore, we studied the temporal stability and reproducibility of DTI and fiber tractography (FT) in non-fixed PM subjects. In addition, we investigated the lumbosacral nerves with PMDTI and compared their tissue characteristics to in vivo findings. ⋯ We demonstrated that DTI was reproducible in characterizing nervous tissue properties and FT in reconstructing the architecture of lumbosacral nerves in PM subjects. We showed differences in diffusion values between PM and in vivo and showed the ability of PMDTI and FT to reconstruct nerve lesions in a chronic trauma case. We expect that PMDTI and FT may become valuable in identification and documentation of PM nerve trauma or pathologies in forensic sciences.
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Estimation of stature is an important issue, which is significantly considered in forensic anthropology. It will be difficult to predict the identification of an individual when only some parts of dead body are discovered following disasters or criminal events. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between stature and upper limb and hand length in Iranian adults to generate regression formulae for stature estimation. ⋯ The correlation coefficient with upper limb length was r = 0.89 & p = 0.0001 and with hand length was r = 0.78 & p = 0.0001. In conclusion, we found a strong correlation between stature and upper limb and hand length. The regression analysis also showed that the Upper Limb Length give better prediction of stature compared to Hand length measurements.
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Observational Study
Methadone related deaths compared to all prescription related deaths.
Methadone is increasingly implicated in unintentional overdose deaths. Despite major interventions, rates continue to remain high. One primary intervention, Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMP) are limited in their ability to impact this epidemic due to federal law restricting Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs) from sharing data to PDMPs, despite being a major source of Methadone dispensing. ⋯ Methadone is a long-acting opioid that carries a higher risk profile than other opioids. In San Diego, the great majority of MRD had no data on methadone in the statewide PDMP database, bringing to question the restriction of OTP clinics from uploading information into the database. A risk-benefit analysis should be made to consider changing laws that would allow for OTP to input data into PDMP. OTP should make it standard of care to check PDMP data on their patients. Methadone prescribed for pain management should be limited to the most compliant patients.