The American journal of forensic medicine and pathology
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Am J Forensic Med Pathol · Mar 2009
ReviewPostmortem artifacts made by ants and the effect of ant activity on decompositional rates.
Ants belong to the family Formicidae of the order Hymenoptera and they are one of the world's dominant insect groups. Ants can be present at all stages of carrion decomposition as they are typically observed shortly after death or during the early postmortem period, but even later once the fly maggots had left the body. Their role in the faunal succession varies from predator on the eggs and larvae of other insects (mainly Diptera), thus reducing significantly the rate of decomposition, to scavenger on the flesh or exudates from the corpse itself. ⋯ They are also occasionally misinterpreted as patterned abrasion due to the imprinted effect of a blunt or offending object. On closer inspection, artifacts made by ants can be immediately apparent especially when the ants are identified upon the body, but final diagnosis can be only confirmed at the autopsy by gross and microscopic analysis. The features of such lesions will be illustrated in detail by reviewing some interesting forensic cases.
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First identified in institutionalized psychiatric populations, chronic excited delirium syndrome was not uncommon in the first half of the 20th century. After a temporal pause, excited delirium re-emerged in the 1980s, in an acute form. Generally occurring in victims without organic mental disease, acute excited delirium is associated with stimulant abuse. ⋯ These cases generally included violent behavior, drug intoxication, and the use of restraints. In contrast, chronic forms of excited delirium were not clearly identified. This divergent finding may be an artifact of case documentation, case inclusion criteria and/or medico-legal protocol, specific to Maryland.
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Am J Forensic Med Pathol · Mar 2009
Case ReportsHead injuries, pentobarbital, and the determination of death.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office in San Antonio, Texas, has encountered 3 cases within a 15-month period involving decedents who were pronounced dead by brain death or cardiac death examination and who had elevated, if not toxic concentrations of pentobarbital present at the time of examination. The elevated levels of pentobarbital were discovered during an autopsy examination performed for medicolegal reasons. The diagnosis of brain death and the implications of pentobarbital intoxication during a brain death examination are discussed.