Nihon hōigaku zasshi = The Japanese journal of legal medicine
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Nihon Hoigaku Zasshi · Nov 2009
[Statistical investigation on cases associated with medical implication in administrative autopsy within the 23 wards of Tokyo: the role of the medical examiner system in investigation of cases associated with medical implication].
Actual circumstances of administrative autopsies which proved connections between medical implication and death had not been very clear in the past. Therefore, using the records of administrative autopsies performed from 2003 to 2005 at Tokyo Medical Examiner's Office, this study looked into the cases in which a certain level of connection between medical implication and death was proved or suspected. This study dealt with 877 cases. ⋯ However, as it handles not only deaths by medical treatment but also all the other types of unnatural deaths, the system can also deal with other social problems, for which the correct causes of death must be diagnosed initially. It is socially very unhealthy to focus only on death associated with medical implication, as other types of unnatural death could be seen as relatively less important. Therefore, it is considered that the medical examiner system is effective for investigation of a variety of unnatural death as well as cases associated with medical implication.
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Nihon Hoigaku Zasshi · Nov 2008
Historical Article[The University Institute of Legal Medicine in Berlin 1833-2008].
The university institute of legal medicine of the Charité in Berlin was founded on February 11th, 1833 as a "Praktische Unterrichtsanstalt für die Staatsarzneikunde (Practice-oriented School of Public Health and Medicine)" at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (founded in 1810). In 1886 the oldest faculty in Germany obtained its own building in Berlin-Mitte. ⋯ Regardless of the accepted scientific achievements the institute fell victim to the Berlin policy of austerity after 2003 leading to staff reduction and the closure of the historical location. Due to the new appointment to the chair in 2007 and the planned junction of the subject in Berlin-Moabit there is now the chance for a new impetus of forensic medicine in the German capital.
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Biological terrorism is intentionally to use infectious substances for developing diseases or death in animals or humans, leading to disaster and panic in our community. Bioterrorism-associated diseases are mostly rare or eradicated infectious diseases, and recently, we do not have experience to make a clinical and laboratory diagnosis. ⋯ The preparedness in general against bioterrorism and the bioterrorism-related diseases, such as anthrax, smallpox, viral hemorrhagic fever, tularemia, and botulinum toxin, important for us are described. Both medical knowledge of bioterrorism and the preparedness with training under simulation should be required in advance.
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Chemical Weapons are kind of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). They were used large quantities in WWI. Historically, large quantities usage like WWI was not recorded, but small usage has appeared now and then. ⋯ In 1997 the Chemical Weapons Convention has taken effect. It prohibits chemical weapons development/production, and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) verification regime contributes to the chemical weapons disposal. But possibility of possession/use of weapons of mass destruction by terrorist group represented in one by Matsumoto and Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack, So new chemical terrorism countermeasures are necessary.
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Nihon Hoigaku Zasshi · Oct 2005
[Possible influence of psychotropic drugs detected in blood when determining the cause of death in medicolegal autopsy cases in the Tokyo Medical Examiner's Office].
We reviewed the records of 118 medicolegal autopsy cases, in which psychotropic drugs were detected in blood, in the Tokyo Medical Examiner's Office in 1997, to explore how the drug levels were considered in determining the cause of death. Names and doses of the drugs were clear in 70 of 118 cases, and in most cases of the 70 cases, multiple drugs (up to 13 drugs) were prescribed to a person. It was also evident that 75 of the 118 cases had demonstrated psychosis for several months to 38 years prior to death. ⋯ Thus, drug levels detected in the cadaver's blood are not always useful for determining the cause of death. This might be due to poor information on interactions between drugs (including alcohol), pathological changes or genetic variability of drug metabolism and excretion, and so on. Thus, further studies of these aspects are needed in order to make information on drugs detected in the cadaver more useful for determination of cause of death.