Forensic Considerations in Postmortem Cases of Sudden Death during or after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: Data from The National Forensic Service in Korea, 2015 to 2021 / 대한법의학회지

Sudden death during or after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) could be led to potential medicolegal disputes. This study aimed to investigate the clinical and postmortem findings in PCI-related deaths-focusing on the current statusto inform preventive strategies against these fatalities. Forty-three cases were retrieved from the National Forensic Service's postmortem records between 2015 and 2021, and the corresponding postmortem findings and clinical information were analyzed. The analyses revealed a relatively consistent annual incidence of PCI-related deaths. Immediate deaths during or shortly after PCI occurred in 17 cases (39.5%), and delayed PCI-related deaths after discharge from the hospital occurred in 26 cases (60.5%). The causes of PCI-related deaths in the postmortem cases were categorized into four groups: PCI complications (11 cases, 26%), acute myocardial infarction (23 cases, 53%), ischemic heart disease (8 cases, 19%), and others (1 case, 2%). Postmortem examinations played a critical role in determining the cause of death and obtaining medical evidence, including pathological findings of the heart as well as those of coronary artery and stent insertion. Our findings suggest that a detailed examination of the heart, coronary arteries, stent status, and atherosclerosis in PCI-related deaths could help provide more accurate information as medical evidence and prevent/resolve potential medicolegal issues. Further, this could advance our understanding of PCI-related deaths and inform future preventive strategies.

Statistical Analysis of Medicolegal Autopsy of Migrant Workers in Korea / 대한법의학회지

The number of migrant workers is increasing worldwide every year, and their number and role in Korean society is also increasing. However, the poor conditions faced by migrant workers often become a social issue, and it is not uncommon for them to be the subject of forensic autopsies. This study aimed to investigate the current status of medicolegal autopsy on migrant workers in Korea. We collected data of medicolegal autopsies on migrant workers conducted in Korea from 2016 to 2020 by requesting data from the institutions performing medicolegal autopsy. We calculated the autopsy rate and analyzed manner of death and cause of death. The medicolegal autopsy rate for foreign deaths was 16.4%, which was more than five times higher than the autopsy rate for Korean deaths. By manner of death, 43.7% were natural death, 6.4% were homicides, 8.5% were suicides, 23.6% were accidental deaths, 2.7% were undetermined unnatural deaths and 15.0% were unknown. These results showed a high rate of homicide, accidental death, and unknown death compared to Korean. And the proportion of industrial accident deaths and sudden manhood death syndrome were high. Through this study, it was confirmed that medicolegal autopsies are performed at a relatively high frequency when migrant workers die, and the characteristics related to the deaths of migrant workers were identified.

Disruption of the Tff1 gene in mice using CRISPR/Cas9 promotes body weight reduction and gastric tumorigenesis / 한국실험동물학회지

Trefoil factor 1 (TFF1, also known as pS2) is strongly expressed in the gastrointestinal mucosa and plays a critical role in the differentiation of gastric glands. Since approximately 50% of all human gastric cancers are associated with decreased TFF1 expression, it is considered a tumor suppressor gene. TFF1 deficiency in mice results in histological changes in the antral and pyloric gastric mucosa, with severe hyperplasia and dysplasia of epithelial cells, resulting in the development of antropyloric adenoma. Here, we generated TFF1-knockout (KO) mice, without a neomycin resistant (NeoR) cassette, using the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated nuclease 9 (CRSIPR/Cas9) system. Though our TFF1-KO mice showed phenotypes very similar to the previous embryonic stem (ES)-cell-based KO mice, they differed from the previous reports in that a reduction in body weight was observed in males. These results demonstrate that these newly established TFF1-KO mice are useful tools for investigating genetic and environmental factors influencing gastric cancer, without the effects of artificial gene insertion. Furthermore, these findings suggest a novel hypothesis that TFF1 expression influences gender differences.