[Deontology of the medical expert]. / Deontologia lekarza eksperta.

The authority of prosecuting organ to choose the expert, set his task and verify the following opinion is defined. The qualities of the medical expert and his duties are described, referring to: -his expertise; -his morality; -his ability to issue an independent (objective) opinion. Detailed rules, which can be ascribed to a specific medical expert's deontological code, are listed and explained.

Medicolegal reconstruction of the Katyn forest massacre.

The genesis of the massacre of Polish officers, committed by the Soviets in the Katyn forest in 1940, is presented. Medicolegal documentation of the exhumation by the International Committee is contrary to the report by the Special Soviet Committee. The importance of the medicolegal findings concerning the time of the crime is stressed. The report by the Select Committee of the House of Representatives is also referred to.

Postmortem activity of lactate and malate dehydrogenase in human liver in relation to time after death.

Changes in the activity of lactate (EC 1.1.1.27, LDH) and malate (EC 1.1.1.37, MDH) dehydrogenases were measured in tissue extracts of human liver kept at 5 different temperatures until 35 days after death. The investigated activities decreased in proportion to time of storage which enabled an estimation of time after death by statistical analysis of the data.

Usefulness of two methods of isoelectric focusing for the erythrocyte acid phosphatase phenotypes determination in human bloodstains.

The authors tried to compare the usefulness of the isoelectric focusing of EAP in bloodstains on 0.2 mm polyacrylamide gel with their method of determination of the enzyme on 1 mm polyacrylamide gel. Both methods turned out to be useful but better results were obtained on 0.2 mm gel. Isoelectric focusing on the ultra-thin gel is more sensitive; it gives clear enzyme strips, takes less time (30 min) and demands about half the amount of material.

[Histopathologic criteria of primary and secondary brain stem lesions]. / Uber histopathologische Kriterien primärer und sekundärer Hirnstammläsionen.

The brain stems from 52 corpses were microscopically examined. These cases died as a result of closed head injuries, which were clinically diagnosed and/or diagnosed postmortem as primary brain stem lesions. The morphological changes in these cases were compared with morphological changes in the brain stems of corpses who died from cerebral hemorrhage with additional secondary brain stem lesions. The examinations revealed acidophilic necrosis of the vessel walls in brain stem hemorrhages with fibrin impregnation of the vessel walls. Fibrin penetration to the perivascular space was the basic morphological marker that helped to differentiate between these two groups of cases.

[Microbial contamination of ABO antigens in bone tissue]. / Mikrobielle Kontamination der Antigene ABO im Knochengewebe.

Fragments of human bones were stored in different media for two years and then expression of the ABO antigens was indicated. Simultaneously, microbiological investigations were performed. In almost all cases, different ABO substances were detected in putrefied and fresh bones taken from the same person. Blood group antigens found in putrefied bones were compared with serological activity of bacterium cultured from these tissues. Attempts were made to remove unspecific reactions. The authors assume that bacteria are responsible for nonspecific serological reactions, not only as a carrier of blood-group-like substances, but also as a source of enzymes responsible for changes in the structure of ABO antigens in putrefied bones.

[Rare PGM1 (6) and PGM1(7) alleles in the Polish population]. / Seltene PGM1(6) und PGM1(7) Allelen in der polnischen Population.

Rare PGM1 phenotypes, 6-1, 6-2 and 7-2, were detected in blood samples from 3,437 non-related adults using electrophoresis in starch-gel and cellulose acetate membranes. Frequencies of 0.0009 and 0.0008 were calculated for PGM1(6) and PGM1(7), respectively, for a population from northern Poland. The variants had been inherited, which was confirmed by family studies.

[The influence of traumatic shock on alcohol elimination (author's transl)]. / Der Einfluss des traumatischen Schocks auf die Geschwindigkeit der Alkoholelimination.

A group of 31 persons being under the influence of alcohol were examined. In traffic accidents they suffered craniocerebral (N = 16) or other body injuries (N = 15). The first group showed an average alcohol level decrease in blood of 0.24% per h (range 0.06--0.39), the second group an average of 0.22% (range 0.07--0.32). According to the previous investigations of Forster (1958) and Grüner (1958) it was assumed that the speed of alcohol elimination (beta 60) in the traumatic shock is increased.

Determination of phenotypes of phosphoglucomutase (PGM1) in bloodstains by cellulose acetate electrophoresis.

A good separation of PGM1 isoenzymes from bloodstains has been obtained with an adapted Sonneborn method of electrophoresis on cellulose acetate. This method requires very small quantities of the examined material, a short time of electrophoresis, and is cheaper and simpler than hitherto described. A correct determination of PGM1 phenotypes from bloodstains was easy up to 24 weeks. Occasionally it was possible to determine phenotypes in bloodstains as old as 47 weeks, and in one case even in bloodstains 126 weeks old. This method may be useful in the forensic serology for determination of PGM1 phenotypes from bloodstains.