Time-related morphometric studies of neurofilaments in brain contusions.

In forensic pathology age determination of injuries is of key importance. The purpose of the study was to analyze morphometrically changes in neurofilaments following the brain contusion and relate them to the length of the time of survival. To do this, the authors analyzed specimens of brains collected during medicolegal autopsies. According to the available literature, no such study involving material from deceased humans was conducted. The researched material was divided into nine subgroups (10 cases each) according to the time of death of persons: immediately at the crime site, 12 hours, 24 hours, 2 days, 3 days, 4 days, 5 days, 6 days and 7 days after head trauma. Neurofilaments were immunohistochemically stained and evaluated quantitatively using the Met-Ilo computer application. The initial results were then analyzed statistically with the one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the least significant difference (LSD) tests. It was calculated that there are significant differences in numbers and area fractions of neurofilaments within 7 days after head trauma. It must be concluded that morphometric analysis of neurofilaments is a promising method but further studies are required.

Angiogenesis in brain contusion.

In the forensic medicine, objective and, if possible, the most accurate determination of the age - the time of the brain contusion, has practical significance. In our previous work, we discussed the importance of the neuron cytoskeleton proteins - neurofilaments, in this area. The purpose of this paper is to present the possibilities of using the phenomenon of angiogenesis in the brain contusions, to determine its age, on the basis of previous studies in animal models and in human biological material. The current review of the literature showed no conclusive data that would allow use morphological changes in angiogenesis to determine the age of the brain contusion in forensic medical practice. For these reasons, it is reasonable to take a broader research on the human material.

The problem of medical dispatchers' responsibility functioning in the emergency medical services system.

AIM OF THE STUDY: Deaths due to inappropriate functioning of the emergency medical services system, as recently described by Polish mass media, has drawn the attention of society to the activities of medical dispatchers. Legal regulations impose obligations on those persons associated with receiving phone calls and dispensing appropriate emergency medical teams. In this paper an analysis of chosen medicolegal opinions from the practice of the Department of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Toxicology, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, towards malpractices committed by dispatchers of EMS, was performed. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The authors analysed 12 of medicolegal opinions, issued from 2007 to 2012 by a team of experts. RESULTS: The errors noted in the work of dispatchers consisted of delays in giving appropriate assistance due to the inability to properly converse, a propensity to downplay patients' symptoms, and dispatchers crossing their own competences. CONCLUSIONS: The problem may be resolved by the subsidy of EMS, fine-tuning the algorithms for conduct, and proper education of both staff and public.

Possibilities of post-mortem diagnostics, including immunodiagnostics, in cases of sudden death due to anaphylactic and anaphylactoid reactions.

Postmortem diagnostics of anaphylactic and anaphylactoid reaction as the cause of death in cases of sudden deaths without witnesses, as well as those in which circumstances of sudden disease and then death are known, seems to be very difficult. This is caused by the lack of characteristic macro- or microscopic changes to internal organs resulting from a short, or even very short time, that elapses from the action of the etiological factor till death. In the above mentioned cases it is often impossible to establish univocally the cause of death, despite considering information on the cause of disease and its clinical symptoms. On the basis of 2 cases of sudden deaths resulted from the intake of hazel nuts, and the administration of contrast agent before radiological examination, the authors discuss the usefulness of postmortem determinations of tryptase and IgE in blood for diagnostics of deaths resulting from anaphylactic and anaphylactoid reaction, respectively.

Insects feeding on cadavers as an alternative source of human genetic material.

In some criminal cases, the use of classical sources of human genetic material is difficult or even impossible. One solution may be the use of insects, especially blowfly larvae which feed on corpses. A recent review of case reports and experimental studies available in biomedical databases has shown that insects can be a valuable source of human mitochondrial and genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), allowing for an effective analysis of hypervariable region (HVR) sequences and short tandem repeat (STR) profiles, respectively. The optimal source of human DNA is the crop (a part of the gut) of active third-instar blowfly larvae. Pupae and insect faeces can be also used in forensic genetic practice instead of the contents of the alimentary tract.

Neurofilaments and traumatic brain injury.

Objective determination of the time of brain contusion is of key importance in medicolegal neurotraumatology. Currently, the progress of immunohistochemistry allows the study of structural elements of cells including neurofilaments, i.e. neuronal cytoskeletal proteins possessing properties that could be used for determining the age of brain injury in forensic medicine. The purpose of this study was to review recently published literature with a focus on studies investigating changes which occur in neurofilaments after brain trauma, both in animal models and in human biological material. The review has shown a lack of data on temporal changes in neurofilament expression after human brain trauma which could be used for determining the age of injuries in forensic medicine.

Neutron-diffraction study of structural transition and magnetic order in orthorhombic and rhombohedral La(7/8)Sr(1/8)Mn(1-γ)O(3+δ).

We report on a systematic neutron powder diffraction (NPD) study of polycrystalline La(7/8)Sr(1/8)Mn(1-γ)O(3+δ) compounds. We investigated the structural and magnetic phases and transitions in the temperature range between 10 and 900 K for two different samples: an Ar-annealed sample with an orthorhombic Pbnm (Z = 4; O) structure at room temperature and an air-sintered sample with a rhombohedral [Formula: see text] (Z = 2;R) structure at room temperature. At higher temperatures, above 400 K, both samples exhibit a rhombohedral structure. For the Ar-annealed sample, a Jahn-Teller (JT) transition occurs in the orthorhombic phase at about 298 K with very large variations in the Mn-O2' and Mn-O2 bond lengths and Mn-O1-Mn bond angle on cooling from 298 to 180 K. For this sample the ferromagnetic moment at 10 K in the magnetic space group Pb'n'm amounts to 3.22(5) µ(B)/Mn. In contrast, the air-sintered sample undergoes on cooling a structural transition from rhombohedral (R) to orthorhombic (O) with a mixed phase of nearly equal R and O repartition at 120 K. Ferromagnetic order develops in this sample at about 240 K with a low-temperature moment of 3.35(4) µ(B)/Mn at 10 K. The coherent JT distortion in its orthorhombic phase occurs below some 170 K. In addition, we have determined the coherent JT distortion parameter Δ, the tolerance factor t and the one-electron bandwidth W of the e(g)-band.