Persecution of Jewish forensic pathologists.

Not even forensic pathologists were spared by the anti-Jewish laws of the Third Reich. Fritz Strassmann and Paul Fraenckel were among more than 140 faculty of the Berlin Department of Medicine persecuted by the national socialist dictatorship. It was because of their Jewish background that Georg Strassmann was expelled from university in Breslau, and Leone Lattes was forced to leave in Pavia. Miklós Nyiszli was deported from Oradea to Auschwitz and forced to perform forensic autopsies. Stefan Jellinek in Vienna, Ludwik Hirszfeld in Warsaw and Friedrich Schiff in Berlin were other medical professionals whose achievements had enriched legal medicine before they became victims of anti-Jewish persecution.

Forensic medicine in the German Democratic Republic.

Forensic medicine services were resumed in the territory of the Soviet occupation zone in early summer 1945. One coherent legal system was established, following the foundation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), 7 October 1949. Forensic medicine was subject of teaching and examinations from the very outset. Sub-specialisation (fellowship) was introduced in 1955. The Gesellschaft für Gerichtliche Medizin der DDR (GDR Society of Forensic Medicine) was established in 1967 and began to organise with high continuity a wide-ranging variety of scientific events. Almost all administrative districts had their own institute of forensic medicine by 1990.

Development of (R)-4-hydroxymandelonitrile synthesis in an aqueous-organic biphasic stirred tank batch reactor.

A relatively new hydroxynitrile lyase-catalyzed reaction was optimized to be suitable for rapid and efficient development of a full-scale production process. The conversion of 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde into (R)-4-hydroxymandelonitrile, catalyzed by Prunus amygdalus hydroxynitrile lyase, was carried out in a biphasic system of aqueous buffer (pH 5.5) and methyl tert-butyl ether and is described with a process model. The process model consists of a description of the reaction kinetics, mass transfer kinetics, and mass balances for both the aqueous and the organic phase. Values are determined for the equilibrium constant, the enzyme kinetic parameters, the lumped mass transfer coefficient for benzaldehyde, and the partition coefficients. By using estimated prices of enzyme and reactor use, the optimum aqueous phase volume fraction and required enzyme concentration were calculated at a temperature of 20 degrees C for a batch-operated stirred tank reactor. According to the process model it was possible to convert 90% of the 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde into (R)-4-hydroxymandelonitrile with 95% enantiomeric excess. The price optimum for this reaction was found at an aqueous phase volume of 17% of the total volume. The required enzyme concentration to meet the targets was 28.6 g/L aqueous phase. At the predicted optimum, the synthesis was performed experimentally and the results were in accordance with the simulation regarding the extent of conversion and the enantiomeric excess.

Kicking to death - forensic and criminological aspects.

A total of 36,274 forensic autopsies was performed in Berlin, between 1980 and 1987, including 152 cases (0.42%) in which death had been caused by blunt violence due to kicking. Data were collected on both victims and offenders, postmortem findings, causes of death and the way violence had been perpetrated. The greater part of victims and offenders had been males originating from lower social strata. Most of the victims and offenders had been in relationship with each other prior to the offence. Typical course of events: Victims and offenders, under influence of alcohol, became involved in a brawl, usually for trivial reasons, which soon led to physical fighting. When the victim had been knocked to the ground, the offender started forceful kicking. Bleeding to death and head injury were frequent causes of death. More than 50% of all offences were committed by single offenders. The diagnosis of kicking to death can at best be derived from presence of boot traces leaving shaped injuries. The trace-generating boot can be identified as offending tool by means of comparative police investigation. In addition to evaluation of shoe sole profiles, there is other trace-relevant material that may be sampled from a suspected offender's footwear (skin cells, hair, blood, body tissue) and used to identify findings by DNA analysis. There may be injuries with visible patterns supporting suspicion of kicking and trampling, although conclusive confirmation can be obtained only by testimony by a witness or confession by the offender.

Fatal accidents due to train surfing in Berlin.

This study was undertaken for the purpose of analysing under the aspect of legal medicine, fatal accidents due to train surfing in the local transport system of Berlin (S-Bahn and underground). The period of investigation was from 1989 through 1995, with 41 train surfing accidents, among them 18 with fatal outcome. Evaluation included those 14 deaths which were forensically autopsied. It was based on autopsy records of Berlin-based university institutes (Humboldt University and Free University) as well as the Brandenburg State Institute of Legal Medicine. Also used were data obtained from the Berlin Transport Police Record. The casualties were aged between 13 and 25 years, most of them between 16 and 20. The male-female gender ratio was 13:1. Accidents occurred above all in the warmer season of the year, most of them between 20:00 h and midnight. More than 50% of all cases were affected by alcohol, but centrally acting medicaments or other addictive drugs were not noticed at all. Most of the fatal accidents occurred to users of the Berlin S-Bahn network. Older train models were the preferred surfing objects due to their structural peculiarities. Collision with close-to-track obstacles and slipping from the train proved to be the major sources of danger. An analysis of injuries revealed polytraumatisation but for one exception, with craniocerebral injuries being the most common and severest events. The longest survival time amounted to 24 h. As the psychosocial causes of high-risk behaviour of adolescents will hardly be controllable, withdrawal of technical, that is structural design possibilities appears to be the most important approach to prevention of accidents in the future. This demand is met by the new series of the Berlin S-Bahn. The model of the old series, suitable for surfing, still accounts for about 10% of the rolling stock and is to be decommissioned in 1998.

[Murder of the wife after 2 test killings]. / Mord an der Ehefrau nach zwei Probetötungen.

On the basis of phenomenological particularities the described case of a triple murderer of women from East Berlin proves to be complementary to the casuistry of multiple homicide. In one day a 30-year old autopsy assistant killed three intimate female partners, ultimately his wife, in their respective dwellings. The first two homicides were test killings. The perpetrator was executed in 1970.

[Fatal hunting accidents caused by shotguns]. / Tödliche Jagdunfälle durch Schusswaffen.

Four fatal hunting accidents by means of firearms are described from the autopsy material of the Institute for Forensic Medicine of Humboldt University in Berlin. Again the main cause was shown to be the firing of guns in insufficient daylight.

[Autopsy finding of "an object in the hand of the cadaver"]. / Zum Befund "Gegenstand in der Hand der Leiche".

On the basis of six dead people, who held firmly clasped objects in their hand, the question being discussed whether this finding can be interpreted as a vital reaction or as a purely postmortem phenomenon.

[Metric studies of the dermal ridges of the palm in relation to handedness]. / Metrische Untersuchungen des palmaren Hautleistensystems in Beziehung zur Händigkeit.

Palm prints of 394 right-handers and 356 non-right-handers (left-handers and ambidexters) were evaluated regarding distance ad, ulnar shift, and relative horizontal triradius distance. Comparison between handedness groups produced some significant differences. The "graded distinction of dermatoglyphic traits" which was found in an earlier study has been confirmed. It has been suggested a modification of terminology for the position of axial triradii.

[Results of long-term longitudinal studies of lateralization of motor and sensory functions]. / Ergebnisse von Langzeit-Longitudinaluntersuchungen zur Lateralisation motorischer und sensorischer Funktionen.

Results of a follow-up study of the lateralisation of motory and sensory functions are presented. The development of handedness, the preference of one leg, one eye and one ear was determined for about 200 probands at the age of 3/4 to 17 years. Three types of lateralisation were found: (i) the "non-right" motory and sensory functions type (ambivalence); (ii) the "right" motory functions/"non-right" sensory functions type; (iii) the "right" motory and sensory functions type (univalence).

[A new orientation in surgical education in Berlin at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century]. / Die Neuorientierung der chirurgischen Ausbildung in Berlin an der Wende vom 18. zum 19. Jahrhundert.

The new approach to surgical education is described by means of the educational programmes at the turn of the 18th to 19th century in Berlin. The typical authorities of academic medicine with naturalphilosophical views at the Charité of the 18th century a few decades later were opposed by academical educated surgeons and lecturers, who introduced the era of the scientifically oriented surgery by practical exercises, independent autopsies, scientific experiments and libraries. Thus, in Berlin the virtual development of the surgical medicine started - a development from a manual to a scientific discipline.

[The intertriradial dermal ridges and their relation to handedness]. / Die intertriradialen Hautleisten und ihre Beziehung zur Händigkeit.

Palm prints of 394 right-handers and 356 non-right-handers (left-handers and ambidextrous) were evaluated regarding intertriradial ridge counts. Comparison between the handedness groups produced no significant differences. There were found partly contrary tendencies in males and females. The values of an elected group of extremely left-handed females indicate a relation between a "graded variety of handedness-distinction" and a "graded distinction of dermatoglyphic traits". Earlier indications that bilateral asymmetry is reduced in left-handers could not be confirmed generally.