Nihon hoigaku zasshi = The Japanese journal of legal medicine最新文献

We report research subjects on the morbid conditions due to various exogenous invasions, iatrogenic damages and suicide. The studies of morbid condition by exogenous invasions are as follows : 1) forensic significance of endocardial bleeding to diagnosing the causes of death, 2) forensic implication of intramuscular bleeding of the tongue of the fire victims, 3) stability of cyanide concentration in blood of the fire victims and the evaluation of the toxic potential, 4) histochemical detection of ABO blood type of the muscle of the fire victims by signal amplification method with biotinylated tyramide, 5) alcohol detection of purified brain tissue of the drowned victims and the estimation of the amount of drinking, and 6) investigation into unclosing a mechanism of postmortem production of endogenous gamma-hydroxybutyric acid(GHB). The researches for iatrogenic damages are as follows: 1) iatrogenic ribs fracture due to chest compression during cardiopulmonary resuscitation, 2) bone marrow embolism of the lung caused by iatrogenic ribs fracture, and 3) forensic application of lidocaine of blood and tissues, which is derived from xylocaine jelly, chemicals for surface anesthesia, frequently used with the purpose of lubricating effect when intubation tube is introduced into the trachea. The issues of suicide research aiming forensic and clinical application are as follows: 1) forensic significance of blood nicotine levels of the smokers who committed suicide, 2) forensic availability of muscle nicotine levels of the purified bodies who have suspected suicide, and 3) forensic value of analysis of chromogranin A mRNA in autopsy cases with various cause of death to diagnosing suicide.

Nowadays, various morphological traits are routinely used for sexing the human skulls. The efficacy and reliability of sexing methods based on these traits in the Japanese population have not been systematically investigated. For sexing the skull, the authors established the well-defined criteria for sexing skulls by using the following five morphological traits; (1) the prominence and texture of the supraorbital arc; (2) the sharpness of the supraorbital margin; (3) the relative size of the zygomatic arc and the existence of a depression on it; (4) the size of the mastoid process and the existence of the supramastoid crest; (5) the prominence of the external occipital crest and the external occipital protuberance, and then evaluated their availability by using 313 recent Japanese skulls (205 males and 108 females) with known sex and age-at-death. We found that the supraorbital arc had the best accuracy rate (80.5%) followed by the mastoid process (78.6%). In cases wherein these two morphological traits indicated the same sex, the accuracy rate increased to 96.3%, suggesting that these traits are particularly useful for sexing the skulls of Japanese individuals. In addition, the accuracy rate of most traits for sexing skulls significantly differed between individuals who were aged < 30 years at death and those who were in their 30s at death. Thus, the influence of aging on the morphological traits of the skulls should not be disregarded in Japanese population. Moreover, similar results were obtained when 120 Edo period Japanese skulls (74 males and 46 females) were studied. This indicates that our method is applicable not only to recent samples but also to the archaeological ones.

An elution technique for ABO blood grouping from hair samples is in wide use. However, difficulties may be encountered when identifying the ABO blood grouping using monoclonal antibody. In the present study, we have shown excellent results in ABO blood grouping from crushed hair samples using an improved immunohistochemical technique with a mesh pack.

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. Starting with Wilhelm Wagner, Johann Ludwig Casper, Fritz Strassmann, Otto Prokop and their successors established the Berlin School of Legal Medicine, which has been playing an important role for the subject's progress in the German-speaking area until today. Since the visit of Kuniyoshi Katayama to Berlin in 1884 there have been productive relationships with Japanese forensic pathologists to this day. 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.

In Japan, drug analyses for forensic autopsies have been traditionally carried out at each laboratory of the Department of Forensic Medicine. However, it is difficult to maintain a high quality of drug analysis in each department due to an insufficient number of staff and lack of equipment. Therefore, the establishment of more advanced toxicology centers which can handle all drugs associated with forensic autopsies is essential. In addition, a systematic system for requesting drug analyses from each department and dealing with the results from the center is needed. The number of forensic autopsies carried out in Finland is as high as that in Japan although the population is 1/24th that of Japan, and toxicological analyses for the entire country are centralized in one place, the Laboratory of Toxicology, Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Helsinki. Since the autopsies and drug analyses are carried out at a University as in Japan, the drug analysis system in Finland can be a good model when considering the future system in Japan. Therefore, a review of the drug analysis system accompanied by forensic autopsy in Finland was carried out with the collaboration of the Departments of Forensic Medicine, University of Helsinki and University of Turku. Based on the above studies and the present situation in Japan, we discuss the future drug analysis system needed in Japan.

Much of Forensic Odontology is concerned with personal identification, through examination of cranio-facial region. This paper describes several studies in which we worked with materials derived from cranio-facial region. The following topics are addressed : (1) Human saliva contains proteins specific to salivary glands, proteins which are highly polymorphic compared with those found in other body fluids. In particular, six genes for proline-rich proteins coded many proteins found in human saliva, and we found several of them. At least five kinds of cystatin are secreted in saliva. We constructed recombinant polymorphic proteins, cystatin SAl and SA2. Using these proteins, we compared effects of amino acid mutation on protease inhibitor activity, and demonstrated a novel function for type-2 cystatin cytokine-inducing activity. (2) Among autosomal STR loci, we identified the D12S67 locus as highly polymorphic, with a heterozygosity of 95%, by investigating differences in nucleotide repeat units. Highly polymorphic autosomal STR loci offer an effective forensic tool under certain conditions, in addition to multiplex PCR, and therefore merit further study in forensic practice. (3) Although digitalization is prevalent in photography, analog images are preferable in certain circumstances as they offer better resolution. (4) Usually, information on mtDNA polymorphisms from HV1 and HV2 in the control region is used in forensic practice. However, information from the coding region considerably increases the discrimination power of mtDNA polymorphisms. It is important to increase the volume of coding region information available with regard to mtDNA polymorphisms for future forensic practice. (5) Y-STR polymorphisms are closely associated with binary haplogroups, and it is possible to estimate a binary haplogroup from an STR haplotype. (6) Mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomal polymorphisms can be used to determine geographic origin in individuals from East Asia, something that was considered difficult in the past. (7) A Dental Scan was constructed for the preparation of dental records. It offers a superior method to the taking of pictures as is done in standard forensic odontology.