Archiwum Medycyny Sadowej i Kryminologii最新文献

Methadone is a diphenylpropylamine derivative that binds to opioid receptors and has been used in drug abstinence and substitution treatment programs. The aim of the study is to describe a case of sudden death of a prisoner during methadone substitution therapy from the authors' medico-legal consulting practice and to review the literature. A 41-year-old male with a long history of abuse of psychoactive substances, especially heroin, serving a prison sentence, after consultation in the addiction treatment clinic, started methadone substitution therapy. In the following days he took two doses of the drug (50 mg each). The prisoner was pronounced dead during the night. Blood toxicology tests showed the presence of methadone at the therapeutic concentration of 816 ng/ml. Currently, it is believed that even the therapeutic concentration of methadone increases the risk of sudden cardiac death, especially in predisposed patients (e.g. with structural pathologies of the myocardium, cardiac arrhythmias, hypokalemia, and liver failure).

Background: The use of new high-resolution and forensic identification capabilities for population studies offered by new multiplex methods (such as Yfiler Plus) is crucial in forensic genetics cases. The development of haplotype frequency databases is essential to take full advantage of the new Y chromosome determination capabilities.

Purpose: Development of the haplotype database of the Yfiler Plus kit for a population-based sample of 534 males from northeastern Poland and calculation of suitability parameters for forensic genetics studies.

Materials and methods: The study was conducted on a population sample of 534 unrelated males from the area of northeastern Poland using the Yfiler Plus panel of 27 markers located on the Y chromosome.

Results: Four haplotypes appeared twice. The Discrimination Capacity (DC) of the entire set was 0.9925. The highest Gene Diversity (GD) value was calculated for DYS518 (0.86) belonging to the fast-mutation markers, while the lowest GD was calculated for DYS392 (0.42).

Conclusion: The results indicate the need for further research and observation of changes, both in different regions of Poland and across Europe.

Background: The literature reports cases of ventricular rupture in blunt chest trauma following motor vehicle accidents. It rarely describes cardiac tamponade due to rupture of the heart following blunt thoracic trauma in a physical assault. There are rare cases where fatal cardiac tamponade results from a ruptured ventricle without externally visible injuries to the chest. It is also rare for the cardiac rupture to occur on the posterior side. In our case series, the first case involved a direct blow to the left side of the chest by a projectile (brick), causing rupture of the left ventricle's base with intact pericardium. In the second case, a direct blow to the left side of the chest led to rupture of the right ventricle's posterior wall.

Case presentation: Here, we report two autopsy-based case series of isolated right and left ventricular rupture with cardiac tamponade in blunt thoracic trauma with a specific history and background information of assault. The first case is a 35-year-old male assaulted with a brick thrown at his chest in a moving bus; he was declared dead on arrival after a one-hour journey. The second case is a 55-year-old male assaulted with double punches in his chest and declared dead on arrival at the hospital after 30 minutes. A medicolegal autopsy and thorough investigation, in both cases, revealed cardiac tamponade due to ventricular rupture with no underlying pathology.

Conclusion: This case series underlines the importance of systematic and complete cardiac examination in all death cases following blunt chest trauma even with minimal or no evidence of a visible injury to the chest. Rarely cardiac rupture is noticed on the posterior surface or apex of the heart. The case series illustrates a rare occurrence of cardiac rupture that requires apt investigation and certification of medicolegal causes of death to determine how the death was caused.

Human facial morphology is a combination of many complex traits and is determined by a large number of genes and enhancers. Here, we report a Copy Number Variation (CNV) study of enhancer hs1431 in populations of Central European and South Siberian ancestry. Central European samples included 97 Poles, while South Siberian samples included 78 Buryats and 27 Tuvinians. CNVs were detected by real-time PCR, using ViiA™ 7 Real-Time PCR System (Applied Biosystems). We revealed significant differences in CNV of hs1431 enhancer between Polish and Buryat population (p=0.0378), but not between Central European and South Siberian population (p=0.1225). Our results suggest that an increase in copy number variation of hs1431 enhancer is associated with biogeographic ancestry. However, this result needs extending and replicating in larger cohorts. This is the first study revealing the presence of copy number variation of enhancer hs1431 in humans.

Background: Environmental and genetic (in approximately 50%) factors are responsible for the development of alcohol abuse and dependence. The main genes responsible for the risk of harmful alcohol consumption are the genes encoding the enzymes of ethanol metabolism in the human body. Ethyl alcohol is oxidized to acetaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenases found in the liver (ADH1B, ADH1C and ADH4) and stomach (ADH7). Gastric metabolism of ethanol is able to reduce the amount of alcohol reaching the bloodstream by up to 10% of the dose taken. ADH7 gene variations could be associated as the risk of developing alcohol abuse and dependence.

Aim: Analysis of tag SNPs in the ADH7 gene and determination of the relationship between those variants and the risk of developing alcohol abuse and dependence in the Polish population.

Material and methods: Blood samples from 159 autopsies from alcohol abusers and/or addicts and 201 buccal swabs taken from controls. Genotyping was performed using the Real Time PCR method with TaqMan probes on 3 tag SNPs: rs284786, rs1154470 (within the ADH7 gene) and rs7690269 (from the intergenic region). The obtained genotypes were randomly verified by Sanger sequencing.

Results and conclusions: The results of the performed statistical analyses of the obtained genotypes did not confirm the relationship between the above-mentioned variants and a risk of developing problems with alcohol consumption, based on samples from the Polish population.

Forensic genetic genealogy (FGG) benefits largely from popularity of genealogical research within (mostly) American society and the advent of new sequencing techniques that allow typing of challenging forensic samples. It is considered a true breakthrough for both active and especially cold cases where all other resources and methods have failed during investigation. Despite media coverage generally highlighting its powers, the method itself is considered very laborious and the investigation may easily got suspended at every stage due to many factors including no hits in the database or breaks in traceable lineages within the family tree. This review summarizes the scope of FGG use, mentions most concerns and misconceptions associated with the technique and points to the plausible solutions already suggested. It also brings together current guidelines and regulations intended to be followed by law enforcement authorities wishing to utilize genetic genealogy research.

The problems with obtaining expert opinions from court-appointed physicians in Poland have been known for a long time and are well-diagnosed. The reasons for this state of affairs are: an overall insufficient number of physicians compared to the general needs, uncompetitive remuneration levels, and the difficulty of reconciling professional and court-appointed expert duties, while taking into consideration the availability expected of experts. The ongoing generational transition may further exacerbate these problems. The purpose of this study was to investigate the latter phenomenon by comparing the age profile of court-appointed physicians with that of physicians in general. Information on the age of court-appointed physicians was obtained from the presidents of regional courts and the Central Register of Physicians, while general statistics on physicians were also acquired from the latter. Research allowed us to formulate the following conclusions: only 0.8% of all physicians in Poland serve a court-appointed expert function. Almost two-thirds of court-appointed physicians belong to the Baby Boomer generation (born in 1946-1964), nearly one-third to Generation X (1965-1980), and only one-sixteenth (6.10%) to Generation Y (1981-1996), or Millennials. The results obtained, as well as data from the literature, suggest that the current bad state of affairs regarding access to the opinions of court-appointed physicians will further deteriorate in the coming years due to generational changes, i.e., the replacement of Baby Boomers and Generation X, currently dominant among court-appointed experts, by Generation Y, i.e., Millennials, with a different attitude to life.