Forensic science最新文献

The method for spectrophotometric determination of CO-Hb in blood on the basis of difference in absorbancies of deoxy- and carboxy-hemoglobin reported previously [1] was further improved. The total blood hemoglobin content was determined by the azide-methemoglobin method instead of the well-known cyanmethemoglobin method. This method was found to be useful even if applied to old or putrefied blood samples.

The enzyme-multiplied immunoassay technique (EMIT) was compared with the gas-liquid chromatographic (GLC) method in the analysis of 130 urine samples from subjects receiving methadone treatment and non-methadone controls. The GC method allowed the quantitation of 2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrrolidine, the major metabolite of methadone. A good correlation was found between the two methods. The advantages of using the EMIT system are discussed.

This study was undertaken to explore the feasibility of using Raman spectroscopy as a means of identifying drugs in the forensic laboratory. Raman spectra of a group of sympathomimetic amines, in pure form and in pharmaceutical preparations, were obtained and compared; group similarities and individual differences were found, and satisfactory identifications could be made. Water solutions as well as solids were examined. The procedure is rapid, sensitive, simple, and non-destructive.

The quantitative changes in mucopolysaccharides (MPS) and water contents in post-mortem rabbit corneas were studied. On the basis of the results, the post-mortem periods were classified into 4 stages. The first stage was during the first day after death when the MPS and the corneal water contents were observed to have maintained their initial values and the cornea was “clear”. The second was 1 to 3 days after death when the MPS remained at approximately their initial value, whereas the water contents were very pronounced. In this second stage the cornea was “a little clear” or “cloudy”. The third was 3 to 6 days after death when the MPS were found to have decreased gradually, but the water contents maintained their high level. The cornea in this third stage was “cloudy” or “very cloudy”. The fourth was 6 or more days after death when the two parameters were found to have decreased significantly, and the cornea was “very cloudy”.

In this paper, the author studies the generalities of the problem of a typewriting machine identification from a text. He outlines in detail the identification systems which are commercially available, the “Atlas der Schreibmaschinenschrift Pica” from Josef Haas (German) and the “System for Identification of Typewriter Makes Using the Card Index” distributed by the General Secretariat of I.C.P.O.—Interpol. He comments briefly on two well-known systems: that of G. de la Durantaye of Toronto, Canada, and that of D. A. Crown from Washington, D.C., U.S.A. Finally, the author proposes a working method and exposes the limits of the identification possibilities.

The results of the detection of the Rh antigens (D, C, E, c) and the S and K antigens by an elution technique comparing the AutoAnalyser and a manual method for the detection of eluted antibody are presented. Investigation of a series of anti-D sera demonstrates that while it is not too difficult to select antisera for the detection of the D antigen in fresh stains (i.e. up to 4 weeks old) some of these sera will not be satisfactory for typing older stains. The AutoAnalyser system used is low ionic strength/polybrene which has a capacity for detecting 0.002 μg/ml of anti-D, but in spite of this degree of sensitivity the manual technique for the detection of eluted antibody compared very favourably and tended, where older stains were being tested, to give more conclusive results than the AutoAnalyser. The superiority of the manual technique was most pronounced when detecting the S and K antigens.

A case of gastric lavage suffocation after petroleum poisoning is described, together with the peculiar analytical techniques that were employed and the juridical aspects of medical malpractice to which it gave rise.

A five-year survey (1970–1975) of suicides was conducted in a county of 1,800,000 population. Cyanide is readily available in various forms, lethal in minute quantities and rapidly acting. Out of 700 suicides, six employed cyanide poisoning as an active manner of death.