There are only few reports on the neuropathologic findings of fire victims. We investigated brain tissues of a 44-year-old and a 77-year-old man for neuropathologic examination with dehydration, embedding in celloidin, sectioning at 400 μm, and staining with gallocyanin. Microscopically, neurons were less well stained than those from an 87-year-old woman who died of cancer and...
Neonatal circumcision is a common procedure worldwide, which may be performed for medical reasons and for cultural and religious motivations. Regarding ritual circumcision, there has been a wide-ranging debate in medical society about the level of acceptability of this practice. Even from a bioethical and legal point of view, the problem is approached differently in different...
An 80-year-old man who presented with hemoptysis died from ischemic heart disease and emphysema with cor pulmonale. He had a past history of ischemic heart disease with previous myocardial infarction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with endobronchial valve insertion and squamous cell carcinoma of the lung with lobe resection. On the day of death he had coughed up...
Among the various methods employed in the commission of homicide, the occurrence of what is termed a “combined homicide” has been documented, where the perpetrator uses more than one method to bring about the victim’s death. This article presents the case of a 59-year-old woman who was murdered by her husband in a premeditated manner, using three distinct methods in succession...
In recent years, bear attacks in Slovakia have increased, including two fatal attacks. The first fatality involved a 63-year-old man who was attacked by a brown bear while hiking with his family. He sustained grievous injuries to the left thigh and died at the scene shortly after the attack. In the second case, a 58-year-old man was found dead near a walking trail, and recent...
This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of existing dental age estimation models, including the Lamendin, Prince & Ubelaker, Fialho, and modified Fialho methods, within a Portuguese population. Dental techniques, particularly those involving root transparency and periodontosis, are examined due to their relevance in forensic age estimation. A sample of 166 single-rooted teeth...
Sudden cardiac death (SCD) in young people is a tragic event and a worldwide public health issue. SCD is the most common cause of death in young athletes and is related to acquired/congenital cardiac disorders, such as cardiomyopathies, congenital coronary anomalies and ion channelopathies. We report the case of a 14-year-old male non professional athlete who was apparently...
In analyzing decomposing human remains in cases of unattended death, observing insect succession patterns to aid in estimating the post-mortem interval (PMI) based on carrion insects is one of the tasks of the forensic entomologist. The purpose of this study is to provide baseline data in order to improve PMI estimates using carrion insects. The lingering armed conflict in...
The lack of specific autopsy findings for carbon dioxide (CO2) intoxication hinders the determination of cause of death based on autopsy findings alone. In addition, when death occurs in a space is filled with CO2 or other gases, the cause of death must be distinguished between intoxication and asphyxia due to oxygen deficiency, which also has no specific autopsy findings. In...
Pediatric mortality from external causes has been a worldwide concern in the last decades. In particular, the prevalence of accidental deaths is a key concern, especially traffic accidents. This is retrospective study based on autopsy reports of violent deaths in individuals younger than 18 years from 2014 to 2023 in Portugal, aimed at providing valuable insight in order to help...
This case report highlights a rare but fatal complication of artificial enteral nutrition due to feeding tube misplacement, leading to pleural effusion and respiratory failure. The primary objective was to determine whether enteral nutrition formula leakage contributed to the patient’s death and to differentiate the pleural effusion from other possible etiologies, such as...
Gelatin-based phantoms are appropriate simulants of human soft tissue and can be used for ballistic experiments. Computed tomography (CT) is useful for quantitative wound ballistics analysis and has been applied to gelatin blocks. This study aimed to create total crack length (TCL) profiles along the penetration depth in head phantoms after ballistic experiments with different...
Determining the sex of unknown human remains is pertinent to the reconstruction of biological profiles in forensic anthropology. The Greek Cypriot population is underrepresented in forensic anthropology literature, with only a handful of sex estimation studies having been produced thus far. The aim of this research is to provide accurate and reliable methods for estimating the...
Forensic dental identification relies on the comparison of antemortem and postmortem dental records. 3D dental imaging presents the potential for detailed anatomical features of teeth to be quantified between individuals in automated identification tools. This study introduces a novel segmentation method to simultaneously remove extraneous data from two images reducing processes...
Cadaveric blood is ubiquitous, and observed in various forms—liquid, coagulated, and clot-like—during autopsies. Understanding its state in postmortem vessels is essential for both scientific research and forensic investigations. Pulmonary thromboembolism (PT) is a leading cause of sudden death, often requiring medicolegal evaluation. While thrombus formation is primarily...
Yemen, with its rich historical background and strategic geographical position at a major crossroads of trade and migration, offers an ideal setting for exploring population genetics. This study aimed to develop a Y-STR database for a Yemeni population and compare it with existing regional databases in the Middle East. For this investigation, buccal swabs were collected from 128...
A female senior dialysis patient was found dead in her apartment, covered in blood. Bloodstains were observed in different rooms of the apartment. During the post-mortem examination on site, a small, roundish opening of the skin was observed on the flexor side of the upper arm, within a longitudinal scar, from which blood was draining. Throughout police investigation, the...
We present a case of complex suicide concerning a 55-year-old man who hanged himself using a rope anchored to a beam on the terrace of his apartment. Multiple parallel linear wounds were observed on his head. At the crime scene, an axe stained with blood and hair was found resting against the wall adjacent to the stairs leading to the upper floor. Forensic investigations identify...
Conducting sex estimation based on bones through morphometric methods increases the need for automatic image analyses, as doing so requires experienced staff and is a time-consuming process. In this study, sex estimation was performed with the EfficientNetB3, MobileNetV2, Visual Geometry Group 16 (VGG16), ResNet50, and DenseNet121 architectures on patellar magnetic resonance...
In this review, we holistically consider healthcare as an ecosystem that includes forensic pathology and legal medicine and probe why these areas have largely ignored the use of Metaverse. This effort is directed at understanding the potential impact of virtual worlds on these areas and ultimately asks if forensic sciences are missing an opportunity or multiple opportunities. We...
Constipation is characterized by persistent difficulty in defecating. It is a common disorder in the community particularly affecting the elderly and those with intellectual disabilities and neuropsychiatric disorders. It is also caused by numerous medications including analgesic, antidepressant, antihypertensive and anticholinergic agents. It may be asymptomatic or it may...
This study aimed to develop an improved method for forensic age estimation using deep learning models applied to orthopantomography (OPG) images, focusing on distinguishing individuals under 12 years old from those aged 12 and above. A dataset of 1941 pediatric patients aged between five and 15 years was collected from two radiology departments. The primary research question...
Fractal burning is a recent form of pyrography (decorative wood burning) using an extremely high voltage applied across a wood surface soaked in an electrolyte solution to produce a ferning or ‘Lichtenberg’ pattern. Two fatal cases of electrocution are reported in adults engaged in fractal burning to demonstrate characteristic features. Both had evidence of electrical contact...