Journal of Forensic Research

There are at present 1.7 billion people worldwide infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and 1.7 million die every year. In the UK tuberculosis not yet endemic, but cases have doubled in the last 10 years to more than 9,000 in 2010. The main source of TB being from the immigrants and asylum seekers, both legal and clandestine, who come to the UK in ever increasing numbers. They are often seen by forensic medical examiners (FMEs) following arrest. The detainees present a problem of diagnosis and risk management for all in the custody system. Despite TB being the most common cause of illness and death among people with HIV and Aids in the European region, very few co-ordinates the treatment of the co-infection properly, due to poor patient chemo-compliance and rising costs.

An increasingly alarming phenomenon of tramadol drug abuse has been demonstrated in the Egyptian community in the last four years. Although the issue of drug abuse is not a newcomer to the Egyptian society, tramadol has been associated with a wide range of drug abuse and its illegal drug transactions had made it easily accessible and readily provided at cheap costs despite of its being a scheduled drug. The alleged usages of tramadol had also contributed greatly to its popularity and massive use especially among Egyptian youth as a remedy for premature ejaculatory function and for extended orgasm and increase sexual pleasure as promoted through many online drug stores and media. Aim of the work: To study the impact of tramadol increasing rates of drug abuse on the observed association with forms of aggression and accidents. Patients and methods: This study was carried out on the patients who presented to Poison Control Center of Ain Shams University Hospitals, Egypt in the year 2010 presented with trauma with suspected associated drug toxicity for toxicological assessment. RESULTS: Number of studied cases was 640 with the adult population showing a higher prevalence (67.9%). The prevalence was higher in males (77.2%). Abuse form of drug intake was the highest (50.8%). The oral route of intake is the highest (96.8%). Patients abusing tramadol presented with any clinical finding denoting involvement in an act of violence or giving history of it (36.3%), forms of accidents whether road traffic accidents (18.7%), acts of violence as fights and domestic violence (33%) and accidental fall and unintentional self-induced injuries (48.3%).The most frequent forms of injuries were cerebral edema (55.9%) and the least being inter cerebral hemorrhage (5%) both diagnosed both clinically and as a CAT SCAN brain finding. Whilst as forms of injuries were lacerated wounds (38.9%), contusions (35.3%), abrasions (31.3%), cerebral concussion (22%), and bone fracture (17.8%), and polytrauma (11%). Conclusions: The significantly notable increasing violence forms are closely related to drug abuse. Tramadol's prevalence is the mostly noted due to its wider availability and cheaper prices than other types of abused drugs. Recommendations: Drug screening for tramadol should be added to all forms of basic toxicological screening. Especially in cases of patients involved in violent crimes and road traffic accidents, also for those applying for drivers' license fitness program. Keywords: Abuse-Tramadol-Egypt-Youth-Violence.

In this paper, an initial method of collecting knee print and explaining how to prepare it, has been presented. The results of this pilot experiment, which was carried out in order to study the possibility of identifying persons from their knee prints, were also presented. The results showed that by adopting this method, knee print has shown a considerable degree of variability among different individuals. The variability of knee print among different individuals and its potential role in personal identification for forensic field work, particularly, in cases when knee print is involved by some way or another has been discussed. Finally the knee print can probably be considered in the forensic field. Furthermore, more research studies on the knee print should be carried out as it might potentially become a useful forensic identification tool.