Journal of Forensic Research

Microbial forensics is emerged as a new interdisciplinary field and focuses on the characterization, analysis and interpretation of evidence from the scene of bioterrorism or biocrimes. Mass spectrometry is one of the key techniques in the identification of botulinum neurotoxins, which are among the top six species in the list of bioagents. In this review, I overview the current understanding of structure and function of botulinum neurotoxins, introduce the detection and identification of botulinum neurotoxins, and discuss the progress and the possible strategies of “botulinum neurotoxins signatures” in microbial forensics. The “botulinum neurotoxins signatures” may be obtained using bioanalytical and biophysical methodologies, especially mass spectral proteomics and may provide specific information in detecting and identifying botulinum neurotoxins to combat bioterrorism and biocrimes.

Background: Understanding the socio-cultural factors that underlie homicide is central to prevention of such cases. This study was carried out to determine the similarities and differences in the patterns of homicide in two socio-culturally diverse parts of Nigeria.
Materials and Method: Duplicate copies of autopsy reports of homicide victims in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and Kano city, Kano State over 11 and 6 year periods respectively were retrieved and analyzed for age, gender, circumstances of death, mechanisms of death, causes of death and types of weapons used.
Results: show that 1,004 cases (91/year rate) and 113 cases (18/year rate) of homicides were recorded respectively in Port Harcourt and Kano city during the study periods. The predominant age group of victims in the two cities was the 21 to 30 year age group, with male: female ratio of 12:1 and 16:1 for Port Harcourt and Kano city respectively. The top ranking weapons of choice were firearm (68.9%) in Port Harcourt and sharp daggers (44.2%) in Kano city. While armed robbery and cult attacks were common in Port Harcourt, ethno-religious clashes predominated among circumstances surrounding homicides in Kano. While head injuries in the Port Harcourt homicides were mostly from gunshots those in Kano city were mostly due to blunt trauma.
Conclusion: This study has shown that socio-cultural differences in religion, type of weapons available and to which local residents are exposed to during upbringing, gender role, functional rule of law, use of psycho-active substances and increased population and its dynamics are important factors that determine patterns of homicide in Nigeria.

We report an autopsy case of a man whose death was caused by a combination of aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) poisoning and chlorine gas inhalation. Toxicological analysis of aspirin and salicylic acid using high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection showed that the concentration of salicylic acid was 444.7 μg/ mL in the heart blood and 68.3 μg/g in the brain. Existence of chlorine gas was proven, in the form of chloride ions, in a plastic bag near the body using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. It was thought that damage to the mucosa, respiratory tract and skin had been caused by hydrochloric and hypochlorous acid associated with chlorine gas inhalation that rapidly aggravated the respiratory distress and pulmonary edema caused by aspirin and salicylic acid. This case report shows that the risk of death is increased when two substances, aspirin and chlorine gas, are taken through different routes, even if the concentration of one of them does not reach the lethal dose.

Currently, the Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) is at the far right of a continuum in regard to Cluster B personality disorders. Since a hundred years ago the psychotic core / the psychotic potential, due to a lack of reality testing, above a certain threshold, was brought into question. At least transitory psychotic decompensations certainly arise, as we referred to in this presentation. We refer in this paper to theoretical and clinical exemplification on a patient in the “Prof. Dr. Alex. Obregia” Psychiatric Hospital in Bucharest, who is under prolonged hospitalization, subject to certain articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure concerning compulsory admission and treatment, as a result of committing a potentially antisocial act. Explanatory perspective is based on the Treaty of Psychodynamic Psychiatry by Glen O. Gabbard, the primitive functioning of this woman raising suspicion of a personality disharmony located at the border between narcissistic (in the malign sense of the word) and anti-sociality. Explanatory concepts bring into discussion the primitive mental functioning, the immaturity of the defense mechanisms and of the thought and the behavior, characteristics of following type: projective identification, Self grandly designed, narcissistic collusion, flas Self, twinning, capacity to feel unconsciously the pulsating movements of the other, transferential – countertransferential dynamic. The aspect of adequacy / temporary loss of contact with reality, the dimension of the intelligence and the intellect of this patient, assessing antisocial acts and their consequences, the possibility to function socially or not, and the quality of the compensatory resources must not be omitted. The study has an explanatory evaluating perspective with comparative implications and rich literature references.

In 239 postmortem cases, we used liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry to measure urinary cortisol concentrations standardized to creatinine, which were then related to causes of death. For comparison, we also analyzed urine samples from 95 living subjects implicated in criminal cases. The median of the postmortem group (18.8 μmol cortisol/mol creatinine) was not significantly different from that of the living group (18.1 μmol cortisol/ mol creatinine), but the highest value in the postmortem group was more than ten times higher than that in the living group (3730 versus 354 μmol cortisol/mol creatinine). Among the postmortem cases, 28% had values exceeding the previously reported upper 95% range for normal living subjects (52.8 μmol cortisol/mol creatinine), as did 12%of the living group. The postmortem cases were divided into subgroups according to cause of death:asphyxiation, blunt force trauma, brain hemorrhage, cardiac-related death, drowning, fire-related death, gun or knife trauma, infection, internal bleeding, ketoacidosis, miscellaneous and poisoning. The median cortisol levels of the ketoacidosisand the infection subgroups (respectively, 152 and 243 μmol cortisol/mol creatinine) were significantly higher than the median of the other subgroups (15.5 μmol cortisol/mol creatinine); however, the spread of data does not allow for any conclusions on an individual case level.

Kangaroos are internationally recognised and iconic wildlife. There are four species that are commercially harvested for human and pet meat in an industry worth more than US$150 million per year. Highly regulated controls govern the number, and the species that can be removed each year as many species undergo natural cycling in population number in response to stochastic fluctuations, such as rainfall (where populations generally increase) and periods of drought (decline in population numbers). At times when populations are too low, seasonal closures do not allow the harvesting of those species. This is when illegal killing is most detrimental and there is currently no method or comparative database to identify commercial game-meat kangaroo species. Here we generated a simple and discriminatory test that uses sequence data from mitochondrial DNA capable of differentiating amongst all the largest species of kangaroos (the wallaroo, western grey, eastern grey, and red kangaroo) in Australia. We present these data and we also include 18 suspected kangaroo sample seizures that formed the basis for the unambiguous, simple and relatively fast identification of seized kangaroo meat samples.

There are major differences in the management of sexual assault in the US and the UK. The professionals and their training to enable them to conduct these sexual assault examinations differ radically between the two countries and even the definition of what constitutes rape is not the same. The setting for these examinations is also different and using UK data from 12 different counties, the advantages and disadvantages of the UK system are explored.

Each year countless numbers of men, women, and children present to emergency rooms and urgent care centers seeking treatment following acts of domestic violence. Many times law enforcement is not involved until tragedy has struck. Working with emergency department staff can greatly improve victim outcomes and help law enforcement to understand why they may not see any visible injuries. Sexual assault, physical abuse, and strangulation are possible findings after an episode of domestic violence. Careful documentation of symptoms is one of the most important measures to note

The environment may affect the forensic drug evidences in crime scene and is able to produce impurities, which contain vital information for tracing their origin of manufacture and can be used to provide link in crime scene investigation. In this work the response of forensic drug flunitrazepam to the UV irradiation was investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. We found the substantial change in GC pattern involving multiple GC peaks, indicating the complex reaction of degradation in flunitrazepam upon UV irradiation. GCMS analysis identified one of the GC components to be amino-flunitrazepam. The new GC peaks and the GC pattern change may serve as “chemical signatures” of flunitrazepam. Such information may promote the identification of the forensic drug flunitrazepam as a “chemical fingerprint” in forensic sciences.