Croatia is a safe tourist destination - study of foreign citizen mortality in Splitsko-dalmatinska and Primorsko-goranska County during the period 2001-2010.
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AIM: To investigate the mortality rate of foreign citizens in Croatia. METHODS: Data were collected from the Departments for Forensic Pathology in Split and Rijeka, which are the autopsy centers of the counties with approximately 35% of total foreign visitors, as well as from the Croatian Central Bureau for Statistics for the period 2001-2010. The mortality rate (number of deaths of members of each nationality per 100000 entrances ratio) and standardized mortality ratio (ratio between the observed and expected number of deaths) were calculated, and chi(2) goodness of fit test was used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: There were 447 deaths (325 men, 72.7%) of foreign citizens (mortality rate of 0.0015%). A total of 207 deaths (46.3%) were by natural causes, more often among older people, and 240 deaths (53.7%) were injury deaths, more often among younger people, mostly by drowning or traffic-related (22.2% and 18.6% of all deaths, respectively). Most represented were citizens of German, Austrian, Czech, and Italian nationality, with 115 (25.7%), 59 (13.2%), 58 (13.0%), and 52 deaths (11.6%), respectively. Mortality rate by nationality showed no significant difference (P<0.05). The standardized mortality ratio was lowest in Hungarian and Czech citizens (0.17) and highest in US citizens (0.35). CONCLUSIONS: Croatia has low foreign citizens' mortality rate and could be considered a safe tourist destination. (+info)
Post mortem changes in relation to different types of clothing.
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Post mortem changes are important in estimating post mortem interval (PMI). This project's aim was to study the effect of burial and type of clothing on rate of decomposition, which can contribute to estimating PMI for victims. 12 rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) carcasses were separated into 3 groups: no clothing, light clothing and heavy clothing. Control subjects were placed on the ground surface while test subjects were buried at 30 cm depth graves. Soil samples prior and after decomposition were collected for soil pH and moisture analysis. Post mortem change was assessed using a Total Body Score system. The head, neck and limb regions were found to decay faster than the body trunk region. Mummifi cation occurred on body parts that were exposed directly to the atmosphere while adipocere formed on some buried subjects. Burial delayed decomposition due to lower insect activity and lower soil temperature. The soil layer also blocked the accessibility of majority of the arthropods, causing further delay in decomposition. Clothing enhanced decay for bodies on ground surface because it provided protection for maggots and retained moisture on tissues. However, clothing delayed decomposition in buried bodies because it physically separated the bodies from soil and arthropods. Higher sun exposure and repetitive exhumation showed acceleration of decomposition. The decomposition process increased soil pH and moisture percentage values. Soil pH initially increased until pH 8.0-8.4 followed by a slight decrease while soil moisture percentage changed inconsistently. Burial was significant in affecting post mortem change, F(1,11)=12.991, p<0.05 while type of clothing was not significant, F(2,9)=0.022, p=0.978 and combination of both type of clothing and burial factors were also not significant, F(2,3)=0.429, p=0.686. For validation, an accuracy of 83.33% was achieved based on soil pH and soil moisture percentage analysis. (+info)
Decomposition and entomological colonization of charred bodies - a pilot study.
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AIM: To use forensic entomological approach to estimate the post mortem interval (PMI) in burnt remains. METHODS: Two experiments were performed in a field in the outskirts of Milan, in winter and summer 2007. Four 60-kg pigs were used: two for each experiment. One pig carcass was burnt until it reached the level 2-3 of the Glassman-Crow scale and the not-burnt carcass was used as a control. In order to describe the decomposition process and to collect the data useful for minimum PMI estimation, macroscopic, histological, and entomological analyses were performed. RESULTS: In the winter part of the experiment, the first insect activity on the burnt carcass began in the third week (Calliphora vomitoria) and at the beginning of the fourth week an increase in the number of species was observed. In the summer part, adult flies and first instar maggots (Phormia regina) appeared a few minutes/hours after the carcass exposure. Both in winter and summer, flies belonging to the first colonization wave (Calliphoridae) appeared on burnt and control pigs at the same time, whereas other species (Diptera and Coleoptera) appeared earlier on burnt pigs. CONCLUSION: In forensic practice, burnt bodies are among the most neglected fields of entomological research, since they are supposed to be an inadequate substratum for insect colonization. Entomological approach for PMI estimation proved to be useful, although further studies on larger samples are needed. (+info)
Dead infants and unmarried women--from forensic pathology reports 1910-12.
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Blunt force trauma to skull with various instruments.
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Deaths due to blunt force trauma to the head as a result of assault are some of the most common cases encountered by the practicing forensic pathologist. Previous studies have shown inflicting injury to the head region is one of the most effective methods of murder. The important factors that determine severity of trauma include the type of weapon used, type and site of skull fracture, intracranial haemorrhage and severity of brain injury. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of blunt force trauma to the skull produced by different instruments. Nine adult monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) skulls were used as models. Commonly found blunt objects comprising of Warrington hammer, hockey stick and open face helmet were used in this study. A machine calibrated force generator was used to hold the blunt object in place and to hit the skulls at forces of 12.5N and 25N. Resultant traumatic effects and fractures (linear, depressed, basilar, comminuted, and distastic) were analyzed according to type of blunt object used; surface area of contact and absolute force (N/cm(2)) delivered. Results showed that all investigated instruments were capable of producing similar injuries. The severity of trauma was not related to the surface area of contact with the blunt objects. However, only high absolute forces produced comminuted fractures. These findings were observational, as the samples were too small for statistical conclusions. (+info)