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The effect of long-term storage on alcohol stability in postmortem blood samples was investigated. Seventy-nine blood samples were used in this study. For the first time, blood alcohol concentrations were measured within 1 to 4 days after being taken at the Laboratory of Forensic Toxicology. After storage (ranging from 191 to 468 days), each sample was reanalyzed for blood alcohol concentration, and results were compared with the original analysis. Results showed good agreement between the experimental measurements. About 90% of the results lie within 95% limits, and 10% were outside. Despite these positive correlations, the results of some blood samples showed a high variation in ethanol concentration. Deviation in alcohol concentration between replicates of up to 10% (observed in 39% samples) is not acceptable as precise forensic evidence.

It has been noticed on forensic material that Hassall's corpuscles of the thymus are more often calcified in intravenous drug abusers than in healthy persons. Thymuses of 15 intravenous heroin addicts were histologically examined and compared with thymuses of 15 healthy persons. Acute bleeding and dystrophic calcification in the thymocyte's parenchyma were more common among intravenous drug abusers (p = .005 and p = .001, respectively). The degree of physiologic involution measured by fatty replacement and the clarity of border between cortex and medulla was equal. No significant diversity was found in the features of Hassall's bodies. Our study emphasizes the necessity for a defined criteria of morphologic changes in the thymus that could be expected in intravenous drug abusers. In that way it would be possible to complete the forensic findings as well as to examine immunologic system alterations of that risk population.