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Blunt cardiac rupture is a characteristic of high death rates and rapid death process. But sometimes it is hard to find out the cause of cardiac rupture of traumatized patients, especially when it relates the relationship between injury and disease. In the 2 cases reported herein, both of the 2 patients had pre-existent cardiac pathological changes when suffered from traumatic injury. Our aim is to evaluate autopsy findings from a medicolegal point of view, and offer our proposals on how to deal with this sort of cases.

To analyze postmortem chemical changes in Landrace costal cartilages and ribs using attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, and to provide a novel technique for estimation of postmortem interval (PMI).The swines were sacrificed by hemorrhage and their costal cartilages and ribs were kept in 20 degrees C. The chemical analysis of the costal cartilages and ribs were performed using ATR-FTIR every 72 h. The correlation between the certain spectral parameters and PMI was also analyzed. The time-dependent changes of costal cartilages were more significant than ribs.There were no obvious changes for the main absorbance bands position, and some absorbance band ratios showed time-dependent changes and significant correlations with the PMI.ATR-FTIR has the ability to analyze postmortem chemical changes of the swine costal cartilages and ribs, and it can be a new method to estimate PMI based on spectroscopy.

To investigate the influence of such individual factors as gender, age and tissues in vitro to the postmortem interval (PMI) by the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer in animal experiments. SD rats were classified into male and female groups, different age groups (21-day, 42-day and 63-day group), and tissues in vitro and in vivo groups. The rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, whose bodies were kept in a controlled environmental chamber set at (20+/-2) degrees C and 50% humidity. The liver, kidney, spleen, myocardium, brain, lung and skeletal muscle tissues were collected for measurement from time zero to 48 h postmortem. With the change of PMI, no obvious changes were found in the main FTIR absorbance peaks and their ratios at different time points. All the experimental groups showed no significant changes when compared with the controls. The gender, age and tissues in vitro were not found to be contributing factors in the estimation of PMI via FTIR spectroscopy.

To explore medico-legal characteristics of sudden death caused by coronary heart disease combined with coronary thrombosis.Ninety-six cases of sudden death caused by coronary heart disease were collected and divided into two groups: thrombus positive and thrombus negative groups. The time onset, induction and pathological features of coronary artery disease were analyzed.Two groups showed man-dominant population. There were no statistical significant differences in season, circadian rhythm and induction factor. The thrombus positive group (age40) showed a higher disease incidence. Heart weight and degree of coronary stenosis were lower in thrombus positive group. However, there was no statistical difference in the number of atherosclerotic coronary arteries (or = 2), the length of coronary lesions and myocardial infarct. But thrombosis positive group showed lower tendency.Two groups are man-dominant population and similar induction factor, lesion position, mechanism of death. But thrombus positive group appeared more in a younger population and the degree of coronary stenosis is milder than thrombus negative group. Forensic pathologists should pay more attention to these characteristics in death investigation.

Estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) is a practical task in daily forensic casework. Researches on PMI is an important practical project in forensic field. Estimation of the time since death is influenced by internal and external, antemortem and postmortem factors, thus the old methods have limitations. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy has been applied to study the pure protein, nucleic acid and carbohydrate and to detect the changes in complex cells and tissues. At present because the powerful software has could be used to achieve the spectrum transformation, smoothing, baseline correction and normalization, it is possible to analyze the samples quantitatively with the FTIR which has been applied in the biology and clinical medicine. This paper has reviewed the mechanism of FTIR and its application in biomedicine. The postmortem FTIR spectral changes were also discussed, which showed its potential for estimating PMI.

FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopy was applied to observe the process of postmortem degradation in rats' cardiac muscle and provided a new method for the estimation of post-mortem interval (PMI).The rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and the bodies were kept in a controlled environmental chamber set at (20 +/- 2) degrees C. The FTIR spectra was applied to measure the changes of different chemical group from rats' left ventricle muscle at the different time point postmortem.There were not obvious changes for the main FTIR absorbance peaks. But the different FTIR absorbance at the wave-number (cm(-1)) indicated the three types: increase, decrease, stable. The various absorbance ratios also demonstrated the similar changes.FTIR spectroscopy may be potentially used as an effective method for estimating PMI in forensic practice using cardiac muscle tissue.

To establish a database of high-fall death cases for future forensic study and practice, based on the scene investigation, injury characteristics and other informations.Five hundred and four cases of high-fall death from 5 provinces and cities were included in the study. Data including personal information of the deceased, scene investigation, autopsy findings, history of mental illness and the results of toxicology were collected and analyzed.The male accidental death rate was significantly higher than that of female. No case of suicide was found in the 0-10 age group, while the suicide rate was apparently higher in the 60 years or over age group than that of accident. Most of the accident cases occurred at workplace, with head landing first and foot or lower-extremity landing first observed from height below 10 m and between 10-25 m, respectively.The majority of cases have obvious conclusions. A substantial set of the cases, however, is still difficult to determine the mechanism of injury and the manner of death. So further study should be performed.

To apply Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to study the process of postmortem degradation of the rat brain and to provide a new way for the estimation of postmortem interval (PMI).The rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and the bodies were kept in a controlled environmental chamber set at (30 +/- 2) degrees C. To measure the content of the chemical groups in postmortem rat brains at the different time points from 0 to 36 h using the FTIR spectrograph.With prolongation of PMI, the peak position of main absorbance bands in the FTIR spectra showed no significant changes, while the peak levels showed dramatic changes: (1) The relative peak intensity of 1080 cm(-1), 1238 cm(-1) (I1080/I1398, I1238/I1398) associated with nucleic acid decreased obviously; (2) The peak intensity ratio at Amide I, II (I1647/I1541) decreased; (3) The peak intensities at 1456 cm(-1) and 1398 cm(-1) showed a decreased and an increased trend, respectively; (4) Compared to the peak intensity of 1647 cm(-1), the peak intensities at 2852 cm(-1), 2871 cm(-1), 2923 cm(-1), and 2958 cm(-1) tended to increase, with only a slightly increased tendency in peak intensity of 2871 cm(-1).FTIR spectroscopy may be potentially used as an effective method for estimating the PMI in medicolegal practice using brain tissue sample.

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was applied to study the decomposition process postmortem in rat lung tissue and provided a new method for the estimation of postmortem interval (PMI). The results demonstrated that, with the PMI increasing, the peak position of main absorbance bands showed no significant difference, but there was obvious variance of intensity: (1) The intensity of 1080 and 1241 cm(-1) related to nucleic acid tended to decrease. (2) The intensity ratio at Amide I (I1647) and II (I1541) decreased since death. The intensity of 1338 and 1313 cm(-1) increased lightly. (3) The intensity at 1460, 1400 and 1170 cm(-1) showed no significant difference. (4) A new band at 1120 cm(-1) appeared since 72 h after death and its intensity increased from 72 to 144 h postmortem. The authors' preliminary results suggest that it may be possible for FTIR to become an effective method to estimate the PMI in forensic practice.

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was applied to study the difference of vital reaction following skin injury close to death in mouse and provided the evidence for forensic practice. The results demonstrated that vital 5 min, postmortem and normal groups showed significant differences in the wave form and intensity: (1) The intensity at 3 007 and 1 745 cm(-1) related to lipid for the vital injury was higher than that for the postmortem; (2) The intensity at 1 160 cm(-1) related to carbohydrate for the vital injure increased more compared to the postmortem; (3) The intensity of the band at 1 640 cm(-1) related to amide I band for the injury groups was higher than the normal, but it was the lowest for the vital injury. These results show that it will be possible for FTIR to become an effective method to determine the vital reaction of injury close to death in forensic practice.

Morphologic features of the corpse of rabbits died of potassium intoxication were studied in order to elucidate an objective evidence for forensic determination of death caused by potassium intoxication.Macroscopic, microscopic, and ultrastructural (by transmission electron microscopy) changes were observed in the heart, brain, and kidney of rabbits killed by intravenous push or continuous infusion at 100 drips per minute with 0.3% and 1% KCl, respectively. Normal rabbits without any treatment killed by bleeding were used as controls.Macroscopically, cardiac dilatation and congestion/stasis as well as ischemic and hypoxic changes in various organs were observed in rabbits died of potassium injection. Microscopically and ultrastructurally, there were destruction of the cardiac fibers with thickening, concentrating, or disappearing of the Z-line, constriction of the glomerular capillaries, enlargement of the Bowman capsule, thinning and fusion of foot processes, as well as apoptosis with phagocytosis in brain observed, particularly in the group infused with 1% KCl.The morphologic changes observed in the heart and kidney appear to be characteristic, supporting death caused by potassium intoxication.

The cardiac sudden death occupies primacy among the cause of death in adult. Myocardial infarction is one of the main mechanisms of sudden death of coronary heart disease. Because of early myocardial infarction happened abruptly and might die in a short time, and the typical or special changes in morphology is absent, so it is the focus of medico legal research forensic fulfill all long. This paper reviewed the characters of myocardial infarction, applications and limits in forensic fields, and prospected feasibility of new clinical markers in forensic practice, and expected to enhance accuracy of postmortem diagnosis in MI.