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Abstract: Forensic odontologists are involved in all phases of disaster victim identification (DVI). The failure of DVI management to embed odontology teams within all phases of the investigation and to include them in management decisions throughout the operation may lead to delays in the reconciliation process and could possibly compromise the integrity of the DVI investigation. In the case study presented, trained and experienced teams of forensic odontologists were not utilised to full capacity in all phases of the investigation. The complexity of the initial scene investigation was not identified resulting in the incomplete recovery of all remains. The scene had to be re-examined on three subsequent occasions. The post-mortem examination of the remains had to be deferred until all subsequent material had been collected. The collection of all ante-mortem dental records was not undertaken, resulting in transcription information that was incomplete and compromised. As a result, the reconciliation (formal identification) of the deceased became problematic because of the compounded errors in all phases of this DVI investigation and the resulting odontological report of identification could have jeopardised the integrity of the entire DVI process. Following a review of this case and the recognition of possible areas of omission in the management of the investigation a strategy to address these problems is proposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The success of the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) process relies upon sufficient post-mortem data being recovered to allow for a meaningful comparison with ante-mortem records of the missing person. Human bodies subjected to prolonged high temperatures, as experienced during the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, are often reduced to fragile skeletal elements. The dental structures, however, are the most durable tissues of the body and often survive these prolonged high temperatures. Without protecting the fragile remains at the scene and during transportation to the mortuary, disruption of the skeletal and dental elements may occur. This disruption will result in difficulties in obtaining post-mortem evidence and lead to problems during the reconciliation (formal identification) phase of the investigation. In the two case reports presented to illustrate these problems, there was significant loss and degradation of dental structures at the scene and during transportation to the mortuary. In the first case described, where no protection was afforded to the remains, total loss of all anatomical dental structures occurred. In the second case, where protection of the structures was undertaken, vital dental evidence was preserved. As a result of the experience in this particular DVI incident, where remains were exposed to prolonged high temperature and physical damage, new protocols have been formulated. Adherence to these protocols will maximise the recovery and preservation of dental evidence at the scene and during transportation to the mortuary. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on the study that explores the physical movement patterns associated with an elite Under 18 Australian Football (AF) team. Results indicate that the completion of less total efforts and smaller total distances, in Under 18 players, recorded compared to professional senior AF data. In addition it also suggest that further in-depth research is required into movement patterns and game activity demands in this AF playing group.

Background The measurement of skin temperature from a wide variety of body sites is required for research into human thermal physiology. Conductive devices (typically thermistors) are considered to be accurate and stable, but can only produce a temperature measurement from a single point. Infrared devices (thermal cameras) offer the advantage that temperature can be measured over a wide area of skin, and data can be analysed off-line after the experiment from any defined region of interest (ROI) within the image. The uncertainty associated with non-contact infrared skin temperature measurements is, however, inherently greater than with conductive devices. A research team based in the UK and Australia therefore sought to compare thermistor and infrared skin temperature measurements from the finger pulp after hand cooling, in order to understand if there were clinically important differences arising from the two techniques after cold exposure. Methods After acclimatisation and a short period of hand prewarming, 52 males underwent cold challenge of the right hand for 30 minutes at 8°C in a room temperature of 30°C. After the cold stress, rewarming of the skin at the index finger pad was monitored for 10 minutes at one-minute intervals with a Type EUS-U thermistor secured with Transpore tape. Thermal images of the handwere also recorded every minute during rewarming with a FLIR A320G thermal imager from a distance of 1m, and index finger pad temperature was measured using the image analysis software spot tool at a point 1cm distal to the thermistor. Results Across all time points, and averaged across all subjects, the authors reported that the infrared imager recorded finger pad skin temperature 1.80°C (SD 1.16°C) warmer than the thermistor. The 95% limits of agreement on the associated Bland Altman plot ranged from -0.46°C to 4.07°C. Conclusion The authors concluded that therewas a clinically significant difference between the thermistor and imager readings, the threshold for which they had defined to be a difference >0.5°C, with limits of agreement ranging across 1°C. They commented that this difference may have safety implications when it is necessary to ensure that cold injury is not induced in cooling experiments?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]