Blending of rodenticide and battery acid - a rare and fatal suicide mix

Rapid and Robust Analysis of Coumatetralyl in Environmental Water and Human Urine Using a Portable Raman Spectrometer

The widespread use and exposure of coumatetralyl (CMTT) has led to its accumulation in the environment and organisms, causing damage to ecosystems and adverse health effects in humans. Unfortunately, achieving fast detection of CMTT remains challenging. Herein, a rapid and robust surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) method was developed for rapid on-site detection of CMTT in environmental water and human urine. Clear trends were observed between the signal intensity and the logarithmic concentration of CMTT, ranging from 0.025 to 5.0 μg/mL with high reproducibility. The detection limits in water and human urine were as low as 1.53 and 13.71 ng/mL, respectively. The recoveries of CMTT for environmental water and urine samples were 90.2-98.2 and 82.0-87.5%, respectively, satisfactory for practical applications. The quantitative results of this approach were highly comparable to those obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography. Most importantly, it is cost-effective, operationally simple, and without a complicated sample preparation step. Detecting CMTT in water samples took only 5 min, and the detection of urine samples was completed within 8 min. This simple yet practical SERS approach offers a reliable application prospect for on-site CMTT detection in environmental water and point-of-care monitoring of poisoned patients.

Complicated central catheterization in atypical celphos poisoning simulating throttling homicide: Review of neck resuscitation artefacts

Therapeutic artefacts are a challenge for forensic pathologists for correct interpretation at autopsy. A 23-year-old female was found unconscious at home and immediately admitted to an emergency of a tertiary care hospital where resuscitative measures were taken. However, she died after 4 h of hospitalization. The injuries (abrasions, subcutaneous bruising and haemorrhage in the deep structures of the neck) discovered at autopsy simulated the findings of throttling and aroused the suspicion of homicide. Later, enquiry revealed that it happened due to mal-positioned central line in the carotid artery during internal jugular vein access to provide fluid as the patient was in shock due to aluminium phosphide (Celphos)poisoning. The bleeding diatheses in Celphos poisoning might have precipitated the extensive neck haemorrhage in this case.

Analysis of the reduction in injury mortality disparity between urban and rural areas in developing China from 2010 to 2016

Background

Injuries are of growing public health concern in China, and the trends of urban-rural injury mortality disparity for the last decade are still being explored. This study aims to analyze trends in injury mortality disparity between urban and rural areas of China by region, sex, and age from 2010 to 2016.

Methods

Using data from the Disease Surveillance Points system (DSPs) collected by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2010 to 2016, injury age-standardized mortality rates (ASMRs) and rate ratios (RRs) were calculated for different groups. Chi-square tests were used to compare differences in rates between urban and rural residents. The time trends of injury ASMRs were assessed via the annual percentage change (APC), and RRs were used to analyze urban-rural mortality disparity.

Results

The crude injury mortality rate of rural areas was 1.5 times higher than that of urban areas. The urban-rural RR of injury ASMR decreased from 1.8 to 1.5 (APC = 5.0%) over time, from 2.0 to 1.7 (APC = 4.7%) for eastern regions, from 1.9 to 1.5 (APC = 5.4%) and from 1.6 to 1.3 (APC = 4.5%) among males and females, respectively. Further decreases were from 2.0 to 1.4 (APC = 7.8%), from 1.9 to 1.6 (APC = 6.4%), and from 1.8 to 1.2 (APC = 5.7%) in the 5–14, 45–64, and 65+ year age groups, respectively. The urban-rural RRs of ASMRs for fall, drowning and suicide decreased from 1.3 to 1.2 (APC = − 3.0%), from 2.3 to 1.6 (APC = − 13.8%) and from 2.1 to 1.6 (APC = − 9.9%,), respectively.

Conclusions

The urban-rural injury mortality disparity was large, but showed a significant decreasing trend in China. Residents of eastern regions, males/females, 5–14/45+ year age groups in the urban-rural injury mortality disparity all decreased gradually during the investigated period.

Microbial Degradation of Forensic Samples of Biological Origin: Potential Threat to Human DNA Typing

Forensic biology is a sub-discipline of biological science with an amalgam of other branches of science used in the criminal justice system. Any nucleated cell/tissue harbouring DNA, either live or dead, can be used as forensic exhibits, a source of investigation through DNA typing. These biological materials of human origin are rich source of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, trace elements as well as water and, thus, provide a virtuous milieu for the growth of microbes. The obstinate microbial growth augments the degradation process and is amplified with the passage of time and improper storage of the biological materials. Degradation of these biological materials carriages a huge challenge in the downstream processes of forensic DNA typing technique, such as short tandem repeats (STR) DNA typing. Microbial degradation yields improper or no PCR amplification, heterozygous peak imbalance, DNA contamination from non-human sources, degradation of DNA by microbial by-products, etc. Consequently, the most precise STR DNA typing technique is nullified and definite opinion can be hardly given with degraded forensic exhibits. Thus, suitable precautionary measures should be taken for proper storage and processing of the biological exhibits to minimize their decaying process by micro-organisms.