Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology

An increased incidence of myocardial infarction is seen among the professional drivers. Sedentary life style, high psychological demands and job strain can be attributed to higher risk of coronary artery disease in these professionals. Herein, we report a case where a male bus driver died due to myocardial ischemia. This case is of importance because if myocardial infarction occurs in a driver while on duty it can pose a great danger to the lives of the passengers travelling in the vehicle.

Keywords: Professional driver, Job strain, Sudden death, Autopsy, Myocardial ischemia.

An unknown dead body of a middle aged man was found hanging from a tree, by a coir rope, in the Indian forests. The body was in an advanced state of decomposition and partial skeletonization was evident in the upper parts of the body. Crime scene investigation revealed a bunch of hair located at a distance away from the dead body with a few maggots crawling on the recovered bunch of hair. The source of the isolated hair bunch was perplexing and there was a possibility of violence ensuing ante-mortem separation of hairs. The length and texture of isolated hairs matched with the scalp hairs on the dead body, which was later confirmed by microscopy. The presence of maggots in the isolated hair bunch recovered from the deep forest suggests that the flies had laid eggs on these hairs in situ. The hairs were later detached from the scalp as a normal postmortem sequel. The maggots that were present in the scalp accompanied the hairs during its postmortem detachment. These findings confirm that the isolated hairs had their origin in the corpse, and rules out the ante-mortem separation of hairs, a possibility of any scuffle or homicidal attempt. The above case justifies the diverse implementations of Forensic Entomology in crime investigation.

Keywords: Forensic entomology; Maggots; Detached hair.

Background: Estimation of an individual’s stature is an important parameter in forensic examination and anthropological studies. Only few studies of other racial groups, exists which emphasis the need to establish standard in different ethnic populations. There fore this study was carried out in the 249 male and female above 23 years of tribal community from Aslona area of Gujarat region. Materials & Method: The height of the individuals was measured standing erect in anatomical position, using a standing height measuring instrument. The hand length (direct linear distance between the distal wrist crease and the distal end of the most anterior projecting point of the middle finger) was measured using the sliding caliper capable of measuring to the nearest 0.01mm and to investigate the relationship between personal stature and hand length among a group of male or female. Results: The differences of hand length between the sexes were found to be highly significant. A positive correlation between height and hand length was observed in both the sexes and it was statically significant. Regression equation for stature has been estimated using the hand length for both sexes. Conclusion: The result indicates that hand length provides precise means of estimating the stature of an unknown individual. The regression formula derived in this study will be useful for anatomists, archeologist, anthropologist and forensic scientist.

Keywords: Standard Deviation (SD), Ethnic populations, Regression equation, Stature.

Background: Identification of sex of an individual from human skeleton is important for forensic experts. The hip bone is ideal bone for sex determination. Material & Method: Present study was done on 65 hip bones (35 male and 30 female) of known sex. Three parameters were used. Results: In the present study significant statistical difference was seen between the mean values of width and the distance from posterior superior iliac spine to posterior inferior iliac spine of male and female hip bones on both the sides. Conclusion: Since a significant difference was observed in values of width and distance from posterior superior iliac spine to posterior inferior iliac spine of male and female hip bones on the both the sides. Hence these parameters are useful in identifying the sex of ileum to determining the sex using the hip bone.

Keywords: Hip bone; ileum; sex determination.

Background: Myocardial infarction is the most important cause of mortality and morbidity in the world. The knowledge of major risk factors can be useful in prevention of it. The objective of this study is to investigate the relation between the dermatoglyphic patterns as an indication of genetic susceptibility in the incidence of myocardial infarction. Dermatoglyphics has been well established as a diagnostic aid in a number of diseases having hereditary basis. Materials & Method: The method used to collect the dermatoglyphic patterns for the present study was standard ink method. Before taking the print persons asked to wash hands with soap and water to remove oil, sweat and dirt from the skin. Total 180 cases of both sex ( 90 patients of myocardial infarction & 90 controls normal healthy) were included. Results: It was found that patients of myocardial infarction have decrease in ulnar loops & increase in whorls and increase in total finger ridge count. These genetic factors are reflected as changes in dermatoglyphic pattern in patients of ischemic heart disease. Sophisticated investigations may not be possible in all cases. Conclusion: Dermatoglyphics may be used as a screening test & preventive measures in development of myocardial infarction.

Keywords: - Dermatoglyphics, Myocardial infarction, Palm print, Loops, Arches, Whorls.

Background: Prompt and accurate certification of death is essential. This provides legal evidence of the fact and cause(s) of death, thus enabling the death to be formally registered. Death certification also provides data of mortality statistics. These are vital for public health surveillance and for a wide range of research – and thus ultimately for improving the health of the population. METHODS: This is a retrospective, descriptive, cross-sectional study. In this study, all issued death certificates in five private non-teaching hospitals in Davangere, during Jan., 2010 to Dec. 2010 were reviewed. The total 334 death certificates were considered for the study. The rate of documentation and errors were calculated. The questionnaire was designed according to aim of research and reliability was tested with Cronbach’s alpha = 0.87 in a pilot study. RESULTS: The gross errors in writing Medical Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD) were the frequent findings in our study. Out of 334 MCCDs’ evaluated, the name of deceased was not written correctly in 24.25% of cases. The sex and age are the two of the important demographic criteria which were not mentioned in more than 1/3 of cases. The Address of the deceased was not mentioned correctly in 21.84% cases. The date and time of death were not written properly in 17.07% of cases, but they are the very important factors to be mentioned in the cause of death certificate. The doctor’s name was not written in more than 50% of cases. In 66 certificates, the place of death was not mentioned amounting to 19.76% of the total certificates. The Cause of Death was not correctly written in about 75% certificates. Mode of death was wrongly mentioned as cause of death in 35.33% of total cases. CONCLUSION: Evaluation of MCCD’s shows significant number of errors in writing death certificate. The reasons being, low level training and callous attitude of the physicians towards writing death certificates. Training program in death certificate completion by physicians and improvement of diagnostic tests for better documentation are suggested. Physician’s skills in death certificate completion can be improved with an educational intervention. An interactive workshop is a more effective intervention than a printed handout. 

Keywords: Cause of Death, World health organization, medical certification, Autopsy, guidelines, Medical Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD).

Background: Learning style is a way of learning that allows the individual to learn best. Four learning styles which are often identified in students are visual, auditory, reading/writing and kinaesthetic (VARK). The VARK focuses the learners to use their senses i.e. hearing, seeing, reading, writing and experiencing to learn. Materials & Method: A newest version of the VARK questionnaire (16 questions) was administered to 208 third and fourth year medical students (104 males and 104 females) during their course of forensic medicine course at SSR Medical College. The Students were allowed to choose multiple answers as per instruction given on the prescribed questions’ sheet. The scoring algorithm of VARK was then applied to identify the modality preference of each student. Result: The results from a chi square analysis (÷2 =0.710, df = 3 and p = 0.871) indicated that there was no difference in learning preferences by gender. Conclusion: VARK encourages teachers to respect the diversity of the learners. The students have ability to learn in different ways, if the methods of teaching are appropriate to the students’ preference.

Keywords: Learning styles; Gender difference; VARK; Medical Students.

Background: Amongst all the mechanical asphyxial deaths “compression of neck” forms the biggest chunk of the pie. In deaths due to compression of neck, faint ligature mark or absence of ligature mark poses limitations in arriving at conclusion of mechanical asphyxia due to compression of neck. Further limitation is posed in cases of decomposed bodies where the ligature mark may not be obviously appreciable. Material & Method: A retrospective analysis of deaths due to mechanical asphyxia by compression of neck was conducted at the department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, JSS Medical College, Mysore, Karnataka, India. A total of 40 cases, subjected to forensic autopsy formed the cohort of study. The details were retrieved from the autopsy reports including histopathology, done from January 2005 to December 2010. Gross and microscopic findings of the compression marks were analyzed. Result: The ligature mark was completely encircling the neck in 50% of cases. Microscopic findings were remarkable with varying degrees of vital reactions. Thinning of epidermis, crowding and compression of keratinocytes were seen in 67.5% of the cases which were the most consistent microscopic features. The importance of microscopic analysis for timing such injuries as to antemortem or postmortem is discussed with a forensic viewpoint. Conclusion: It is a useful tool in faint ligature mark and in putrefied bodies to arrive at the cause and manner of death.

Keywords: Forensic autopsy, compression of neck, mechanical asphyxia, histopathology.