Structural changes in the crystalline lens as a function of the postmortem interval assessed with two-photon imaging microscopy.

The properties and structure of the crystalline lens change as time after death passes. Some experiments have suggested that these might be used to estimate the postmortem interval (PMI). In this study, the organization and texture of the rabbit lens were objectively evaluated as a function of the PMI using two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF) imaging microscopy.

Trace elements in forensic human lung: A new approach to the diagnosis of seawater drowning. A preliminary study.

The diagnosing of drowning remains one of the most challenging activities for the forensic pathologist. There is little information on the impact on the lung as a target organ in death by drowning. We aimed to investigate the concentration of trace elements in the lungs of people who had suffered different types of death to evaluate the discriminating ability of trace elements to identify seawater drowning (SWD).

Aging and trace elements in human coronal tooth dentine.

Teeth are a fundamental tool in forensic odontology for identification in a legal context of those individuals who cannot be identified visually or by other means. Dentine presents physiological exchanges of in trace elements after a period of mineralization and several factors can affect its concentration. The aim of this study was to investigate the concentration of 25 trace elements in the coronal dentine according to sex and type of tooth to determine their relationship with age.

Quantification of nitrogenous bases, DNA and Collagen type I for the estimation of the postmortem interval in bone remains.

Estimating the postmortem interval (PMI) is an important goal in forensic medicine and continues to be one of the most difficult tasks of the forensic investigator. Few accurate methods exist to determine the time since death of skeletonized human remains due to the great number of intrinsic and external factors that may alter the normal course of postmortem change. The purpose of this research was to assess the usefulness of various biochemical parameters, such as nitrogenous bases (adenine, guanine, purines, cytosine, thymine, pyrimidines, hypoxanthine and xanthine), DNA and Collagen Type I peptides to estimate PMI.

Usefulness of protein analysis for detecting pathologies in bone remains.

Forensic pathology often uses osteobiography, which involves biological profiles based on a determination of the age, sex, constitution, pathological states and other anomalies (paleopathology) of subjects for identification purposes. In this paper, proteins were analysed in bone remains. A total of 45 long bones from 45 different cadavers (29 males, 16 females) with a mean age of 66.

Morphological and histological changes in eye lens: Possible application for estimating postmortem interval.

Establishing the postmortem interval is a very complex problem in Forensic Science despite the existence of several macro- and microscopic methods. In the case of ocular methods, most are based on an evaluation of the biochemical components of the vitreous humour 24-36h after death, but, to our knowledge, there are no studies on the relationship between lens and the postmortem interval. Since the lens is protected between the vitreous humour and the aqueous humour inside the eyeball, postmortem changes are assumed to start later in the lens.