Hemophagocytosis of the Hilar Pulmonary Lymph Nodes Is a More Sensitive Indicator of the Severity of COVID-19 Disease than Bone Marrow Hemophagocytosis.

In systemic hyper-inflammation, as in severe COVID-19 disease, there are pronounced disorders of the hematological and lymphatic systems with prognostically relevant hemophagocytosis of the bone marrow. The current work aimed to address the importance of hemophagocytosis in the lymph nodes of patients with severe COVID-19 disease. From 28 patients who died of severe COVID-19 infection, samples of the vertebral bone marrow and lymph nodes from the cervical, hilar, para-aortic, mesenteric and inguinal locations were morphologically and immunohistologically (CD163, CD68, CD61, CD71, CD3, CD20, CD138) examined for the possible presence of hemophagocytosis.

Evaluation of biochemical assays and optimization of LC-MS-MS analysis for the detection of synthetic urine.

Ensuring specimen validity is an essential aspect of toxicological laboratories. In recent years, substituting authentic urine specimens for synthetic urine (SU) has become increasingly popular. Such SU products consist of components expected in normal urine and show physiological values for specific gravity and pH.

The impact of anatomy variation on temperature based time of death estimation.

Temperature-based time of death estimation using simulation methods such as the finite element method promise higher accuracy and broader applicability in nonstandard cooling scenarios than established phenomenological methods. Their accuracy depends crucially on the simulation model to capture the actual situation, which in turn hinges on the representation of the corpse's anatomy in form of computational meshes as well as on the thermodynamic parameters. While inaccuracies in anatomy representation due to coarse mesh resolution are known to have a minor impact on the estimated time of death, the sensitivity with respect to larger differences in the anatomy has so far not been studied.

Sensitivity of temperature-based time since death estimation on measurement location.

Rectal temperature measurement (RTM) from crime scenes is an important parameter for temperature-based time of death estimation (TDE). Various influential variables exist in TDE methods like the uncertainty in thermal and environmental parameters. Although RTM depends in particular on the location of measurement position, this relationship has never been investigated separately.

[Optimisation of risk and crisis communication of governments, authorities and public health institutions-challenges in long-lasting crises illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic].

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the great importance of risk and crisis communication. In a dynamic situation, authorities and policymakers face the challenge of dealing with a large amount of data, reviewing it and communicating it in a way that is appropriate for diverse target groups. Comprehensible and unambiguous information on risks and options for action make a significant contribution to the objective and subjective safety of the population.

Stabbed by motorcycle? Reconstruction of an unusual traffic accident.

The reconstruction of traffic accidents involving powered two-wheelers (PTWs) frequently proves to be a challenging task. A case in which a fatal head-on crash of a PTW with a small truck where only minor vehicles damage was observed but resulted in isolated fatal chest trauma is discussed here. External examination of the corpse revealed two lacerations on the back, at the first glance implying sharp trauma.

Delayed occurrence of traumatic aortic dissection? Biomechanical considerations and literature.

Chronic aortic dissections and pseudoaneurysms caused by chest trauma are rare and generally have to be critically distinguished from non-traumatic dissections and aneurysms. We present a well-documented case of a post-traumatic aortic dissection that ruptured about 9 months after chest trauma. A motorcyclist sustained fractures of the forearm and chest trauma with paravertebral rib serial fractures and hemopneumothorax.

Quality measures for fully automatic CT histogram-based fat estimation on a corpse sample.

In a previous article a new algorithm for fully automatic 'CT histogram based Fat Estimation and quasi-Segmentation' (CFES) was validated on synthetic data, on a special CT phantom, and tested on one corpse. Usage of said data in FE-modelling for temperature-based death time estimation is the investigation's number one long-term goal. The article presents CFES's results on a human corpse sample of size R = 32, evaluating three different performance measures: the τ-value, measuring the ability to differentiate fat from muscle, the anatomical fat-muscle misclassification rate D, and the weighted distance S between the empirical and the theoretical grey-scale value histogram.

Bone marrow haemophagocytosis indicates severe infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

Aims: Haemophagocytosis in the bone marrow of patients who have succumbed to coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) has not been widely studied. The aims of the present study were to perform morphological analyses and morphometry of haemophagocytosis in the bone marrow of patients with severe COVID-19, and to correlate the findings with the clinical course of the disease.

Methods And Results: In this single-centre study performed at the University Hospital Jena, bone marrow specimens of 15 deceased patients who had experienced a severe course of COVID-19 were sampled from the vertebral column during autopsy.

Slip and tilt: modeling falls over railings.

Falls over railings are frequent case scenarios forensic experts are confronted with. An important issue is the differentiation of accidental and non-accidental falling scenarios. From a biomechanical point of view, this is a challenging task and should be addressed in a multifactorial approach.

Pedestrian hit by a car impacted metal pole: reconstructing the head load.

Fatal head injuries are frequently seen in pedestrians hit by motorized vehicles. In our case, the pedestrian sustained a devastating head injury with skull splitting in the mediosagittal plane. A car collided with a traffic sign causing a bending of the pole.

Temperature-based death time estimation in near equilibrium: Asymptotic confidence interval estimation.

Temperature based death time estimation (TDE) is severely limited in situations where body core temperature has almost decreased to ambient temperature. The TDE method of Marshall/Hoare and Henßge (MHH) defines a lower bound T for body core temperature below which the time p.m.

Biomechanical approach for the assessment of contacts with deformable objects.

Forensic and biomechanical assessment in case of blunt force trauma can be a challenging task especially when deformable striking objects are used. Evaluations solely based on empirical knowledge can lead to misjudgments. Semi-quantitative and quantitative investigations give the forensic assessment a scientific basis comprising experimental and calculation methods.

Forensic Odontology: Automatic Identification of Persons Comparing Antemortem and Postmortem Panoramic Radiographs Using Computer Vision.

Purpose:  In forensic odontology the comparison between antemortem and postmortem panoramic radiographs (PRs) is a reliable method for person identification. The purpose of this study was to improve and automate identification of unknown people by comparison between antemortem and postmortem PR using computer vision.

Materials And Methods:  The study includes 43 467 PRs from 24 545 patients (46 % females/54 % males).

Influence of striking technique on maximum striking velocities-experimental and statistical investigation.

Forensic experts often have to assess injury and fatality risks in the context of violent blunt force trauma. Maximum striking velocities in one- and two-handed strikes with a rod-like implement can be of particular interest. Current literature lacks studies addressing this problem.

Improving stomach content based death time determination by maximum probability estimation.

Stomach content based death time estimation (SCE), is a well-known technique in forensic sciences. Among more qualitatively oriented approaches the content percentage based method SCE by Tröger, Baur and Spann yields quantitative results and gives stochastic error measures for its outputs. This is possible since the methods estimator, which we call transformed expectation estimator (TEE) as well as the probability distribution of the time between last meal and death are determined numerically, though in SCE the estimator and confidence intervals are presented graphically only.

Fully automatic CT-histogram-based fat estimation in dead bodies.

Post-mortem body cooling is the foundation of temperature-based death time estimations (TDE) in homicide cases. Forensic science generally provides two types of p.m.

Maximum striking velocities in strikes with steel rods-the influence of rod length, rod mass and volunteer parameters.

In blunt force trauma to the head caused by attacks with blunt instruments, contact forces can be estimated based on the conservation of momentum if impact velocities are known. The aims of this work were to measure maximum striking velocities and to examine the influence of rod parameters such as rod mass and length as well as volunteer parameters such as sex, age, body height, body mass, body mass index and the average amount of physical exercise. Steel rods with masses of 500, 1000 and 1500 g as well as lengths of 40, 65 and 90 cm were exemplarily tested as blunt instruments.

Influence of hypo- and hyperthermia on death time estimation - A simulation study.

Numerous physiological and pathological mechanisms can cause elevated or lowered body core temperatures. Deviations from the physiological level of about 37°C can influence temperature based death time estimations. However, it has not been investigated by means of thermodynamics, to which extent hypo- and hyperthermia bias death time estimates.

Calibration and parameter variation using a finite element model for death time estimation: The influence of the substrate.

The most established method for temperature based death time estimation is based on an empirical double exponential model. New physically based approaches using numerical simulation techniques are subject of current research. A major advantage of such models is the possibility to incorporate non-standard boundary conditions.

Fatal abdominal injuries in a bicycle-pedestrian collision - Reconstruction using multibody simulation.

Fatal bicycle-pedestrian collisions do not occur frequently and thus are rarely reported in literature. Pedestrians in bicycle-pedestrian accidents often sustain severe craniocerebral injuries caused by a collision induced fall with head impact on the road surface. We describe a case where a pedestrian crossing a road was hit by a bicycle.

Automatic CT-based finite element model generation for temperature-based death time estimation: feasibility study and sensitivity analysis.

Temperature-based death time estimation is based either on simple phenomenological models of corpse cooling or on detailed physical heat transfer models. The latter are much more complex but allow a higher accuracy of death time estimation, as in principle, all relevant cooling mechanisms can be taken into account.Here, a complete workflow for finite element-based cooling simulation is presented.

Biomechanical assessment of the injury risk of stomping.

Forensic case work as well as literature shows that severe head injuries, e.g., with basilar fractures and cerebral hemorrhages due to stomps can be seen; however, there is no data basis concerning contact forces and potential influencing factors.