Firearm Fatalities in the Pediatric Population: A Retrospective Study From the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Gunshot injuries are one of the leading causes of death from trauma in the United States. In recent years, the US has experienced an increasing number of fatal pediatric cases related to firearms.A search of the database of the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office over the period January 2016-December 2021 revealed 418 deaths by gunshot wounds (GSWs) among people aged between 0 and 18 years old.

Sudden cardiac death due to an obstructive large right atrial myxoma.

Sudden cardiac death is a phenomenon that affects more than 200,000 individuals annually in the United States. Among sudden cardiac deaths, only a fractionally small portion is thought to be attributable to intracardiac neoplasms. Though rarely implicated as the primary cause of death, cardiac myxomas are the most common benign neoplasms of the heart and have been known to cause death due to multifactorial embolic events, fatal arrhythmias, and frank obstructive events.

MDMB-4en-PINACA-Related Deaths in Cook County Jail: Awareness and Preventive Measures.

Since January 2023, a series of fatalities has occurred in the Cook County Jail. Upon reviewing surveillance videos, in some cases, the inmates shared paper strips, and it was followed by the onset of labored breathing and loss of consciousness. Scene investigation revealed burnt paper strips near the body in 3 cases.

Sudden Death Due to Coronary Vasculitis: An Unexpected Autopsy Finding and Unusual Association With Thymic Hyperplasia.

A 43-year-old Asian woman was found unresponsive on the sidewalk, prompting a call to 911. Upon transportation to the hospital, no signs of trauma were evident, but her condition deteriorated, leading to her eventual passing. An autopsy revealed a complete occlusion of the right coronary artery due to segmental coronary artery vasculitis.

Evaluating the Reliability of Dipstick Drug Screens on Vitreous and Postmortem Blood as a Triage Modality in Forensic Pathology.

Dipstick drug screens are cheap, easy to use, and quick presumptive tests to detect common drugs of abuse. Dipsticks are designed for drug detection in urine. There is no literature regarding their potential use on fluids different from urine.

Female Homicide Victims in Cook County, Illinois: A Retrospective Review.

Female homicide is a broad term that includes any homicide in which the victim is a female, representing the most extreme form of violence against women. This study investigated the characteristics of female homicides to determine the types and characteristics of injury, circumstances of the events, and other aspects in this specific population. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office files were searched for homicides in female subjects between January 2017 and January 2022, with no limits for age, race, or cause of death.

Petroclival Clinoidal Folds and Relationships with Arachnoidal Membranes of Medial Incisural Space: Old Neuroanatomical Terms for a New Neurosurgical Speech in Cadaver Labs with Limited Resources Era. Part III: Arachnoid Membranes, Cranial Nerves, and Surgical Implications.

BACKGROUND Anatomical dissections play an irreplaceable role in the training of new generations of effective neurosurgeons, especially when addressing skull base lesions is required.The Authors describe an inter-laboratory dissection study aimed at improving the knowledge of a complex region of the skull base. The anterior and middle incisural spaces are of remarkable anatomical and surgical interest due to complex relationships between bony, dural, arachnoidal, and neurovascular structures.

Petroclival Clinoidal Folds and Relationships with Arachnoidal Membranes of Anterior and Middle Incisural Spaces: Old Neuroanatomical Terms for a New Neurosurgical Speech in Cadaver Labs with Limited Resources Era. Part II: Free Edge of the Tentorium, Petroclinoid Folds, and Incisural Spaces.

BACKGROUND Anatomical dissections play an irreplaceable role in the training of new generations of effective neurosurgeons, especially when addressing skull base lesions is required.The Authors describe an inter-laboratory dissection study aimed at improving the knowledge of a complex region of the skull base. The anterior and middle incisural spaces are of remarkable anatomical and surgical interest due to complex relationships between bony, dural, arachnoidal, and neurovascular structures.

Petroclival Clinoidal Folds and Relationships with Arachnoidal Membranes and Neural Structures of Anterior and Middle Incisural Spaces: Old Neuroanatomical Terms for a New Neurosurgical Speech in Cadaver Labs with Limited Resources Era. Part I: Osteology and Structural Anatomy of Dura Mater.

Purpose The role of cadaver labs in preparing new generations of effective neurosurgeons is of paramount importance. The Authors describe a personal cadaver lab experience aimed at improving the knowledge of a difficult region of the central skull base. The anterior and middle incisural spaces are regions of remarkable anatomical, and surgical interest due to complex relationships between bony, dural, arachnoidal, and neurovascular structures.

The Recent Rise of Eutylone Intoxications in Onondaga County and Surrounding Counties.

Eutylone is an emerging synthetic stimulant that is quickly gaining popularity due to its affordability and wide availability. A recent surge has been observed in Upstate New York. This study presents a retrospective review of deaths in which eutylone was identified in postmortem samples from January 2018 to December 2021 in the electronic database of the Onondaga County medical examiner's office in Syracuse, NY.

Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension Papillopathy due to Hormonal Changes during Pregnancy.

Background: The underlying mechanisms of papilledema associated with intracranial hypertension remain unclear. A case of bilateral papillary edema in a patient with chronic idiopathic intracranial hypertension who was asymptomatic during her two pregnancies is reported. .

Quantification and persistence of COVID-19 virus in recently deceased individuals before and after embalming.

The COVID-19 pandemic severely affected the medical education worldwide. The infection risk for medical students and healthcare personnel who work with COVID-19 positive cadavers or tissues remains unclear. Moreover, COVID-19 positive cadavers have been rejected by medical schools, adversely impacting the continuum of medical education.

Five-year review (2014-2019) of paediatric accidental deaths in Cook County, Illinois (USA).

In the USA, intentional and accidental injuries are the most frequent causes of death in children. Many of these deaths could be avoided through preventive measures, and aetiological studies are needed to reduce fatalities. The leading causes of accidental death vary by age.

In vitro and in vivo degradation correlations for polyurethane foams with tunable degradation rates.

Polyurethane foams present a tunable biomaterial platform with potential for use in a range of regenerative medicine applications. Achieving a balance between scaffold degradation rates and tissue ingrowth is vital for successful wound healing, and significant in vivo testing is required to understand these processes. Vigorous in vitro testing can minimize the number of animals that are required to gather reliable data; however, it is difficult to accurately select in vitro degradation conditions that can effectively mimic in vivo results.

Low-grade Fibromyxoid Sarcoma With Heterotopic Bone Formation: Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Low-grade fibromyxoid sarcoma is an uncommon soft tissue malignant neoplasm with deceptively bland histologic appearance, and a tendency for late recurrence and metastasis. Cases with significant heterotopic ossification are exceedingly rare. In the literature, only 9 cases of low-grade fibromyxoid sarcoma with bone formation proven by histopathology have been described in detail in the literature.

The shame of truth - death due to accidental autoerotic asphyxia.

Autoerotic deaths occur in the context of sexual activity when different devices and objects are used to increase stimulation and sexual pleasure, resulting in unintentional deaths. A common feature of autoerotic deaths s the presence of a self-rescue mechanism to ensure survival and escape a dangerous situation. By definition, autoerotic deaths are accidental.

Fatal bone marrow embolism.

A 45-year-old man presented to the emergency department with fever, hypotension, respiratory distress, and altered mental status. Imaging revealed a femoral fracture and arterial blood gas showed severe metabolic acidosis. He died soon after admission.

Determination of the Force Required to Produce Stab "Wounds" in Fruit Compared With Cadaveric Chest Tissue.

In laymen's terms, it can be difficult to communicate how much force is needed to create a stab wound into a person's chest. Previous work has determined the force to puncture the skin, rib cartilage, or bone but without putting the results in terms that are easy to understand.The purpose of this study was to determine the force needed to puncture 3 types of fruit using 3 different types of knives, namely, a steak knife, a butcher's knife, and a lock-blade knife, to help put these previous results in perspective.

Determination of Force Required to Produce Stab Wounds in Cadaveric Chest Tissues.

When investigating deaths due to stab wounds, a common question asked to the forensic pathologist concerns the force required to inflict a given wound.In this study, tests were performed on 6 human cadavers. A material testing machine was used to produce the stab wounds and to record the force required to penetrate skin, muscle, cartilage, and rib bone of the chest.

Café coronary syndrome - case report and medicolegal implications.

Café coronary syndrome is a term used to describe a sudden collapse of healthy subjects during meals in the absence of any sign of asphyxia, respiratory distress, or neurological symptoms. Risk factors are advanced age, poor dentition, alcohol intoxication, and dementia or psychiatric disorders. One of the main problems with this syndrome is that, even when witnessed, it is often confused with myocardial infarction due to the absence of asphyxia symptoms.

Late-onset of ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency: A rare medical examiner case.

Ornithine Transcarbamylase (OTC) is an enzyme of the urea cycle, which converts ammonia into urea in the liver cells. OTC plays a crucial role in the breakdown and removal of nitrogen in the body. OTC deficiency is a rare X-linked recessive disorder that classically presents in early life with signs of hyperammonemia and progressive central nervous system involvement resulting in seizures, coma, and death.

Review of IgG4-related Hashimoto Thyroiditis With Best Practice Recommendations for Diagnosis and Reporting.

Found in virtually any organ system, immunoglobulin (Ig) G4-related disease (RD) is a recently recognized immune-mediated, systemic, a fibroinflammatory disease characterized histologically by storiform fibrosis, obliterative phlebitis, and lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate with IgG4-positive plasma cells (PCs). IgG4-related Hashimoto thyroiditis (IgG4-RHT), also called IgG4-related thyroiditis, shares many features with IgG4-RD but is distinct in several ways. A case of IgG4-RHT in a 51-year-old African American female is assembled together with a literature review which uncovered 82 cases of IgG4-RHT.