Hour Of Death Research Articles

Riboflavin-deficient chicken embryos: hypoglycemia without dicarboxylic aciduria

Chicken embryos in eggs laid by hens that are genetically unable to deposit riboflavin into their eggs die on or about the 13th day of incubation. We show that these riboflavin-deficient embryos grow normally until the day of death and that their heart rate is normal to within an hour of death. The embryos have symptoms of impaired fatty acid oxidation, including decreased activity of FAD-dependent medium-chain acyl CoA dehydrogenase in liver and heart along with a significant accumulation of intermediates of fatty acid oxidation (C10, C12, and C14 acids). Unlike riboflavin-deficient mammals, the embryos do not accumulate dicarboxylic acids derived from ω-oxidation of fatty acids. Blood glucose is near normal on day 10 but declines to undetectable levels by the time of death. Allantoic fluid from the riboflavin-deficient embryos of 11 days or older contains more lactate than 3-hydroxybutyrate, while in normal embryos the reverse is true. No appreciable amounts of glycine-conjugated acids were found. Weconclude that the major and perhaps primary pathological effect of riboflavin deficiency in chicken embryos is the impairment of fatty acid β-oxidation, and that the subsequent depletion of limited carbohydrate reserves leads to sudden death.

Death by Prescription

Society and physicians in the United States remain unable to accept death and thus unable to deal with the physical, psychological, and spiritual approach of death. The hour of death itself “is commonly tranquil,” but “the serenity is usually bought at a fearful price -- and the price is the process by which we reach that point”1 -- a process that has been described as “a purgatory that may last for weeks.”1 Suicide has been seen as a rational way to avoid that purgatory, especially as a response to end-stage cancer and AIDS, and proposals to “legalize” physician-assisted suicide in . . .

Localization of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the human hypothalamus; age-dependent colocalization with vasopressin

Immunocytochemical staining, using a monoclonal antibody against corticotropin-releasing hormone, was performed on hypothalami of 13 human subjects between 23 and 91 years of age who had not suffered from a primary neurological or psychiatric disease. Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) immunoreactivity was present in neurons of the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and in their fibers running to the median eminence. The CRH-positive neurons were scattered throughout the PVN, but in the rostral part relatively few cells were present. There were large individual differences in the number and staining intensity of CRH neurons in the PVN and in the staining intensity of the median eminence. These differences seemed not to be attributed to age, sex, postmortem delay, fixation time or hour of death. In the rat, too, no relationship was found between a postmortem delay of up to 24 h and CRH staining intensity of the median eminence. Since the distribution of CRH-immunoreactive neurons in the human PVN strongly overlap with vasopressin, colocalization of these peptides was investigated in a double label study and indeed found in subjects ranging between 43 and 91 years of age. However, cells staining for only one of the peptides were also observed. The vasopressin cells had a mean cellular profile area which was 2.3 times as large as the CRH cells and 2.2 times as large as the CRH and vasopressin containing neurons. In younger subjects (23-37 years of age) no colocalization of the two peptides was seen. The age-dependent colocalization of CRH with vasopressin is interpreted as a sign of increased activation of the CRH neurons with age.

Tolerance of the Striped Earwig (Dermaptera: Labiduridae) to Hot and Dry Conditions

We measured the degree of adaptation to a xeric environment of immatures and adults of the striped earwig, Labidura riparia (Pallas). All stages of the striped earwig were moderately tolerant to heat, with critical thermal maxima ranging from 45.2 to 46.1°C for small and large nymphs, respectively. Percentage body water content ranged from 58.9% for females to 75.6% for small nymphs. Cuticular permeabilities were similar for all stages and were within the range of those reported for xeric species, ranging from 8.5 μg water lost per cm2·h·mm Hg for medium-sized nymphs to 17.0 μg water lost per cm2·h·mm Hg for females. Percentage total body water lost increased linearly with desiccation time. Lethal body water loss varied among stages and ranged from 47.6 to 52.9% for small and medium nymphs. The mean hour of death ranged from 16.8 h for small nymphs to 70.7 h for large nymphs, indicating that small nymphs were the least tolerant of desiccating conditions.

Die Bestimmung des Muskelalbumingehaltes

The relatively high stability of albumin in the muscles of a corpse results in an increase of this fraction during the electrophoresis, which is dependent on time. The albumin content gives an inner standard, which can be used for indirect measurements of the proteolysis. Consequently albumin is a suitable parameter to determine post mortem intervals. Investigations carried out during post mortem examinations showed that the increase of the albumin content in skeletal muscles, after storage at 4 degrees C, proves to be roughly linear. From this investigation guidelines or data on the myo-albumin content can be found, which may be used in individual cases to determine the maximum post mortem interval, i.e. the maximum period of time the body lay after the hour of death. Albumin levels below 5.0 rel.% make it almost impossible to range the post mortem interval above one week.

Investigations to determine the time of death, late post mortem, by means of electrophoresis of inner organs (author's transl)

In CAF-electrophoresis, extracts of cardiac muscle and of kidney tissue, after storage at 4 degrees C, show a roughly linear increase of the equivalent to the Albumin fraction. This increase depends on the time elapsed and is explained by the relatively high stability of this fraction compared to organ proteins, which appear in the globulin region. Thus, a sort of internal standard exists and can be used as a parameter for the determination of the post mortem period. Hepatic tissue is less suitable for this kind of investigations as the relation of the post mortem period and the values of the relative concentration of the fraction do not show the linearity found in cardiac muscle and kidney tissue. Splenic tissue shows no distinct trend and the findings are of little value. The present investigations were arranged in such a way that taking the order of magnitude for the equivalent of the Albumin fraction as a guideline led to a determination of the maximum post mortem period, i.e., the maximum period of time the body lay after the hour of death. The tables of this paper show the figures for the individual organs.

At the Hour of Death

At the Hour of Death

Über den Lipidabbau durch Autolyse

Introduction: The autolytic decomposition of organ lipids after death consists in the continuous cleavage of triglycerides and phosphatides with the liberation of the corresponding lyso compounds and fatty acids of higher valence. These changes mainly depend on the intracellular enzyme activity, spontaneous decomposition and acid catalytic influences; these processes differ from organ to organ. Taking the spleen as an axample, the decompostion process, in vitro, during the sterile autolysis was analyzed by chemical and chromatographic methods over a period of 12 days. Material and methods: The organ was removed 2 h after death. In the experiment in which autolysis was carried out for 12 days, 5 g pieces of tissue were kept at room temperature in a moist chamber avoiding the growth of bacteria. For morphological investigation tissues were stained with Hemalum-Eosin and Hemalum-Sudan. The extraction and estimation of total lipids was carried out as described by Folch et al. (1957) and the determination of phospholipid phosphorus according to Fiske and Subbarow (1925). Separation of total lipids into individual components was done by thin layer chromatography as described by Mangold and Tuna (1961); authentic lipids were used to compare the different components. The separation of phosphatides, particularly of sphingophosphatides, was done by thin layer chromatography as described by Jatzkewitz (1964) and by paper chromatography as described by Thiele (1961). The total lipids were quantitatively eluted as a lipid mixture from the column (Borgström, 1952; Zöllner and Eberhagen, 1965). The lipid mixture contained glycerides, free fatty acids, cholesterol esters, and free cholesterol. Free fatty acids were removed by extraction with dilute NaOH. The unsaturated fatty acids were estimated quantitatively by uv-spectroscopy (Holmann and Burr, 1948; Klenk et al., 1955). The chain length of different fatty acids was examined by gas chromatography. Results: The cleavage of triglycérides begins after 36 hours of autolysis and results in an over-all increase of saturated fatty acids. The decompostion rate of glyceric phosphatides was approximately one half between the 3rd and 6th day. The products of cleavage were found to be oleic acid, linoleic acid, and arachidonic acid. Plamalogen decomposed into lysocephalin and aldehydes; the latter are further oxidized to free fatty acids between the 6th and 12th day. The free fatty acids show a shift in the relationship saturated to unsaturated, in favour of the latter during the autolysis. The composition of the unsaturated fatty acids and their increase as a result of autolysis indicates that they are mainly formed from the decomposition of glyceric phosphatides. Sphingosine phosphatides, cholesterol and its esters remain unchanged during the autolysis extending over 12 days. These results indicate that the cleavage products, formed as a result of the decomposition of lipids, especially the spectrum of free fatty acis, together with histological findings are useful parameters which may be helpful in the synopsis for the determination of the hour of death.

In vitro studies of post mortem neural tissue in subacute selerosing panecephalitis (SSPE)

Brain and spinal cord from 2 cases of SSPE were obtained within one hour of death and cultures were established from multiple sites including frontal, temporal and parietal lobes, pons, cerebellum and cord. These were serially passaged and remained viable for many months. Their growth rates, cytologic detail, and survival varied depending on the region of brain sampled. Only certain of these cultures, derived from specific neuroanatomical sites showed evidence of measles antigen or yielded a viral agent when appropriately studied.Cell cultures derived from cortical regions showed intranuclear and intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies even before a monolayer had formed. These inclusions were both type A and B, and in one case the cells showed significant hemadsorption in a distribution indicating the presence of viral antigen in terminal processes.Two cell types could be identified in early cultures from the cortex but with passage, one of these, a small round cell with a hyperchromatic nucleus, disappeared and the other, a larger cell, seemed to elongate and divide rapidly, resulting in the fibroblastic monolayer. The cells derived from the cerebellum and spinal cord were slower to grow, had a shorter survival and different morphology.Despite widespread pathologic changes in both brains, cytopathology developed only in the cultures of the frontal lobe in the first case and to date, after 3 months, this is the only region showing similar changes in studies of the second patient. An agent, immunologically identified as measles virus has been isolated from one of these specimens. This study underscores the importance of post mortem cultivation of neural tissue in all patients with chronic CNS disease.

Size and growth of viscer in the southern elephant seal, Mirounga leonina (L.)

Relative size and relative growth of the viscera of elephant seals ranging in age from birth to 16 yr were studied. Individual organs were measured and weighed within an hour of death. The data were subjected to regression analyses, making use of the logarithmic transformation of the allometric equation. Fat-free body weight was the independent variable in the analyses, to avoid apparent growth patterns which could be attributable to large fluctuations in the body fat only. The relative weight data established normal values for organ weight in elephant seals in different phases of growth, although it was recognized that relative weight did change within growth phases in some organs, i.e, those whose growth coefficient was significantly greater or less than 1.000. Changes of relative weight of some organs were particularly marked in phase 1 of growth (suckling phase), when very rapid body weight growth occurred. The relative size of most organs was similar to that in other mammals. The stomach was relatively smaller than other carnivore stomachs, and the liver was relatively larger than in terrestrial mammals but similar to that in cetaceans. The relative length and weight of the small intestine were very much greater than in other carnivores. The spleen was relatively very large. The possible reasons for the difference in relative size of these organs in elephant seals and other mammals are discussed. Growth gradients of most organs did not alter significantly between or within growth phases. Exceptions to this pattern were noted and illustrated for the stomach, liver, pancreas, heart, reproductive tract, and eyes. The interpretation of the growth patterns of different organs was that changes in growth gradients occurred in those organs whose functional significance changed during postnatal life. The functional significance of most organs did not alter markedly within or between growth phases, and in those organs no change in growth pattern occurred throughout postnatal life.

The intensive care unit of Coney Island Hospital: analysis of results in a twelve-month period.

Abstract737 patients were admitted to the intensive care unit of Coney Island Hospital during a twelve‐month period, at the rate of about 60 per month. The data are analyzed regarding sex, age, race, duration of illness, monthly admission rate, condition of the patient on admission, working diagnoses, length of hospital stay, effectiveness of treatment, final disposition, mortality rate, hour of death, and number of consultations. Of the 737 patients admitted, 269 died (130 of them being classified for the purposes of this study as D.O.A. because they were in the unit for less than twelve hours before death). For the remaining 468 patients, records of disposition were available on only 453; of these, 444 were transferred to the wards after improvement, and 9 were discharged. Contrary to the general impression, the number of deaths was no greater during the 11:00 p.m.–7:00 a.m. shift than at other times. For the patients receiving treatment in this intensive care unit, the mortality rate was 18.7 per cent—which seems quite low in view of the severity of the diseases, the poor prognosis, and the relatively advanced age of the patient (average age, 66 years).The medical intensive care unit, though handicapped by the scarcity of qualified physicians and nurses, is an important element in good hospital care. Every effort should be made to improve and enhance such facilities.

Storage and function of the canine aortic valve homograft.

Persistent complications result relative to the mechanical nature of cardiac valve replacements. The most successful alternative presently available is the aortic valve homograft. In each of the several centers using homografts, a different method of preparation and storage is used. 1-5 A series of experiments was designed to compare some of these techniques with the fresh aortic valve homograft. To the authors' knowledge this represents the only published series of canine whole-valve homografts transplanted into the subcoronary position. Valve Procurement Donor dogs were anesthetized with sodium methohexital (Brevital Sodium), 5 mg/kg, and exsanguinated from the left carotid artery, the blood being subsequently used for cardiopulmonary bypass. The right chest was then prepared and draped and the heart removed under sterile conditions within an hour of death. The aortic valve was dissected from surrounding tissue and the aorta trimmed to within 3 mm of the valve annulus. All myocardial and fibrous

Postmortem chest radiography.

A pilot study was undertaken of postmortem radiographic examinations of the chest in a series of 34 patients. These films usually were obtained within one hour of death. Progression of the pulmonary disease process was found in 12 cases (35 per cent) when comparison was made with the last available antemortem film. In 5 of the 12 cases autopsy was carried out with good correlation. It is suggested that in areas where autopsy examination is performed infrequently postmortem chest roentgenograms might help to elucidate certain clinical data and to confirm and/or clarify the cause of death in a substantial number of cases.

The State of Mind in the Hour of Death

The State of Mind in the Hour of Death

Origin of the Thought of Welcoming by Amitabha at the Hour of Death in the Sukhavativyaha

Origin of the Thought of Welcoming by Amitabha at the Hour of Death in the Sukhavativyaha

The Hour of Death

The Hour of Death

Léon Bloy—Pilgrim of the Absolute ed. by Raissa Maritain

BOOK REVIEWS ~59 of history as the great spiritual drama of fall and redemption stamp him as an artist astoundingly perceptive of the truths his own age had denied. This is not to minimize in any way the grave errors into which Blake fell. In addition to those already mentioned, there must be added countless flaws, stemming largely from the unreasoned, intuitive character of his approach to things and the very violence of his reaction against a false reasoning, an inhuman concept of order and justice. Because he craved consideration for the human person, he cursed all governments, all churches, all law human and divine. Because he knew that sex is spiritual as well as physical, he glorified it to an absurd and antinomian degree. Because he realized that art was a God-given, creative power, he considered the artist superior to the mystic and saint, and believed the artistic imagination (by which he obviously meant the intellectual aspects of the creative faculty and not simply the physical power) to be the only valid means of attaining truth and goodness. It is the chief failure of Mr. Frye's work that he does not discriminate between these excesses and the very real good that there is to be found in Blake for those strong and mature enough not to be carried away by him. We can be grateful, then, only up to a point for Mr. Frye's penetrating, comprehensive, but overenthusiastic and often uncritical study. Riggs Memorial Library, Georgetown University. JosEPHINE NicHOLLs HuGHES Leon Bloy-Pilgrim of the Absolute. Edited by RAissA MARITAIN, with an introduction by Jacques Maritain. New York: Pantheon Books, 1947. Pp. 458, with index of sources. $3.50. In her autobiography, Raissa Maritain has already recounted the story of Leon Bloy's profound influence upon her husband and herself. She here presents the life and thought of this extraordinary and uncompromising spirit in extracts from his own voluminous works. Well-chosen selections describe his moral and physical self-portrait, his views on art, poverty, the bourgeois spirit, sanctification and suffering, history and the sense of mystery. Jacques Maritain's introductory essay, adapted from Quelques pages sur Leon Bloy, 19~7, sets forth Bloy's significance as a man and as a thinker. Estimates of Bloy vary considerably. People great and small, of all walks of life, have acclaimed him as their spiritual father. Some critics, like Fr. Fulbert Cayre, A. A. (Patrologie et histoire de la theologie, III, 588) , regard him as a powerful genius who manifesfed signs of exalted illuminism but gratuitously attributed to himself a mission of reformation in the name of the Holy Ghost. Karl Pfleger, in Wrestlers with Christ, 260 BOOK REVIEWS confesses that he was alternately attracted and repelled by Bloy, and then came, in maturity, to revere him more and more. Those who witnessed Bloy in life and at the hour of death, says Maritain, know that he was a truly humble Christian. Maritain provides perhaps the best explanation for Bloy's alleged uncharitableness, and for his antiintellectualism . According to Maritain, Bloy dwelt in a sort of fourth dimension of the spirit and envisaged human beings as pure symbols of devouring spiritual realities. Attacking Mr. Jones by name as he did, he really saw through Jones to Pride or Avarice. This explanation does not seem completely satisfactory. I cannot recall or conceive of any of the Church's canonized Saints (I do not say that Bloy was not a saintly man) , who would heap such fearful invectives upon actual individuals (who would call Benedict XV "Pilate XV," or rejoice when "bourgeois Catholics " were burned to death at the charity bazaar). Much more satisfactory is Maritain's explanation of the wisdom of Bloy. The Pilgrim of the Absolute had no taste for rational discursus; using reason according to an experimental rather than a demonstrative mode, his powerful gifts of intuition were reenforced by the theological virtues and the organism of the infused gifts. Steeped, not in systematic theology or philosophy, but in Sacred Scripture, Bloy gave utterance to doctrines which should be understood mystically and not literally in a scholastic sense. His true place, then, is more with writers like...

Blood sugar in status thymo lymphaticus: New theory as to cause of sudden death.

In the majority of patients who died with symptoms of status thymo-lymphaticus in the wards of the Babies'Hospital, the prostration of the patient was so marked that it was out of all proportion to the general physical findings. The clinical picture closely simulated a state of sugar shock from overdosage of insulin. It was, therefore, decided to determine the blood sugar level in such patients. In three cases where the diagnosis of status thymo-lymphaticus was confirmed by autopsy a sample of blood was taken within half an hour of death while the patient was in convulsions. The blood sugars were 52, 57, and 42 mg. per 100 cc. (Table I.) All three are considerably below the normal blood sugar of infants, which we have found to be between 80-120 mg. per 100 cc. as estimated by the Myers-Bailey modification of the Lewis Benedict method.We have determined the blood sugar within half an hour of death in a series of patients with diseases other than status thymo-lymphaticus. (Table II.) The values are all norm...

The Hour of Death

The Hour of Death

The Hour of Death

The Hour of Death