Victim's Skin Research Articles

Use of an Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) Plastic Ring as a Matrix in the Recovery of Bite Mark Evidence

Valuable forensic information can be obtained from analysis of human bite mark injuries after careful retrieval of such evidence from living or deceased victims. It is difficult, however, to maintain the anatomical configuration of the skin, especially where body contours complicate the recovery process. Transillumination of the injury pattern in the skin after removal and preservation of the tissue from a deceased victim can provide significant information in the investigation process. A dimensionally stable matrix is required to support the skin's anatomical configuration during and after its removal. The authors have developed a unique and convenient method of heating and contouring a ring of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) plastic using table salt over a heat source. When this ring is applied to the deceased victim's skin, and a backing material is added for support, removal of the skin and the bite mark can be accomplished more predictably while maintaining the anatomical contour. It is important to record bite marks accurately as soon after discovery as possible; the authors believe that this technique will significantly aid recovery of such evidence either at the crime scene or in the laboratory. A method of inscribing appropriate anatomical markers and case numbers on the rings is also described.

The Use of Human Skin in the Fabrication of a Bite Mark Template: Two Case Reports

Comparison of a suspected biter's dental arches with the patterned injury of a bite mark is especially difficult when the bite occurs in an anatomic location with a small radius of curvature or with complex or compound curves. The authors present two case reports in which human skin was used as a template for the reproduction of a bite. In one case the victim's skin was used; in the other, the skin of a anatomically similar person was used. The use of inked dental casts, photography, and transparent overlays significantly reduced the errors common to analysis of bite marks in these highly curved areas.

Fatal portuguese man-o'-war (Physalia physalis) envenomation

A fatal case of Physalia physalis (Portuguese man-o'-war) envenomation occurred on the Florida Atlantic coast in 1987. Despite appropriate beachside first aid, the patient was conscious only several minutes before having primary respiratory arrest and, later, cardiovascular collapse that resulted in death. Discharged nematocysts were still visible on the injured stratum corneum five days after envenomation. Additional treatment maneuvers suggested by this case include testing the tentacle fragments found on the victim's skin before their removal to ensure that nematocyst firing has been counteracted. We document the first human fatality caused by P physalis envenomation.

Membrane replaces skin of burn victims

A synthetic membrane to replace skin on severely burned patients is under development by a team of polymer scientists and surgeons in Massachusetts. The membrane has been tried so far on eight patients with results that convinced the surgical team that they ought to use it instead of cadaver skin or porcine skin for badly burned patients, says Ioannis V. Yannas, a polymer engineer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is developing the membrane along with surgeon John F. Burke of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Skin from human cadavers or from pigs is the most often used material for covering wounds where a large percentage of the victim's skin has been damaged, Yannas explains. Preferable to either of these materials is an autograft—the transfer of healthy skin from some other part of the body to the wound. However, this procedure is possible only when damage to the skin is not too extensive. ...

海岸岩場地帯の海水浴・潜水者にみられる水中刺咬症

Injuries by stings of unknown agents have been reported to occur among the swimmers in the rocky seaweed-growing seashore areas of Niigata Prefecture. The stings were seen among the bathers and the seaweed-collecting divers in summer season and caused the local initial skin lesions in most cases. Usually a variety of general symptoms followed. In order to investigate the causative agent of this sting, the clinical, epidemiological studies and the toxicological experiments have been carried out since July, 1970. The results obtained so far are as follows : 1) The stings took place during the period from the middle of June to the end of August with the greatest number of cases occurring in the second and last decades of July. Most victims were under twenty years of age but the cases of the woman seaweed collectors were older. The severe cases were observed especially in these woman divers. 2) The stings occurred mainly on the skin of the trunk covered by the swimming suit. At the site of sting, usually the initial pain was present and the localized erythematous patch up to several cm in diameter followed. 3) The general symptoms consisted of severe pains in the various groups of muscles, oppression of chest, coughing, lacrimation, serous rhinorrhea, nausea, vomiting, fever etc., and in general the recovery occurred in 1 or 2 days. In severe cases the victims were sent to hospital because of severe pains and dysbasia, and had to receive approximately one week's medical attention. The same symptoms were occasionally seen by eating a kind of seaweed Nemacystus decipiens (Suringar) in raw condition. 4) The etiological investigations have been made to find out a small poisonous jellyfish in the rocky seaweed-growing locality where the victims were stung, since such clinical and epidemiological aspects seemed to refer to the sting by it. Consequently, a small jellyfish measuring 5∿15mm in diameter Gonionemus oshoro Uchida has been discovered in accordance with the seasonal occurrence of victims. 5) Some victims have told us to see a small jellyfish-like agent at the sting site under the swimming suit. It is also possible that such a jellyfish got between the swimming suit and the skin of trunk may result in simultaneously discharging the venom of numerous nematocysts into the skin of victims. 6) The assaying of the venom of nematocyst extracted from G. oshoro showed that some signs similar to human cases were produced when the extract was intraperitoneally inoculated into mice and guinea pigs. 7) Two Japanese monkeys showed some symptoms similar to human cases when three G. oshoro were applied to the skin of both superior palpebral regions and one side of buccal region, respectively. 8) Finally a G. oshoro was applied to the skin of the anterior cubital or medial brachial region of five volunteers, respectively, and three persons exposed produced the local and general symptoms corresponding to those mentioned above, while two remaining persons showed only a slight local symptom. 9) Other epidemiological date also have suggested that G. oshoro must be responsible for this injurious effect. The severity of the victims may be modified by sensitivity of the individual to venom, and a hypersensitivity phenomenon encountered occasionally in the woman divers could be an anaphylactic reaction produced by the recurrent stings. On the other hand, the similar symptoms observed in people who ate N. decipiens in raw condition are probably due to swallowing of G. oshoro with such a seaweed. 10) G. oshoro appears to harbor mainly in a seaweed Sargassum confusum Agardh, and it is indicated that these stings may occur widely along the rocky seaweed-growing seashore areas in northern Japan.

A Decorated Bone Rattle from Culhuacan, Mexico

AbstractA notched and elaborately decorated human femur purchased at Culhuacan is identified as anomichicahuaztli, the bone rattle or musical rasp which provided musical accompaniment in Aztec funeral ceremonies for dead warriors. The incised designs consist of symbols of war, sacrifice, blood, and death, arranged in a single composition which is analyzed in terms of seven major parts: solar disc and starry sky, shield beneath the sky, eagle warrior, figure clad in slain victim's skin, earth monster, blood streams, and darts. A detailed comparison with Aztec codices and stone monuments shows that the decoration on the Culhuacan rattle is a typical expression of the religious symbolism relating to the death of warriors in late Aztec times, just preceding the Spanish conquest.