Perspectives on the establishment of a Canadian human taphonomic facility: the experience of REST[ES]

REST[ES] is the first Canadian human taphonomic facility (HTF) dedicated to research and training relating to human decomposition in a northern temperate climate. The following paper outlines the measures taken to successfully establish, open and operate this novel Canadian HTF with particular focus on: project team and partnerships, facility location, approvals and permits, infrastructure and social acceptability. It is intended that our experience of establishing REST[ES] may serve as an example to help others with the establishment of future HTFs, thus contributing to the expansion in the global accessibility to human decomposition research and training

Postmortem analyses of vitreous fluid

The identification of various various medical conditions postmortem is often difficult. Results from analysis of postmortem blood and urine samples are not as appropriate as in living subjects, due to bacterial contamination and postmortem cell degradation. Therefore, vitreous humour – the fluid in the eyeball – has been of substantial value in forensic pathology. Vitreous fluid is easily collected, isolated, and almost bacteria- and cell free, and shows relatively stable conditions after death, making it a better matrix for postmortem biochemical analyses than e.g. blood and serum. Although postmortem analyses of vitreous fluid have been studied quite extensviely, there are still many unanswered questions. Vitreous fluid from over 3,000 deceased subjects were consecutivley collected and analysed for glucose, lactate, pH, electrolytes and gas pressures. Paper I focuses on the postmortem diagnosis of hyperglycemia. We show that vitreous glucose levels decrease the first 12-24 hours after death and are relatively stable after that. We also suggest that lactate should not be used to diagnose antemortem hyperglycemia, due to massive lactate increase from other sources – instead, glucose alone should be used. A vitreous glucose level of 10 mmol/L indicates severe antemortem hyperglycemia. In paper II, we studied the postmortem increase in vitreous potassium levels, which can be used to estimate the time of death. Our results show that postmortem potassium levels are affected by the surrounding temperature and the age of the deceased. We have developed a new equation for the estimation of the time of death that includes potassium, surrounding temperature and decedent age. To facilitate the calculation for the user, we have developed a web application. Paper III deals with the interpretation of postmortem vitreous sodium and chloride levels. We show that vitreous sodium and chloride levels slowly decrease with time of death. Postmortem vitreous sodium and chloride levels correlate well with antemortem serum sodium and chloride levels if corrected for time since death, and may be used to diagnose various antemortem sodium/chloride imbalances, such as dehydration or water intoxication. Sodium imbalances in cases of drownings are most likely due to postmortem diffusion between water and vitreous, rather than the drowning process

Lifelines

Harris Solomon takes readers into the trauma ward of one of Mumbai’s busiest public hospitals, narrating the stories of the patients, providers, families, and frontline workers who experience and treat traumatic injury from traffic

Lifelines

Harris Solomon takes readers into the trauma ward of one of Mumbai’s busiest public hospitals, narrating the stories of the patients, providers, families, and frontline workers who experience and treat traumatic injury from traffic

Dissecting the Criminal Corpse

Those convicted of homicide were hanged on the public gallows before being dissected under the Murder Act in Georgian England. Yet, from 1752, whether criminals actually died on the hanging tree or in the dissection room remained a medical mystery in early modern society. Dissecting the Criminal Corpse takes issue with the historical cliché of corpses dangling from the hangman’s rope in crime studies. Some convicted murderers did survive execution in early modern England. Establishing medical death in the heart-lungs-brain was a physical enigma. Criminals had large bull-necks, strong willpowers, and hearty survival instincts. Extreme hypothermia often disguised coma in a prisoner hanged in the winter cold. The youngest and fittest were capable of reviving on the dissection table. Many died under the lancet. Capital legislation disguised a complex medical choreography that surgeons staged. They broke the Hippocratic Oath by executing the Dangerous Dead across England from 1752 until 1832