Pulmonary giant cells and traumatic asphyxia

A morphometrical analysis was performed to elucidate the significance of pulmonary polynuclear giant cells as a histological sign of asphyxiation. A total of 13 cases of homicidal strangulation of throttling, 8 cases of traumatic asphyxia due to chest compression and 10 control cases (cause of death: severe head injury, no signs of aspiration or other relevant pulmonary alterations, smokers and non-smokers) were investigated. The number of alveolar macrophages containing 1 or 2 nuclei and of polynuclear giant cells per microscopic field (0.000025 cm2) was estimated and a statistical evaluation was carried out. A considerable individual variation was observed in all groups with a tendency to higher numbers of cells in cases of smokers or advanced individual age. However, no significant differences were detectable in the content of alveolar macrophages and in particular of polynuclear giant cells between the asphyxiated individuals and the controls. Since polynuclear giant cells occurred in similar amounts in healthy, functionally normal lungs of non-asphyxiated individuals, the detection of such cells cannot be regarded as a reliable indicator for asphyxiation

Das Ausstellen unrichtiger Gesundheitszeugnisse - Ärztliche Atteste auf dem Prüfstand.

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Morphological detection of X- and Y-chromosomes in smears and paraffin-embedded tissues using a non-isotopic in situ hybridization technique (NISH)

Pharyngeal smears and paraffin-embedded tissue specimens (skeletal muscle, kidney) obtained from 10 male and 10 female individuals were evaluated using non-isotopic in situ hybridization (NISH) with commercial X- and Y-specific biotinylated probes which recognize the pericentromeric regions DXZ1 and DYZ1/DYZ3 of the X- and Y-chromosome, respectively. The results provide evidence that the morphological sex determination of a single cell can be performed by critical application of this staining method leading to one nuclear signal in ldquomalerdquo cells using the Y-specific probe whereas ldquofemalerdquo cells are negative. In situ hybridization of ldquofemalerdquo tissues with an X-specific probe results regularly in 2 signals whereas ldquomalerdquo cells show only one spot in the nucleus