Feasibility, diagnostic validity and limits of postmortem evaluation of a newborn infant following an extremely prolonged freezing interval: A thanatological case study

Krajčovič, Jozef; Janík, Martin; Novomeský, F; Straka, Ľubomír; Hejna, Petr

doi:10.1016/j.legalmed.2014.07.004

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The deceased pigs died because of smothering/internal trauma caused by the mother, as the mother pig had been laying against the piglet. There may be a difference between these two categories, as the lungs of a stillborn piglet may not be fully developed and the bacteria in the digestive tract may be different between the two [ 4 ]. Since in real-life situations there may also be stillborn babies or babies that died after birth, it was decided to continue to use both categories in this study.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When investigating deceased infants found in an outdoor context, several important issues must be considered, including viability, the presence of natural diseases or trauma, and the cause and manner of death. Answers to these questions are complicated by a process that starts from the moment an organism dies: decomposition [ 4 ]. However, the degree of decomposition can be used to estimate the post-mortem interval (PMI), the time elapsed between the moment of death and the moment of discovery of a body, to gather important information about the death and verify suspects’ statements in the tactical investigation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Subaerial Decomposition of Small-Sized Remains in The Netherlands: Important Findings Regarding the PMI of a Four-Year Taphonomic Study

Sluis,

Duijst,

Krap

2023

Biology

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Studying post-mortem changes based on signs of decomposition (e.g., using scoring models) is one of the methods used in scientific studies to relate observable changes to the post-mortem interval (PMI). The majority of the studies on cadaver decomposition are based on large cadavers. There is limited literature on the decomposition pattern and rate of small cadavers, even though it is at least as important to be able to estimate the PMI for infants and subadults. Therefore, it is crucial to acquire knowledge of the decomposition process of child-sized remains. To fill this knowledge gap, a season-based subaerial outdoor decomposition study was conducted with small pig cadavers at the Forensic Anthropological Outdoor Research Facility located in Den Ham, The Netherlands, over a period of 4 years. Den Ham is located in the eastern part of the Netherlands, close to the German border, and has a temperate maritime climate, with a Cfb classification according to the Köppen–Geiger system. Salient findings were acquired during the decomposition study, specifically regarding a deviating decomposition rate during winter and the subsequent spring, reproducibility, the effect of body weight, post-mortem movement, the effect of heavy rainfall on insect activity, delayed bloating, the interaction of different insect species, and invertebrate activity. This article includes a systemic review of the results obtained during this four-year decomposition study and discusses the impact of the findings on the estimation of the PMI.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subaerial Decomposition of Small-Sized Remains in The Netherlands: Important Findings Regarding the PMI of a Four-Year Taphonomic Study

Sluis,

Duijst,

Krap

2023

Biology

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“…A freeze–thaw history is not uncommon in forensic practice. Frozen corpses are found outdoors under freezing conditions, and body parts of crime victims have been hidden in freezers [ 22 , 23 ]. In such cases, it is often hard [ 24 ], if not impossible [ 9 ], to determine the time since death.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of temporary freezing on postmortem protein degradation patterns

et al. 2023

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Background A precise determination of time since death plays a major role in forensic routine. Currently available techniques for estimating the postmortem interval (PMI) are restricted to specific time periods or cannot be applied for individual case-specific reasons. During recent years, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that Western blot analysis of postmortem muscle protein degradation can substantially contribute to overcome these limitations in cases with different background. Enabling to delimit time points at which certain marker proteins undergo distinct degradation events, the method has become a reasonable new tool for PMI delimitation under various forensic scenarios. However, additional research is yet required to improve our understanding of protein decomposition and how it is affected by intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Since there are temperature limits for proteolysis, and investigators are confronted with frozen corpses, investigation of the effects of freezing and thawing on postmortem protein decomposition in the muscle tissue is an important objective to firmly establish the new method. It is also important because freezing is often the only practical means to intermittently preserve tissue samples from both true cases and animal model research. Methods Sets of dismembered pig hind limbs, either freshly detached non-frozen, or thawed after 4 months of freeze-storage (n = 6 each), were left to decompose under controlled conditions at 30 °C for 7 days and 10 days, respectively. Samples of the M. biceps femoris were regularly collected at predefined time points. All samples were processed via SDS-PAGE and Western blotting to identify the degradation patterns of previously characterized muscle proteins. Results Western blots show that the proteins degrade predictably over time in precise patterns that are largely unaffected by the freeze-and-thaw process. Investigated proteins showed complete degradation of the native protein band, partly giving rise to degradation products present in distinct time phases of the decomposition process. Conclusion This study provides substantial new information from a porcine model to assess the degree of bias that freezing and thawing induces on postmortem degradation of skeletal muscle proteins. Results support that a freeze–thaw cycle with prolonged storage in frozen state has no significant impact on the decomposition behavior. This will help to equip the protein degradation–based method for PMI determination with a robust applicability in the normal forensic setting.

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Fetal and neonatal post-mortem imaging referral template: recommendations from the European Society of Paediatric Radiology Post-mortem Task Force

D’Hondt,

Shelmerdine,

Arthurs

et al. 2024

Pediatr Radiol

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Feasibility, diagnostic validity and limits of postmortem evaluation of a newborn infant following an extremely prolonged freezing interval: A thanatological case study

Cited by 5 publications

References 19 publications

Subaerial Decomposition of Small-Sized Remains in The Netherlands: Important Findings Regarding the PMI of a Four-Year Taphonomic Study

Subaerial Decomposition of Small-Sized Remains in The Netherlands: Important Findings Regarding the PMI of a Four-Year Taphonomic Study

Effect of temporary freezing on postmortem protein degradation patterns

Fetal and neonatal post-mortem imaging referral template: recommendations from the European Society of Paediatric Radiology Post-mortem Task Force

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