No abstract available.
Near Drowning*

No abstract available.
Blood Glucose* ; Near Drowning*

This study was carried out on 24 children with near-drowning admitted to the Institute of Pediatric during 1/1998 - 6/2000 to find the epidemiological factors, clinical profile and common cause of pneumonia associated with near-drowning. The results have shown that most of children with near-drowning were male children with ages of 6-9 who lived in the country side and can not swim. The accidents occurred mainly during 3 months holiday. The water resources in ponds and lakes were polluted serious. The levels of pneumonia lesion associated with near-drowning was usually severe: 10/24 (42%) children suffered the respiratory impairment when admitting to hospital. The direct cause of pneumonia was negative gram microbials related with polluted water resources where children suffered from the near-drowning.
Pneumonia ; Near Drowning

Drowning ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; Humans

These external and internal signs of drowning are non-specific. Therefore, diagnosis of drowning is always one of the most difficult tasks in forensic pathology. This paper meticulously and comprehensively reviews research progress on the diagnosis of drowning in pathological signs, laboratory examination, immunohistochemistry test and virtopsy technology, and it also prospects the research direction of diagnosis of drowning.
Drowning ; Forensic Pathology ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry

Diatomology has provided important evidences for diagnosis of drowning in forensic practice. However, conflicting opinions about the reliability of diatom test still exist. As a part of efforts to end this controversy, it is very important to secure the diatom profile in the water sample of drowning site. Our results obtained in this study show the characteristics of temporal and spatial distribution of diatom collected from the main drowning sites of Han river in Korea. During spring, 111 taxa (98 species and 13 varieties) were identified from 31 genera, and 87 taxa (77 species and 10 varieties) were identified from 22 genera during summer. At the level of genus Achnanthes, Cyclotella, Cymbella, Fragilaria, Navicula, Nitzschia, and Stephanodiscus represented the highest numbers, and were the most widely occurred during two seasons. The centric diatoms, Stephanodiscus hantzschii f. tenuis and Cyclotella atomus were typical of spring and summer, respectively, and identified as dominant indicator species. The commonly occurred species, including dominant species in the seasonal cluster analysis influenced the formation of site - specific groups. As a result, our results will be able to be used not only as the comparison data of diatom found in the drowning victim's tissue but also a reference data to rule out the possibility of contamination.
Diatoms ; Drowning ; Korea ; Rivers ; Seasons ; Water

To know recent status and the point at issue of postmortem investigation in Jeju, the southernmost island in Korea has short history of forensic practice, we analyzed unnatural deaths investigated in Jeju during the five years of 1988 through 2002 inclusively. Of the total number of unnatural deaths (1, 118), 349 of the deceased (31.2%) were studied by autopsy in this period. Advisably, the annual autopsy rate was increased gradually with an increase of unnatural deaths. Drowning occupied large proportion (25.6%) of unnatural deaths. A sudden increase of thermal injury and intoxication in 2002 has attracted attention. Postmortem investigation conducted by prosecutor without participation of expert witness involves a lot of risk and that is one of the current nationwide issue as well as in Jeju. In conclusion, the role of forensic specialist in scene investigation and necessity of administrative support for improvement of medicolegal investigation system in Jeju. is emphasized.
Autopsy ; Drowning ; Expert Testimony ; Korea ; Specialization

SCUBA diving is becoming one of popular sport around the world even though it has serious accident potentials. The most common cause of death in underwater diving fatality is drowning, but in many cases it could be just a terminal event. The eventual target of forensic investigation in underwater diving accidents is to examine the underlying cause of death or accident, and therefore forensic pathologists should get an information about diving equipments which were used by the victim and about environmental factors. The author think a uniformed check list of underwater diving accidents should be available for postmortem investigation, and here propose it.
Cause of Death ; Checklist ; Diving ; Drowning ; Sports

Scuba diving is a popular sports activity, even though it is associated with potential hazards. When a diver enters the water for an underwater expedition, he/she needs a series of diving gear, including a regulator, buoyancy compensator, diving suit, and weight belt, among others. Here, the author encountered a fatal diving accident wherein autopsy showed the evidence of death by drowning. The witness stated that the diver requested more weight to descend into the water, and the diver wore one more weight belt, totalling 26 kg. After a second trial of diving, he did not grab the regulator and disappeared into the water suddenly, and bubbles did not appear at the surface. Based on the witness statement and autopsy findings, the original cause of accident was concluded as an overweighted belt for descent into the water.
Autopsy ; Diving ; Drowning ; Expeditions ; Overweight ; Sports ; Water

Drowning is a leading cause of accidental injury in children and has a great impact on family and society. The prevention and treatment of drowning is of great importance for reducing mortality rate. This consensus reviews the literature on the epidemiology, rescue, resuscitation, and acute clinical management and prevention of drowning. The panel determines the score of available evidence according to the criteria of Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and then makes recommendations on evidence based on such criteria, so as to provide a basis for further reducing the mortality and disability rates caused by drowning.
Child ; Consensus ; Drowning/prevention & control* ; Humans ; Resuscitation