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Common methods of suicide are hanging, toxic substance ingestion, descent from height, and drowning. However, suicide by cutting the tongue is very rare and there are almost no reported cases in the literature. A 76-year-old man who had terminal gastric cancer with multiple liver metastases was found dead in his home. Upon autopsy, it was noted that his tongue was cut by a pair of scissors four times and copious blood was identified in the stomach and intestine. The total loss of blood volume was approximately 750 mL. He had also cut his finger-tip and stabbed his abdomen with a pair of scissors. We concluded that lingual artery injury by scissors was the cause of death.
Abdomen ; Aged ; Arteries ; Autopsy ; Blood Volume ; Cause of Death ; Drowning ; Eating ; Humans ; Intestines ; Liver ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Suicide* ; Tongue*

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Ludwig's Angina: An Autopsy Case.

Joo Young NA ; Suk Hoon HAM ; Yeon Ho OH ; Sung Su LEE ; Hyung Seok KIM ; Jong Tae PARK

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine.2015;39(4):127-131. doi:10.7580/kjlm.2015.39.4.127

Ludwig's angina is a progressive gangrenous cellulitis and edema of the soft tissues of the neck and floor of the mouth. Ludwig's angina can be fatal as a result of progressive swelling of the soft tissues of the neck and elevation and posterior displacement of the tongue, resulting in airway obstruction. We report the case of a 77-yearold man who was admitted to the dental hospital with a toothache and headache. He was diagnosed with left submandibular space abscess. Four days post-admission, the submandibular and submental abscess was incised and drained. After the operation, the patient suddenly developed dyspnea and suffered cardiopulmonary arrest and died. An autopsy was performed, and exploration of the neck revealed a submental and submandibular abscess with massive inflammation, edema, and an abscess in multiple layers of the cervical subcutaneous tissue. After autopsy, the cause of death was confirmed as Ludwig's angina with a deep neck abscess. Ludwig's angina is a rapidly progressive cellulitis that often results in death by asphyxia or sepsis and is rarely seen in a forensic autopsy practice. Here in we report a case of Ludwig's angina and present a review of the literature.
Abscess ; Airway Obstruction ; Asphyxia ; Autopsy* ; Cause of Death ; Cellulitis ; Dyspnea ; Edema ; Headache ; Heart Arrest ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Ludwig's Angina* ; Mouth ; Neck ; Sepsis ; Subcutaneous Tissue ; Tongue ; Toothache

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Effects of Eye Movements on Recognition in a Manipulated-Face Memory Task.

Keunsoo HAM ; Chuyeon PYO ; Seong Ho YOO ; Jihye KWON

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine.2015;39(4):120-126. doi:10.7580/kjlm.2015.39.4.120

We evaluated the effects of eye movements on facial feature recognition and memory retrieval. Thirty-eight participants learned the faces of five men, including features of the faces (eyes, nose, and mouth), and then performed a recognition memory task for partially manipulated versions of the faces. Bilateral eye movements, recognition accuracy, and mean fixation duration were evaluated. We observed differences in fixation durations for the manipulated features of the faces (eyes, F(3,78)=11.95, P<0.001; and mouth, F(3,78)=21.38, P<0.001). These findings demonstrate that eye movements have a functional role in learning and recognizing human faces. Furthermore, fixation durations increased for the manipulated facial features, suggesting that eye movements during recognition are not simply patterns produced during learning.
Eye Movements* ; Humans ; Learning ; Male ; Memory* ; Mouth ; Nose

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Estimation of Eyewitness Identification Accuracy by Event-Related Potentials.

Keunsoo HAM ; Chuyeon PYO ; Taeik JANG ; Seong Ho YOO

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine.2015;39(4):115-119. doi:10.7580/kjlm.2015.39.4.115

We investigated event-related potentials (ERPs) to estimate the accuracy of eyewitness memories. Participants watched videos of vehicles being driven dangerously, from an anti-impaired driving initiative. The four-letter license plates of the vehicles were the target stimuli. Random numbers were presented while participants attempted to identify the license plate letters, and electroencephalograms were recorded. There was a significant difference in activity 300-500 milliseconds after stimulus onset, between target stimuli and random numbers. This finding contributes to establishing an eyewitness recognition model where different ERP components may reflect more explicit memory that is dissociable from recollection.
Electroencephalography ; Event-Related Potentials, P300 ; Evoked Potentials* ; Licensure ; Memory

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Gender-Dependent Characteristics of Bipolar Patients in the National Forensic Psychiatric Hospital.

Deyon KIM ; Mi Kyung LYU ; Jeongin YANG ; Sunbum KIM ; Myoungjae KIM

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine.2015;39(4):109-114. doi:10.7580/kjlm.2015.39.4.109

Forty patients (20 male and 20 female) diagnosed with bipolar disorder voluntarily participated in this study. For each patient, questionnaire and computerized objective data, obtained from involved doctors, nurses, psychologists, prosecutors, and the hospital information system, were collected after receiving the patients'written consent. When a patient's answers diverged greatly from computerized data (i.e., onset age, history of criminal prosecution and re-hospitalization), computerized data were given priority. Immediately after the authors collected the questionnaires, any personal identifying information was replaced by random numbers to prevent bias and protect privacy. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 20.0 for MS Windows. Comparative items on questionnaires were evaluated by paired t test and chi square test. Male patients were found to have a higher recidivism rate than female patients (P<0.05). Female patients reported more trauma history (P<0.05), bipolar type II diagnoses (P<0.05), and suicide attempts (P<0.01) than male patients. There was no statistically significant difference between male and female patients for Intelligence Quotient (IQ) or for 13 of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) subscales.
Age of Onset ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Bipolar Disorder ; Criminals ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Hospital Information Systems ; Hospitals, Psychiatric* ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Male ; MMPI ; Privacy ; Psychology ; Suicide

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A Statistical Analysis of Legal Autopsies Performed in Korea in 2014.

Jung Sik JANG ; Seon Jung JANG ; Byung Ha CHOI ; Han Young LEE ; Nak Eun CHUNG ; Joong Seok SEO

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine.2015;39(4):99-108. doi:10.7580/kjlm.2015.39.4.99

Medicolegal autopsies are a vital tool for obtaining reliable injury mortality data. This study statistically analyzed the data obtained from medicolegal autopsies performed in Korea in 2014. A total of 5,324 deaths were analyzed by sex, age, manner of death, and cause of death. With respect to the manner of death, 56.3% were recorded as unnatural deaths, 38.4% were natural deaths, and 5.3% had unknown causes. Of the 2,998 unnatural deaths, 41.0% were determined to be accidental deaths; 28.1%, suicidal; 16.1%, homicidal; and 14.8%, undetermined. Of the total number of unnatural deaths, 38.8% were trauma-related, wherein falls accounted for 32.7%. Asphyxiation accounted for 16.3% of unnatural deaths; of these, the predominant cause was hanging (59.4%). In addition, 15.0% of the unnatural deaths were due to drowning; 14.8%, poisoning; 11.3%, thermal injuries; 2.5%, complications arising from medical procedures; and 0.4%, electrocution, starvation, or neglect. Among the 2,042 natural deaths, heart diseases accounted for 49.0% and vascular diseases accounted for 17.3%. Of the 170 deaths among children under the age of 10, 38.8% were recorded as unnatural deaths, 54.1% were natural deaths, and 7.1% had unknown causes.
Autopsy* ; Cause of Death ; Child ; Data Interpretation, Statistical ; Drowning ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Korea* ; Mortality ; Poisoning ; Starvation ; Vascular Diseases

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Genetic Testing for Additional Evidence during Investigations: Focus in Ethics.

Ji Hyun LEE ; Hwan Young LEE ; Kyu Won JUNG ; Soong Deok LEE

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine.2015;39(4):93-98. doi:10.7580/kjlm.2015.39.4.93

Since the introduction of genetic fingerprinting 30 years ago, there has been considerable development in the field of forensic genetics. A cautious approach is emphasized when using human genetic evidence in order to protect individual rights and because of its distinctiveness. Nevertheless, conventional ethical guidelines may no longer be suitable for handling information derived from genetic material. Moreover, projected innovations to maximize such systems' usage have raised previously debated ethical concerns. Recent and on-going research on the use of genetic evidence obtained from crime scenes to estimate physical appearance, ancestry, and/or personal traits is expected to provide additional investigative resources, especially for cases involving unknown identity. Given the special nature of genetic components, ethical issues need to be seriously considered and addressed when conducting research involving human genetic material. However, such ethical parameters may shift with scientific advancements. Moreover, because ethics reflects social consensus, various perspectives must be obtained and discussed. This paper introduces multiple perspectives on using genetic material as additional evidence for police investigations and indicates scope for the discussion of prospective ethical concerns.
Consensus ; Crime ; DNA Fingerprinting ; Ethics* ; Forensic Genetics ; Genetic Testing* ; Human Rights ; Humans ; Investigative Techniques ; Phenotype ; Police ; Prospective Studies

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Genetic Relationship in Bone Samples Using SNP-Based Human Identification DNA Chip.

Sohee CHO ; Hyung Jin YU ; Jisung HAN ; Hye Young LEE ; Jihyun LEE ; Soong Deok LEE

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine.2013;37(4):224-229. doi:10.7580/kjlm.2013.37.4.224

DNA profiling with sets of short tandem repeat (STR) markers is the most popular method for identifying human DNA in forensics. Identification by STR typing might fail when DNA is degraded or is present in low amounts, such as in disaster victim identification (DVI) samples. In such cases, more information might be obtained by using additional markers such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Multiplex PCR and microarray are convenient techniques to analyze SNP markers. We used an AccuID(TM) Chip, SNP-based DNA chip manufactured by DNA Link Corporation, to confirm genetic relationship between two human bone samples that had been buried for more than 50 years and blood samples from the alleged descendants of the sources of the bone fragments. The chip combines an Affymetrix resequencing array with a multiplex PCR technology and can genotype hundreds of SNP markers in a single experiment. Genotyping the two bone samples yielded 90.5 and 77 SNP markers. The commonly genotyped markers (61 and 47 SNP loci) in each bone-family pair provided high paternity indices to support the genetic relationships in both cases.
Disasters ; DNA Fingerprinting ; DNA* ; Forensic Anthropology* ; Genotype ; Humans* ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis* ; Paternity ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

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