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Journal of Forensic Sciences May 2017Deaths due to decapitation, especially related to traffic accidents, are rarely found in forensic practice. The present case involves a man and a woman who died from... (Review)
Review
Deaths due to decapitation, especially related to traffic accidents, are rarely found in forensic practice. The present case involves a man and a woman who died from decapitation due to an unusual mechanism while they were riding on a motorbike down a mountain road. The autopsy, which was completed as a physics study, allowed the accident to be reconstructed as follows: A plastic cable that had detached from a timber-transporting machine whipped the road and hit the two motorcyclists. The impact resulted in the complete severing of both riders' heads. Involving different scientists in this accident investigation was crucial to understanding the dynamics of the accident. In fact, in addition to scene inspection and autopsy, a physics study was carried out on the cable and the clamp involved, which led to an explanation for the abrupt movement of the cable and, thus, to a thorough reconstruction of the accident.
Topics: Accidents, Traffic; Adult; Decapitation; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Motorcycles
PubMed: 27982427
DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.13346 -
Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton,... 2020During sexual reproduction in flowering plants, pollen grains germinate on the stigma surface and grow through the stigma-style tissue to reach the ovary and deliver...
During sexual reproduction in flowering plants, pollen grains germinate on the stigma surface and grow through the stigma-style tissue to reach the ovary and deliver sperm cells for fertilization. Here, we outline a method to test whether a pollen fertility mutation specifically disrupts pollen penetration through the stigma-style barrier. This method surgically removes the stigma-style (stigma decapitation) to test whether transferring pollen directly onto an exposed ovary surface significantly improves the transmission efficiency (TE) of a mutant allele. To illustrate this technique, we applied stigma decapitation to investigate a loss-of-function mutation in Arabidopsis OFT1, a gene encoding a putative o-fucosyl transferase functioning in the secretory pathway. oft1-3 mutant pollen showed a significant decrease in transmission efficiency compared to wild type. Decapitation crosses (described here) indicated that the removal of the stigma-style barrier alleviated the transmission deficiency from 858-fold to a 2.6-fold, providing evidence that most, but not all, oft1 pollen deficiencies can be attributed to a reduced ability to penetrate through the stigma-style barrier. This method outlines a genetic strategy to quantify a mutation's impact on the ability of pollen to navigate through the stigma-style barrier on its journey to the ovule.
Topics: Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis Proteins; Crosses, Genetic; Fucosyltransferases; Hybridization, Genetic; Loss of Function Mutation; Plant Infertility; Pollen Tube
PubMed: 32529427
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0672-8_3 -
La Clinica Terapeutica 2023Each year, there are billions of agricultural work accidents involving the operation of tractors, grain augers, harvest combines, power take-off devices, or balers and...
BACKGROUND
Each year, there are billions of agricultural work accidents involving the operation of tractors, grain augers, harvest combines, power take-off devices, or balers and thrashers. Field accidents of this nature seem more common on afternoons, just as road accidents tend to skew toward nighttime. The lesions can vary widely and depends strictly on the operation of the machinery analyzed.
AIMS
This paper aims to present a peculiar case of decapitation by a combine harvester, showing how, in cases of injury due to agricultural machinery, it is fundamental a correct execution of a scene investigation, autoptic examination, and cooperation with a specialist in engineering.
CASE REPORT
A 54-year-old man was found decapitated on the header of a combine harvester; his extremities were also dismembered. At autopsy, a clean oblique cut across the first cervical vertebra had severed the head at the neck. Although the right arm remained intact, both lower extremities were mutilated, showing numerous exposed and open fractures. A bleeding, penetrating wound to the back was additionally noted. In the days that followed, missing parts (head and left leg) were discovered in other machine components (grain tank and straw walker, respectively). All observed injuries were compatible with the mechanics of the cochlea, its rotating movement inflicting the damages above. Collaboration between pathologists and engineers was fundamental to recreating the dynamics of this rare decapitation accident by a combine harvester.
Topics: Male; Humans; Middle Aged; Decapitation; Farmers; Neck; Autopsy
PubMed: 37674446
DOI: 10.7417/CT.2023.2454 -
The Antiseptic Dec 1951
Topics: Abortion, Induced; Accidents; Craniocerebral Trauma; Decapitation; Female; Neck Injuries; Pregnancy
PubMed: 14903922
DOI: No ID Found -
The American Journal of Forensic... Jun 2005
Topics: Accidents, Traffic; Decapitation; Head Protective Devices; Humans; Motorcycles
PubMed: 15894861
DOI: No ID Found -
Forensic Science, Medicine, and... Dec 2011Post-mortem animal depredation is not an uncommon phenomenon in routine forensic autopsies. We present three cases of complete post-mortem decapitation by domestic... (Review)
Review
Post-mortem animal depredation is not an uncommon phenomenon in routine forensic autopsies. We present three cases of complete post-mortem decapitation by domestic German shepherd dogs. In two cases, the head had been bitten off, defleshed and left lying near the body, while in one case it had been completely devoured by two dogs; only small skull fragments and crowned teeth could be found. Two of the three bodies were putrefied; all dog bite injuries had been inflicted after death. The cause of death was drug toxicity in two cases and fatal hemorrhage from ruptured esophageal varices in one case. These rare injuries due to post-mortem animal depredation are discussed in the light of earlier studies and case reports.
Topics: Animals; Bites and Stings; Cocaine; Decapitation; Dogs; Drug Overdose; Esophageal and Gastric Varices; Feeding Behavior; Female; Forensic Pathology; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage; Humans; Hypnotics and Sedatives; Male; Methadone; Middle Aged; Narcotics; Suicide
PubMed: 21533604
DOI: 10.1007/s12024-011-9233-x -
Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine Apr 2008Complete or incomplete decapitation is an unusual complication of suicidal hanging. We present a case of incomplete decapitation due to hanging with soft tissue... (Review)
Review
Complete or incomplete decapitation is an unusual complication of suicidal hanging. We present a case of incomplete decapitation due to hanging with soft tissue injuries, spinal cord dissection between C2 and C3, fracture of the hyoid bone and injuries of cartilages. The 52-year-old male victim with a 95kg body mass used a 1.5cm thick and 3.1m long nylon rope snap-hooked to a rafter. The comprehensive literature review of incomplete or complete decapitation by suicidal hanging emphasises the importance of investigation of biomechanical process. In the presented case we calculated the physical parameters (final speed: 7.8m/s, kinetic energy: 2945J, force: 9500N). The previous observations were confirmed that body weight and falling distance were the most important factors in the pathomechanism of decapitation. In the hanging process energy can be stored by changing the position of the human body in the gravitational field, by changing the shape of the hanging rope and by changing the motion of the hanging body. We concluded that the occurrence of complete or incomplete decapitation can increase by the increasing energy stored as potential energy at the starting position and the characteristics of the rope extended by the hanging body.
Topics: Asphyxia; Cervical Vertebrae; Decapitation; Epiglottis; Humans; Hyoid Bone; Intervertebral Disc; Male; Middle Aged; Soft Tissue Injuries; Suicide; Thyroid Cartilage
PubMed: 18313015
DOI: 10.1016/j.jflm.2007.05.004 -
The American Journal of Forensic... Jun 2019In the field of forensic pathology, suicides consist of a considerable portion of the workload. Among the many methods used to commit suicide, using a detonation cord...
In the field of forensic pathology, suicides consist of a considerable portion of the workload. Among the many methods used to commit suicide, using a detonation cord explosive is quite unique. We report the case of a man who committed suicide by detonation cord resulting in decapitation. This case report highlights the fact that the injury patterns observed in explosion-related deaths can be highly variable and that in cases with isolated injuries postmortem imaging and histology are an important adjunct to the standard death investigation. The ultimate goal of explosion-related investigations should be geared toward a well-documented and complete postmortem examination with the appropriate use of ancillary studies that provide a clear interpretation of the mechanism, cause, and manner of death.
Topics: Blast Injuries; Decapitation; Explosions; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Skull; Suicide, Completed; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
PubMed: 30451715
DOI: 10.1097/PAF.0000000000000446 -
The American Journal of Forensic... Dec 2011The occurrence of complete decapitation as a consequence of car accident is an extremely rare event. This fatality is generally seen in pedestrians run over by trains...
The occurrence of complete decapitation as a consequence of car accident is an extremely rare event. This fatality is generally seen in pedestrians run over by trains and also in motorcyclists who impact against the tailboard of trucks. Moreover, complete transection of pedestrians and occupants of cars has been described in road accidents especially in case of vehicles traveling at a high speed. We present a case of decapitation with complete degloving injury of the neck in a patient involved in a traffic accident, and we briefly discuss the possible mechanisms producing this injury.
Topics: Accidents, Traffic; Decapitation; Forensic Pathology; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Multiple Trauma; Seat Belts
PubMed: 21897196
DOI: 10.1097/PAF.0b013e31822c8edc -
PloS One Jan 2011The question whether decapitation is a humane method of euthanasia in awake animals is being debated. To gather arguments in this debate, obsolete rats were decapitated...
The question whether decapitation is a humane method of euthanasia in awake animals is being debated. To gather arguments in this debate, obsolete rats were decapitated while recording the EEG, both of awake rats and of anesthetized rats. Following decapitation a fast and global loss of power of the EEG was observed; the power in the 13-100 Hz frequency band, expressing cognitive activity, decreased according to an exponential decay function to half the initial value within 4 seconds. Whereas the pre-decapitation EEG of the anesthetized animals showed a burst suppression pattern quite different from the awake animals, the power in the postdecapitation EEG did not differ between the two groups. This might indicate that either the power of the EEG does not correlate well with consciousness or that consciousness is briefly regained in the anesthetized group after decapitation. Remarkably, after 50 seconds (awake group) or 80 seconds (anesthetized group) following decapitation, a high amplitude slow wave was observed. The EEG before this wave had more power than the signal after the wave. This wave might be due to a simultaneous massive loss of membrane potentials of the neurons. Still functioning ion channels, which keep the membrane potential intact before the wave, might explain the observed power difference. Two conclusions were drawn from this experiment. It is likely that consciousness vanishes within seconds after decapitation, implying that decapitation is a quick and not an inhumane method of euthanasia. It seems that the massive wave which can be recorded approximately one minute after decapitation reflects the ultimate border between life and death. This observation might have implications in the discussions on the appropriate time for organ donation.
Topics: Animals; Death; Decapitation; Electroencephalography; Euthanasia; Neural Conduction; Rats; Time Factors; Unconsciousness
PubMed: 21304584
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016514