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Anthropologischer Anzeiger; Bericht... Nov 2021In the mid-fourteenth century a cemetery for the burial of the destitute, pilgrims and non-citizens of Gdańsk, Poland, was founded beyond the city walls. During...
In the mid-fourteenth century a cemetery for the burial of the destitute, pilgrims and non-citizens of Gdańsk, Poland, was founded beyond the city walls. During epidemics, the local urban population was buried there in mass graves. Excavations in Gdańsk led to the discovery of four mass graves, the largest of which contained the remains of 759 people who were probably killed by the same plague. In addition to being used as a plague cemetery, this site also served as a burial ground for criminals. Following a single mass execution, 41 decapitated bodies were interred in a mass grave dated to the fifteenth century. The skulls of these individuals were not found during excavation. Skeletal analysis suggests that the executions may have been performed using a mechanical device: a guillotine.
PubMed: 34761797
DOI: 10.1127/anthranz/2021/1462 -
Comparative Biochemistry and... 19921. Decapitating newly emerged Blaberus craniifer females near the prothorax severs connections between the suboesophageal and prothoracic ganglia, thus depriving them of...
1. Decapitating newly emerged Blaberus craniifer females near the prothorax severs connections between the suboesophageal and prothoracic ganglia, thus depriving them of the neuroendocrine cephalic complex (including brain and suboesophageal ganglion) and the anterior end of prothoracic glands (PGs). 2. As demonstrated by enzyme immunoassay (EIA), headless females have higher levels of ecdysteroids (ECDs) in haemolymph than starved or fed females, indicating that the neuroendocrine cephalic complex influences circulating ECD levels. 3. The time course of hormonal peaks in decapitated females resembles that in starved females during the first post-ecdysial week, suggesting that some as yet unknown regulating mechanism of ECD production lies outside the head. 4. It is suggested that: (a) The PGs are sites for ECDs production in the early post-imaginal period, (b) the prothoracic and suboesophageal ganglia (linked by nerves to PGs) regulate PGs activity, possibly via neural inputs.
Topics: Analysis of Variance; Animals; Cockroaches; Ecdysteroids; Female; Food Deprivation; Ganglia; Hemolymph; Invertebrate Hormones; Neurosecretory Systems; Ovary
PubMed: 1347721
DOI: 10.1016/0300-9629(92)90639-8 -
The American Journal of Psychiatry Aug 2013
Topics: Decapitation; Female; History, 16th Century; History, 17th Century; Homicide; Humans; Italy; Male; Medicine in the Arts; Paintings; Religion and Medicine
PubMed: 23903333
DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.12101313 -
Journal of Medical Entomology Sep 2012Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is often used to detect microorganisms, pathogens, or both, including the reproductive parasite Wolbachia pipientis (Rickettsiales:...
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is often used to detect microorganisms, pathogens, or both, including the reproductive parasite Wolbachia pipientis (Rickettsiales: Anaplasmataceae), in mosquitoes. Natural populations of Culex pipiens L. (Diptera: Culicidae) mosquitoes are infected with one or more strains of W. pipientis, and crosses between mosquitoes harboring different Wolbachia strains provide one of the best-known examples of cytoplasmic incompatibililty (CI). When we used PCR to monitor Wolbachia in the Buckeye strain of Culex pipiens, and in a Wolbachia-cured sister colony obtained by tetracycline treatment, we noted false negative PCR reactions with DNA samples from infected mosquitoes; these results were inconsistent with direct microscopic observation of Wolbachia-like particles in gonads dissected from mosquitoes in the same population. Assays with diluted template often improved detection of positive samples, suggesting that DNA prepared from whole mosquitoes contained an inhibitor of the PCR reaction. We reconciled discrepancies between PCR and microscopy by systematic measurement of the PCR reaction in the presence of an internal standard. Mosquito decapitation before DNA extraction restored the reliability of the PCR reaction, allowing accurate determination of Wolbachia infection status in infected and tetracycline-cured mosquito populations, consistent with microscopic examination. Using PCR primers based on the Tr1 gene, we confirmed that the Wolbachia infection in the Buckeye strain of Culex pipiens belongs to the genotype designated wPip1. Finally, to explore more widely the distribution of PCR inhibitors, we demonstrated that DNA isolated from the cricket, Acheta domesticus (L.); the beetle, Tenebrio molitor L.; the honey bee, Apis mellifera L.; and the mosquito, Anopheles punctipennis Say also contained PCR inhibitors. These results underscore the importance of measuring the presence of inhibitors in PCR templates by using a known positive standard, and provide an approach that will facilitate use of PCR to monitor environmental samples of mosquitoes that harbor endosymbionts or pathogenic organisms.
Topics: Animals; Cricetinae; Culex; Decapitation; False Negative Reactions; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Wolbachia
PubMed: 23025192
DOI: 10.1603/me12049 -
Biodiversity Data Journal 2015The genus Dohrniphora is a hyperdiverse group of phorid flies, a family whose species are commonly characterized as generalized scavengers. The lifestyle of most species...
The genus Dohrniphora is a hyperdiverse group of phorid flies, a family whose species are commonly characterized as generalized scavengers. The lifestyle of most species of Dohrniphora is unknown, although one cosmopolitan, synanthropic species, D.cornuta (Bigot) fits the general scavenger mold. Here we show that flies of the D.longirostrata species group exhibit highly specific "headhunting" behavior in which injured Odontomachus ants are decapitated, the heads dragged away, and females either feed on their contents or lay an egg nearby. Since most females studied lacked eggs in their ovaries, we conclude that this bizarrely specialized feeding is necessary to provide nutrients for reproduction in these flies. Our study provides further evidence that injured ants are a common, stable resource in tropical ecosystems that support a wide array of phorid flies. Such narrowly constrained lifestyles, as exemplified by exclusively feeding on and breeding in the head contents of certain ponerine worker ants, could allow the co-existence of a huge community of saprophagous flies.
PubMed: 25709534
DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.3.e4299 -
The American Journal of Forensic... Dec 2009Decapitation as homicidal mode of death is relatively rare. In most cases of decapitation, the differentiation between the modes of death might be difficult to some...
Decapitation as homicidal mode of death is relatively rare. In most cases of decapitation, the differentiation between the modes of death might be difficult to some extent, particularly in cases where essential investigative elements, like the decedent's head and the weapon, are unavailable. Our report concerns a case of homicide by decapitation without any further mutilation of the victim, where only the combination of autopsy results, histologic findings, and engineering technical reconstruction allowed us to identify with certainty the mode of death as vital decapitation. The technical reconstruction of the alleged weapon allowed the identification and the discovery of the hand saw used by the murderer to decapitate the victim.
Topics: Decapitation; Female; Forensic Pathology; Homicide; Humans; Lung; Male; Muscle, Skeletal; Skin; Trachea; Weapons; Young Adult
PubMed: 19901810
DOI: 10.1097/PAF.0b013e3181c0e777 -
The American Journal of Forensic... Sep 2009We report a case of an accidental decapitation of an agriculture worker in a field. The scene investigation revealed that the worker had loosely tied a scarf tied over...
We report a case of an accidental decapitation of an agriculture worker in a field. The scene investigation revealed that the worker had loosely tied a scarf tied over his face in an attempt to diminish his exposure to barley dust, to which he was allergic, while distributing the barley loads with a shovel upon a trailer. The trailer was simultaneously being loaded by a helix elevator machine and its rotating shaft suddenly caught the victim's scarf and pulled it down to the victim's neck. The rotating motion immediately tightened the scarf around the neck resulting in hanging/strangulation noose that, by continued tightening, caused decapitation of the victim. The victim's body was found on the ground by the trailer and the victim's head was discovered in the barley load in the trailer. Examination revealed that the neck was severed at the level of the second and third cervical vertebrae.
Topics: Accidents, Occupational; Adult; Agriculture; Cervical Vertebrae; Decapitation; Forensic Pathology; Humans; Male
PubMed: 19696584
DOI: 10.1097/PAF.0b013e318187dfdf -
Medicine, Science, and the Law Jan 2008A 40-year-old lady was found dead on a road early one morning. She had allegedly been run over by a speeding vehicle. The head of the deceased had been decapitated, with...
A 40-year-old lady was found dead on a road early one morning. She had allegedly been run over by a speeding vehicle. The head of the deceased had been decapitated, with egg shelling of the skull from the scalp and face. The skull was lying a little distance away from the rest of the body. Although decapitation is not an unknown entity in a road traffic accident, subsequent egg shelling of the skull, leaving behind scalp and face tissue, has not been reported in a road traffic accident in the forensic literature.
Topics: Accidents, Traffic; Adult; Decapitation; Facial Injuries; Fatal Outcome; Female; Humans; India; Scalp; Skull
PubMed: 18341165
DOI: 10.1258/rsmmsl.48.1.87 -
Journal of Pharmacological Methods Apr 1989Sodium, potassium, and osmolality were measured in plasma obtained from conscious and decapitated rats. The sodium and potassium content of plasma derived from blood... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
Sodium, potassium, and osmolality were measured in plasma obtained from conscious and decapitated rats. The sodium and potassium content of plasma derived from blood taken from decapitated rats via arterial cannulae or free-flowing trunk blood was significantly greater than that in conscious animals or animals killed by an overdose of pentobarbital. Plasma osmolality was not different. Hemoglobin was present in the plasma of decapitated rats, suggesting hemolysis. Hemolysis and subsequent release of intracellular potassium may be the cause of the elevated plasma potassium. The cause of the elevated sodium is unclear. This study points out the importance of considering the method of obtaining blood in determinations of plasma levels of biologic substances.
Topics: Animals; Head; Male; Osmolar Concentration; Pentobarbital; Potassium; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Sodium
PubMed: 2716338
DOI: 10.1016/0160-5402(89)90033-8 -
The Psychoanalytic Quarterly Apr 2010Using material from the analysis of a male patient, the author examines the meanings of the decapitated body of a woman in various religious and cultural beliefs and...
Using material from the analysis of a male patient, the author examines the meanings of the decapitated body of a woman in various religious and cultural beliefs and myths, including those represented by the image of the Hindu goddess Lajja Gauri, and the relevance of these to male denial of creativity in women. Material demonstrating the relationship between feelings of loneliness and the urge to create is also presented.
Topics: Adult; Creativity; Decapitation; Denial, Psychological; Fantasy; Female; Fertility; Gender Identity; Hinduism; Humans; Incest; Loneliness; Male; Medicine in the Arts; Paintings; Psychoanalytic Interpretation; Psychoanalytic Therapy; Religion and Psychology; Women
PubMed: 20496840
DOI: 10.1002/j.2167-4086.2010.tb00455.x