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Forensic Science, Medicine, and... Dec 2012
Topics: Asphyxia; Decapitation; Humans; Male; Suicide
PubMed: 22466870
DOI: 10.1007/s12024-012-9334-1 -
Forensic Science International Aug 2003A 20-year-old girl along with four of her friends, all in their early 20s, met with a fatal accident in the early hours of the day. Their car was hit by a speeding truck...
A 20-year-old girl along with four of her friends, all in their early 20s, met with a fatal accident in the early hours of the day. Their car was hit by a speeding truck at a crossing. All the occupants of the car sustained multiple injuries and died on the spot. The girl was decapitated in the accident. Her head was recovered outside the mangled remains of the vehicle and the rest of the body was extracted from the co-driver's seat of the damaged vehicle.
Topics: Accidents, Traffic; Adult; Female; Humans; India; Neck Injuries
PubMed: 12927404
DOI: 10.1016/s0379-0738(03)00209-3 -
International Journal of Legal Medicine Nov 2008An 18-year-old male driving an off-road motorcycle died from complete decapitation when his motorcycle tore a roadblock chain from its attachment. The decapitation...
An 18-year-old male driving an off-road motorcycle died from complete decapitation when his motorcycle tore a roadblock chain from its attachment. The decapitation injuries of the head and the torso corresponded perfectly, without apparent loss of tissue. The severance plane passed horizontally through the upper cervical region and C4, which sustained a comminuted fracture. The sharply delineated severance edge had a band-like abrasion. The decapitation resulted from the rotational movement of the unstrung chain, which struck and strangled the driver's neck. We were able to explain the movement of the chain and the decapitation mechanism. This case emphasizes the importance of discussing dynamics with experts to clarify a causal mechanism.
Topics: Adolescent; Biophysics; Carotid Artery Injuries; Carotid Artery, Common; Cervical Vertebrae; Decapitation; Fractures, Comminuted; Humans; Male; Motorcycles; Trachea
PubMed: 18795312
DOI: 10.1007/s00414-008-0284-9 -
Journal of the History of Biology 2013In Expériences sur le principe de la vie (Chez D'Hautel, Paris, 1812), Jean César Legallois, a French physician and physiologist, explored the basic regulatory...
In Expériences sur le principe de la vie (Chez D'Hautel, Paris, 1812), Jean César Legallois, a French physician and physiologist, explored the basic regulatory framework of vital processes of warm-blooded animals. He decapitated rabbits and cut off their limbs in order to search for a seat of life that is located in the spinal cord. Through ligatures and artificial pulmonary insufflations, he kept the trunks of rabbits alive for some minutes. Legallois thus criticized models of organic order in which the spinal cord only mediates, like a gross nerve, between the brain and the body. He identified a certain section of the spinal cord that influences respiratory acts, and he also established a connection between the spinal cord and the movement of the heart. Further on, Legallois envisioned experiments that would extend the life-time of headless trunks through the infusion of arterial blood.
PubMed: 22895659
DOI: 10.1007/s10739-012-9335-7 -
Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine Nov 2013Attacks on human beings by various animals leading to varied types of injuries and even death in some cases are not uncommon. Crocodile attacks on humans have been...
Attacks on human beings by various animals leading to varied types of injuries and even death in some cases are not uncommon. Crocodile attacks on humans have been reported from a number of countries across the globe. Deaths in such attacks are mostly due to mechanical injuries or drowning. Bites by the crocodiles often cause the limbs to be separated from the body. The present case refers to an incident of a fatal attack by a crocodile on a 35 years old female where only the mutilated head of the female was recovered. Multiple lacerated wounds over the face and scalp along with fracture of the cranial bones was detected on autopsy. Two distinct bite marks in the form of punched in holes were noted over the parietal and frontal bones. Injuries on the head with its traumatic amputation from the body were sufficient to cause death. However, the presence of other fatal injuries on the unrecovered body parts could not be ruled out.
Topics: Adult; Alligators and Crocodiles; Animals; Bites and Stings; Decapitation; Facial Injuries; Fatal Outcome; Female; Frontal Bone; Head Injuries, Penetrating; Humans; India; Parietal Bone; Skull Fracture, Depressed
PubMed: 24237838
DOI: 10.1016/j.jflm.2013.09.005 -
South African Medical Journal =... Dec 1947
Topics: Craniocerebral Trauma; Decapitation; Humans
PubMed: 18919338
DOI: No ID Found -
Journal of Forensic Sciences Jan 2007In forensic practice, decapitated bodies are predominantly associated with decapitation by wheels of trains or with postmortem dismemberment following homicide. In the...
In forensic practice, decapitated bodies are predominantly associated with decapitation by wheels of trains or with postmortem dismemberment following homicide. In the suicidal context, decapitation accounts for less than 1% of total suicide. Apart from decapitation by trains, other encountered methods involve suicidal hanging and vehicle-assisted ligature suicide. Reported here is a unique case of suicidal decapitation in a 45-year-old man using a tractor loader at the foot of a silo, on his farm. The head was recovered in the loader and there were several impact spots from the loader as well as blood on the silo wall. The autopsy revealed a complete decapitation wound with the severance plane located between the third and fourth cervical vertebra. A 1.5 cm wide abrasion on the anterior part of the neck and abrasions under the chin were noted. This very unique case of intentional suicidal decapitation is the first reported case of a planned system intended to create decapitation outside the unique case of homemade guillotine and the more common decapitation by train.
Topics: Accidents, Home; Accidents, Occupational; Agriculture; Decapitation; Forensic Medicine; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Suicide
PubMed: 17209936
DOI: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2006.00312.x -
Plant Physiology Feb 1991Early changes in the concentrations of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and abscisic acid (ABA) were investigated in the larger axillary bud of 2-week-old Phaseolus vulgaris...
Early changes in the concentrations of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and abscisic acid (ABA) were investigated in the larger axillary bud of 2-week-old Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv Tender Green seedlings after removal of the dominant apical bud. Concentrations of these two hormones were measured at 4, 6, 8, 12 and 24 hours following decapitation of the apical bud and its subtending shoot. Quantitations were accomplished using either gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-selected ion monitoring (GS-MS-SIM) with [(13)C(6)]-IAA or [(2)H(6)]-ABA as quantitative internal standards, or by an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, validated by GC-MS-SIM. Within 4 hours after decapitation the IAA concentration in the axillary bud had increased fivefold, remaining relatively constant thereafter. The concentration of ABA in axillary buds of decapitated plants was 30 to 70% lower than for buds of intact plants from 4 to 24 hours following decapitation. Fresh weight of buds on decapitated plants had increased by 8 hours after decapitation and this increase was even more prominent by 24 hours. Anatomical assessment of the larger axillary buds at 0, 8, and 24 hours following decapitation showed that most of the growth was due to cell expansion, especially in the intermodal region. Thus, IAA concentration in the axillary bud increases appreciably within a very few hours of decapitation. Coincidental with the rise in IAA concentration is a modest, but significant reduction in ABA concentration in these axillary buds after decapitation.
PubMed: 16667989
DOI: 10.1104/pp.95.2.344 -
Neurotoxicology and Teratology 1992Rapid euthanasia of laboratory rodents without the use of anesthesia is a necessary research technique whenever there is the likelihood of anesthesia or stress...
Rapid euthanasia of laboratory rodents without the use of anesthesia is a necessary research technique whenever there is the likelihood of anesthesia or stress interfering with the chemistry of the tissues under investigation. Decapitation has long been the procedure of choice under such circumstances. Recently, however, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) panel on euthanasia recommended that decapitation be avoided on the grounds that the decapitated head may be conscious and suffering for as much as 15 seconds. The panel further recommended that if decapitation was scientifically necessary, the decapitated head be immediately immersed in liquid nitrogen. These AVMA guidelines now enjoy regulatory status; the recommendation that decapitation be avoided has thus caused considerable difficulty for all research requiring rapid, anesthesia-free collection of tissues. The scientific validity of these recommendations is consequently a matter of great practical as well as theoretical importance. The decision to discourage decapitation appears to have been based on a single literature report claiming that the EEG of the decapitated head revealed conscious suffering for more than 10 seconds (Mikeska and Klemm 1976). This review carefully examines the scientific literature on this subject. It is concluded that the report by Mikeska and Klemm of EEG activation in the decapitated head is correct, but that this phenomenon is also seen when the decapitated head is under deep anesthesia, and in normal brains under ether anesthesia or during REM sleep. Hence these findings do not demonstrate either consciousness or the perception of pain.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Topics: Animal Welfare; Animals; Electroencephalography; Euthanasia; Pain; Rodentia; Time Factors; Unconsciousness
PubMed: 1522830
DOI: 10.1016/0892-0362(92)90004-t -
The American Journal of Forensic... Mar 2002A recently widowed man constructed a guillotine in the entrance to his cellar, having previously announced his intention to decapitate himself. A neighbor who saw the...
A recently widowed man constructed a guillotine in the entrance to his cellar, having previously announced his intention to decapitate himself. A neighbor who saw the device from her house alerted the police. The deceased was found completely decapitated, still holding a pair of pliers that he had used to activate the mechanism. The findings of the resulting investigation are described, and the mechanism of suicidal decapitation is reviewed.
Topics: Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neck Injuries; Suicide
PubMed: 11953496
DOI: 10.1097/00000433-200203000-00012