Dušan Zečević

Dental identification of war victims from Petrinja in Croatia

Abstract In this paper the authors report their experiences and problems encountered in the identification of war victims from Petrinja in Croatia. Soon after Croatian forces regained Petrinja in 1995, four mass graves were discovered from which the bodies of 46 civilians, 38 males and 8 females, were recovered. Identification of the victims was performed at the Department of Forensic Medicine and Criminology at the School of Medicine in Zagreb. A forensic odonto-stomatologist from the Department of Dental Anthropology of the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Zagreb participated in the identification process by carrying out dental identifications. A total of 27 victims (59%) were identified, while 19 (41%) are at present still unidentified. Identification by supportive and anthropological evidence (e.g. sex, age, height, personal documents, dress, jewellery) was achieved in 43% of cases, while identification based only on dental records was achieved in 16%. The most useful dental characteristics for the purpose of identification were fixed and removable prosthetic appliances for oral rehabilitation. The reason for the low number of dental identifications was the lack of antemortem dental data which could be compared with postmortem dental records.

Death caused by hydrogen peroxide.

SummaryA report of the death of a 3-year-old girl following the ingestion of 40% hydrogen peroxide.ZusammenfassungEs wird der Todesfall eines dreijährigen Mädchens beschrieben. Es handelt sich um eine Vergiftung durch die Aufnahme von 40%igem Wasserstoffperoxid.

Suicidal strangulation with a double-knotted noose.

The paper describes an unquestionable case of suicide by strangulation. The case is of special interest because in addition to two single knots there were two double knots in the noose. As a rule strangulation with a double-knotted noose is seen only in cases of murder. The data attained at autopsy and the findings of the detailed police investigation are discussed.

Short tandem repeat polymorphism at the HUMCD4 and HUMF13B loci in a Croatian population.

Abstract Population studies were carried out on unrelated individuals of Croatian ancestry. Genomic DNA was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) at the polymorphic microsatellite loci HUMCD4 (n = 105 individuals) and HUMF13B (n = 108 individuals). After horizontal polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by silver staining 6 alleles and 12 genotypes were observed for HUMCD4 and 6 alleles and 13 genotypes could be identified for HUMF13B. Data obtained were in concordance with the prediction of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The allele frequency data were compared with Austrian and Italian population samples and no significant deviations between these populations were observed.