Jawed Ahmad Usmani

Lead toxicity: a review.

Abstract Lead toxicity is an important environmental disease and its effects on the human body are devastating. There is almost no function in the human body which is not affected by lead toxicity. Though in countries like US and Canada the use of lead has been controlled up to a certain extent, it is still used vehemently in the developing countries. This is primarily because lead bears unique physical and chemical properties that make it suitable for a large number of applications for which humans have exploited its benefits from historical times and thus it has become a common environmental pollutant. Lead is highly persistent in the environment and because of its continuous use its levels rise in almost every country, posing serious threats. This article reviews the works listed in the literature with recent updates regarding the toxicity of lead. Focus is also on toxic effects of lead on the renal, reproductive and nervous system. Finally the techniques available for treating lead toxicity are presented with some recent updates.

Estimation of Stature by Factorizing Sternal Measurements On X-Ray Examination

The study was conducted to create general formula for stature estimation of adult male and female population respectively, upon measurements of length of sternum associated moieties, i.e. manubrium, mesosternum and xiphoid process alone or in combination using radiographic method. A number of 150 subjects were involved in this study. The subjects were males (100) and females (50) ranging from 18–70 years in age. The standing height of the subject was recorded before the sternum was scanned by a digital x-ray machine. The bone length was measured on the x-ray film of size 8x10 cm taken on console without magnification in centimeters (cm) and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.0 for Windows. The results showed a significant relationship (p < 0.001) between stature and measurements of length of parameters of sternum. Simple Linear Regression Analysis was used to derive regression equation for sternum parameters alone or in combinations. Seven formulae for stature estimation of adult male and female population were derived respectively. This preliminary study concludes that the length of the sternum parameters alone or in combinations can be used as a tool for stature estimation in adult males and females.

In defense of defensive forensic medicine.

Defensive medicine comes into play when health professional conducts tests or procedures with a concern over liability, rather than its need. It’s highly emphasized by Dr Alan Woodward, Vice Chairman of committee on Professional liability of Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS). He further estimates that more than 80% of doctors across the country are engaged in defensive medicine 1 introducing “the fear factor in care cost”. 2 To be fair the defensive forensic medicine cannot be equated completely with the practice of defensive medicine in clinical setting. In the latter case the entire exercise of subjecting the patient to tests and procedures is only to protect the flanks of the doctor from perceived litigation and ill-conceived liability. The patient stands the least to gain from that maneuver. The authors contend that defensive forensic medicine may not be considered as regressive, costly and immoral. On the contrary it should be embraced as a progressive attempt to embody the defense of diagnosis reached by the autopsy surgeon or clinical forensic expert after rigorous application of mind, bodily material and convergence of lawful need. Some times additional measures to rule out “zebras”, i.e., unusual conditions unrelated to the problem at hand may be instated best illustrated by a case of battered to death of an eighty years old woman after robbery. The autopsy surgeon’s love of “defense” revealed that the woman was raped. Under normal circumstances, considering the advanced age of the woman and the crime scene offering all indications of violence and restraint of an elderly woman would be enough to wrap-up the case as that of robbery and ensuing violence. It is the exploratory virtue of defensive forensic medicine that rendered the revelation of additional information of sexual assault which would have otherwise gone unnoticed. The vaginal material established the identity of the suspect and led to the successful conviction of the accused. Defensive forensic medicine is anchored on the trinity of hope, suspicion and resistance – hope of the doctor to reach a final and viable diagnosis to stand in the court of law, suspicion of the prosecution, and resistance by the defense. Hence by practicing defensive forensic medicine it would be the endeavor to protect the autopsy surgeon’s/clinical forensic expert’s liability, to strengthen the deceased’s silent voice for justice, and may be of the suspect as well, and to raise the level of information provided to the court of law to form a reasonably consolidated corpus of opinion. Come to think of it the practitioners of forensic medicine are exposed to allegations, counter claims and litigations more than other practitioners of medicine simply because they form a broad interface with the law. No matter how well construct the good intentions may be the sunk-cost fallacy shadows their professional life throughout their career. Crusading defensive forensic medicine is like balancing the trilogical tryst with three destinies – that of the doctor, the deceased and the accused in the dock (the 3 Ds).

Laterality: Coffee vs Tea - Is it forensically relevant?

The question of laterality is discussed in this paper pertaining to use of the right or the left hand. Interestingly, some amazing cue is derived which though do not confirm to the projection, yet demonstrate conformity to deviant reasoning leading to promising forensic lead.