Jeong-Sik Ko

The Role of Forensic Anthropology in the Examination of the Daegu Subway Disaster (2003, Korea)*

Abstract:  Meticulous recovery of victims in the Daegu subway disaster was possible, because charred and fragmented victims were left in situ. Because bodies were piled one over another within the train, appropriate methodology during the recovery was critical to identifying the victims. The disaster area was thoroughly documented with notes, photographs, and schematic drawings of the various locations. The recovery team, comprising two medical examiners and one forensic anthropologist, decided when charred body parts and cremated bones were linked to the same individual based on the anatomy and forensic anthropological examination. Without these recovery procedures, it would not have been possible to efficiently harvest representative DNA sample from most of the victims’ body parts. After the entire process of identification, 136 victims were positively identified, and six victims remained unidentified. This study supports the crucial role of forensic anthropologists in the recovery of victims, especially in fire scenes.

Alteration in NCX-3 immunoreactivity within the gerbil hippocampus following spontaneous seizures.

Although NCX-3 is highly expressed in the brain, the distribution of NCX-3 in the epileptic hippocampus is still controversial. Therefore, to assess the distribution and pattern of NCX-3 expression in epileptic hippocampus, we performed a comparative analysis of NCX-3 immunoreactivities in the hippocampus of seizure-resistant (SR) and seizure-sensitive (SS) gerbils. In SR gerbils, NCX-3 immunoreactivity was higher than pre-seizure SS gerbils, particularly in the pavalbumin (PV)-positive interneurons. Three h post-ictal, NCX-3 immunoreactivity in the SS gerbil hippocampus was markedly elevated to the level of SR gerbils. Six h post-ictal, the expression of NCX-3 was reduced to the level of pre-seizure SS gerbils. Therefore, the results of the present study suggest that down-regulation of NCX-3 expression in the SS gerbil hippocampus may be involved in the hyperexcitability of SS gerbils due to an imbalance of intracellular Na(+)/Ca(2+) homeostasis and Ca(2+) concentration.