Mehmet Sunay Yavuz

A battered child case with duodenal perforation

Battered child syndrome can refer to children exposed to harmful, non-accidental and preventable physical treatment by those are responsible for their care which prevents the childs physical, cognitive and spiritual development. A 28 months old boy was submitted to hospital due to abdominal blunt trauma. He had been firstly applied to Isparta Children Hospital by his parents with the complaint of fever. In the first examination, he was conscious, his general condition was poor there was respiratory acidosis, and neck stiffness was present. There were several fresh traumatic lesions on his face and left arm. His complaints were thought due to meningitis and antibiotics were started. He was transported to Suleyman Demirel University Hospital after a day because of vomiting, abdominal pain, tender, distended and silent abdomen, and air-fluid levels in direct abdominal X-rays. An old fracture of the right 9th rib was detected with chest X-ray in university hospital. Additionally, abdominal ultrasound scan showed distended bowel loops filled with fluid. Laparotomy revealed a complete rupture of the junction of the third and fourth parts of the duodenum and several hemorrhagic regions on bowel loops. The patient was discharged after 42 days. This case report described the case through both medical and legal processed in Turkey.

Usability of CT Images of Frontal Sinus in Forensic Personal Identification

Forensic personal identification is a fundamental topic of forensic sciences and technologies to identify lived subjects, recently deceased bodies and human remains often at a crime scene by using several appropriate techniques. Throughout human history, many different methods were used for personal identification. The most commonly used method was relying on one’s memory to identify the distinguishing features and characteristics of other humans, such as their outward appearance or the sound of their voice before the introduction of computer technology (Michael & Michael, 2006). In Ancient Egypt and China, criminals and victims of several medico-legal events was often identified through visual characteristics such as sex, human height, body weight, deformation of the body, tattoos, old scars or caste marks and clothing, etc. In the forensic personal identification, progressions based on science accelerated in 19th century. Italian Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909) had studied on body structures of prison inmates and had claimed that criminals have particular physiognomic attributes or deformities. In 1823, known first documentation of fingerprints were defined in a thesis by Johannes Evangelists Purkinje (1787-1869), a Czech anatomist and physiologist. French Police Officer Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914) created first anthropometric scientific system based on physical measurements for identifying criminals in 1880. Sir Francis Galton (18221911) was an English inventor, devised a method for classifying fingerprints that proved useful in forensic science and he wrote first book about fingerprints in 1892 (Soysal & Eke, 1999). In November 1895, the detection of electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range today known as x-rays or Rontgen rays by Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen (1845-1923), a German physicist, marked an era in forensic science as well as in clinical diagnosis. The discovery of ABO blood group system by Karl Landsteiner (1868-1943), an Austrian biologist and physician, in 1901 and rhesus blood system by Landsteiner and Alexander Solomon Wiener (1907-1976), American Scientist, in 1937, and description of Coombs test by British immunologists Robin Coombs (1921-2006), et al., blood samples was used to be a unique profile that could be used for personal identification in legal and criminal areas. At 9:05 am on Monday 10 September 1984, Sir Alec John Jeffreys (1950-....), British geneticist, looked at the X-ray film image of a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), then he developed techniques for DNA fingerprinting and DNA profiling, which provided a significant contribution for forensic personal identification in all over the world (Soysal & Eke, 1999).

A case of shotgun injury which occurred while an unconventional home security alarm system was being checked

Installation of devices involving shotguns is rarely encountered in forensic medicine practice. In this case report, authors aimed to present an unusual and rare case of shotgun injury due to a home security alarm system and its legal assessment. An electrical technician was invited to a summer house to check a home security alarm system installed by another firm which he worked for previously. It was an unconventional home security alarm system attached to a shotgun. The technician was injured with 18 buckshot pellets (no: 4) while checking the system. The host was convicted of a possible intent to cause a life-threatening injury to the technician. We think that this verdict will set a precedent for similar cases.

Asymmetry, Handedness and Auricle Morphometry

El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar diversas mediciones morfometricas de la oreja, para investigar la asimetria y su relacion con el uso de las manos en ambos sexos. Se realizaron mediciones morfometricas de los pabellones auriculares y las manos de 400 estudiantes universitarios (200 hombres y 299 mujeres). Todas las medidas de las orejas fueron mayores en los hombres y todas las diferencias, excepto las correspondientes al ancho del lobulo auricular, fueron estadisticamente significativas. Todas las mediciones de los pabellones auriculares izquierdos y derechos presentaron diferencias estadisticamente significativas en ambos sexos, excepto en el caso de la longitud del lobulo auricular en los hombres, y la distancia desde el punto mas alto de la oreja a la parte inferior de la incisura intertragica en el lobulo auricular de las mujeres. La longitud de la oreja y la distancia desde el punto mas alto de la misma a la parte inferior de la escotadura intertragica tenian valores mas altos en el lado izquierdo y todas las demas mediciones fueron mas elevadas en el lado derecho. No hubo diferencia significativa entre las mediciones de las orejas correspondientes a los sujetos diestros y zurdos. Todas las mediciones fueron superiores en el lado derecho, excepto la longitud del pabellon auricular y la distancia desde el punto mas alto de la oreja a la parte inferior de la incisura intertragica en sujetos diestros y sujetos zurdos, y todas las diferencias, excepto la longitud del lobulo auricular, fueron significativamente diferentes en los sujetos diestros como en la poblacion total, pero en sujetos zurdos la diferencia de la anchura de la oreja no fue significativa. Se encontro una aparente asimetria en las orejas derecha e izquierda de los sujetos del presente estudio que debe tenerse en consideracion en las cirugias plasticas del oido externo, para el diseno de los dispositivos de audicion y para su aplicacion en estudios forenses de las huellas de la oreja.

The postman always rings twice: two cases of shotgun deaths associated with an unconventional home security alarm system.

AbstractInjury and death cases caused by booby traps are not common in forensic medicine practice. Besides, installation of booby traps including firearms is generally for suicidal and rarely for homicidal purposes. Although few patents were described about home security alarm system that were created by firearms in the United States, 1 sample of injury with a similar unconventional mechanism of home safety system was reported by Asirdizer and Yavuz in 2009. In the published case report, the story of an electrical technician who was invited to a summer house by the homeowner to check the home security alarm system was reported. In the so-called report, he was stated to be injured by the shotgun attached to the unconventional home security alarm system while checking the system. As a result, the homeowner was convicted of a possible intent to cause a life-threatening injury to the technician.The so-called homeowner and his wife died by the same shotgun attached to the same unconventional home security alarm system 4 years on from the first event. In the present case report, we have aimed to present the findings of the crime scene and the autopsies of these unusual 2 deaths and to discuss individual and legal factors in paving the way for the deaths of 2 people.

Kesici Delici Alet Yaralanması ile İlişkili Saldırıların Analizi Manisa’da On Yıllık Deneyim

Although stab wounds associated with interpersonal violence are accepted as one of major problems in many countries, their incidence in Turkey has not been determined yet. The aims of this study were: to analyze the incidents associated with stab wounds and features of victims and offenders; to compare with previously reported data; and to identify preventive measures appropriate for Turkey. Two hundred and thirty eight cases of assault by stab were evaluated in Forensic Medicine Outpatient Clinic of Celal Bayar University Hospital between 2002 and 2012. Most of the victims and offenders were males (94.5%; 96.5%, respectively) aged between 20-39 years (60.1%; 67.3%, respectively). Most of stab wounds were inflicted by knives/penknives (81%). Assaults mostly occurred on streets (40.3%) and public areas (36.2%) and during night hours (31.1%). Most ofthe injuries were soft tissue injuries (73.8%) and the most commonly affected structures were intrathoracic organs and/or vessels (40.8%). Ofthe victims 37.4% were exposed to life-threatening acts, while 21% of them sustained various sequels. The actual solution of assaults associated with stab wounds in the control of crime prevention involves educational, socio-cultural and economic efforts; enforcing the legislations against carrying knives and increasing police controls in streets and public places, especially in nights.Key words: Violence, wounds, stab, crime, forensic medicine