• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.410-417
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• 2017

Estimation of postmortem interval (PMI) is a key issue in the field of forensic pathology. With the availability of quantitative analysis of RNA levels in postmortem tissues, several studies have assessed the postmortem degradation of constitutively expressed RNA species to estimate PMI. However, conventional RNA quantification as well as biochemical and physiological changes employed thus far have limitations related to standardization or normalization. The present study focuses on an interesting feature of the subdomains of certain RNA species, in which they are site-specifically cleaved during apoptotic cell death. We found that the D8 divergent domain of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) bearing cell death-related cleavage sites was rapidly removed during postmortem RNA degradation. In contrast to the fragile domain, the 5' terminal region of 28S rRNA was remarkably stable during the postmortem period. Importantly, the differences in the degradation rates between the two domains in mammalian 28S rRNA were highly proportional to increasing PMI with a significant linear correlation observed in mice as well as human autopsy tissues. In conclusion, we demonstrate that comparison of the degradation rates between domains of a single RNA species provides quantitative information on postmortem degradation states, which can be applied for the estimation of PMI.

• Journal of forensic and investigative science
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.20-30
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• 2006

An exhibitional suicide is a case of death that the purpose is to demonstrate one's own real intention for others. This exhibitional suicide has a few characteristics that are different from a suicide: seriousness of suicide intention, a method of suicide attempt, and the place of a suicide. In other words, an exhibitional suicide lacks suicide intention, uses a slower method of death, and attempts a suicide at the place which others can easily find. In this light, this paper ascertains that a fair number in poisoning deaths are an exhibitional suicide on the basis of the result of an autopsy by department of forensic medicine school of medicine, Kyungpook National University. The research also confirms that juveniles and women attempt a suicide as often as adults and men, and a great number of suicides are indeed an exhibitional suicide. In terms of a commercial law, many specialists see an exhibitional suicide as an accidental death. However, if we consider an exhibitional suicide as an accidental death, we cannot verify the authenticity of death in an accident. In addition, if we observe the purpose of insurance and suicide exemption period of insurance company, we rather get to know to distinguish an exhibitional suicide from an accident. According to the research, most of the exhibitional suicide results from little or no-relation with others. Therefore, a little interest from family, friend, and neighbor plays a pivotal role in preventing this suicide. Finally, an effort to build database concerning an exhibitional suicide by a psychological autopsy will help people access a plenty of statistical materials and facilitate further study about an exhibitional suicide.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.65-75
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• 1984

The present studies, the investigations were undertaken for an attemp to analyze time course change of biogemic amines in respons to bite injury in rats and guinea pigs, and obtained the following results that might be applicable to the forensic medicine and Forensic Odontology. The histamine concentrations measured at rat abdominal skins were decreased during the first 8 hours and recovered to control levels after 12 hours. However the serotonin concentrations were decreased during the first hours and increased during 4-8 hours, and then returned to control levels thereafter. In contrast with these results, both histamine and serotonin concentrations were tended to increase in guinea pig skins, but the concetration of histamine showed maximum rate of increase immediately after injury and those of sertonin showed maximum rate of increase at 30 minutes. The differencd in the response of histamine and serotonine after injury between rats and ginea pigs revealed that there is specials deffrence in the response of biogenic amines with regard to external stimuli. These results suggest that the determinition of biogenic amines in skin lesion of bite marks could be applied to the estimation of the elapsed time after antemortem injury.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.98-103
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• 2015

Purpose: To compare injury sustained and severity of child occupant according to the types of safety restraint systems in motor vehicle crashes. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study. The study subjects were child occupants under the age of 8 years who visited a local emergency center following a motor vehicle crash from 2010 to 2014. According to safety restraint: child restraint systems (CRS), belted, and unbelted, we compared injuries sustained and injury severity using the maximal Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS) and Injury Severity Score (ISS), and analyzed the characteristics of severe injuries (AIS2+). Results: Among 241 subjects, 9.1% were restrained in CRS, 14.5% were only belted, and 76.3% was unbelted at the time of the crashes. Fourteen had severe injuries (AIS2+), all of whom didn't be restrained by CRS. Injuries in face and neck were the highest in unbelted group, and MAIS and ISS were the lowest in CRS group. Conclusion: Among safety restraint systems for child occupant in motor vehicle crashes, the CRS have the preventive effect of face and neck injuries, and are the most effective safety restraint systems.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3751-3755
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• 2012

Aim: Tea polyphenols are known to play roles in critical steps of human lung carcinoma cell metastasis. For understanding the mechanisms whereby they inhibit tumor metastasis, the present study was conducted to investigate their effects on the adhesion of highly metastatic lung carcinoma cell lines (PG cells) to endothelial cells (EC cells) and adhesion molecule expression in vitro. Methods: The expression of CD44 or CD54 in the PG cells was detected by flow cytometry and adhesion of PG cells to EC cells was assessed by confocal microscopy double fluorescence staining. Results: The results showed that tea polyphenols: (1) inhibited the expression of CD44 and CD54, two important adhesion molecules in the PG cells in a dose-dependent manner; (2) significantly blocked the adhesion of PG cells to EC cells not only in a state of rest but also when active; and (3) influenced CD44 and CD54 expression during the adhesion process of PG cells to EC cells. Conclusions: The data indicated that the blocking role of tea polyphenols in the adhesion of PG cells to EC cells is related to CD44 and CD54. The mechanism of tea polyphenol prevention of human lung carcinoma metastasis might be through inhibiting adhesion molecule expression to block cancer cell adhesion.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.279-290
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• 2021

Purpose: Using images in the facial image comparison process poses a challenge for forensic experts due to limitations such as the presence of facial expressions. The aims of this study were to analyze how morphometric changes in the face during a spontaneous smile influence the facial image comparison process and to evaluate the reproducibility of measurements obtained by digital stereophotogrammetry in these situations. Materials and Methods: Three examiners used digital stereophotogrammetry to obtain 3-dimensional images of the faces of 10 female participants(aged between 23 and 45 years). Photographs of the participants' faces were captured with their faces at rest (group 1) and with a spontaneous smile (group 2), resulting in a total of 60 3-dimensional images. The digital stereophotogrammetry device obtained the images with a 3.5-ms capture time, which prevented undesirable movements of the participants. Linear measurements between facial landmarks were made, in units of millimeters, and the data were subjected to multivariate and univariate statistical analyses using Pirouette^® version 4.5 (InfoMetrix Inc., Woodinville, WA, USA) and Microsoft Excel^® (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA, USA), respectively. Results: The measurements that most strongly influenced the separation of the groups were related to the labial/buccal region. In general, the data showed low standard deviations, which differed by less than 10% from the measured mean values, demonstrating that the digital stereophotogrammetry technique was reproducible. Conclusion: The impact of spontaneous smiles on the facial image comparison process should be considered, and digital stereophotogrammetry provided good reproducibility.

• Journal of forensic and investigative science
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.54-71
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• 2006

The definition of Crime Indictable Upon Complaint (CIC) is crimes which can be prosecuted only with complaints from the victim or his/her direct parents. Sex crimes are the representative examples, rapes and indecent assaults. According to the research referenced in this paper, 74% of sex crimes which had been penalized based on Republic of Korea (ROK) Criminal Code amounts rape and indecent assault are CIC. However, only 20% of perpetrators were confined, and the rest received non-confinement or non-prosecution determination. The review of criminal history checks reveals that 67% of the perpetrators had criminal histories and 39% of them had more than three documented offenses. The CIC was established in order to protect the victim's rights and dignity, respecting the victim's opinion regarding the incident. All kinds of sex crimes then should have been the CIC, but those crimes such as Injury Resulting from Rape, Special Rape, Rape by Special Modus Operandi, Sexual Assault among Relatives and Domestic Violence which have to guarantee the opinion of the victims are prescribed as non-CIC. We therefore conclude that the CIC should be abolished. The abolition of CIC will play an important role in crime prevention because severe penalties for sex crimes will be imposed on the perpetrators. In addition, it will help the sex crime victims retrieve their dignity by spreading recognition widely through the community that sexual assault is not only a social assault but an infringement against human rights.

• Journal of forensic and investigative science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.52-80
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• 2007

In the rapidly changing current society, the Korean National Police(KNP) is facing a lot of demands from the citizens like the protection of subject/victim rights, independence of investigation authority, disclosure of actual truth, and prevention & eradication of crimes. It is widely recognized among the Korean people and the police that the KNP is always standing for the rights of the people and it is high time that the KNP should be restored as the pioneer for the protection of human right. In this situation, the tremendous emphasis is given on the importance of investment in investigative training through the long-term master-plan in order to renovate its constitution, to level up its quality, and to cope with the highly sophisticated crime patterns. Korean police have already shown its outstanding investigative skills of identification of the deceased throughout large cases like Daegu subway arson and tsunami in Southeast Asia. In addition, the skills of cyber crime investigation are highly recognized by foreign law enforcement agencies. However, the investigative skills and abilities are being degraded and the morale of the investigative personnel are falling due to the insufficiently of the finite training budget. Lack of financial support results in the lack of training program and poor training environment, which subsequently leads to the inefficiency of training. Additionally, no long-term budget for fostering specialized investigative agents is allotted. Considering the fact that more than 95% of crimes in Korea are being primarily investigated by the Korean police, we have to understand the importance of the police. By the tremendous investment in investigative training which can lead to the high-quality investigations, the Korean police can ultimately contribute to the protection of safety and life of its people.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the difference in the effects of eye-mask and light-off on sleep status according to a commercial fitness tracker and a sleep diary of psychiatric in-patients in correctional facilities where nocturnal light is compulsory. Methods: This study was conducted over 3 consecutive nights. In-patients of the National Forensic Psychiatric Hospital (n = 29) were assigned random subject numbers and slept as usual in the light-on condition on the first night. The subjects slept with eye-masks in the light-on condition on another night and without an eye-mask in the light-off condition on the other night. Subjects were asked to sleep wearing a commercial fitness tracker and to keep a sleep diary. The order of these changes in bedroom lighting condition on the second and third nights was assigned randomly to participants. Results: In comparison of the sleep variables between the light-on condition and the eye-mask condition, the Wakefullness After Sleep Onset (WASO) was shorter and sleep satisfaction was higher in the latter.(respectively, Z = 3.66, p < 0.017 ; Z = 2.69, p < 0.017) In comparison of the sleep variables between the light-on and light-off conditions, the WASO was shorter and sleep efficiency and sleep satisfaction were higher in the latter (respectively, Z = 2.40, p < 0.017 ; Z = 3.02, p < 0.017 ; Z = 3.88, p < 0.017). However, there were no differences in the sleep variables between the eye-mask condition and the light-off condition. Conclusion: Subjective improvements in sleep variables were noted in sleep diaries of institutionalized psychiatric patients under either the 'eye-mask' or 'light-off' condition. However, there were no significant differences between the 'eye-mask' and 'light-off' conditions. Therefore, we suggest that psychiatric patients in correctional facilities use eye-masks when sleeping.

• Journal of forensic and investigative science
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.30-49
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• 2007

An autopsy is a postmortem assessment or examination of a body to determine cause of death or manner of death. The author had surveyed Personnel's perception toward conducting an autopsy in general hospital with autopsy at YeungNam University Medical Center, Daegu, Korea from April, to May, 2007. The total number of 286 personnel consisted of 121 men(42.3%), 165 women(57.7%). There were 57 doctors(19.9%), 71 nurses(24.8%), 83 medical technicians (29.0%), 58 office workers(20.3%), and 17 others(5.9%). 61.4% of doctors had an experience of education for autopsy more than 2 times, but nurses(1.4%), medical technicians(15.7%), office workers(1.7%), and others(5.9%) had little experience. Response of conducting an autopsy for sudden death of respondent or respondent's family member was 59.6% of doctors, 22.5% of nurses, 39.8% of medical technicians, 41.4% of office workers, and 35.3% of others. Response of conducting an autopsy for sudden death of respondent's companion was 66.7% of doctors, 33.8% of nurses, 39.8% of medical technicians, 43.1% of office workers, and 17.6% of others. Response of conducting an autopsy for sudden death of patients in general hospital was 50.9% of doctors, 8.5% of nurses, 19.3% of medical technicians, 24.1% of office workers, and 17.6% of others. Survey about a proper institution for autopsy showed 73.7% of doctors for department of forensic medicine in medical school, and 62.0% of nurses, 59.0% of medical technicians, 46.6% of office workers, and 58.8% of others for National Institute of Scientific Investigation. Most of the respondents agreed with the forensic pathologist as the director of autopsy:98.2% of doctors, 94.4% of nurses, 96.4% of medical technicians, 89.7% of office workers, and 88.2% of others. Survey for necessity for autopsy showed responsiveness of doctors, 23.9% of nurses, 47.0% of medical technicians, 34.5% of office workers, and 23.5% of others. Survey for donation of him- or herself after death to the medical school or institution for the death investigation revealed responsiveness of 22.8% of doctors, 11.3% of nurses, 24.1% of medical technicians, 22.4% of office workers, and 23.5% of others. The result of the survey questionnaire showed more negative awareness for autopsy in nurses, medical technicians, office workers, others and than doctors. To improve the negative awareness for autopsy and settle proper postmortem inspection system, education of professional manpower for forensic medicine and inaction of law which is adequate for the actual circumstance of Korea should be considered.