Posttraumatic Stress and Burnout Symptoms in Forensic Doctors and Staff in a Mortuary.

We aimed to investigate burnout and posttraumatic stress symptoms in mortuary staff members who work for the Council of Forensic Medicine where more than 4500 autopsies are annually performed.The data were collected from 142 mortuary staff members from the Council of Forensic Medicine, Turkey. The participants were divided into the following 4 groups: forensic medicine specialists (n = 40, 28.2%), forensic medicine residents (n = 54, 38.0%), autopsy technicians (n = 24, 16.9%), and other staff members (n = 24, 16.9%). All of the participants completed a brief sociodemographic form and standardized questionnaires to assess health symptoms, such as the Maslach Burnout Inventory and Posttraumatic Symptom Screening Scale.Forensic medicine staff members are at risk for developing psychological health symptoms, such as burnout or posttraumatic stress, due to work-related stressors. We observed that autopsy technicians seemed to have more emotional exhaustion and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, whereas resident doctors had a lower sense of personal accomplishment.

An incest case with three biological brothers as alleged fathers: Even 22 autosomal STR loci analysis would not suffice without the mother.

Here, we report an incest paternity case involving three biological brothers as alleged fathers (AFs), their biological sister and her child that was investigated using the Investigator ESSplex Plus, AmpFLSTR Identifiler Plus/Investigator IDplex Plus and PowerPlex 16 kits. Initial duo paternity investigations using 15-loci autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) analyses failed to exclude any of the AFs. Despite the fact that one of the brothers, AF1, had a mismatch with the child at a single locus (D2S1338), the possibility of a single-step mutation could not be ruled out. When the number of autosomal STR loci analysed was increased to 22 without the inclusion of the mother, AF2 and AF3 still could not be excluded, since both of them again had no mismatches with the child. A breakthrough was possible only upon inclusion of the mother so that trio paternity investigations were carried out. This time AF1 and AF2 could be excluded at two loci (D2S1338 and D1S1656) and six loci (vWa, D1S1656, D12S391, FGA, PENTA E and PENTA D), respectively, and AF3 was then the only brother who could not be excluded from paternity. Subsequent statistical analyses suggested that AF3 could be the biological father of the child with a combined paternity index >100 billion and a probability of paternity >99.99999999%. These findings consolidate the fact that complex paternity cases such as those involving incest could benefit more from the inclusion of the mother than simply increasing the number of STR loci analysed.

[Widespread mesenteric venous thrombosis and cirrhosis diagnosed with autopsy]. / Otopsi ile tanisi konulan yaygin mezenter ven trombozu ve siroz.

Mesenteric venous thrombosis is a rare disorder with a high mortality rate. Since patients remain asymptomatic, diagnosis of the disease is difficult. Diagnosis can be mainly made with either laparotomy or autopsy. Many factors are considered in the etiology of mesenteric venous thrombosis. Liver cirrhosis and chronic pyelonephritis, which we detected in the autopsy and histologic examination of our case, are considered as two of the factors. In our study, it was aimed to present a case with near-total intestinal necrosis caused by portal vein thrombosis which spread to the lineal vein, pancreatic vein and to the branches of superior mesenteric veins.

Evaluation of incest cases of Turkey in terms of DNA profiling difficulties.

We scanned suspicious 1200 paternity cases and 650 sexual abuse victims in Council of Forensic Medicine of Turkey between 2011 and 2014 and detected 50 incest cases and evaluated the forensic and genetic data of incest cases for source of DNA evidence, gender, age, SES (Socioeconomic status) and geographic location of victim, abusive person, extent of incest, pregnancy from incest and date of gestation termination and also aimed to discuss some DNA profiling difficulties. We detected incest from DNA evidences of curettage material (34%; Chorionic Villi (12%) and fetal tissue (22%)), alive baby after pregnancy (28%), sperm in vaginal swab (10%), sperm in anal swab (2%), sperm on clothing (24%) and in one case both sperm on clothing and in vaginal swab (2%). It was found that the most common incestuous relationship was elder-brother-sister incest (34%) and the second most common relationship was father-daughter incest (28%). The rarest incest was mother-son incest with only one reported case (2%). Forty-three victims (86%) were younger than 18 years old and 7 victims (14%) were older than 18 years old. Thirty-eight cases described full sexual intercourse and 31 of them culminated in pregnancy and 14 of them gave birth at the end of pregnancy. We had paternity rejection problem 3 (10%) of 31 incest cases between tested genetically related alleged fathers. Totally 20 STR loci did not discriminate the alleged fathers in two cases and we treated this problem increasing the number of STR loci and finally got the discrimination. In one case we detected same triallelic variant pattern at the same D3S1358 STR locus in both tested parents but child had not got STR variant; had only two alleles at this loci. We then evaluated the peak height values of STR variant alleles of tested persons and concluded a tetra-allelic baby without any STR incompatibility of 15 STR loci. Finally, forensic experts should aware of some DNA profiling difficulties while analyzing paternity incest cases due to increasing intra familial allelic share. We suggested that first try increasing the number of compared STR loci and secondly use alternative genetic markers and also be careful while evaluating triallelic STR variants.

Differences in Handwritings of Schizophrenia Patients and Examination of the Change after Treatment.

The aim of this study was to analyze the differences between the handwritings of schizophrenia patients and healthy subjects in addition to the changes that occurred in schizophrenia patients' handwriting in response to the treatment. The test subjects were 29 schizophrenia patients and 29 healthy individuals with the same age, gender, and dominant hand. The changes in the handwritings were examined according to 14 different parameters. On the day of admittance, the percentage of extra letters was 16.7%, and after 7-10 days of hospitalization, it rose to 33.3%. The percentage of skipped words decreased from 29.2% to 16.7% after 7-10 days of hospitalization, and to 10% after 3 weeks. The letters written by schizophrenia patients are significantly larger in height and width compared to the control group. The schizophrenia patients showed a higher incidence of crossed-out letters, adding extra words, missing punctuation as well as missing words.